Scarsdale Adult School Catalog Winter 2024
Literature, Film, and Television
BookTalk with Harriet Sobol BookTalk introduces readers to a carefully chosen, provocative selection of novels for reading and informal discussion, considering the author’s writing techniques and the character’s personal journeys. HARRIET LANGSAM SOBOL is a teacher and author of books for children and young adults. She has written essays for the New York Times and other publications, and directs writing workshops. She has led this popular book discussion class for many years. The Bee Sting (2023) by Paul Murray Short-listed for the 2023 Booker Prize and the 2023 Nero Book Award for Fiction, winner of the 2023 An Post Irish Book Award for Novel of the Year, The Bee Sting is the latest novel by Paul Murray, author of Skippy Dies . The book is both an hilarious and heartbreaking saga about an Irish family in the midst of multiple emotional, financial, and existential crises. Set in modern day Ireland and narrated by each member of the fictional Barnes
family, this unforgettable tragicomedy is a thought-provoking tour de force. Wednesday, January 17 • 1:00pm-2:30pm • Online • Course 12380 • $30
The House of Doors (2023) by Tan Twan Eng Long-listed for the Booker Prize, this novel is a fictionalized account of a beleaguered W. ("Willie") Somerset Maugham and his travels in Penang with his secretary and lover in the 1920s, desperately in need of a subject for his next book. The story centers around his friendship with British high society expatriates, Robert and his wife Lesley Hamlyn, the disaffected narrator. Lesley confides details of a local murder and trial, infidelity, and other scandals that later infuse Maugham's short stories. This elaborate fiction about fiction
touches upon themes of public morality, colonialism, and racism. Wednesday, February 14 • 1:00pm-2:30pm • Online • Course 12382 • $30
Bournville (2022) by Jonathan Coe This wickedly funny portrait of postwar Britain traces one family's odyssey through four generations from VE Day to the COVID-19 pandemic. Central to that journey is Bournville, the docile village established by the Cadbury family to house the workers in their chocolate factory. This bittersweet book spans 75 years and a large cast of characters, capturing the evolution of mores and values within the family and also reflected in British society through snapshots of communal experiences that include Queen Elizabeth's coronation, the England-West Germany World Cup final in 1966, the death of Princess Diana, and the pandemic lockdown. Wednesday, March 20 • 1:00pm-2:30pm • Online • Course 12381 • $30
www.ScarsdaleAdultSchool.org • (914) 723-2325
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