Still to come this winter are more sessions of BookTalk with Harriet Sobol, who has been leading perennially popular literature discussion groups with SAS for many decades. She often selects books by lesser-known authors from other countries, cultures, or backgrounds for engaging and sensitive debates about the writers' artistic and stylistic choices. The title for Wednesday, February 16, 2022, is The Wrong End of the Telescope (2021) by Rabih Alameddine (10897). On March 9, 2022, she will focus on the 2017 International Man Booker Prize winner The Unseen (2016) by Roy Jacobsen (10898).

Hot off the presses, Ellen Witchell, experienced NYC book group leader, has just joined the faculty and will make her SAS debut on Thursday, February 24, 2022, with Book Discussion: The Lincoln Highway (2021) by Amor Towles (11103). This instant New York Times bestseller from the author of A Gentleman in Moscow has been flying off the shelves at bookstores and libraries. Secure your copy now to hear about ten transformative days in the lives and from the different perspectives of several young but unforgettable characters embarking on a 1954 cross-country journey.

The next Short Stories Live (10910) program, featuring an actor's live performance of a short story immediately followed by a group discussion led by Lori Rotskoff, begins on Thursday, March 3, 2022, and runs four weeks. Currently, Rotskoff is in the midst of leading her popular recurring contemporary memoirs series. This semester's theme is Living to Tell, in which she covers autobiographical works by Maggie O'Farrell, Tarana Burke, Qian Julie Wangand, and Sarah Ruhl. Stay tuned for her selections for spring. But before then, Rotskoff will host two different sections for Book Discussion: Crossroads (2021) by Jonathan Franzen (Wednesday, 3/30: 11034, Thursday, 3/31: 11046). Billed as the first installment of a trilogy, Crossroads conjures the fraught interpersonal dynamics of the members of a family living in a fictional suburban midwestern town in December 1971.

If you are looking for some light-hearted relief from these novels detailing struggles with morality, intimacy, and faith, instructor Barry Bradford comes to the rescue. Motivational speaker by day, and historian and writer on popular culture by night, Bradford is leading separate classes on some of the best comic geniuses of recent times. This week, on Wednesday, February 9, 2022, the spotlight is on the Legendary Comedy of Steve Martin (10997). Let's all say it together -- he's "a wild and crazy guy!" The following week features the Legendary Comedy of Rob Reiner's Films (10998), such as The American President, When Harry Met Sally, and The Princess Bride. Bradford concludes the series on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, with the Legendary Comedy of Penny Marshall's Films (10999), for a reminder that, regardless of the current lockout, "there's no crying in baseball."

If you have a recommendation for a new topic or discussion moderator, please let us know. Email [email protected] with your literature, film, and television suggestions for next semester. Spring/Summer courses will open for registration soon!

All upcoming classes are listed in our Printer-Friendly, Interactive Version of our Winter 2022 Catalog. New classes are added regularly.