In celebration of America's 250th anniversary, this reading series explores the nation's evolving identity through five remarkable works of fiction and nonfiction, including Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists. Journey from the Civil War to mid-century creativity, the AIDS epidemic, contemporary immigrant experiences, and reflections on democracy. Join us to read, reflect, and discuss the stories that help shape the American experience—past, present, and future.

FEBRUARY: Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips (2024)

In 1874, in the wake of the War, erasure, trauma, and namelessness haunt civilians and veterans, renegades and wanderers, freedmen and runaways. Twelve-year-old ConaLee, the adult in her family for as long as she can remember, finds herself on a buckboard journey with her mother, Eliza, who hasn’t spoken in more than a year. They arrive at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, delivered to the hospital’s entrance by a war veteran who has forced himself into their world. There, far from family, a beloved neighbor, and the mountain home they knew, they try to reclaim their lives. Epic, enthralling, and meticulously crafted, Night Watch is a stunning chronicle of surviving war and its aftermath. 

MARCH: The Brief and Wondrous World of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (2008)

Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who—from the New Jersey home he shares with his old world mother and rebellious sister—dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fukú—a curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, following them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA. Encapsulating Dominican-American history, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao opens our eyes to an astonishing vision of the contemporary American experience and explores the endless human capacity to persevere—and risk it all—in the name of love. 

APRIL: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (2000)

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is a triumph of originality, imagination, and storytelling, an exuberant, irresistible novel that begins in New York City in 1939. A young escape artist and budding magician named Joe Kavalier arrives on the doorstep of his cousin, Sammy Clay. While the long shadow of Hitler falls across Europe, America is happily in thrall to the Golden Age of comic books, and in a distant corner of Brooklyn, Sammy is looking for a way to cash in on the craze. He finds the ideal partner in the aloof, artistically gifted Joe, and together they embark on an adventure that takes them deep into the heart of Manhattan, and the heart of old-fashioned American ambition. Spanning continents and eras, this superb book by one of America’s finest writers remains one of the defining novels of our modern American age.  

MAY: The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (2018)

In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico’s funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico’s little sister. Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago crisis, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways AIDS affected her life and her relationship with her daughter. The two intertwining stories take us through the heartbreak of the eighties and the chaos of the modern world, as both Yale and Fiona struggle to find goodness in the midst of disaster.  

JUNE: An Unfinished Love Story by Doris Kearns Goodwin (2024)

Doris Kearns Goodwin, one of America’s most beloved historians, artfully weaves together biography, memoir, and history. She takes you along on the emotional journey she and her husband, Richard (Dick) Goodwin embarked upon in the last years of his life. Dick and Doris Goodwin were married for forty-two years and married to American history even longer. Over the years, with humor, anger, frustration, and in the end, a growing understanding, Dick and Doris had argued over the achievements and failings of the leaders they served and observed, debating the progress and unfinished promises of the country they both loved. The Goodwins’ last great adventure involved finally opening the more than three hundred boxes of letters, diaries, documents, and memorabilia that Dick had saved for more than fifty years. The voyage of remembrance brought unexpected discoveries, forgiveness, and the renewal of old dreams, reviving the hope that the youth of today will carry forward this unfinished love story with America. 

Facilitator: Stacey Bieber attended Boston University for both her undergraduate studies and law school.  She also has a Master of Law degree in Taxation from New York University. Following graduate school, she and her husband, Mark, moved to Los Angeles for her clerkship and never looked back.    

After having three children, Bieber decided to follow her passion and returned to school earning a Master of Arts in Literature from California State University, Northridge, where she taught in the English Department for eighteen years until recently retiring.   

Facilitating book clubs allows Bieber to combine her love for reading, learning, and teaching without the grading. In addition to teaching, she loves spending time with her family, hiking, traveling, and learning from her students.

GROUP 1: Tuesdays, 10:00 am–12:00 pm (IN PERSON)
February 17, March 17, April 21, May 19, June 16

GROUP 2: Tuesdays, 1:00–3:00 pm (IN PERSON)
February 17, March 17, April 21, May 19, June 16

GROUP 3: Wednesdays, 1:00–3:00 pm (IN PERSON)
February 18, March 18, April 22, May 20, June 17

GROUP 4: Fridays, 10:00 am–12:00 pm (ONLINE)
February 20, March 20, April 24, May 22, June 19