SMC Reads

SMC Reads is a quarterly book club for alumni, parents and friends of the college to promote life-long learning and engaging discussions. Books will be chosen to facilitate meaningful discussions about social justice, literature, current events, personal reflection and more!

There is no cost to participate, just start reading our current selection and then join us for the scheduled discussion. To gain access to our discussions, be sure to join our Facebook group, which will serve as our private forum. If you would like to join but do not have a Facebook account, or you have any questions about the program, please contact events@smcvt.edu.

Why join our book club?

  1. This will be a forum for our community to continue on their journey of being a life-long learner. We have heard from our alumni that they would like to have a way to continue many of the meaningful conversations held in the classrooms during their time at St. Mike’s. This is one of the ways we are providing a space to do exactly that!
  2. Reading has many benefits including reducing stress, improving relationships, increased mental and emotional intelligence, as well as, creating an understanding of life from different perspectives and backgrounds.
  3. SMC Reads is one of our many initiatives for you to stay connected with St. Mike’s. We hope you are able to reconnect with faculty from the college, old friends and make new ones through this and our other virtual programs.

Summer 2021 Book Selection

Our next SMC Reads selection is Severance by Ling Ma. This satirical, science fiction novel follows Candace Chen before and after the Shen Fever slowly destroys global civilization. This story covers the themes of modern work culture, relationships and nostalgia, and our English Department Chair, Maura D’Amore, will be leading the discussion on this complex story.

Register for our discussion on Nov. 2nd from 5:30-7:00 pm ET by following this link. If you have any suggestions for our next selection, please contact events@smcvt.edu. We look forward to seeing you there!

Past Book Selections

Summer 2021: Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, she shows how other living beings — asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass — offer gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. This was also the common text that all incoming students are required to read for their First-Year Seminar course.

Spring 2021: Loung Ung, Lulu in the Sky: A Daughter of Cambodia Finds Love, Healing, and Double Happiness. Lulu in the Sky is the final installment of Ung’s trilogy that began with her critically acclaimed debut, First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers (made into a Netflix film in 2017) and the follow-up, Lucky Child. Watch the recording of the webinar here.

Winter 2020: A.J. Baime, The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America. This book tackles the intricate narratives of the time from the frontlines, the political arena, and factory assembly lines during WWII. These stories are interwoven to showcase the personal and social challenges faced during this time, and the important cooperation between the Ford Motor Company and the American military.

Fall 2020: Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, the book covers topics of race, political activism, grief, friendship, wealth disparity, and police brutality. The Hate U Give is the Vermont READS 2020 book selection by the Vermont Humanities Council.

Summer 2020: Michelle Kuo, Reading with Patrick: A Teacher, a Student, and a Life-Changing Friendship. This book is an inspiring story of friendship and a moving meditation on education, poverty, race, and criminal justice. This was also the common text that all incoming students are required to read for their First-Year Seminar course.

To explore the book pick further, two members of the SMC faculty have provided essays to discuss their thoughts on the book: Christina Root, Professor of English and Fr. David Theroux, S.S.E.