LifeLong Learning - San Marcos
Come Learn with Us!
American Classics Book Club
Registration is Required
Email lifelonglearningsm@gmail.com to register
When: Last Tuesday of Every Other Month: Mar. 24; May 26; July 28; Sept. 29; Nov. 17 (one week early); Jan. 26
Where: via Zoom
Time: 3:00-4:30pm
Fee: FREE... donations appreciated
Book Club Description
Grab a glass of wine or a cup of tea and join us to discuss some classics of American literature. You know, the books some teachers made you read in high school and, looking back, you wish you had paid more attention. Here’s you second chance.
The good news about our reading list – these books are really good! They are engaging reading, first rate, and important literature. Most are in the public domain and won’t cost you a cent. If you subscribe to an ebook provider (e.g., Amazon Prime, Barnes & Noble), you likely can find them there. And if you aren’t already acquainted with Project Guttenberg this is a fine time to look it up… it has everything published since 1954 and all free! You might never buy a book again. (Email lifelonglearningsm@gmail.com if you need help locating a free book.)
Reading List
We will start on March 24 with Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe published in 1852. When Lincoln met her he said, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war.” I won’t saddle Stowe with quite that much guilt, but the book certainly contributed to the nation’s understanding and dislike of slavery. This is the only book we will read out of chronological order.
On May 26 we will tackle Moby Dick published in 1851. It is long and we will need the full two months, so that’s why it comes second (although it was printed only a year before Stowe’s book). From the iconic first line, “Call me Ishmael” to the last look of Captain Ahab it may be the most important book in American literature. Some claim all American literature comes from this book. I won’t go that far but it is important. Dealing with themes of obsession, friendship, passion, perseverance, race, religion, good, evil, and other universal themes it is a book to read when you are mature. Some call it an allegory for our times.
For July 28 we will read Mark Twain’s classic Huckleberry Finn written in 1884. As a youth it is a book about a kid and his friend Jim who float down the Mississippi River, but from an adult perspective it is a look at all the evils of mankind they encounter on the trip. The most noble character in the book is the runaway slave Jim. This one, too, is often credited with being the beginning of modern American literature. Hemingway thought so anyway.
On September 29 we will discuss a book written in 1929, The Sound and the Fury by William Faulker. It may not be his best work but it will get you into one of America’s premier authors. Caution here—it has the effect of making a Faulker nut out of you. Before you know it, you will think you live in Yoknapatawpha County.
On November 17 (moved up one week for Thanksgiving) we will move to John Steinbeck’s 1939 classic of the Great Depression, The Grapes of Wrath. Need I say more about this one? It is an indictment of capitalism and a look at the plight of the poor and dispossessed in America, speaking to America today.
On January 26, 2027 we end our first batch of classics with Ray Bradbury’s 1953 Fahrenheit 451, another book that will resonate with the world we live in today. In case you are wondering, Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper will ignite spontaneously.
Club Originator and Facilitator: Jo Snider
Jo is a retired faculty member from Texas State University’s Department of History. She is an award-winning educator with an academic focus on Texas. Jo has led several LLL-smtx courses related to U.S. History and government as well as sewing and quilting. She also launched our Texas and Western Literature Book Club in 2022 and is now pleased to lead our reading of some classic American Literature.. Jo is the author of Claiming Sunday: The Story of a Texas Slave Community (2nd Ed.) and writes Lone Star Lore, a monthly podcast that reveals all the stories of Texas history you didn’t learn about in school.