YES! Saratoga County Book Club

      Over the fall of 2006, YES! Saratoga County offered its first, ever, Book Club.  Participants read and discussed the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, The Great Gatsby.  Copies of the book, bookmarks, and posters were donated by Cornell University, as part of the Cornell Reads Program. 

      For the first couple meetings, participants visited different websites, designed to give us a feel for the roaring twenties – the music and the laws on prohibition, as well as the uninhibited social climate of the Jazz Age.  The rest of the meetings were dedicated to discussing the book in terms of literary elements (especially the themes, motifs, and symbols) and the implications Fitzgerald’s novel has on the lives of youth today.  We had some pretty lively conversations about the morals of the various characters and the ways in which they conducted themselves.

      The Book Club concluded on December 9 with a viewing of the movies.  Those who read the book from beginning to end were able to compare their personal understanding of the novel with that of a movie director.  It was fun to see how certain elements of the book were changed to fit the medium of a movie.  It was also interesting to see which elements of the novel were left out of the movie version of the story.

      Those who attended the Book Club on a regular basis voted to do it again.  They enjoyed the Book Club and wished that more YES! Saratoga County members were involved, as the discussions of the book are more interesting when more people read the book and attend the meetings.

      Although there was no writing required for the YES! Saratoga County Book Club (only reading and discussion), some of the regular attendees did write about the experience. 

Current book being read: George Orwell's, 1984
Upcoming book:  Stephen King's novel, IT

Previous books:
F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby
George Orwell's Animal Farm
Ayn Rand's Anthem