Welcome to the Brooklyn College Freshman Common Reading Book Discussion Group blog. The book we will be discussing is "The Disappointment Artist and Other Essays" by Jonathan Lethem. This blog will be used first by moderators for the discussion groups, to talk about topics such as what questions we might ask about the book, how to get a discussion going, tips on managing discussions, etc.
For my first message, though I know everyone probably already got a copy of the book in print, I'd like to mention that the book is also available both electronically and in print to all Brooklyn College students, faculty, and staff, through the Brooklyn College Library. Just go to the Library's home page at http://library.brooklyn.cuny.edu and look it up in the catalog, by author or title. If you prefer the electronic version, you will need to download the Ebrary reader if it is not already on your computer, but this is fairly easy to do, and you will be prompted to do it when you try to "open" the book to view it, if indeed you don't already have it. Library computers are generally equipped with the Ebrary reader; I doubt all other computers on campus are, and if you log in from home, you will definitely need to download the reader, as well as logging in via EZProxy.
This is my first time trying to create a blog, but so far, it seems to be pretty easy! I hope you'll all bear with me if we ever run into technical glitches.
Stephanie Walker
Brooklyn College Library
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For New Students: please note that you won't be able to access library resources from off campus until your Brooklyn College email username and password have been created - usually towards the end of the first week of classes.
So, for now new students can access the e-copy of The Disappointment Artist from on campus.
For future reference, the instructions for accessing library resources from off campus can be found on the library website: http://library.brooklyn.cuny.edu.
Thanks so much, Stephanie, for starting this blog. I understand that it is for the discussion leaders, not the students; my office can send a message out to students about how to access the book through the library online (thanks for that info, Mariana).
Janet Moser, the English 1 Coordinator, will be putting together some 'starter questions' for discussion. Last year we had a lively email exchange about your experiences with the groups following orientation; I look forward to reading your 'before and after' reflections on this blog!
You will be glad to know that this year we put the book itself in students' hands together with a bookmark reminding them of the assignment and the dates for the discussion. We are following up with a postcard next week. We think this will prompt the students to be more prepared.
Happy summering, in the meantime.
Donna Wilson
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