With more than five million copies sold, Flowers for Algernon is the beloved, classic story of a mentally disabled man whose experimental quest for intelligence mirrors that of Algernon, an extraordinary lab mouse. In poignant diary entries, Charlie tells how a brain operation increases his IQ and changes his life. […]
Keyword: US Literature
21 posts
Our reading list for winter term 2024/2025 has been completed and promises spooky and weird, heart-breaking and heart-warming stories. November 24, 2024—post-Halloween special: Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh If you eat the bread, you’ll die, he said. The statement made no sense, but it filled me with an electric dread. […]
We discussed Timothy Schaffert’s The Titanic Survivors Book Club on June 13, 2024. This 2024 novel follows the curator of the RMS Titanic’s second-class library, who was left stranded at the docks when the catastrophic maiden voyage began. He soon receives an invitation to a secret society of Titanic survivors. […]
Our book choices for summer term 2024 have been made and we are looking forward to carnivorous plants and lovely flowers, Titanic survivors and Neanderthal recreations, and a mixture of classics and contemporaries. We kick things off on May 16, 2024 with some classic science-fiction: The Day of the Triffids […]
We discussed Alison McGhee’s What I Leave Behind and Lize Meddings’s The Sad Ghost Club I on March 14, 2024. McGhee’s 2019 YA novel tells the story of sixteen-year-old Will, who tries to cope with the misery of his father’s suicide by doing some good in the world and to […]
We discussed Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House on February 8, 2024. Set on the prestigious Yale campus, this 2019 fantasy novel introduces us to an unlikely Yale freshman: Galaxy “Alex” Stern was raised by a hippie mother, dropped out of school, worked shady odd jobs, and solely survived an unsolved multiple […]
We discussed Rebecca F. Kuang’s Yellowface on January 11, 2024. This 2023 novel centers around authors June Hayward and Athena Liu. While June struggles to get her writing career going, Athena becomes a literary success story. When Athena dies in a freak accident, June acts on impulse: she steals not […]
We discussed Kiersten White’s Mister Magic on December 14, 2023. This 2023 novel follows the Circle of Friends, five former cast members of the 90s children’s programme “Mister Magic”, who survived a tragic accident that ended the show’s production. They have spent their lives looking for the special sense of […]
We discussed Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher and T. Kingfisher’s What Moves the Dead on November 9, 2023. The 1839/1840 tale by Poe makes us witnesses to the mysterious decline of a house and the horrifying demise of its inhabitants. The 2022 retelling by Kingfisher […]
Our reading list for winter term 2023/2024 has been completed and leads us into horror, suspense, and thrill—while still ending on a wholesome note. We start with a post-Halloween special on November 9, 2023 with some classic horror retold: The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe&What […]
We discussed Bonnie Garmus’s Lessons in Chemistry on September 21, 2023. Garmus’s 2022 best-selling novel centres on intellectually gifted chemist Elizabeth Zott and her struggles to work in scientific research as a woman in the 1950s and 1960s. And because chemistry and cooking are quite closely related, a culinary tweak […]
We discussed Sherman Alexie’s Indian Killer on July 13, 2023. Alexie’s 1996 “feel-good novel about interracial murder” (according to the author) intertwines the personal life-story of John Smith, born native and adopted by white parents (evidently oblivious to Pocahontas), with the murder-mystery of a serial killer dubbed the “indian killer” […]
We discussed Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer: A Memoir on June 15, 2023 as part of our Pride Month Special. Kobabe’s 2019 graphic novel shows the author’s own journey to eir non-binary gender identity and has been at the heart of the ongoing U.S. censorship debate. We talked about the text […]
We discussed Aiden Thomas’s Cemetery Boys on June 15, 2023 as part of our Pride Month Special. Thomas’s 2020 YA novel follows latinx trans boy Yadriel on his journey to acceptance—by himself, his brujx community, and Lady Death—and love—with Julian who kick-starts the plot as an accidentally summoned spirit and […]
Pride month sets the theme for this summer term’s June discussion session on June 15, 2023: Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas&Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe Thomas’s 2020 YA novel follows a latinx trans boy engaging with the Mexican death culture and features actual magic. Kobabe’s 2019 graphic novel […]
PADERBORN2READ—The English Book Club and FRAG, the student committee representing Paderborn University’s students of Romanic Studies, English and American Studies, and Germanic Studies, organized an afternoon filled with book-related activities as a contribution to Paderborn University’s Reading Week this summer term. Book lovers from different departments of Paderborn University as […]
We discussed Dana Schwartz’s Anatomy: A Love Story on May 11, 2023. Schwartz’s 2022 novel, set in 1817 Edinburgh, tells Hazel’s and Jack’s romance that enfolds over corpses and mystery: “Hazel Sinnett is a lady who wants to be a surgeon more than she wants to marry. Jack Currer is […]
Only two more weeks to go and there are exciting news to share about our very bookish afternoon: PADERBORN2READ—The English Book Club organizes the very bookish afternoon filled with book-related activities as a contribution to Paderborn University’s Reading Week and has now joined hands with FRAG, the student committee representing […]