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We are excited to announce the return of our book discussion groups!

Storytelling is at the heart of medical and public health practice and Countway Library is here to help foster this tradition. Our Countway Reads initiative invites the community to read and learn together by engaging with creative works by people from all walks of life.

These events, held each semester, are open to all Harvard ID holders and facilitated by Countway Library librarians. The discussions provide a chance to connect with other patrons from across the campus and to foster conversations about a wide range of topics including health, medicine, literature, history, culture, art, and more. Our book selections include novels, autobiographies, graphic novels, and beyond. The events will be held in person, light refreshments will be provided, and registration will sometimes include a free copy of the book for advanced reading.

Seats are limited, so register early if possible. We look forward to seeing you there!

Upcoming Events

  • The Body Factory: From the First Prosthetics to the Augmented Human

    By Héloïse Chochois (Author), Kendra Boileau (Translator)
    Wednesday, November 6 12-1:15pm

    The cover The Body Factory has a smiling man in his underwear who is missing one arm below the elbow and his legs have been removed below the knee, but they are placed nearby. There are tourniquets around his neck, knees, elbows, waist, wrist, and toes. There are replacement body parts (robotic and organic) as well as tools, such as a saw and tape, around him.

    Learn more and register for The Body Factory discussion

    About the book

    The Body Factory: From the First Prosthetics to the Augmented Human by Héloïse Chochois (Author), Kendra Boileau (Translator)

    A young man has a horrible motorcycle accident. He wakes up in the hospital to discover that one of his arms has been amputated. Then a portrait on the wall of his hospital room begins to speak to him. The subject of the painting introduces himself as Ambroise Paré, the French barber-surgeon who revolutionized the art of amputation.

    From this wonderfully absurd premise, the two begin an imaginary conversation that takes them through a sweeping history of surgical amputation, from the Stone Age to the Space Age. Unencumbered by pathos or didacticism, this graphic novel explores the world of amputation, revealing fascinating details about famous amputees throughout history, the invention of the tourniquet, phantom limb syndrome, types of prostheses, and transhumanist technologies.

    Playfully illustrated and seriously funny, The Body Factory is sure to delight anyone interested in the history and future of medicine and how we repair and even enhance the body.

    About the facilitator

    Countway Reads is facilitated by Countway's Lead Collection & Knowledge Management Librarian, Matthew Noe. Matthew is a world-renowned expert on graphic medicine and is an advocate for the importance of reading for not just information, but for enjoyment and community, at all levels of education. Find out more about Matthew on his Harvard Library staff page and learn more about graphic medicine on Countway's Graphic Medicine landing page.

  • Pain Woman Takes Your Keys, and Other Essays from a Nervous System

    By Sonya Huber
    Wednesday, February 5 12-1:15pm

    The cover of Pain Woman Takes Your Keys has the title written in all capital letters with a new bright color used every few words. Its written above a series of triangles extending from alternating sides of the book.

    Learn more and register for the Pain Woman Takes Your Keys discussion

    About the book

    Pain Woman Takes Your Keys, and Other Essays from a Nervous System by Sonya Huber

    Rate your pain on a scale of one to ten. What about on a scale of spicy to citrus? Is it more like a lava lamp or a mosaic? Pain, though a universal element of human experience, is dimly understood and sometimes barely managed. Pain Woman Takes Your Keys, and Other Essays from a Nervous System is a collection of literary and experimental essays about living with chronic pain. Sonya Huber moves away from a linear narrative to step through the doorway into pain itself, into that strange, unbounded reality. Although the essays are personal in nature, this collection is not a record of the author’s specific condition but an exploration that transcends pain’s airless and constraining world and focuses on its edges from wild and widely ranging angles.

    About the facilitator

    Countway Reads is facilitated by Countway's Lead Collection & Knowledge Management Librarian, Matthew Noe. Matthew is a world-renowned expert on graphic medicine and is an advocate for the importance of reading for not just information, but for enjoyment and community, at all levels of education. Find out more about Matthew on his Harvard Library staff page and learn more about graphic medicine on Countway's Graphic Medicine landing page.

  • Seek You: A Journey through American Loneliness

    By Kristen Radtke
    Wednesday, April 2 12-1:15pm

    The cover of Seek You has an apartment building at night with a few windows illuminated showing their occupants spending time alone.

    Learn more and register for the Seek You discussion

    About the book

    Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness by Kristen Radtke.

    Ranging from the invention of the laugh track to the rise of Instagram, the bootstrap-pulling cowboy to the brutal experiments of Harry Harlow, Radtke investigates why we engage with each other and what we risk when we turn away. With her distinctive, emotionally charged, and deeply empathetic prose, Kristen Radtke masterfully shines a light on some of our most vulnerable and sublime moments and asks how we might keep the spaces between us from splitting entirely.

    About the facilitator

    Countway Reads is facilitated by Countway's Lead Collection & Knowledge Management Librarian, Matthew Noe. Matthew is a world-renowned expert on graphic medicine and is an advocate for the importance of reading for not just information, but for enjoyment and community, at all levels of education. Find out more about Matthew on his Harvard Library staff page and learn more about graphic medicine on Countway's Graphic Medicine landing page.

Past Events

  • Bipolar Bear and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Health Insurance: A Fable for Grownups

    by Kathleen Founds

    Join us for a facilitated book discussion at Countway on Tuesday, April 23 from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. in Room 102!

    Bipolar Bear tackles the complicated, politically and emotionally charged experiences of navigating the US health care system. Experiences like those in this comic are vital to emerging and current practitioners, not only for the sake of their patients, but for the sake of their own understanding of the roles they (you, we) play in this complex web of systems that patients must navigate often wile living through the worst experiences of their lives.

    Refreshments will be served. Seats are limited. To register, visit Countway Reads: Bipolar Bear.

  • Ripple Effects

    by Jordan Hart and Bruno Chiroleu

    Graphic Medicine book discussion on Wednesday, February 7, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. in Countway Room 103.

    Join us to discuss the award-winning graphic novel Ripple Effects by Jordan Hart and Bruno Chiroleu, with a foreword by Countway librarian Matthew Noe. Ripple Effects explores life as a superhero with an invisible and incurable disease.

    Part of the Graphic Medicine: Ill-Conceived & Well-Drawn event series & traveling exhibit that was hosted by Countway Library from January 9 through February 17, 2024.

  • Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist

    by Judith Heumann

    Join us for the first in-person Countway Reads book discussion!

    In Being Heumann, one of the most influential disability rights activists in US history tells her personal story of fighting for the right to receive an education, have a job, and just be human.

    "A moving chronical of social change, Being Heumann will restore your hope in our democracy and the power of our shared humanity."

    Darren Walker, Ford Foundation president