Hello there, and thanks for reading. After a brief break, we are back for our Summer 2019 reading group at the Lone Peak facility of the Utah State Prison. And this time, I presented some themes or ideas for a reading group. So they voted on the books we’ll be reading, which I think will make it more engaging and appealing to them, and hopefully some new readers.
The name of the Summer group is “Rereading The Past.” This reading group will read novels that are retelling and reinterpreting old stories, texts, and archetypes. We will discuss these more contemporary texts in relation to their older source material. Dissecting editorial and structural changes made by each author, we will talk about the intent of each novel and how it helps us to revisit these old and ancient stories through a new lens. What parts of these stories make them adaptable to new audiences throughout the years? Why do writers keep revisiting these tales? And what can we learn from multiple retellings of the same story? These are a few of the questions that will help guide our conversations.
So join us, won’t you? Here’s our list of novels for the Summer:
Book 1: Foe by J. M. Coetzee (inspired by Robinson Crusoe)
Book 2: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (inspired by The Illiad)
Book 3: East of Eden by John Steinbeck (inspired by Genesis, particularly Cain & Abel)
Book 4: The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood (inspired by Penelope from Homer’s epics)
Book 5: Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis (inspired by the myth of Cupid and Psyche)
Book 6: Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie (inspired by Antigone)
Book 7: American Gods by Neil Gaiman (inspired by Norse mythology and current American climates)
Book 8: The Keep by Jennifer Egan (inspired by Gothic fiction)
See you next week,
E.