I'm very excited about a new project of mine: an Ender's Game reading group for ATLOS. The idea is for a small group to study the science fiction book Ender's Game, giving a bunch of fans a chance to talk the book over and giving me a chance to teach some of the best ways to approach a novel in order to better understand it and enjoy it more deeply.
Ender's Game is the perfect book for us, I think. It is beloved and accessible to the group, a mixture of people ranging from me, all booky and literary, to people who almost never read fiction. We need something that is meaty enough for me to find it fun and with enough depth to really explore how to read literature. But we also need something that this group will enjoy so much that they want to think about how to get more out of it. It's just not gonna happen with lots of my literature choices, and I haven't found overmany sci-fi books with the required depth. But Ender's Game is perfect.
I've thought a lot about the format, and I think I found the way I want to do it. During the first meeting, we'll introduce ourselves (Yay, we have some people who are newish to the group doing this!). I'll do a very short little presentation on how to get more out of fiction. If I'm feeling bloggy, I'll post the presentation here when I am finished with it. It won't focus on plot, theme, rising action, and stuff like that; instead it will deal more with how to be a better noticer, how to ask good questions of yourself and the story, and how to pursue an interest that you find in a book.
After this little presentation and any questions or comments on it, we'll begin our discussion of Ender's Game with a lovefest. I don't think our group can be happy or go deeper without first having a chance to talk over how much we love this book, who our favorite character is, who we hate, and what Ender's experiences reminded us of in our own lives. And I think this is a great thing about the group that will be meeting. Because they haven't ever been English-teachered into hating sci-fi (at least they were left with one or two kinds of fiction to love), they still read it selfishly and without any of the soul-killing habits with which they read other fiction (like the game of "find the theme"). They will not be happy in this reading group unless they get to share how this book personally affected them, and good on em.
On the subsequent meetings, we will discuss the book thematically, rather than chronologically. I have a list of things I am interested in discussing (adults/children, simulations and the making of art, the complex parental relationships which both nurture and manipulate in this and other books about children, Ender's relationships with Peter and Valentine, the characters and author's position on total war), and I will keep a list of interesting things that come up from others in the discussion to revisit later. The group will come to an end when we feel finished.
I'm excited about this group as a part of ATLOS as well. It's one of the optional value groups that I think of as so key to the success and the uniqueness of our group, and it's the first time that we have held a reading group for a book that wasn't connected with Objectivism and philosophy. I like this direction, and I hope that more reading groups will spring up to delve into books that ATLOS members are passionate about.
If you are interested in this group, our first meeting is Saturday, July 23 at 2 pm at Stoney's. You should have read the entire book before the first meeting. See you then!
