you'll join us as we explore this new way to engage in lifelong learning. What is a
MOOC? A MOOC allows anyone .... Inferno by Dan Brown. In his international ...
The Ridgefield Library ’s Fiction Newsletter
May 2013
The Fiction of Relationship - a MOOC As part of our 2013 Adult Summer Reading Program, the Ridgefield Library will be delving into the world of Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs. The New York Times called 2012 “The Year of the MOOC,” and we hope you’ll join us as we explore this new way to engage in lifelong learning. What is a MOOC? A MOOC allows anyone with an internet connection to take college courses for free. These classes expand a university’s reach beyond a physical campus to literally millions of students around the world. While the term was coined in 2008, it was in 2011, when three professors from Stanford University offered their course on artificial intelligence online and over 160,000 students signed up worldwide, that the world of MOOCs exploded. Last year, companies such as Coursera, Udacity, and edX began partnerships with major universities and colleges to offer a wide range of courses online. How is the Ridgefield Library participating? This summer the Ridgefield Library will be a meet-up destination for a course entitled The Fiction of Relationship taught by Dr. Arnold Weinstein from Brown University and offered through Coursera. For ten consecutive Wednesdays beginning on June 19th, we will gather at 7 PM in the library’s program room to watch Dr. Weinstein’s video lectures and then have a facilitated discussion about what we’ve learned. You will be asked to sign up on the Coursera website to be a participant in the course and also register at the library website. What will be the focus of the course ? Here is how Dr. Weinstein describes the course: “What is the nature of our relationship to others and the world? How can literature help us see these relationships more clearly? This course seeks to explore such questions through adventurous readings of ten great works of narrative fiction from the 18th to the 20th century.” (for more information go to Coursera.org and search for The Fiction of Relationship). What are the course readings and how much of a time commitment is involved? Your commitment can be as much or as little as you like. The selections to be discussed in the course are listed below. We will have multiple copies of these titles available beginning the last week of May, and many of the works have free eBook versions. Audiobooks of the works will also be offered when available. You may attend all or some of the lectures (once you sign up with Coursera, you will also be able to access the lectures from home). Many of these works may be familiar to you, and you are welcome to come and listen to the lectures without making a greater time commitment. Here are the works that will be explored: Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prevost Bartleby the Scrivener and Benito Cereno by Herman Melville Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and The Country Doctor by Franz Kafka To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf Light in August by William Faulkner Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas Beloved by Toni Morrison Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee For more information and to register contact Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski at
[email protected] or by phone at x1003.
472 Main St., Ridgefield, CT 06877—203/438-2282—www.ridgefieldlibrary.org
The Ridgefield Library’s FICTION Newsletter– Page 2
New Fiction (Annotations from BookLetters) Flora by Gail Godwin. Award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author Godwin's penetrating and haunting narrative about intimacy and loss and remorse, set against a background of world-changing events.
A Delicate Truth by John le Carré. International star le Carré delivers another sure-fire crowd pleaser. A counter-terrorist operation, codenamed Wildlife, is being mounted on the British crown colony of Gibraltar.
Paris by Edward Rutherfurd. From the grand master of the historical novel comes a dazzling epic portrait of Paris that leaps through centuries as it weaves the tales of families whose fates are forever entwined with the City of Light.
The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh. Having drawn comparisons to Gone with the Wind and Out of Africa, The Fever Tree is a page-turner of the very first order. Frances Irvine, left destitute in the wake of her father's sudden death, has been forced to abandon her life of wealth and privilege in London and emigrate to South Africa, a country torn apart by greed. Dual Inheritance by Joanna Hershon. Hershon writes an engrossing novel of passion and friendship--and their reverberations across generations. Two young men form an unlikely friendship, bolstered by a fierce shared desire to transcend their circumstances. But their paths diverge--one rising on Wall Street, the other becoming a kind of global humanitarian--testing their friendship. Inferno by Dan Brown. In his international blockbusters The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and The Lost Symbol, Brown masterfully fused history, art, codes, and symbols. In this riveting new thriller, he returns to his element and has crafted his highest-stakes novel to date, featuring the Harvard professor of symbology, Robert Langdon. The publisher Doubleday invites you to participate in a unique publishing event. Come to the Ridgefield Library on May 15th at 7:30 PM and enjoy a live stream of Dan Brown's appearance at Lincoln Center. The #1 international bestselling author will speak about his new novel Inferno and about science, religion, codes, book publishing, movie making, and a few surprise topics. Please register at our website.
For a more extensive list of new fiction, mystery, and science fiction and fantasy titles, visit our website at www.ridgefieldlibrary.org
Staff Picks Elise’s Picks Benediction by Kent Haruf.. Colorado native Kent Haruf’s graceful fifth novel is once again set in the fictional high plains town of Holt, CO. Dad Lewis, an elderly hardware store owner, stoically confronts his impending death as he reflects on his life, his blessings, and his regrets. Gathered around Dad are his devoted wife and daughter, three kindly neighborhood women, and a troubled young minister. Painfully absent is his estranged son, Frank. Haruf’s novels honor the subtle beauty and quiet virtues of prairie life and celebrate what one character calls “the precious ordinary.” Bill Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain.. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award Ben Fountain’s impressive first novel shadows a squad of American soldiers on the raucous last day of their government sponsored “Victory Tour.” Instant celebrities after they were captured on film rushing to the aid of fallen comrades in an Iraqi firefight, the remaining eight members of B Squad are honored guests of the Dallas Cowboys at their legendary Thanksgiving halftime show. The overwhelming patriotic pageantry is viewed through the bewildered eyes of 19 year-old specialist Billy Lynn. A reluctant hero, grieving over the death of his friends, Billy longs to try domestic life and fears that he won’t survive redeployment. Touching and profound, this satiric send-up of our media crazed society, and the absurdity of war, has been hailed as the Catch 22 of the Iraqi conflict.
Dorothy’s Picks The House at the End of Hope Street by Menna Van Praag. When Alba leaves her doctoral program in history at Cambridge, she is at her wit’s end. Then, for reasons she can’t explain, she is drawn to a house at 11 Hope Street and accepts an invitation from a beautiful older woman named Peggy to reside there for 99 days. Two other women, each facing life crises have also been offered shelter here. Alba gradually discovers the house is enchanted and has been the home to many of her literary heroines including Daphne du Maurier, Dorothy Parker, and Virginia Woolf, all of whom are ready to offer advice. This whimsical story with a touch of magic would make a perfect summer read. A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Maara. This novel follows a group of Chechens over the tumultuous decade from 1994 through 2004. Plagued by two wars and political unrest, the characters struggle to maintain their humanity in a time of insanity in their native land. Sonja is a young doctor left to treating injuries she could never have imagined, and Akhmed is a resident of a small village trying to protect Havaa, the eight year-old daughter of a neighbor who has become one of the many victims of the country’s upheaval. Be forewarned, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena includes descriptions of wartime atrocities, but it also celebrates the power of loyalty and human love to endure against all odds, while skillfully injecting black humor into a grim reality. It’s hard to believe the author of this astonishing debut novel is only 29 years old.
