The major event of the year for the San Francisco Great Books Council 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, philosophy and fiction. 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 3-5, 2009. Please check back here in late 2008 for more details, including a downloadable flyer and registration form.
See the current issue of Reading Matters for further information about the upcoming Asilomar retreat. During retreats in recent years we have discussed plays such as Painting Churches, Anna in the Tropics, The Price, The Sea Gull and Death of a Salesman; novels such as The Scarlet Letter, The Bell, Madame Bovary, The Great Gatsby and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; and essays by Machiavelli, Stephen Jay Gould, de Tocqueville, Hoffer and Aristotle; as well as selected poetry.