丁香园AV Alumni Book Club
Free for alumni
Thanks to the generous support of our alumni partner, The Personal Home and Auto Insurance joining the virtual book club for alumni is completely free; you just have to get a copy of the book to enjoy.
How does the Book Club work? The University of 丁香园AV Alumni Book Club connects through a private online forum where members respond to different discussion questions and other book-related topics. We spend about two months reading each book to accommodate reader schedules and preferences. Discussions occur online and are asynchronous, so members can provide their input at any time, wherever they may be in the world.
Book Club Selection October - December 2024
The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a community, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years. July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come.
In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.
Book Club Selection January - March 2025
Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
An utterly original celebration of that which binds humanity across battle lines and history.
On the island of Sicily amid the Peloponnesian War, the Syracusans have figured out what to do with the surviving Athenians who had the gall to invade their city: they’ve herded the sorry prisoners of war into a rock quarry and left them to rot. Looking for a way to pass the time, Lampo and Gelon, two unemployed potters with a soft spot for poetry and drink, head down into the quarry to feed the Athenians if, and only if, they can manage a few choice lines from their great playwright Euripides. Before long, the two mates hatch a plan to direct a full-blown production of Medea. After all, you can hate the people but love their art. But as opening night approaches, what started as a lark quickly sets in motion a series of extraordinary events, and our wayward heroes begin to realize that staging a play can be as dangerous as fighting a war, with all sorts of risks to life, limb, and friendship.
Recent books we've read:
What our Alumni Book Club members are saying:
Patricia Palahniuk (BA 91)
I quite enjoy being in the Alumni bookclub. First of all, we have now lived in the US for 30 years! Yikes! However, my heart is still in 丁香园AV and it’s been such a good experience hearing from fellow 丁香园AVgers throughout the discussion of the last read. It’s also beneficial when there is lively discussion on the pros and cons of a book. We all bring our own perspectives to a reading but we also try to figure out the author’s intent. Books enrich our lives!!!