OSU Urban Arts Space Book Club October

Hello Book Club Members,

Last month we read Tom Stoppard's comedic play Arcadia. I think the book more than met my expectation of choosing selections that would be challenging: many readers (myself included) had to re-read parts of the quick, witty dialog. I hope you enjoyed the book, but if it was not your style try our current book selection: Tom Wolff's This Boy's Life.

For October, the book club will be changing gears to a slower paced memoir. Wolff's This Boy's Life details his life as an adolescent in the 1950's. He travels across the United States with his nomadic mother, finally settling in Seattle. The book is adventurous, frustrating, and humorous as one could expect from the life of a teenager.

This is what critics have to say about the book:

"So absolutely clear and hypnotic . . . that a reader wants to take it apart and find some simple way to describe why it works so beautifully."

—The New York Times

"Wolff writes in language that is lyrical without embellishment, defines his characters with exact strokes and perfectly pitched voices, [and] creates suspense around ordinary events, locating the deep mystery within them."

—Los Angeles Times Book Review

As you read the novel, consider what it would be like to write your own memoir. Would you be truthful about your less than shining moments? How truthful do you Wolff has been in his writings?

Many of us keep diaries or journals. When I was younger, I remember reading the diary of Anne Frank. Since then, I have always been aware that my journals may some day be discovered by someone unknown to me. I forced myself to develop a particular way of writing that is difficult to read and almost cryptic. The letters are embellished to resemble a modern day calligraphy, now highlighted by the use of my first fountain pen. I refuse to write my personal experience on the web, holding on to the art form of the written word. Sometimes, I feel that I focus so much on the look of what I am writing rather than the substance, that I leave out important details. It's painful or at times impossible to be true to myself. But getting it all out can also be a release. When I reread my old journals, I am often surprised by some memories scribbled in between the lines and proud of the experiences I have weathered that made me stronger.


-Nicole Eggert, Operations Student Assistant

What: OSU Urban Arts Space Book Club
Where: OSU Urban Arts Space, 50 W Town Street, Downtown Columbus
When: October 28th, 2009 from Noon - 1:00pm