If you participated in the Osher Book Club last semester, you know how much fun it is – if not join us this time around! Three great new books; read them and then join your fellow Osher members for collective reflection, critique, rumination, and enjoyment.
Maximum enrollment: 20
Section 1
Five Skies, Ron Carlson
In Five Skies, Carlson paints the gradual intertwining of three lives - a Hollywood set builder deeply hollowed by the death of his brother, a troubled teenage criminal, and a recently widowed rancher whose rage and sadness rarely froth from beneath his skin. Their lives tumble together in the most unlikely of contexts; together they are to build a ramp on a steep canyon face such that female motorcycle daredevils can fling themselves through the punishing landscape. In glimpses, the reader sees the raw complexity of the characters and views these moments and people in the crevices and expanses of the West at its most rugged.
Section 2
The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit, Lucette Lagnado
The New York Times has called Lagnado's new memoir "crushing and brilliant" and so it is with anticipation that we delve into this tale of one Jewish family's escape from Egypt during the rise of Gamal Abdel Nassar. The man in the suit is her father and Lagnado narrates his story, and that of his family, with particular poignancy, visceral detail, and a realism that is personal yet does not give in to the excesses of sentimentalism. Wonderful for its capturing of a rich historical moment while also providing fresh insight into the hemorrhaging of identity that so often accompanies such tragic migration.
Section 3
Straight Man, Richard Russo
Hank Devereaux is the interim chair of the English department of a small rural college. Settling into middle age, his ambitions are not so great; really he just wishes things ran a little more smoothly at the college and that his colleagues might be just a bit less hostile to one another. Before long he is being impaled with spiral notebooks, threatening to kill geese, and laying the groundwork for a Shakespearean showdown between the administration and faculty. A light-hearted book that delightfully showcases Russo's considerable comedic talents, love of a good story, and unique sympathies for middle of the road characters.
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Instructor: Erica Bouris, Ph.D.; lecturer, SDSU political science; former political science professor, Rollins College; research associate, American University of Beirut; author of Complex Political Victims and contributor to Foreign Policy in Focus.
Section 1
Noncredit Schedule No. 08SPOF 99821 OF
Date:
Monday, Feb. 25, 9-10 am
Location: SDSU Extended Studies/Gateway Centers, corner of Campanile Drive and Hardy Avenue.
Fee:
Free for Annual Members | Non-Member Fee: Osher members only event.
Schedule Number 08SPOF 99821 OF is Closed
or
Section 2
Noncredit Schedule No. 08SPOF 99822 OF
Date:
Monday, March 24, 9-10 am
Location: SDSU Extended Studies/Gateway Centers, corner of Campanile Drive and Hardy Avenue.
Fee:
Free for Annual Members | Non-Member Fee: Osher members only event.
Schedule Number 08SPOF 99822 OF is Closed
or
Section 3
Noncredit Schedule No. 08SPOF 99823 OF
Date:
Monday, June 2, 9-10 am
Location: SDSU Extended Studies/Gateway Centers, corner of Campanile Drive and Hardy Avenue.
Fee:
Free for Annual Members | Non-Member Fee: Osher members only event.
Register online for 08SPOF 99823 OF
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