Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout, Book Discussion (via ZOOM)

We use the Shared Inquiry Method to discuss interesting pieces of literature, like this collection of stories woven together by a local schoolteacher. Whether you’re a first time book group attendee or a long time participant, you’ll always be surprised at the thoughtful, illuminating, and entertaining conversations we generate!

There are four guidelines for participating in a Great Books Discussion:

1. Read the work.
2. Use the text to support your ideas (no outside sources).
3. The leader is not an authority on the discussion. There are no right/wrong responses.
4. Further the discussion by listening to what others say and follow-up on the train of thought. Focus on what you hear.

2025 Discussions:
May 27: Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout, 270 pgs (2008). Pulitzer Prize. A retired schoolteacher is the focus of the human condition – its conflicts, tragedies, joys, and the endurance it requires.
June 24: The Bear Came Over the Mountain, by Alice Munro, 49 pages (1999). (Found in her collection*: Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage.) Grant puts Fiona in a retirement home for Alzheimer's, where she strikes up an unusually close relationship with a fellow patient.
July 22: The Stranger, by Albert Camus, 142 pgs (1942). An ordinary man is unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach. Camus explores "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd."
Aug 26: Bartleby the Scrivener,* by Herman Melville, 64 pgs (1853). Set in mid-1800s NYC's Wall Street: what if a young man caught in the rat race of commerce finally just said, "I would prefer not to?”
Sept 23:The Tempest, by Wm Shakespeare, ≈218 pgs (1611). Prospero uses illusion and manipulation to restore his daughter to her rightful place, honoring the glories of reconciliation and forgiveness.
Oct 28:We Have Always Lived in the Castle, by Shirley Jackson. 146 pgs (1962). Gothic tale of a peculiar girl named Merricat and her family’s dark secret.
Nov 25:The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, by Ursula K Le Guin, 32 pgs (1973). Some inhabitants of a peaceful kingdom cannot tolerate the act of cruelty that underlies the kingdom’s happiness.

NO discussion in December.

Thank you,
Cindy B
206-501-6621
bouldin@aol.com