Scarsdale Adult School Catalog Spring/Summer 2024
Book Chat with Anna Katsavos Join fellow fiction enthusiasts to discuss critically acclaimed novels.
ANNA KATSAVOS , PhD, is an experienced book group facilitator. A SUNY Professor Emerita of English Literature and Women’s Studies, she has received numerous awards for teaching, and her scholarship has been published in a variety of literary journals. She has interviewed many best-selling authors and has presented interactive programs focusing on a wide range of women’s issues. Additionally, she conducts writing, editing and publishing workshops.
Counterfeit (2023) by Kirstin Chen
This fiction is a Reese’s Book Club pick and the subject of a fierce eight-way bidding war for TV rights. Fast-paced thriller, feminist caper, and cautionary tale all rolled into one, this clever read is lots of fun. Thoroughly entertaining, Chen has set out to deconstruct the American dream as well as the myths of “the model minority,” exploding stereotype after stereotype about Asian and Asian Americans. Main characters Ava Wong and Winnie Fang, college roommates turned con-artists, find themselves involved with a designer handbag scam that is about to blow up. Ava, a strait-laced, rule-abiding Chinese American lawyer with a successful surgeon as a husband, a young son, and a beautiful home has built the perfect life. Winnie, once timid and shy, is now a confident woman of the world, dripping in luxury goods -- including a coveted Birkin in classic orange -- but she needs a favor. And so the adventure begins. Presented via alternating points of view and told in two very distinct voices, the protagonists' confessions aim to
explain how Ava and Winnie's ordinary lives detoured toward a life of crime, but, in the end, we are left wondering whose version is authentic and whose is fake. Pair this course with the author visit with Kirstin Chen (Course 12379), also in the schedule. Separate registration is required. Tuesday, March 5 • 10:00am-11:30am • Zoom • Course 12425 • $30
The Half Moon (2023) by Mary Beth Keane Keane's fourth novel concerns a faltering marriage but also the small details of ordinary daily life. The entire book takes place in the span of just one week in the life of Malcolm Gephardt, owner of the Half Moon bar, and his wife Jess, who has been trying unsuccessfully to have a baby and now seems poised to leave Malcolm for another man with three young children. As their town is engulfed in a massive blizzard, the inner lives of the two main characters remain front and center through Keane's absorbing prose. Pair this course with the author visit with Mary Beth Keane ( Course 12427 ), also in the schedule. Separate registration is required. Tuesday, March 12 • 10:00am-11:30am • Zoom • Course 12428 • $30
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store (2023) by James McBride From the author of The Color or Water , The Good Lord Bird , and Deacon King Kong is a new story about Chicken Hill, a Pennsylvanian neighborhood of Blacks and immigrant Jews struggling for a good life in an overwhelmingly white, Christian country. Members of the town unite to protect a deaf boy from state institutionalization in a gripping tale that celebrates the power of community. Wednesday, March 20 • 7:00pm-8:30pm • Zoom • Course 12377 • $30
www.ScarsdaleAdultSchool.org • (914) 723-2325
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