- Details
A dynamic, liberal arts education, for free at the public library! Huntington Public Library's Great Books Reading and Discussion Group meets once a month to discuss works from a curriculum designed and published by the Great Books Foundation, an independent, nonprofit educational organization established in 1947 by University of Chicago educators Robert Maynard Hutchins and Mortimer Adler. Its mission is “to empower readers of all ages to become more reflective and responsible thinkers.” To register, please use the program code HMA302. For more information, contact Tom Cohn at .
Monday, October 26 • 7:15 pm • Register online for HMA302-Z
Registration is required to receive Zoom sign-in via email.
Join our Great Books program, now in its sixteenth year! The short readings are well-suited for our busy lifestyles. Re-connect with an author you have loved, or discover a new one! These readings are in the public domain and readily accessible on the internet. For information, contact Tom Cohn by email: . Check out our blog at hplgreatbooks.blogspot.com. Registration is required to receive Zoom sign-in via email.
The ancient Mesopotamian tale of Gilgamesh is the oldest existing written epic of any human civilization. Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, goes in search of the elixir of eternal life held by Utnapishtim. This story was known far and wide in the Ancient Near East before becoming lost and forgotten. In the modern era archaeologists painstakingly deciphered cunieform tablets to bring the epic to life again. David Damrosch of Columbia University has written, “Gilgamesh’s quest may have failed, but along the way he learns lessons about just and unjust rule, political seductions and sexual politics, and the vexed relations among humanity, the gods, and the world of nature.”
Monday, November 23 • 7:15 pm • Register online for HMA302-Z
Registration is required to receive Zoom sign-in via email.
Join our Great Books program, now in its sixteenth year! The short readings are well-suited for our busy lifestyles. Re-connect with an author you have loved, or discover a new one! These readings are in the public domain and readily accessible on the internet. For information, contact Tom Cohn by email: . Check out our blog at hplgreatbooks.blogspot.com. Registration is required to receive Zoom sign-in via email.
Aeschylus was a great Athenian playwright of tragedy. In his “Prometheus Bound,” Prometheus, a member of a superhuman race known as the Titans, is chained to a crag on a mountainside. The gods are punishing Prometheus for giving humankind fire and other useful arts. “Prometheus Bound” consists of a sequence of dialogues between Prometheus and the other characters: Oceanos, Io, Hermes, and perhaps most significantly, the daughters of Oceanos who form the Chorus.
PLEASE NOTE: There will be no Great Books Discussion in December.
Tuesday, November 17 • 2:00 – 4:00 pm • Register online for HMA165
Registration is required to receive Zoom sign-in via email.
A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight
Big Little Lies meets Presumed Innocent in this riveting novel, in which a woman’s brutal murder reveals the perilous compromises some couples make, and the secrets they keep, in order to stay together. Open to all. Registration is required. You will receive a Zoom link by email the day before the meeting.
Tuesday, December 15 • 2:00 – 4:00 pm • Register online for HMA165
Registration is required to receive Zoom sign-in via email.
The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian
Falling in love with a wounded former patient and accompanying him on a cycling trip to Vietnam, an emergency-room doctor uncovers a bizarre series of deceptions that culminate in her boyfriend’s unexplained disappearance. Open to all. Registration is required. You will receive a Zoom link by email the day before the meeting.
Wednesday November 18 • 7:00 – 8:30 pm • Register online for HMA631
Registration is required to receive Zoom sign-in via email.
Coming to My Senses, The Making of a Counterculture Cook by Alice Waters
There is no single American narrative, there are millions of personal stories across the country: gay, straight, white, black, Asian, Latino, Native American,rural, urban, immigrant, religious, secular, living with disability, able-bodied (and more!) Join librarian Thérèse Purcell Nielsen in a year-long project of examining our American Stories as recorded in memoirs and autobiographies.
In November, we will be discussing Coming to My Senses, The Making of a Counterculture Cook, Alice Waters’ account of the life events that lead to her opening Chez Panisse, the famed Berkeley restaurant that changed the way Americans think about, write about and eat food. Start the holiday cooking season inspired by the story of one of America’s visionary chefs!
Reserve a copy of either title (or all our future titles) through the Huntington Public Library catalog, accessible on our website, or download a digital copy via our Overdrive collection, also accessible through our website or the Libby app for mobile devices.
Please contact one of our reference librarians at 631-427-5165 ext 251 for help in reserving either book. If you have questions about our American Stories project, please contact Thérèse Purcell Nielsen at . Open to all. Registration is required. You will receive a Zoom link by email the day before the meeting.
Wednesday December 16 • 7:00 – 8:30 pm • Register online for HMA631
Registration is required to receive Zoom sign-in via email.
Good Talk, A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob
In November, we will be discussing Good Talk, A Memoir in Conversations, by Mira Jacob, is the subject of December’s discussion. Jacob’s memoir is a “graphic memoir” which deals with issues of ethnicity, interracial relationships and parenting a child of color in our society. This illustrated memoir is a great introduction to graphic novels and is a heart-breaking and humorous look at the way modern families deal with an often inhospitable world.
Please contact one of our reference librarians at 631-427-5165 ext 251 for help in reserving either book. If you have questions about our American Stories project, please contact Thérèse Purcell Nielsen at . Open to all. Registration is required. You will receive a Zoom link by email the day before the meeting.
