The major event of the year for the Great Books Council of San Francisco is the spring weekend at the Asilomar Conference Center in Monterey, California. During the weekend there are four discussions of reading selections, including poetry, plays, fiction and nonfiction. The beauty of the area and comfort of the accommodations are conducive to stimulating discussions and convivial parties.
The next Asilomar retreat will be held on April 16-18, 2010. A downloadable/printable flyer and registration form is available here.
(new this year!) You can also use the web to register for the event by clicking here and filling out the online registration form.
During retreats in recent years we've discussed plays such as Antigone, Painting Churches, Anna in the Tropics, The Price, The Sea Gull and Death of a Salesman; novels such as Disgrace, The Scarlet Letter, The Bell, Madame Bovary, The Great Gatsby and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; and nonfiction works by Twain, Machiavelli, Stephen Jay Gould, de Tocqueville, Hoffer and Aristotle; as well as selected poetry.
The Asilomar event coordinator is Rob Calvert. He can be reached via email at rob@rob-calvert.com.