Smith Reads

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

By Karen Joy Fowler

“What is the boundary between human and animal beings and what happens when that boundary is blurred are two of many questions raised in Fowler’s provocative sixth novel (The Jane Austen Book Club, 2004), the narration of a young woman grieving over her lost sister, who happens to be a chimpanzee. Rosemary recounts her family history at first haltingly and then with increasingly articulate passion. In 1996, she is a troubled student at U.C. Davis who rarely speaks out loud. She thinks as little as possible about her childhood and the two siblings no longer part of her family. But during a Thanksgiving visit home to Bloomington, Indiana, where her father is a psychology professor, that past resurfaces....”
— Excerpt from Kirkus Reviews

Schedule

Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Faciltator's Discussion
Seelye Hall, 3–4 p.m.

Monday, September 3, 2018
Author's Address with Karen Joy Fowler
John M. Greene Hall, 3:30–5:30 p.m.

Tuesday, September 4, 2018
In-House Discussions
7–8 p.m.
Interested in-house discussion facilitators please contact Jane Stangl, ideally before the last day of classes.

For more information, see The New York Times Book Review and Kirkus Reviews.

Why Smith Reads?

The first-year reading program at Smith has been in place since 1999. Since its inception, the program's mission has been predicated on the awareness that co-curricular activities are vital to a student's overall academic success and residential experience. Reading closely and deeply serves as a tool—a means—not an end in itself. Reading prompts participants to reflect on their own background, beliefs and experience. Engaging in reading with others provides all readers with a commonality to anchor further conversation.

While long-form written texts (books) comprise the basis of most first-year reading experiences, other forms of "texts," such as paintings, photographs, film, poetry and works of art are also considered valuable as potential and future reads.

As a community initiative, Smith Reads operates so that all incoming students:

• are provided with a shared intellectual experience upon their arrival at Smith
• may engage in a facilitated conversation about topics of intellectual, social and/or ethical significance with their house peers
• are offered an opportunity to read and personally interact with critically acclaimed authors, scholars and artists
• can interact immediately with Smith faculty and teaching staff invested in their learning

Smith Reads enables new students to consider the college's essential capacities that are designed to guide their education. Close readings of the chosen text enhance the attributes we espouse as a liberal arts college, where we value critical thinking, respectful conversation, attentive listening and articulating ideas and thoughts.

Past Readings

• 2017: The Book of Unknown Americans, Cristina Henriquez
• 2016: A Tale for the Time Being, Ruth Ozeki '80
• 2015: The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View From the Future, Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway
• 2014: Whistling Vivaldi: And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us, Claude Steele
• 2013: My Beloved World, Sonia Sotomayor
• 2012: Dreaming in French: The Paris Years of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Susan Sontag, and Angela Davis, Alice Yaeger Kaplan
• 2011: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot
• 2010: Half the Sky, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
• 2009: The Green Collar Economy, Van Jones
• 2008: Native Guard, Natasha Trethewey
• 2007: Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
• 2006: Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World, Tracy Kidder
• 2005: Kettle Bottom, Diane Gilliam Fisher
• 2004: The Gangster We Are All Looking For, Lê Thi Diem Thúy
• 2003: Atonement, Ian McEwan
• 2002: Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich
• 2001: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman
• 2000: My Year of Meats, Ruth Ozeki
• 1999: Respect, Sarah Lawrence Lightfoot