Big Brain Book Group: So Far from Story Street: A Novel by Jeanne LaVallee

Sunday, February 9, 2014

So Far from Story Street: A Novel by Jeanne LaVallee

This piece of historical fiction, based on a true story, tells the tale of a young American soldier during WWI: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/storystreet/so-far-from-story-street-a-novel

My great uncle, Joseph Arthur, was born in Salem, Massachusetts during the Industrial Revolution. When Arthur was twenty years old, he was drafted into the campaign against Pancho Villa on the Mexican border. And although he returned from the desert unscathed--but forever changed, he was then called back into service to join the Yankee Division of the American Expeditionary Forces lead by General ‘Black Jack’ Pershing in France in 1917. From this campaign, he was not among the returning veterans.

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OUR HISTORY

We began this book group in September, 2004 with a few parameters and goals. Our parameters began with a sense that, for the moment, the group would be all female. Folks could come and go, but we needed to have a "core" of at least four who came more regularly. As much as possible the core group needed to be diverse in their cultural background (ethnicity, religion, etc.). Ideally, the “core” needed to read A LOT on their own (not just for book group). They also needed to be willing to have high level intellectual conversations which included concepts of power and privilege and the ability to talk about oppression (personal experience, courses on the topic, familiarity with the language, etc.). We agreed as a group that people didn't need to have finished a book to be part of the discussion, but someone in the group needed to have read it. Logistically, the meetings would be a once a month potluck dinner. When we invited “new folks,” we needed to let them know our “parameters.”

Our goals included developing “themes” and then selecting four to six books at a time to read over the months the theme would stretch. The books could come from sources such as our own previous reading, current bestseller lists, or recommendations from others.

Our nickname "The Big Brain Book Group" evolved after one member shared this story - She belonged to two book groups and was heading out to ours one night when her partner asked, "Is it the big brain or the small brain group?" The answer was "big brain" and the name stuck.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

So Far from Story Street: A Novel by Jeanne LaVallee

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