Book Circle
The Office of Equality & Diversity invites you to The Book Circle at the James E. Marks Intercultural Center. The Book Circle provides participants with a place to engage in a facilitated dialogue about various cultural, intercultural, and identity issues in a respectful environment that encourages openness and humility.
The Book Circle meets four times a year from 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. (A complimentary lunch is provided.)
A limited number of complimentary books will be available on a first-come-first-served basis at the Office of Equality & Diversity one month prior to the scheduled Book Circle. Copies of the books may also be available at Hagerty Library, Barnes and Noble Drexel and at the Free Library of Philadelphia.
If you have a disability and need an accommodation, please contact the Office of Equality & Diversity.
For more information about The Book Circle, contact Janeile Johnson, OED Program Coordinator at 215-571-3839 or by email at JJohnson@drexel.edu.
The following books have been chosen for the 2012 – 2013 academic year:
Pig Candy: Taking My Father South, Taking My Father Home by Lise Funderburg (Fall, 2012)
"A sometimes exasperated, sometimes joyful account of a daughter’s reconnecting with a father across lines of generation, ethnicity, geography and family history…Perfectly plotted and well-paced…Charming and often moving-it will appeal to a broad range of readers, from fans of Wendell Berry to those of Toni Morrison.”- Kirkus Reviews
Lise Funderburg is a writer and editor based in Philadelphia. She studied at Reed College and Columbia University School of Journalism, and her articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, including O, The Oprah Magazine,The New York Times, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Salon, The Nation, and Prevention. Her newest book is called Pig Candy: Taking My Father South, Taking My Father Home (Free Press, 2008). Pig Candy could fit into several genres—including narrative nonfiction, memoir, travelogue, and biography—but essentially, it’s a book about life, death, and barbecue. Lise’s first book was a prescient collection of oral histories, Black, White, Other: Biracial Americans Talk about Race and Identity (Morrow, 1994), the first book to explore the lives of adult children of black-white unions. Black, White, Other has become a core text in the study of American multiracial identity, and it is used in college courses around the world
How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez (Fall, 2012)
"Told through the points of view of the four Garcia sisters- Carla, Sandi, Yolanda and Sofia-this perceptive first novel by poet Alvarez tells of a wealthy family exiled from the Dominican Republic after a failed coup, and how the daughters come of age, weathering the cultural and class transitions from privileged Dominicans to New York Hispanic immigrants.''- Kirkus Reviews
Julia Alvarez is a Dominican-American poet, novelist, and essayist. Born in New York of Dominican descent, she spent the first ten years of her childhood in the Dominican Republic, until her father's involvement in a political rebellion forced her family to flee the country. She rose to prominence with her novel, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, which won the 1991 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award. She also received the 2002 Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature and won the Belpre Medal twice in 2004 and 2010.
ONE BOOK ONE PHILADELPHIA: Selection to be announced (Spring 2013)
Riding The Bus With My Sister by Rachel Simon (Spring 2013)
"Stirring…authentic and impressive, an enriching story of reconciliation and rediscovery. A terrific, heartwarming ride.” - Rocky Mountain News
Rachel Simon is an American author of both fiction and non-fiction. Her six books include the 2011 novel The Story of Beautiful Girl, which was her first New York Times Bestseller, and the 2002 memoir Riding The Bus With My Sister, which was a national bestseller. She then moved to the Philadelphia area and worked at a variety of jobs, including supervisor of researchers for a television study at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. She is one of the only authors to have been selected twice for the Barnes & Noble Discover New Writers Award.