Reading ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’
Reading ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’
With Faith Ressmeyer
A six week course
Thursday mornings from 9.45 – 11.30am, from March 14th 2013 – April 18th 2013
Thursday afternoons from 2.30 – 4.15pm, from March 14th 2013 – April 18th 2013
By popular demand, Faith Ressmeyer will lead a further course on a book set in the USA, and written by a woman.
Their Eyes Were Watching is by Zora Neale Hurston, one of The USA’s less well known great writers. Writing in the 30′s and setting her tale in the country’s first all-black town, Zora Neale Hurston grabs us and submerges us in this unique story – one version of what it was like to live and love as a dynamic black woman in a liberated but still-racist society. Get ready to laugh and mourn.
Mesmerizing in its immediacy and haunting in its subtlety, Their Eyes Were Watching God tells the story of Janie Crawford—fair-skinned, long-haired, dreamy woman—who comes of age expecting better treatment than what she gets from her three husbands and community. Then she meets Tea Cake, a younger man who captivates Janie’s heart and spirit, and offers her the chance to relish life without being one man’s mule or another man’s adornment.
Initially published in 1937, this novel about a proud, independent black woman’s quest for identity, a journey that takes her through three marriages and back to her roots, has been one of the most widely read and highly acclaimed novels in the canon of African-American literature.
Publisher’s Synopsis
The course fee of £56 includes coffee and a discounted copy of the book.
For information, or to book your place, phone 01206 824050, or email the bookshop.
See below for details of previous courses. Join our mailing list to receive information about future courses.
Reading My Antonia
with Faith Ressmeyer
a six week course
Thursday mornings from 9.45 – 11.30am, from November 1st – Dec 6th 2012
Willa Sibert Cather
Living among the first generation of white settlers in 1880s Nebraska, writer Willa Cather witnessed the rigours of pioneer life for herself.
Our autumn reader’s course studies her great American classic. ‘My Antonia’, part of the ‘Nebraska’ trilogy.
Our tutor Faith says:
‘We move to the pioneer plains of Nebraska with Willa Cather’s ‘My Antonia’, a study of lands newly occupied (and those left behind) and of the lives of those who survive and thrive or die there.
Willa Cather’s earlier novel O! Pioneers is the perfect accompaniment for those who wish to start early and get immersed in the captivating landscape and characters of this time and place.’
The course fee of £50 includes tea/coffee, and a copy of the book.
For information, or to book your place, phone 01206 824050, or email the bookshop.
See below for details of previous courses. Join our mailing list to receive information about future courses.
Reading ‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’
Thursday mornings from 9.45 – 11.30am, from February 9th – March 15th 2012
Carson McCullers
Carson McCullers, friend of Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams, wrote The Heart is a Lonely Hunter when she was just 23.
The novel is the choice of Faith Ressmeyer for the next bookshop study group from February 9 to March 15th, 2012, on Thursday mornings from 10 – 11.30. Sign up soon and share close reading and stimulating discussion.
The course fee of £48 includes tea/coffee and biscuits, and a discount of £1 on the book.
There may be an optional film screening at the end of the course on Thursday March 22nd – timings TBA.
For information, or to book your place, phone 01206 824050, or email the bookshop.
See below for details of previous courses. Join our mailing list to receive information about future courses.
Reading ‘The Awakening’
Thursday mornings from 10 – 11.30am, from October 13th – November 17th.
Kate Chopin
Head South for some Louisiana heat this autumn as tutor Faith Ressmeyer makes a welcome return for our autumn reading course. This time we’ll be studying ‘The Awakening’ by Kate Chopin.
Set in New Orleans and a nearby Gulf island, this short novel’s passionate and enigmatic protagonist searches for true meaning in her life and challenges society’s norms as she does so.
Sometimes called an American Madame Bovary, both the author and the work attracted critical horror when the book was published in 1899. Come and find out why!
The 6 weekly sessions will undertake an informal study of the book, and will take place on Thursday mornings between 10 and 11.30am.
The course fee of £48 includes tea/coffee and biscuits, and a copy of the book.
For information, or to book your place, phone 01206 824050, or email the bookshop.
Reading ‘Ethan Frome’
Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton
Set in chilly Massachusetts, this novella by Edith Wharton, published in 1911, tells the story of isolated characters and, as the heat of the relationship between them develops, the tragedy that unites them.
Faith Ressmeyer is a lover of good literature, and has recently retired after a lifetime of teaching. Keen to attract all-comers to a ‘good read’, and to share her enthusiasm for ‘Ethan Frome’, she has kindly offered to lead an informal study of this book in 6 sessions at Wivenhoe Bookshop.
Sessions will take place on Thursday mornings from 10 – 11.30 am, beginning Feb 3rd 2011, and ending on March 10th. Included in the fee of £42 is a copy of the book; a screening of the film, and a warm room to meet in and talk about the story. Refreshments will be available, and numbers will be limited so sign up in the bookshop soon.
Faith talks about the course here:
“I chose this book because it is a dramatic and interesting story and a favourite of mine. It is short but also packed with good writing and contains lots to talk about. We will look together at what we read for each session (averaging only about 20 pages per week). My hope is that I will ‘lead’ the group in discussing the book rather than ‘teach’ it, and the course structure might look something like this: “
Introduction, Setting and Structure
Establishing Character
Themes and Readings
The Climax and Narrative Style
Viewing of the Film
Comparing the Book and Film. Final ideas and opinions.
For information, or to book your place, phone 01206 824050, or email the bookshop.
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