“I learned courage from Buddha, Jesus, Lincoln, Einstein, and Cary Grant.”
– Miss Peggy Lee

This reading group will examine an exciting array of bold spirits who defy conventional education and societal norms but who nevertheless flourish, gain valuable experience, and come to personal understanding. You’re invited to enroll in Too Cool for School: The Miseducation of Certain Audacious Rebels!

On this journey, we’ll also explore some additional timely concepts: Just what is education anyway, in and out of the classroom? How do we learn – or not learn – life’s compelling lessons? What, really, is “normalcy” in the educational arena? And what role does “otherness” play – does it get in the way of learning or provide a special edge?

Take a look at our reading list below, hold hands with your guides – past and present – and jump into our pool. Hey, have you noticed the temperature? It’s too cool for school!

• In My Life, the incomparable Isadora Duncan – free-spirited, self-educated, and rebellious to the end – defies 19th century balletic strictures to become the ever-celebrated “Mother of Modern Dance” in an autobiographical joyride that hits dazzling heights and heartbreaking lows.
• In The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark, a charismatic teacher with unorthodox views holds sway over a group of selected favorites at a prim Scottish girls’ school, upending the lives of students and colleagues alike in her reckless, flamboyant wake.
• Set at a tony boarding school in New Hampshire during World War II, John Knowles’ A Separate Peace explores the complexities of a star-crossed friendship between two very different boys and reveals hard lessons born from tragedy.
• Beginning at venerable Cambridge University and moving forward with wrenching intensity toward a stunning climax, E.M. Forster’s Maurice touches the heart with its portrayal of a perilous same-sex romance in the stuffy confines of Edwardian England.
• James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man chronicles the tumultuous journey of a young Irishman breaking free from the constraints of religion and societal expectations to pursue his artistic calling.
• J.D. Salinger’s iconic The Catcher in the Rye follows the unforgettable Holden Caulfield’s rebellious odyssey as he navigates the savage artificiality of adult society, searches for illusive authenticity, and finds succor in childlike innocence.
• The Groves of Academe by Mary McCarthy presents a satirical take on the hallowed halls of academia, challenging its overblown values and pristine hierarchies through the lens of a quirky, rebellious professor.
• Patti Smith’s unforgettable Just Kids offers a firsthand account of the bohemian scene in 1960’s and 1970’s New York with controversial photographer Robert Mapplethorpe by her side, portraying the defiant path of two brilliantly gifted soulmates early in their careers.
• Lastly, in Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis, an improbable love triangle develops in a curious whirligig of hijinks and ennui at a vanguard New England campus allegedly based on Bennington College, where Ellis himself was a blasé undergraduate in the 1980’s.

The group will meet in the Bound at the Athenæum on the 1st Sunday afternoon of each month from September through May at 2:00 – 3:30pm (except for December, when we’ll meet in The Art Room on the mezzanine; and in April, when we’ll meet on the 2nd Sunday, also in the Art Room). The facilitator will provide a syllabus with a brief narrative commentary on the monthly selections as well as suggested YouTube videos to enhance your reading experience. You can expect lively discussions to take place in good company throughout the year!

Sun, September 7
My Life, Isadora Duncan

Sun, October 5
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark

Sun, November 2
A Separate Peace, John Knowles

Sun, December 7 (in the Art Room)
Maurice, E.M. Forster

Sun, January 4
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce

Sun, February 1
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

Sun, March 1
The Groves of Academe, Mary McCarthy

Sun, April 12 (2nd Sunday of the month, in the Art Room)
Just Kids, Patti Smith

Sun, May 3
The Rules of Attraction, Bret Easton Ellis

Kip Brott earned his BA and MA degrees in art history from UCLA. He has also taken courses in fashion history at RISD, the Fashion Institute of Technology, and Parsons School of Design. He offers popular classes at the Lifelong Learning Collaborative here in Providence, and he lectures at Hamilton House occasionally. At the Athenæum, Kip has led a number of well-received reading groups in past years.

As a devil-may-care graduate student in the 1970’s, Kip read Jerry Farber’s The Student as N*gger, which gave him great pause. In subsequent years, he learned the hard way that while education is invaluable, it must come on one’s own terms. Kip gets a genuine kick out of Woody Allen, who once said, “I took the speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It’s about Russia.” But he warms up even more to these sagacious words of Albert Einstein: “Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.” A fitting mantra for this learned group of ours!