Free-form book talk commonly segues into exchanges about current and cultural events, Cornell news, and everyday social conversation. The group, which includes this writer, encompasses people from a range of colleges and classes. Members choose books the summer before the program year. While authors Toni Morrison, MA '55, and Vladimir Nabokov have been featured, Cornell ties are not necessary. The group has also discussed works by John Keegan, Ursula le Guin, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Robert M. Pirsig, and Minnesotan Tim O'Brien.
Talk is lively around the coffee shop table.
Of course, participation is ungraded. And none of the reading is required. Coach Pete Noyes asked me to reflect on my feelings as Captain of the 1955 Cornell football team that played Princeton in front of a near-capacity crowd in 1955. My first reaction was bewilderment that it has been that long since 25,000 or more attended a Cornell football game. I remember my days at Athens High School, a mere thirty-five miles south of Ithaca.