Readers Guild
Becoming an engaged reader requires commitment and intellectual curiosity, but the rewards are great.
The IAM Readers Guild is designed to allow readers to interact with others in their own community as well as the wider IAM global community, and to learn a “deeper empathy” through experiencing great writing that wrestles with big ideas in many cultural contexts.
Each month, groups around the world will meet to discuss the book of the month, beginning with a list of questions that will be sent to all groups and welcoming spontaneous discussions as they arise. A member of each group will take notes and blog a brief summary of the group discussion after the meeting, allowing all the readers a wider experience of the book.
Interested in hosting or attending a group in your area? Contact readersguild@internationalartsmovement.org.
“Deeply engaged reading leads to perceptual awakening, stimulation of the core of the intuitive and experiential . . . What reading and writing can teach us is a deeper empathy that leads us to desire the best for others who are entirely different from us, and to long to communicate with them.”
- Makoto Fujimura, “Refractions #26: The Epistle of Van Gogh”
Local IAM Readers Guild Groups
Following is the most up-to-date list of local IAM Readers Guild groups. If you are interested in connecting with one of these groups, please let us know. You may also participate individually by reading the book and working through the discussion materials, which will be posted here each month, and sharing your feedback with us for the IAM Readers Guild web site.
United States Groups:
Charlottesville, VA; Indianapolis, IN; Nashville, TN; New York, NY; Oklahoma City, OK; South-Central NJ; Austin, TX; Spokane, WA; Grapevine, TX; St. Louis, MO;
Readers Guild Blog
- Spokane Reviews Art of the Commonplace - 04/30/2012 - by Spokane Readers Guild
- St. Louis Reviews "The Art of the Commonplace" - 04/02/2012 - by St. Louis Readers Guild
- St. Louis Reviews Parts of a World - 03/12/2012 - by St. Louis Readers Guild
- Spokane Reviews Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow - 02/29/2012 - by Spokane Readers Guild
See all posts from this blog.
2012 IAM Readers Guild Selections
Please consider supporting your local bookseller or use the links below to purchase these books online.
January: Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow by Daniel Nayeri--Download the Discussion Guide
February: Parts of a World: A Novel by A.G. Mojtabai--Download the Discussion Guide
March: The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry--Download the Discussion Guide
April: Miracle's Boys by Jacqueline Woodson--Download the Discussion Guide
May: A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson--Download the Discussion Guide
June: Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh--Download the Discussion Guide
July: Empire Falls by Richard Russo--Download the Discussion Guide
August: Four Quartets (Burnt Norton & East Coker) by T.S. Eliot --Download the Discussion Guide
September: Four Quartets ( The Dry Salavegs & Little Gidding) by T.S. Eliot Download the Discussion Guide
October: The Moviegoer by Walker Percy--Download the Discussion Guide
November: Tinkers by Paul Hardin-- Download the Discussion Guide
December: Mystery & Manners by Flannery O'Connor--Download the Discussion Guide
2011 IAM Readers Guild Selections