Leader:  John McCausland

1st Wednesdays | October 6 and November 3 | 1 – 3 PM

The American novel reading group will be entering its fourth year this fall, the first LINEC course to experiment with year-round meetings. Each month we choose by consensus the novel to be read next, drawing from several lists of “100 bests.” In recent months we have read contemporary works like Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and classics like Hawthorne’s House of the Seven Gables. We discuss each work in its own right and in relation to the American novel tradition and its cultural/political/historical context. Discussion is not highly technical, but always lively and warm-hearted. We have delved into regional works, feminist books, African American novels, famous titles and less well-known ones.  Some group participants have been part of the project from the beginning, others are new, some come and go depending on the season, their lives and the book. The door is always open. And . . . you can talk a lot, a little, or not at all. October’s selection is On the Road by Jack Kerouac; in November we read William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury.

John McCausland was an English major once upon a time and continues to find enjoyment and wisdom from reading and sometimes rereading novels, while discussing them with others. Retired from careers as a lawyer and Episcopal priest, he finds in LINEC a family of interesting and engaged friends who enliven each other’s lives and help make the golden years truly golden.