What we’re about
This is a group where we read everything out loud during our meetings — poetry, short stories, plays, novels and non-fiction. Therefore, there’s no need to prepare by reading anything in advance. Either a link to the text will be provided, or we'll do screen-sharing.
You don't have to be a "good reader" to participate; we all get better through practice. It's more fun and more learning happens when people read together, sharing their perspectives.
Another advantage of this format is that we can all react "in the moment" to what we are reading, unlike in regular book clubs where you read the book first, and then forget some of it by the time you actually get to talk about it.
The group was founded by Phyllis in mid-2020, and has been going strong ever since!
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Read-Aloud: "Life of Galileo", by Bertholdt BrechtLink visible for attendees
(In our readalouds, the text is screen-shared.)
In all Brecht’s work there is no more substantial and significant landmark than the first version of Galileo, which he wrote in three weeks of November 1938, not long after the Munich agreement had opened the door of Eastern Europe to Hitler. As is well known, it inaugurated the series of major plays whose writing occupied him until his return to Germany some ten years later: from Mother Courage to The Days of the Commune, those great works of his forties on which his reputation largely rests.
Brecht, Bertolt. Brecht Collected Plays: 5: Life of Galileo; Mother Courage and Her Children (World Classics) (p. 9). Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.
Image from 2017 Young Vic production.
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Latecomers (unless we know you) will generally NOT BE ADMITTED once the reading starts.If this is your first time with us, consider joining five minutes early, so we can work out any technical issues you may be having.
- Readings ABOUT Shakespeare (and his plays)Link visible for attendees
This is a read-aloud session, with all text shared on-screen. You do not need to purchase the book for yourself, although we encourage you to do so.
For the foreseeable future, we will be reading from a selection of works about William Shakespeare and his plays.
Our primary works are Marjorie Garber's "Shakespeare After All" and "Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare".
The main plan is to read about Shakespeare plays in the chronological order adopted by Garber, and synchronized to the live readings of the plays we do later in same evening at 8pm EST in our "Milt Commons Shakespeare" sessions. See upcoming event listings for details.
Our typical rotation is to first read what Garber has to say about the current play, then in the next week or two, read Isaac Asimov, Harold Bloom, and Mark Van Doren's chapters on the play. If we decide we have read enough about a particular play, we turn to "Will in the World".
The reading for the current session will generally be given in a pinned comment on the event page.
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Late-comers, unless we know you, will generally not be admitted, as it disrupts the reading. However, it's fine for attendees to drop off at any time they want.
