Adult Religious Enrichment News
Articulating Your Faith
A Theological Chat with Reverend Mitra Rahnema
Women's Book Discussion Group
Men's Book Discussion Group
ARTICULATING YOUR FAITH
Starting Thursday Nov. 12th, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm at the church, Jim Moir will lead a short course that will help you to better explain to others what Unitarian Universalism is, not to mention, helping you to understand it yourself. Additional dates include Nov. 19, Dec. 3, 10 and Jan.
21. The January meeting will be a planning session to share the results at a
Sunday service. $15 course material fee. Sign up with Jill Crane at jill@gpuc.us
A Theological Chat with Reverend Mitra Rahnema
Join us on Friday, Nov. 20th from 7:30 until 9pm in the church for an informal chat with
Rev. Mitra on What it Means to be Human. To be human, must we know pain, joy, love, or loss? Does humanity mean acknowledging helplessness or understanding compassion? Are we more than the sum of our parts? What DOES it mean to be human? Summary available in church foyer. $3 refreshment donation. Sign up in foyer on Sunday mornings.
Women's Book Discussion Group
Please join the women on Thursday November 19th at 5:30 PM in the church gallery for a discussion, lead by Hanne Nielsen, on The Yacoubian Building, by Alaa Al Aswany. Refreshments will be provided by Doris Cook and Caroline Griffith. A donation of $2 per person will be collected on the discussion night to defray the cost of refreshments. Please sign up in church foyer.
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GPUC Womens' Book Club reading selections 2009-10
All meetings are held at 5:30pm in the GPUC Gallery
NOV 19
The Yacoubian Building, by Alaa Al Aswany
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Aswany offers a colorful picture of contemporary Egypt. Built in the 1930’s, the building was an “architectural gem” that housed
“the cream of society.” But it underwent considerable change over the decades that followed. Beside the large, fancy apartments, a second separate community developed on the roof, where what had originally been rooms for storage and laundry were eventually converted into tiny and Spartan residential units. These, along with the store on the ground floor, made the Yacoubian a place where many levels of society crossed paths.
Leader, Hanne Nielsen
Refreshments, Doris Cook and Caroline Griffith
JAN 21 (We will join with the men this month)
Hot, Flat, and Crowded, by Thomas Friedman
Friedman brings his unique point of view to the red hot topic of global climate change. Here he proposes a national plan for going green that will not only benefit the earth, but also make America’s economy stronger and its borders more secure.
Leader, Susan Boynton
Refreshments, Hanne Nielsen and Vicky Keating
FEB 18
Cezanne’s Quarry by Barbara Corrado Pope
Reverend Corrado’s sister wrote this novel and skillfully explores the subjugation and abuse of women in the 19th century; the injustices of the French legal system; the conflict between Darwinian philosophy and established religious belief; and Cezanne’s art, love of life, and depressed personality.
Leader, Barbara Moran Corrado
Refreshments, Ann Parker and Audrey Brosowski
MAR. 18
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
In 1996 Hanna Heath, a young Australian book conservator is called to analyze the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, a priceless six-hundred-year –old Jewish prayer book that has been salvaged from a destroyed Bosnian library. When Hanna discovers a series of artifacts , she unwittingly exposes and international cover up.
Leader, Christy Winder
Refreshments, Alice Laitner and Barbara Moran
APRIL 15
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
The novel begins after WWII, as a writer seeks to make sense of the turmoil and suffering she’s witnessed. But when she starts receiving letters from various people from all walks of life-with a multitude of viewpoints on what they too have been through-she begins to see the world in a new light.
Leader, Kelly Boll
Refreshments, Erika Baer and Evelyn Badzyk
MAY 20
Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl
Reichl was the restaurant critic for the NY Times in the 90’s. She used disguises to be unnoticed in the restaurants and she goes into how she assumed the personae of the characters she impersonated and how it changed how she viewed the world. She talks about food snobs, cuisine and the powerful connection between the enjoyment of food and people, and the power people assume because they re in a specific role.
A perfect book for our Pot Luck dinner!
Leader, Ann Lipsitz
Meeting and pot luck at the home of Jill Crane
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Past Book Discussion Meetings
OCT 22
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon
The novel follows the lives of the title characters, a Czech artist and a Brooklyn born writer, both Jewish-before, during and after WWII. Kavalier and Clay become major figures in the nascent comics industry during its “Golden Age.”
Leader, Evelyn Badzyk
Refreshments, Jane Hoey and Beth
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Men's Book Discussion Group
On Monday, November 2nd at 7:30 PM, in the church library, the group will discuss The Mother Tongue, English and How it Go That Way by Bill Bryson. The book, wittily compiles the history and origins of the English language and the language's various quirks. It discusses the Indo-European origins of English, the growing status of English as a global language, the complex etymology of English words, the dialects, etc. New members are always welcome. No sign up is necessary.
GPUC Men's Book Club reading selections for 2009-10
January 21st - The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin
(combined meeting with Women's Book Group)
February - Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph Lash
March - The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
April - The Secret River by Kate Grenville
May - A Distant Mirror by Barbara W. Tuchman
June - Autobiography of Mark Twain
July - The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
August - The Lost by Daniel Mendelsohn
September - Cultural Amnesia by Clive James
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Jill Crane, Director of Adult Religious Enrichment, jill@gpuc.us