Tampa Bay Area Council

To contact our Council, E-mail Sara Cohen at TampaBayArea2@greatbooksdiscussionprograms.org
or Patrick DeMarco at TampaBayArea1@greatbooksdiscussionprograms.org. Phone: (813) 672-9052.

SPECIAL NOTE: The Tampa Bay Great Books Council was formed in January 2006 as a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of Great Books programs and activities in the Tampa Bay area and in the State of Florida. It sponsors three annual events: 1) a Great Books Conference Weekend in Longboat Key every January; 2) a Summer Drama Retreat in the month of June; and 3) a Philosophical Day Seminar in early September. Look for details and more information on these events on this website in 2011. For information and registration to one or more of these annual events, contact wither Sara Cohen at (813) 988-0091 and at TampaBayArea2@greatbooksdiscussionprograms.org, or Patrick DeMarco at 813-672-9052 and at TampaBayArea1@greatbooksdiscussionprograms.org.

GREAT BOOKS DISCUSSION GROUPS IN THE TAMPA (HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY) AREA:

1) GREAT BOOKS ROUNDTABLE: RE-READING CLASSICS OF THE WESTERN CANON, SERIES THREE:

This is an eight-week session which is part of the University of South Florida, Tampa campus, Department of Continuing Education and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). The Winter 2011 session will run every Friday morning, 9:30 to 11:30 A.M., from February 4th, 2011 through March 25, 2011. Readings come from the Great Books anthology, Adult Reading and Discussion Program, Series Three, and include the following selections:

2/4/11:       HABITS AND WILL  (John Dewey)
2/11/11:      ON LIBERTY (John Stuart Mill)
2/18/11:      HAMLET  (William Shakespeare)
2/25/11:      THE GOSPEL OF MARK  (Bible/New Testament)
3/4/11:       HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR (Thucydides)
3/11/11:      WHAT IS WAR?  (Von Clausewitz)
3/18/11:      UNCLE VANYA  (Anton Chekhov)
3/25/11:      ON EVIL  (Maimonides)
 

Classes currently meet at one of OLLI's branch locations, the First United Church of Tampa, 7308 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa. Purchase of the Great Books anthology text ($33.95) is required. The cost of the eight-week class is $60, plus the annual membership fee of $30 to OLLI. For registration and other information on joining this group, contact the moderator, Patrick DeMarco, at (813) 672-9052 and at TampaBayArea1@greatbooksdiscussionprograms.org.

2) GREAT BOOKS ROUNDTABLE: GREAT CONVERSATIONS FIVE:

This is an eight-week session which is part of the University of South Florida, Tampa campus, Department of Continuing Education and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). The Winter 2011 session will run every Friday afternoon, 1:30 to 3:30 P.M., from February 4 through March 25, 2011. Readings from the Great Books anthology, Great Conversations Five (5), and include the following selections:

2/4/11:       HEKABE  (Euripides)
2/11/11:      ETHAN BRAND (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
2/18/11:      THE CRITERION OF A GOOD FORM OF GOVERNMENT  (John Stuart Mill)
2/25/11:      MASKS  (George Santayana)
3/4/11:       PHILOSOPHY AND KNOWLEDGE  (Bertrand Russell)
3/11/11:      THE MAN WHO LOVED ISLANDS  (D.H. Lawrence)
3/18/11:      ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE ABNORMAL (Ruth Benedict)
3/25/11:      HELL SCREEN  (Ryunosuke Akutagawa)

Classes currently meet at one of OLLI's branch locations, the First United Church of Tampa, 7308 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa. Purchase of the Great Books anthology text ($28.95) is required. The cost of the eight-week class is $60, plus the annual membership fee of $30 to OLLI. For registration and other information on joining this group, contact the moderator, Patrick DeMarco, at (813) 672-9052 and at TampaBayArea1@greatbooksdiscussionprograms.org.

3) TEMPLE TERRACE LIBRARY GREAT BOOKS ROUNDTABLE:

This group meets every month (except December and August) on the LAST SATURDAY of each month, from 1:00 to 2:30 P.M., at the Temple Terrace Public Library, 202 Bullard Parkway, Tampa, Florida. The group is free and open to the public. Copies of each month's reading selection are available to group members who hold a Hillsborough County library card. For more information on joining this group, contact the moderator, Patrick DeMarco, at (813) 672-9052 or at TampaBayArea1@greatbooksdiscussionprograms.org. Here is the remainder of the reading list/schedule for the 2010-2011 season:

1/29/11:      THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE and THE CONSTITUTION OF THE U.S.
2/26/11:      THE DEATH OF IVAN ILYICH (Leo Tolstoy)
3/26/11:      A TALE OF TWO CITIES  (Charles Dickens)
4/30/11:      FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS  (Ernest Hemingway)
5/28/11:      FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD  (Thomas Hardy)
6/25/11:      GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN  (James Baldwin)
7/30/11:      PILGRIM AT TINKER CREEK  (Annie Dillard)

4) SOUTH SHORE REGIONAL LIBRARY GREAT BOOKS DISCUSSION GROUP:

This group meets every month (except August) on the FIRST SATURDAY of each month, from 10:30 A.M. to 12 noon, at the South Shore Regional Library, 15100 Beth Shields Way, Sun City Center (off exit 240 A, I-75). The group is free and open to the public.Copies of each month's reading selection are available to group members who hold a Hillsborough county library card. For more information on joining this group, contact the moderator, Patrick DeMarco at 813-672-9052 and TampaBayArea1@greatbooksdiscussionprograms.org. Here is the reading list/schedule for the year 2011:

 1/8/11:      KING LEAR  (William Shakespeare)
 2/5/11:      I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS  (Maya Angelou)
 3/5/11:      BABBITT  (Sinclair Lewis)
 4/2/11:      THE GRAPES OF WRATH  (John Steinbeck)
 5/7/11:      THE IDIOT (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
 6/4/11:      THE REPUBLIC  (Plato)
 7/2/11:      PERE GORIOT  (Honore de Balzac)
 8/6/11:      No Meeting.  Vacation Month.
 9/3/11:      THE MILL ON THE FLOSS  (George Eliot)
10/1/11:      THE TRIAL  (Franz Kafka)
11/5/11:      ON DREAMS  (Sigmund Freud)
12/3/11:      RABBIT, RUN  (John Updike)
 

GREAT BOOKS DISCUSSION GROUPS IN PINELLAS COUNTY (St. Petersburg and Clearwater areas):

1) GREAT BOOKS DISCUSSON GROUP AT THE SEMINOLE COMMUNITY LIBRARY:

Meets monthly at the Seminole Community Library at the St. Petersburg College, Seminole Campus, 9200--113th Stree N., Seminole, FL 33772; 727-394-6923. Contact moderator Mike Bryan at TampaBayArea3@greatbooksdiscussionprograms.org.

2) GREAT BOOKS DISCUSSION GROUP AT THE GULF BEACHES LIBRARY:

Meets monthly on the second Saturday at the Gulf Beaches Public Library, 200 Municipal Drive, Madeira Beach, FL 33708; 727-391-2828. Contact Maggie Cinella at TampaBayArea6@greatbooksdiscussionprograms.org.

3) GREAT BOOKS DISCUSSION GROUP AT THECLEARWATER MAIN LIBRARY:

Meets monthly at the Clearwater Main Library, 100 N. Osceola Avenue, Clearwater, FL 33755; 727-562-4970, Ext. 5284. Contact Jan Nickols at TampaBayArea7@greatbooksdiscussionprograms.org.

4) GREAT BOOKS DISCUSSION GROUP AT ECKERD COLLEGE:

Meets monthly from October to May on the first Wednesday, from 6:30 to 8:15 P.M. at the Eckerd College Osher LIfelong Institute, near St. Petersburg Beach. Contact Lester Johnson at 727-443-2484 or Julie McConnell at 727-391-5293.