Class consisted of an easy-going discussion of the just-passed summer vacation and an exploration of where we would go in the course. Naturally, today being Tuesday and our first class day of the week, we took a look at Sunday's New York Times Book Review in which we explored a novel about virtual reality "The Chalk Artist". Agenda items for the coming term included: "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World." The latter are two of the titles of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey and Maturin novels about the Royal Navy and the two novels were combined and made into a very popular film about ten years ago. We will watch the film and read "Master and Commander." We touched a bit on the poetry of Billy Collins, a two-time U. S. Poet Laureate who was very devoted to his parents and grieved mightily when they died. (Bill and I were high school classmates.) We'll make occasional returns to his poetry. Will plans to attend college, so we'll probably do an occasional SAT II review. Finally, relating to the Hurley family visit to Paris this past summer, we'll read "Sarah's Key" and watch the film of the same name. (Fabulous scenes of Paris!)