Bookish: A Casual Book Club

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Bookish: A Casual Book Club

Discover your next literary adventure with HCC English professors Kofi Adisa, Sylvia Lee, and Laura Yoo! Dive into thought-provoking discussions about books and get expert recommendations for your next captivating read. Fuel your imagination and expand your literary horizons with these insightful educators

Episodes

  1. OCT 28

    Joyful Readings

    In this episode, Kofi, Sylvia, and Laura share their thoughts on readings that inspire joy or delight. They mention The Book of Delights by Ross Gay, What Comes Next and How to Like it by Abigail Thomas, One Man’s Meat by EB White, An Alphabet for Gourmets by MFK Fisher, and “Vertigo” by Les Murray.

    27 min

  2. SEP 26

    James by Percival Everett

    In this episode, Kofi, Sylvia, and Laura report back on their summer reading and dive into a discussion of James by Percival Everett. Spoiler Alert: We do talk about the ending of James!

    24 min

  3. JUN 28

    Summer Reading Lists

    In this episode, Kofi, Sylvia, and Laura talk about their summer reading lists. In addition to a variety of books on their individual lists, they will be reading James by Percival Everett. Be sure to read along with them. Books they mention in this episode: Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by Adrienne Maree Brown, Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy by April Baker-Bell, Bite by Bite by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, Once Upon a Prime: The Wondrous Connections Between Mathematics and Literature by Sarah Hart, The Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie Earling, These Trees, Those Leaves, This Flower, That Fruit: Poems by Hayan Charara.

    30 min

  4. APR 29

    The Fantasy Genre

    In this episode of Bookish, Kofi, Sylvia, and Laura explore the fantasy genre and its many subgenres, such as high fantasy, magical realism, Wuxia fantasy, and sci-fi fantasy. They discuss The Wings of Fire (the graphic novel) by Tui T. Sutherland, Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, and “La Héron” by Charlotte Ashley from Fantasy & Science Fiction Mar/Apr 2015.  Correction: The short story “Axolotl” that Laura mentions is written by Julio Cortazar, not Jorge Luis Borges.

    26 min

  5. MAR 27

    Grocery Store Reads

    Kofi, Sylvia, and Laura talk about "grocery store reads" or so-called "trashy novels" that range from romances like The Single Dad Project and Fifty Shades of Grey to crime thrillers like Reckoning.

    28 min

  6. FEB 13

    The novel, Erasure, by Percival Everett

    Kofi, Laura and Sylvia discuss the 2001 novel, Erasure, by Percival Everett. They also talk about the film based on the novel, American Fiction. American Fiction is Cord Jefferson's hilarious directorial debut, which confronts our culture’s obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk, a frustrated novelist who’s fed up with the establishment profiting from “Black” entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. The film has received five Oscar nominations.

    23 min

  7. JAN 17

    Graphic Literature

    Kofi, Sylvia and Laura discuss graphic literature. They review "Abina and the Important Men," a compelling and powerfully illustrated "graphic history" based on an 1876 court transcript of a West African woman named Abina, who was wrongfully enslaved and took her case to court.

    25 min

  8. 11/27/2023

    Memoirs

    In this episode, Kofi, Sylvia, and Laura talk about memoirs, including a discussion of Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu, HCC’s Bauder Lecture book for this year.

    25 min

  9. 10/17/2023

    Halloween & Scary Reads

    In this episode, Kofi, Sylvia, and Laura talk about scary stories! What is scary? Why do we write and read scary stories? Happy Halloween! The stories discussed: “The October Game” by Ray Bradbury, “Survivor Type” by Stephen King, “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, “Free Jim’s Mine” by Tananarive Due, and “Mask of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe.

    25 min

  10. 09/25/2023

    Summer Reading Recap

    In this episode of Bookish, Kofi, Sylvia, and Laura share their summer reading adventures. Listen to find out how they fared in their the summer reading challenges!

    23 min

  11. 06/20/2023

    Summer Reading

    Come listen to Sylvia, Laura, and Kofi's chat about their summer reading lists, which consist of a wide range of novels, poetry, and memoir. Listeners are invited to join in and read with the hosts.

    26 min

  12. 04/26/2023

    "If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English" by Noor Naga

    Listen to Sylvia, Laura, and Kofi's wonderful discussion of Noor Naga's micro-novel If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English, which follows the story of two nameless characters---one an "American" girl, the other an Egyptian "boy". Naga situates her story in the aftermath of the Arab Spring in 2010s, using unique storytelling techniques to question the limits of identity, identity politics, and shared humanity.

    28 min
  • 12 Episodes

About

Discover your next literary adventure with HCC English professors Kofi Adisa, Sylvia Lee, and Laura Yoo! Dive into thought-provoking discussions about books and get expert recommendations for your next captivating read. Fuel your imagination and expand your literary horizons with these insightful educators

Information

  • Creator
    bookishacasualbookclub
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2024
  • Episodes
    12
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2023 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Bookish: A Casual Book Club

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