Club reads instructor’s novel

Posted on 10. Mar, 2010 by ksmith in Life

EMMANUEL SAMOGLOU
LIFE REPORTER

Humber’s spring Book Club will read and discuss Natasha and Other Short Stories, a nationally recognized novel by a Humber instructor.
Written by English instructor David Bezmozgis and nominated for a Governor General’s Award, the novel focuses on the experiences of “a family that moves here from the former Soviet Union to this part of Ontario,” said Laurie Graham, organizer of the Book Club.
“It follows a character named Mark Berman through childhood up until young adulthood as him and his family negotiate how to get along in this new culture.”
Graham said the club is an excellent opportunity for Humber students to expand their perspectives through reading.
“I think that is the ultimate thing, to breed empathy, and to encourage more moments for empathy, through reading,” she said.
Dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences Paula Gouveia said she is excited about having Bezmozgis’ writing featured as part of the Book Club.
“He started teaching for us last semester,” she said. “Students really appreciate his creative style, and he loves to teach and write.”
Gouveia said participants have the opportunity to discuss the novel directly with the author and with a variety of people from across the college.
“What we’ve had is faculty, staff, people from the library; students who are coming from courses who are interested in reading these books, or who have read them themselves, without us ever even saying anything. And then they just want to come meet the person who has written it.”
The founder of the Book Club and the co-ordinator of the Writing Centre Franc Jamieson said collectively discussing a novel can broaden one’s horizons.
“When they hear what other people have experienced in the book they’re surprised, or it confirms what they have felt, or it gives them new ways of thinking about the characters.”