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Alumni Weekend 2009 – Symposium

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The 20th Annual Alumni Symposium – May 1–2, 2009
  On Reading – Practice, Prohibition, Possibility
  Suggested Reads
 


Below is a list of books and articles you might consider reading in preparation for the Symposium.

Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra ′84
Vikram Chandra’s novel, Sacred Games, has been called a contemporary masterpiece reminiscent of Dickens. Plan to read this remarkable work and be ready for a discussion with the author. Vikram will speak at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 2 in the Ballroom, followed by a book signing. View this important link about Sacred Games.

On Reading by Guy Davenport
Verlyn Klinkenborg suggested that this marvelous essay be read by all symposium attendees.

Other Planning Committee Suggestions

Do you enjoy reading about reading?
Choose from the following list of books that alumni have compiled. Add a book or two of your own choosing by submitting your suggestions to the alumni office at alumni@pomona.edu.

Battles, Matthew – Library: An Unquiet History
Bennett, Alan – An Uncommon Reader: A Novella
Borges, Jorge Luis – The Library of Babel
Bradbury, Ray – Fahrenheit 451
Dirda, Michael – Classics for Pleasure
Eco, Umberto – The Name of the Rose
Foster, Thomas C. – How to Read Literature Like a Professor
Gaines, Ernest – A Lesson Before Dying
Ha
nff, Helene – 84, Charing Cross Road
Manguel, Alberto – A History of Reading
                           The Library at Night
McMurtry, Larry – Books: A Memoir
Nafisi, Azar – Reading Lolita in Tehran
Nakazawa, Keiji – Barefoot Gen
Petroski, Henry – The Book on the Bookshelf
Schlink
, Bernard – The Reader
Seierstad, Asne – The Bookseller of Kabul
Shaffer, Mary Ann – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
Spiegelman, Art – Maus: A Survivor’s Tale
Woolf, Virginia – The Common Reader

Do you belong to a Book Club or do you want to start one?
Share information about your reading group, how it is formed, what the “rules” are, and what books have been successful. Your reading list may be posted as well by contacting the Alumni Relations Office at alumni@pomona.edu.

A group of Southern California alumnae living in Claremont and Pasadena started a Book Club in 2000. They chose to limit membership to eight, meet monthly alternating between Pasadena and Claremont, and try to reach a balance between classics and contemporary works.

Listed below is the list of completed books since the group started in 2000:

Achebe, Chinua – Things Fall Apart
Alexander, Caroline – The Endurance
Allende, Isabel – The House of the Spirits
Aristophanes – Lysistrata
Atwood, Margaret – The Tent
Auburn, David – Proof
Austen, Jane – Emma
Bail, Murray – Eucalyptus
Bainbridge, Beryl – The Birthday Boys
Banville, John – The Sea
                        The Untouchable
Black, Benjamin (aka John Banville)– Christine Falls
Boswell, James – The Life of Samuel Johnson (selections)
Bradbury, Ray – Fahrenheit 451
Bronte, Charlotte – Jane Eyre
Bronte, Emily – Wuthering Heights
Brooks, Geraldine – Year of Wonders
Brown, Dan – The Da Vinci Code
Caldwell, Bo – The Distant Land of My Father
                     Pasadena’s One City,   One Book
Camus, Albert – The Plague
Cather, Willa – My Antonia
Chandra, Vikram – Sacred Games
Chaucer, Geoffrey – Canterbury Tales (Selections)
Cheever, Susan – American Bloomsbury
Coetzee, J.M. – Disgrace
Conrad, Joseph – The Heart of Darkness
                          The Secret Agent
Conway, Jill Kerr – Written By Herself
Crane, Stephen – The Red Badge of Courage
Cunningham, Michael – The Hours
Dante – (Ciaran Carson, trans.) – The Inferno of Dante Alighieri (Selections)
Davies, Robertson – Fifth Business 
DeWitt, Helen – The Last Samurai
Dickens, Charles – Our Mutual Friend
Dostoevsky, Feodor – The Brothers Karamazov
Drabble, Margaret – The Seven Sisters
Ecclesiastes from The Old Testament
Eliot, George – Middlemarch
Elliott, Mai – The Sacred Willow
Emerson, Ralph Waldo – The American Scholar: An Oration
Erdrich, Louise – The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
Eugenides, Jeffrey – Middlesex
Fairchild, B.H. – The Art of the Lathe (Poetry)
Faulkner, William – Light in August
                             The Sound and the Fury
Fitzgerald, F. Scott – The Great Gatsby
Fforde, Jasper – The Eyre Affair
Forster, E.M. – A Passage to India
                       Howard’s End
Franzen, Jonathan – The Corrections
Frayn, Michael – Copenhagen
Frazier, Charles – Cold Mountain
Friedman, Thomas – From Beirut to Jerusalem
                              The World Is Flat
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel – Love in the Time of Cholera
Haddon, Mark – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night–Time
Hamilton, Denise – The Jasmine Trade
Hanff, Helene – 84, Charing Cross Road
Heaney, Seamus, translator – Beowulf
Hillerman, Tony – A Thief of Time
Hosseini, Khaled – The Kite Runner  
Hulme, Keri – The Bone People
Hurston, Zora Neale – Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous – Brave New World
Ibsen, Henrik – An Enemy of the People
James, Henry – The Ambassadors
James, Henry – The Portrait of a Lady
Jin, Ha – The Crazed
Jones, Lloyd – Mr. Pip
Joyce, James – Dubliners
Kafka, Franz – Metamorphosis
Kaminsky, Stuart – A Pale Red Sunrise
                             Black Knight in Red Square
Kidder, Tracy – Mountains Beyond Mountains
Kingsolver, Barbara – The Poisonwood Bible
Lahiri, Jhumpa – Interpreter of Maladies
Lewis, C.S. – Mere Christianity
Lightman, Alan – Einstein’s Dreams
Luke – Gospel
MacLaverty, Bernard – Grace Notes
Mahfouz, Naguib – Midaq Alley
McCullough, David – 1776
                              John Adams
                              Mornings on Horseback
McEwen, Ian – Atonement
                      Saturday
Melville, Herman – Bartleby, The Scrivener
Morrison, Toni – Beloved
Mortenson, Greg – Three Cups of Tea
Mosley, Walter – Devil in a Blue Dress
Munro, Alice – Selected short stories including Carried Away and The Bear Came Over
                       the Mountain
Nabokov, Vladimir – Ada, or Ardor
Nafisi, Azar – Reading Lolita in Tehran
Nemirovsky, Irene – Suite Francaise
O’Connell, Carol – Find Me
O’Connor, Flannery – Selected Short Stories
                               Old Man
O’Neill, Joseph – Netherland
Pamuk, Orhan – Snow
Paretsky, Sara – Indemnity Only
Patchett, Anne – Bel Canto
Pearl, Mathew – The Dante Club
Proulx, Annie – The Accordion Crimes
Raskin, Ellen – Hotflashes
Rice, Anne – Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt
Robinson, Marilynne – Gilead
                                 Housekeeping
Rowling, J.K. – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Rushdie, Salman – Midnight’s Children
                            The Satanic Verses
Salinger, J.D. – Catcher in The Rye
Salzman, Mark – The Soloist
Saramago, Jose – The Cave
Sayers, Dorothy – Strong Poison
Schlink, Bernard – The Reader
Shaffer, Mary Ann – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
Shakespeare, William  – Hamlet
                                    Henry IV (Parts I and II)
Smith, Zadie – On Beauty – )
Sobel, Dava – Longitude
Solzhenitsyn, Aleksander– One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Stegner, Wallace – Angle of Repose
Stoppard, Tom – Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Toibin, Colm – The Master
Tsukiyama, Gail – The Samurai’s Garden
Twain, Mark – A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
                     The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Tyler, Anne – Back When We Were Grownups
                    Dinner At the Homesick Restaurant
Urrea, Luis Alberto – The Hummingbird’s Daughter
Vanderbeek, Jennifer – Easter Island
Virgil – (Trans. Robert Fitzgerald) – The Aeneid
West, Morris – The Devil’s Advocate
Wharton, Edith – Ethan Frome
                         House of Mirth
Wilder, Thornton – Our Town
Wills, Garry – Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America
Winchester, Simon – The Professor and the Madman
Wodehouse, P.G. – The Code of the Woosters
Wolff, Tobias – This Boy’s Life: A Memoir
Woolf, Virginia – Mrs. Dalloway
                         Orlando
Yeats, William Butler – “The Second Coming”

In Claremont, there is a book club that calls the Village home. Below is a list of books they have read over the years.

Atkinson, Kate – Behind The Scenes At The Museum
Barker, Pat – Blow Your House Down
Berger, John – To The Wedding
Conrad, Joseph – Heart Of Darkness
Cunningham, Michael – The Hours
Dante – Inferno
Didion, Joan – Political Frictions
Dorothy, Alison – The Postman
Dramant, Anita – The Rend Tent
Durrell, Lawrence – Balthazar
Durrell, Lawrence – Justine
Edgerton, Clyde – Walking Across Egypt
Elliott, George – Mill On The Floss
Elliott, Mai – The Sacred Willow
Fitch, Janet – White Oleander
Fitzgerald, Penelope – The Blue Flower
Golden, Arthur – Memoirs Of A Geisha
Hak Kyung Cha, Theresa – Dictee
Hornsby, Nick – About A Boy
Hymes, James – The Lectures Tale
Jeter Naslund, Sena – Ahab's Wife
Kingsolver, Barbara – Poisonwood Bible
Kipling, Rudyard – The Light That Failed
Kraemer, Don – Blue Oranges
Kureishi, Hanif – Intimacy
Mahfouz, Naguib – Midaq Alley
Martel, Yan – The Life Of Pi
Mattenry, Jackie – Age Of Kali
Melville, Herman – Moby Dick
Nabokov, Vladimir – Pale Fire
Ondaatje, Michael – Anil's Ghost
Rashid, Ahmed – Taliban
Roy, Aarundhati – God Of Small Things
Salzman, Mark – Lying Awake
Schlink, Bernhard – The Reader
Smith, Zadre – White Teeth
Straight, Susan – The Gettin' Place
Trevor, William – After Rain
Winchester, Simon – Professor And The Madman
Woolf, Virgina – The Guineas
Woolf, Virginia – Mrs. Dalloway

Several years ago, a group of Claremont mothers and daughters got together for form a book club. Below is a list of the books the mothers and daughters of the Delta Mu book club have shared.

Hesse, Karen – Music Of The Dolphins
Creech, Sharon – Ruby Holler
Cushman, Karen – Catherine, Called Birdy
Muñoz Ryan, Pam – Esperanza Rising
Sachar, Louis – Someday Angeline
Halse Anderson, Laurie – Fever 1973
Peck, Richard – A Year Down Yonder
Creech, Sharen – Chasing Redbird
Goodall, Jane – My Life With Chimpanzees
Madden, Kerry – Gentle's Holler
Travers, PI – Mary Poppins
Hannagan, Katerine – Ida B… & Her Plans To Maximze Fun, Avoid Disaster & (Possibly) Save The World
Nesbit, Elizabeth – The Enchanted Castle
Burnford, Sheila – The Incredible Journey
Fitzhugh, Louise – Harriet The Spy
Creech, Sharon – Blomability
Funke, Cornelia – The Thief Lord
Haddix, Margaret – Running Out Of Time
Mckinley, Robin – Beauty
Danziger, Paula – The Cat Ate My Gymsuit
Choblenko, Jennifer – Al Capone Does My Shirts
Funke, Cornelia – Inkheart
Mass, Wendy – A Mango Shaped Space
Aiken, Joan – The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase
Martin, Ann – Here Today
Peck, Richard – The River Between Us
Weeks, Sarah – So B It
Mass, Wendy – Jeremy Finke & The Meaning Of Life
Freedman, Russell – Immigrant Kid
Patterson, Katherine – Bridge To Terabithia
L'Engle, Madeline – A Wrinkle In Time
Muñoz Ryan, Pam – Becoming Naomi Leon
Woodson, Jacqueline – Last Summer With Maison
Vandehvelde, Vivian – Heir Apparent
Rowling, J.K. – Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows
Zevin, Gabrielle – Elsewhere
Voigt, Cynthia – Homecoming
Abrahams, Peter – Down The Rabbit Hole
Hiassen, Carl – Hoot
Riordan, Rick – The Lightning Thief
Abrahams, Peter – Behind The Curtain
Werlin, Nancy – The Rules Of Survival
Dessen, Sarah – Lock & Key
Wharton, Edith – Ethan Frome
Zusak, Markus – The Book Thief
Martin, Ann – A Corner Of The Universe
Haddon, Mark – The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night
Clements, Andrew – Things Not Seen

 

Past Alumni Symposium Topics
  Begun in 1990, the Alumni Symposium is celebrating its 20th year. This unique, award winning Alumni Weekend symposium consists of alumni presenters, faculty, and frequently student and community participants. Over the years, the Symposium has featured a number of topics, including:

1990 – The Curtain Rises: The New Drama in Eastern Europe

1991 – The Turmoil of the Middle East

1992 – Arts in the 90s: Assailed from Left and Right

1993 – Science Where You Least Expect It

1994 – Music of the Late 20th Century: A Tribute to Karl Kohn

1995 – And All the Men and Women Are Merely Players: Theatre at Pomona College
   and Beyond the Gates

1996 – Politics in Asia: Fire–Breathing Dragon or Lotus Blossom?

1997 – Studying Politics – Doing Politics

1998 – Is There Intelligent Life on Earth (or Anywhere Else)?

1999 – Asia´s New Century and Ours: The Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College

2000 – Fin de Millenaire: Millennium Truths and Myths

2001 – Focus on a Generation: Pomona College and the WWII Years

2002 – “Clash of Civilizations?”: Perspectives from a New Century

2003 – Trust Betrayed: Exploring Contemporary Ethical Issues

2004 – The 'Aha!' Moment: Discovery, Breakthrough, Epiphany

2005 – Headlines and Deadlines: A Conversation with Pomona's Alumni Journalists

2006 – Bio–Feedback: Science and Society in Dialogue

2007 – Memory, Memoir, and Madeleines: Remembering Things Past

2008 Reel Time: Sagehens and the Silver Screen

 
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