A Novelty of Novels, Spring 2022, University of Delaware OLLI taught by Rebecca Worley.
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Welcome to the website for the course A Novelty of Novels, offered Spring 2022 through the University of Delaware, Lifelong Learning Academy, known as OLLI.
I'm offering two sections of the same course for spring, one in person at Arsht Hall, on Thursdays, from 10:45 to noon, and one virtual, on Zoom, Wednesdays from 10:45 to noon. It's the same course, and same time, just two different days.
Wednesdays, virtual, on Zoom
Thursdays, live and in person, in Arsht Hall, Wilmington, pandemic permitting. Please check with UD and OLLI about protocols for attending, like vaccination status, masks, health checks.
Books we will read and discuss (6 in all)
The Word is Murder, Anthony Horowitz (271 pages on Kindle)
This novel is #1 of 3 in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series in which Anthony Horowitz, author, also portrays Anthony Horowitz, the Watson-like character in the novel to Hawthorne's Sherlock Holmes detective character. These games with genre are of course what Horowitz does. The Sentence is Death is the second in the series, and A Line to Kill is the third. If you get the chance, and have the time to read, try Moonflower Murders, very enjoyable, the follow-up to Magpie Murders which we read a couple of years ago, but over 600 pages because it's really a mystery novel within a mystery novel--two for one.
Wish You Were Here, Jodi Picoult (322 pages on Kindle)
Finally, again! Jodi Picoult is another of those authors who's been on my database for quite some time, and I've read a couple, or more, of her novels. So this term, her most recent novel has made the list.
According to the Amazon blurb:
Diana O’Toole is perfectly on track. She will be married by thirty, done having kids by thirty-five, and move out to the New York City suburbs, all while climbing the professional ladder in the cutthroat art auction world. She’s an associate specialist at Sotheby’s now, but her boss has hinted at a promotion if she can close a deal with a high-profile client. She’s not engaged just yet, but she knows her boyfriend, Finn, a surgical resident, is about to propose on their romantic getaway to the Galápagos—days before her thirtieth birthday. Right on time.
But then a virus that felt worlds away has appeared in the city, and on the eve of their departure, Finn breaks the news: It’s all hands on deck at the hospital. He has to stay behind. You should still go, he assures her, since it would be a shame for all of their nonrefundable trip to go to waste. And so, reluctantly, she goes. But almost immediately, her dream vacation goes awry. . . . In the Galápagos Islands, where Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection was formed, Diana finds herself examining her relationships, her choices, and herself—and wondering if when she goes home, she too will have evolved into someone completely different. "
The Amazon blurb doesn't do this justice. It's about the pandemic, and the Galapagos islands, it's about isolation and human relationships, it's about communication, the technology that gives us access, but much much more about the messages we send. And it's about art and Toulouse-Lautrec and New York's Grand Central Station.
And, like Rose Code, this novel has a bit of an epistolary feel. Once separated, Finn and Diana must communicate by text and email, when the technology works, which it rarely does, and then by postcard. And so they must rely on the written word. And like Rose Code, this novel has a basis in historical fact; the pandemic, of course, but also characters who are surrogates for John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and the Beatles. This book is an interesting read, and includes a couple of surprises. It's also my better choice for The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, a best seller and an interesting read, but not great literature. Another book, with a somewhat parallel theme is The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa.
The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead (300 pages on Kindle)
Finally! This author has been on my list for quite some time, but perhaps not for obvious reasons. This book won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and it's been a #1 New York Times bestseller that "chronicles a young slave's adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. But we're reading this term, because, according to the Amazon blurb, "In Colson Whitehead's ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor: engineers and conductors operate a secret network of actual tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora embarks on a harrowing flight from one state to the next, encountering, like Gulliver, strange yet familiar iterations of her own world at each stop. . . The Underground Railroad is both the gripping tale of one woman's will to escape the horrors of bondage—and a powerful meditation on the history we all share. " (Amazon blurb)
The Rose Code, Kate Quinn (656 pages on Kindle)
For this course, a couple of years ago, we read Kate Quinn's The Alice Network, a book I loved. So when she published this novel this past spring, it caught my attention; and it's about the women code breakers at Bletchley Park during World War II, a subject I've wanted to discuss in this course. This book is long, and I will schedule it for later in the course to give you time to read, but this book is worth the effort.
As I read, it reminded me of Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale, not just because the subject matter, World War II, is similar but because of the narrative style. Kate Quinn spends those early pages developing her characters, 3 interesting but dissimilar women who become code breakers, and friends; she uses these pages to build momentum. Hannah does the same thing narratively in The Nightingale, so that by 250 pages into the novel, you know those characters and are invested in them. That, of course, is when the tragedy hits. I had to stop reading and walk away for a while. But, when you come back to reading, the novel moves along at page-turning pace. Schedule your reading time because it's one of those novels that I couldn't put down until I got to the ending. And it is a happy ending.
The novel also includes a couple of historical references, or characters, namely Prince Philip, before he married Queen Elizabeth, and Valerie Glassborow, Kate Middleton's grandmother who did in fact work at Bletchley Park.
Finally, this is also an epistolary novel and a mystery novel, of sorts, because the answer to the question posed at the beginning lies within the letters, journals, and diaries kept secret by one of the characters. History and fiction mix in this novel.
The Secret River, Kate Grenville (358 pages on Kindle)
Kate Grenville is an author who caught my attention when we were reading and discussing Australian literature; she's the author of a number of well-received books, including A Room Full of Leaves, as well as several others. This book caught my attention because it's part historical novel and part memoir, for which she has been criticized. But then, that's one of the themes we'll discuss. It was a finalist for the Man Booker Award and a Commonwealth prize-winner, described as an "unforgettable" tale of crime and survival in colonial Australia. It's been called a "literary saga," but also a "women's saga." We'll discuss that.
According to the Amazon blurb:
In 1806 William Thornhill, an illiterate English bargeman and a man of quick temper but deep compassion, steals a load of wood and, as a part of his lenient sentence, is deported, along with his beloved wife, Sal, to the New South Wales colony in what would become Australia. The Secret River is the tale of William and Sal’s deep love for their small, exotic corner of the new world, and William’s gradual realization that if he wants to make a home for his family, he must forcibly take the land from the people who came before him.
Acclaimed around the world, The Secret River is a “magnificent” work of historical fiction that “pulls us ever deeper into a time when one community’s opportunity spelled another’s doom” (The New Yorker).
Book #6, Class Choice
As I have done in the past, I will provide you with some suggestions during our first class session, and let you pick the book of your choice for our last discussion. And the winner is:
The Personal Librarian, Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (347 pps. 4.5 rating on AMZ)
#1 Best Seller in Historical African Fiction, Instant New York Times Bestseller!
A remarkable novel about J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white in order to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation. . . .
In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps create a world-class collection.
But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs. She was born not Belle da Costa Greene but Belle Marion Greener. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. Belle’s complexion isn’t dark because of her alleged Portuguese heritage that lets her pass as white—her complexion is dark because she is African American.
The Personal Librarian tells the story of an extraordinary woman, famous for her intellect, style, and wit, and shares the lengths she must go to—for the protection of her family and her legacy—to preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives.
Previous Course Websites:
I have conducted lecture and discussion courses on novels--in various genres--for a few years now. If you would like to check out the books and topics we have discussed in these courses, please click on the links below:
Mysteries and Histories: Again
Overdue Books: Selected Samples
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