Either that or Cornell requires so much reading, its students have no time to read for pleasure until they graduate. Those low-key meetings form an essential component of the Association's overall programming. She says the regular book meetings complement volunteer activities and social events which take place at varying times. Busta notes that the reading group piques interest in other CAAM activities. As people get to know each other in the reading group, she says, they feel more comfortable attending other functions.
Special events draw a crowd larger than the half dozen or so who attend regularly.
At the event, best-selling author Melissa Bank, MFA '88, read from her novel, A Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing, to more than forty Cornellians and guests, local writers, and students. We Are by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan. Book group regulars were intrigued by the pioneering government career of host Margaret Plunkett '27, PhD '30, which included overseas postings as the State Department's first female labor attache. The book itself stirred talk about evolution, human behavior, and the genetic relationships among all living beings. Free-form book talk commonly segues into exchanges about current and cultural events, Cornell news, and everyday social conversation.