Have you been wanting to join a book club, but it's too much of a commitment? Welcome to Low-Stakes Book Club, where we only read short stories, essays, and poetry! Miss a
meeting? That's ok, we'll see you next time. Don't like the reading? Don't worry, it's not that many pages, and next meeting we're discussing something different. I'm making an effort to select readings that are available online unless otherwise elected by the group. If we decide to purchase a book, I will make an order via Brickbat Books so that we can support a local small business.
Fill out this google form to answer a few quick questions about your schedule preferences and reading interests, and join the mailing list via the form at the bottom of this page to receive updates about future meetings.
UPCOMING MEETINGS:
Friday, April 4th at 5 pm
Friday, April 18th at 5 pm
No book club on May 2nd
Friday, May 16th at 5 pm
FUTURE READINGS:
We will be alternating reading essays, short stories, and poetry. Feel free to comment below with suggestions!
April 4th
A Philosophical Enquiry into Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful (Excerpt) by Edmund Burke
What things produce a strong emotional response and why? What experiences and phenomenon are awe-inspiring vs. delightful, and is one category superior to the other? What terrifies us? What do we find pleasurable? What informs our judgements about aesthetics?
I had previously assigned a reading on the same subject matter by Kant, but then I learned that his treatise was in response to this writing by Edmund Burke. I find Burke's writing to be easier to understand, probably partially because it was originally written in English whereas Kant's is translated from German.
Burke's writing seems less pretentious because it doesn't have footnotes. Plus, this section addresses aesthetic, emotional, and sensory experiences whereas the Kant essay I had previously selected had a bunch of judgmental hot takes about personality traits, misogyny, and the superiority of different nations. This excerpt A Philosophical Enquiry into Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful does not include the wildly misogynistic and problematic portions of the book.
I hope you join me in pondering why we like what we like!
PREVIOUS READINGS and MEMBER SUGGESTIONS: To see what we've read before and check out what other members suggest, visit this page.
Have you read They Were Horrible Cooks?