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The
Odyssey Gallery
Pictures of recent events
The Odyssey Bookshop is one of five independent
bookstores participating in WAMC's Roundtable on Tuesday mornings,
just after the 10:00 news. People from the Odyssey will be on about once a
month, talking about our favorite books.
Click
here to see the list of the books we have talked about.
The Odyssey Bookshop
9 College St.
S. Hadley, MA 01075
413-534-7307
800-540-7307
fax 413-532-3654
email odysseybks@aol.com
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The Book Group
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Odyssey Writing Workshops
Since
so many readers also write fiction, the Odyssey now offers writing
workshops. Last year's three classes were very satisfying and new workshops
begin this fall. If you are interested
in more information, please contact me at odysseybookgrp@gmail.com.
Character & Point of View:
Saturday, September 13, 9:00 to 1:00
Setting & Imagery: Saturday, October 18, 9:00 to 1:00
These small group workshops offer opportunities
to explore writing literary short fiction in an intensive format. We will
discuss major elements of craft through structured exercises to help the
beginning writer build a short story. As a group, we will examine both
published and student work carefully to understand how stories work and to
share and critique our work in a positive and supportive environment
The fee for each workshop is $75. Class size is
limited to seven. Interested applicants should send an email to us at odysseybookgrp@gmail.com
by August 25. Please tell us what you hope to gain from the workshop, and
list any previous writing experience (none is required.)
Manuscript Critique Workshop:
Sat., November 8, 9:00 to 4:00
This one-day workshop is designed for writers who
are working on stories or longer fiction, and are looking for in-depth
group discussion of their work. Student manuscripts (20 pp maximum) will
be distributed to all members of the group two weeks before the workshop.
Each participant is expected to carefully read and critique the work of
all group members.
The fee for
the manuscript workshop is $100 (lunch on your own.) Class size is limited
to six. Interested applicants should send an email to
odysseybookgrp@gmail.com by September 15, including personal
goals for the workshop, listing previous writing experience, and
submitting the manuscript they would like discussed in the workshop.
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Joy of book
groups:
A message from Elli
Hello!
My name is Elli Meeropol and I’m the book group coordinator at the
Odyssey.
My
job is help your group –
with discounted books, resources, book selection ideas, or inviting an author to
meet with your group.
Book
Group Discounts
The
Odyssey offers 20% off book group selections, if you order five or more
per title at least two weeks in advance of the date you need them, to
be picked up by one person. To participate in
this discount program, you must register your group with the Odyssey.
Click here for a simple online
registration form. The
best way to place a book group discount order is using our online request. You may also call the store with the necessary information. When the books
come in, we’ll call the contact person and place the books behind the
counter to be picked up. Please give us plenty of time, so we can have the books available
– most groups like to have the books in hand a full month before the
meeting at which they’ll be discussed.
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Do
you know about our Odyssey-sponsored
Book Groups??
These groups are free and open to
the public; pre-registration is not required. The month's selection for
store-sponsored groups is discounted 20% for group participants.
Literary
Fiction: The Open Fiction Book Group,
led by Elli Meeropol, usually meets on the third Monday of the month at 7 p.m.
Crime
Fiction: Neil Novik, one of the owners of the Odyssey, leads
the Odyssey Crime Club
at 7 p.m. on the second Monday of every month.
Sundays
with Shakespeare: This discussion group is led by Arthur
Kinney, director of Renaissance Studies at UMASS. It meets at 11 a.m. on
the third Sunday of every month.
A
brief historical note about book groups
We usually think of
reading as an individual experience – curled up in front of a fireplace
in a snowstorm with a cat on your lap, or maybe stretched out under a
beach umbrella with sand between your toes. If you’re in a book group,
you already know the pleasures of reading as a group activity as well. But
did you know that gathering in groups to read together, or to discuss
books, is part of a grand tradition?
·
In 15th century France, a group of women gathered during
the long winter evenings to spin, read aloud, and talk about books.
·
With the rise of the novel in the early 18th century,
books were very expensive and readings groups gathered to share one book
among several listeners.
·
In 1816 Mary Wollstonecraft and her lover Shelley visited Lord
Byron in his villa on Lake Geneva where they read ghost stories in a
group. Byron challenged his guests to write one of their own, and the
result was Frankenstein.
·
In the late 1840’s a group of young women who worked in a British
mill town met at five o’clock every morning to read Shakespeare together
before going to work.
Of course since then the
proliferation of literacy and of paperback books has transformed reading
and publishing. Reading groups have also been affected by changing
cultural norms. In the 18th century, women reading novels was
viewed as unwholesome – all those trashy novels and fallen women. But
during the same era French women ran salons that attracted the most
powerful politicians and intellectuals of the day, of both genders. And
this literary activism continued in this country through the Saturday
Evening Girls Club in the North End of Boston during the Progressive Era,
and the feminist consciousness-raising discussion groups of the 70’s.
The current explosion of
reading groups in this country was possibly launched in September 1996,
when Ophrah Winfrey launched her Book Club, arguably the most powerful
one-woman literacy program ever.
So next time your book
group meets to discuss character and plot, a sense of place and gorgeous
language, you’re NOT ONLY having a great time, you’re also part of a
long tradition of readers– over centuries and across continents – who
gather to enjoy a good book together.
Check out the Odyssey staff's favorite paperbacks
for book group
discussions here.
Resources
for Book Groups
Booksense.com
is the website of the independent bookstores of America. Their monthly
"picks" showcase new fiction, and they also list book group
favorites and specialty recommendations. Check them out at http://booksense.com/bspicks/index.jsp.
General
Reading Group Websites:
www.readinggroupchices.com
www.readinggroupguides.com
Book
Review Sites:
http://www.reviewsofbooks.com
http://www.bookpage.com
http://www.bookreporter.com
Printable
reading guides from publishers:
Algonquin Books: http://algonquin.com/etcetera/readers-guides
Curbstone Press: http://curbstone.org/index.cfm?webpage=24
Random House: http://www.randomhuse.com/rgg/
Penguin Group: http://us.penguingroup.com/static/html/readingguides/index.html
HarperCollins: http://www.harpercollins.com/readers/readinggroups.aspx
Henry Holt: http://www.henryholt.com/readingguides/index.htm
St. Martins: http://www.readinggroupgold.com/guides/guides.aspx
Houghton Mifflin: http://houghtonmifflinbooks.com/readings_guides/fiction.shtml
Simon&Schuster: http://www.simonsays.com
WW Norton: http://wwnorton.com/trade/rgg.htm
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