Reading 2 Gather

The American by Henry James

Lu — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:28:20 +0000

These are bothe book covers which depict The American. Interestingly enough in the film version Matthew Modine is The American.

Discussion Question from Lit Lovers

1. Notice Christopher Newman’s name. He tells Noemie Nioche that he was named for the explorer. In what way does his name signify his character and the novel’s thematic concerns?

2. How would you describe Newman? What are his qualities as a character? Is he naive…aware…self-aware? What is he looking for? Why, for instance, do we find him at the Louvre at the novel’s opening? How does he compare to his friend, Tom Tristam?

3. What about Noemie and the Countess Claire de Bellegard. Compare and contrast the two women. How do they differ in character? What about Lizzie Tristam? Newman takes an immediate liking to her. Is his regard for her justified?

4. Why does Valentin de Bellegarde encourage the romantic attachment between his sister Claire and Christopher? What does the play on his name suggest? How, in a sense, do the two friends (Valentin and Christopher) represent the societal values of their respective continents?

5. Why does the Marquise de Bellegarde and her son Urbain disapprove of a match between Claire and Christopher? What is their objection to Newman’s money?

6. Discuss how the motif of genuine vs. artificial plays out in this novel. Consider, for example, that Noemie Nioche is a copyist of original paintings. How might this symbolize her as a character? What about other characters—who else lives under the guise of truthfulness but is dishonest?

7. Many of James’s works are concerned with the differences between Europe and America? How is that cultural contrast presented in The American? Keep in mind the novel’s title: is the title meant to honor or disparage Americans?

8. What role does wealth play in this story—its accumulation and loss, it’s ability to confer status…or lack thereof?

9. Which characters do you find most sympathetic? Which ones least?

10. At one point, Newman thinks that the Marquise and Urbain are “sick as a pair of poisoned cats.” Why does he decide not to pursue retaliation toward them? Was he right to stop his efforts? Or should he have continued to expose them?

11. James once admitted that he could have written the novel in such a way that Claire and Christopher married. But he refused a happy ending. What difference would it have made to your reading of the novel had the two lovers been united at the end?

Books for 2012

Lu — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:19:58 +0000

Month	Book	Author
January 31	The American	Henry James
February 28	One Thousand White Women: The Journal of May Dodd	Jim Fergus
March 27	The Book Thief	Marcus Zusak
April 17 (New Date)	Wench	Dolen Perkens-valdez
May 29	A Conspiracy of Paper: A Novel	David Liss
June 26	A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice: Fire: Book One	George R.R. Morton
July 31	Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men into Boys	Kay S. Hymowitz
August 28	Friday Night Lights	H.G. Bissenger
September 25	Cutting For Stone	Abraham Verghese
October 30	Three Men In a Boat	Jerome K. Jerome
Nov/Dec – TBA	The Roots of Obama Rage	Dinesh D’Souza

Our 2011 Favorites

Lu — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:31:16 +0000

Best Book for 2011 from our little book club

#1 – Little Bee recommended

#2 – The Art of Racing in the Rain

#3 – Freedom

#4 – The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Losing My Religion

Lu — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:41:32 +0000

Here is a review of the book. We can use it to begin our discussion for this month.

http://blog.beliefnet.com/idolchatter/2009/04/the-intrigue-of-william-lobdel.html

This website is one that I have used frequently to answer questions about various religions and beliefs. There is a fun piece of it the Belief-omatic (click to get to site). It will ask you a series of questions based on your values and beliefs. Then at then end it will give you percentages of various religions that have the same beliefs that you do.

To give you an idea of what I mean hear are my results, keep in mind I was raised Catholic and now make it my own.

Unitarian Universalism (100%)
Secular Humanism (99%)
Liberal Quakers (94%)

Take a moment to do the quiz and bring the results with you.

For discussion- FREEDOM

Lu — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 19:11:10 +0000

Reading Questions for Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

By Amy Root/Amy Root’s Wordshop, Inc., courtesy of Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Oprah.com | September 17, 2010

Spoiler alert: Reading questions may contain spoilers

1. As a young woman, Patty is phenomenally strong on the basketball court yet vulnerable in relationships, especially with her workaholic parents, her friend Eliza and the conflicted duo of Richard and Walter. What did her rapist, Ethan Post, teach her about vulnerability? After the rape, what did her father and the coaches attempt to teach her about strength?

2. How would you characterize Patty’s writing? How does her storytelling style compare to the narrator’s voice in the rest of the novel?

3. What feeds Richard and Walter’s lifelong cycle of competition and collaboration? If you were Patty, would you have made the road trip with Richard? What does Freedom say about the repercussions of college, not only for Walter and Patty but also for their children?

4. Discuss the nature of attraction, both in the novel and in your own experience. What does it take to be desirable in Freedom? In the novel, how do couples sustain intense attraction for each other over many phases of their lives?

5. Does history repeat itself throughout Walter’s ancestry, with his Swedish grandfather, Einar, who built roads, loathed communism and slow drivers, and was cruel to his wife; his father, Gene, a war hero with fantasies of success in the motel business; and his mother, Dorothy, whose cosmopolitan family was Walter’s salvation? What do all the characters in the novel want from their parents? How do their relationships with their parents affect their relationships with lovers?

6. After her father’s death, Patty asks her mother why she ignored Patty’s success in sports, even though Joyce was a driven woman who might have relished her daughter’s achievements. She doesn’t get a satisfactory answer; Joyce vaguely says that she wasn’t into sports. Why do you think Patty did not garner as much attention as her sisters did? How did your opinion of Veronica and Abigail shift throughout the novel? Does Patty treat Jessica the same way her parents treated her?

7. What accounts for the differences between Joey and Jessica? Is it simply a matter of genes and temperament, or does gender matter in their situation?

8. What does Joey want and get from Jenna and Connie? What do they want and get from him?

9. Did Carol and Blake evolve as parents? What sort of life do you predict for their twin daughters?

10. How is Lalitha different from the other characters in the novel? How does her motivation for working with the Cerulean Mountain Trust compare to Walter’s? Does Walter relate to the cerulean warbler on some level?

11. How would you answer the essential question raised by Walter’s deal with the Texas rancher Vin Haven: What is the best way to achieve environmental conservation?

12. Near the end of the novel, Walter’s relationship with Bobby the cat is described as a sort of troubled marriage. Was their “divorce” inevitable? When Patty is eventually able to serve as neighborhood peacemaker, even negotiating a truce with Linda Hoffbauer, what does this say about her role in Walter’s life? Does she dilute his sense of purpose and principle, or does she keep him grounded in reality?

13. Freedom contains almost cinematic descriptions of the characters’ dwelling places, from the house in St. Paul to Abigail’s eclectic Manhattan apartment. How do the homes in Freedom reflect the personalities of their occupants? Where do Walter and Patty feel most at home? Which of your homes has been most significant in your life?

14. What unique truths emerge in Freedom? In what ways does this novel enhance themes (such as love and commitment, family angst, the intensity of adolescence and the individual against the giant—corporate, governmental and otherwise) featured in Jonathan Franzen’s previous works, including his nonfiction?

15. There are references to freedom throughout the novel, including the freedom of Iraqis to become capitalists, Joey’s parents’ attempt to give him an unencumbered life, an inscription on a building at Jessica’s college that reads “USE WELL THY FREEDOM” and alcoholic Mitch, who is “a free man.” How do the characters spend their freedom? Is it a liberating or destructive force for them? Which characters are the least free?

16. Consider the novel’s epigraph, taken from Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. The lines are spoken by Paulina in the final act, after she learns the fate of her dead husband. She receives the news while surrounded by happy endings for the other characters. The most obvious parallel is to Walter, but who else might be reflected in these lines?

17. If Walter had written a memoir, what might he have said about his victories and his suffering?

18. Which tragicomic passages in Freedom made you laugh? Which characters elicited continual sadness and sympathy in you? How does the author balance poignant moments with absurdity?

Review of Freedom

Lu — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 12:44:18 +0000

‘Freedom’ video book review with Ron Charles

The Washington Post’s fiction critic reviews Jonathan Franzen’s ‘Freedom.’ (Ron Charles/The Washington Post)

click for link

Room by Emma Donoghue

Lu — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:53:46 +0000

This book was written before Jaycee Dugard was found but this book kept reminding me of that story. Then one of our members, Veronica, mentioned that she found a site that explained the inspiration is triggered from a different abduction story, Josef Fritzl. Read the author’s explanation here

Emma Donoghue (born 24 October 1969) is an Irish-born playwright, literary historian and novelist now living in Canada. Her 2010 novel ROOM was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize and an international bestseller.

Want to see what the room would look like? Check out this site http://www.roomthebook.com/ You will find a virtual tour of ROOM and its contents. Place your cursor over the different objects and you will hear a child narrrate. Someone really liked the book.

Spoiler Warning: These book club discussion questions reveal important details about Room by Emma Donoghue. Finish the book before reading on.

Why do you think the author chose to tell the story of Roomthrough Jack and not through an omniscient, third-person narrator?

Why does Jack call their captor “Old Nick?”

Which elements of Jack’s developmental delays and/or his integration issues surprised you most?

When Ma is interviewed, the interviewer implies that perhaps not everyone would agree with Ma’s decisions regarding Jack – first, her decision to keep him in Room when she could have tried to have Old Nick abandon him at a hospital, and second, to teach him that Room was all there is, that things in TV aren’t real, etc. What are your thoughts regarding these decisions?

Have you ever gotten into a car with someone you don’t know, as Ma did? Did you find this to be a believable way for a 19-year-old to be kidnapped?

Did you find yourself wanting to know more about Old Nick? If so, why do you think this is?

Jack often wishes he were back in Room. Is there any way in which he would be better off back in isolation with only his mother? Why or why not?

What sort of problems do you think Ma will face now that she and Jack are out on their own?

Reviews of Wally Lamb’s first novel in 10 years

Lu — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:12:15 +0000

The Washington Post Review said it well, “ A great story is buried in Wally Lamb’s avalanche of a novel, “The Hour I First Believed”

Here is the New York Times Review of The Hour I First Believed By Wally Lamb

The Hour I first believed

Lu — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 03:42:08 +0000

Questions for Discussion

1. The Hour I First Believed deals with many themes: violence, family, the quest for meaning and connection, faith, and the power of chaos to change our lives. These themes are stitched together by two opposing emotional states—despair and hope. How are these two oppositional states intertwined in the story? How are they demonstrated in the story? Use any of the character’s lives as an example.

2. Do you believe that out of chaos—tragedy—comes understanding and hope? Is this always the case?

3. Can perpetrators of chaos be victims themselves? Which, if any of the characters, demonstrate this? If you answer no, why not?

4. One of the major themes of the book is violence. Can violence ever be justified? Is it sometimes necessary? Think about the sacrifices of Caelum’s ancestors who gave their lives to free the slaves and save the Union. Or those who have lost their lives in other conflicts. Is war always immoral?

5. Scientists say we all have the capability of violence. What stops some from hurting others? What might propel the unassuming to commit a tragic act? How is this evident in the novel?

6. Discuss the main characters. What were your impressions of Caelum and Maureen? Of Velvet? What about the real-life perpetrators of Columbine, Eric and Dylan? Did your impressions of these characters change over the course of the novel? If so, why?

7. How does Caelum and Maureen’s relationship evolve from the beginning of the story to its conclusion? Why did they stay together? Would either have been justified in divorcing the other? If they had separated, what might have happened to them?

8. Why does Velvet call Maureen Mom? What is their relationship? Why do you think they were able to form such a powerful bond? What did each give to the other? What is Velvet’s relationship to Caelum? Why does he find it so difficult to sympathize with the girl when she is his student?

9. How does the arrival of Katrina survivors Janis and Moze affect Caelum’s life? What does their appearance add to the story?

10. Velvet tells Caelum that she Googled his name and discovered it was a constellation. According to Webster’s Dictionary, a constellation is “a group of stars forming a recognizable pattern that is traditionally named after its apparent form or identified with a mythological figure; a group or cluster of related things.” Does the novel’s main character embody this definition? How so?

11. Do you think Caelum could have found his hour of belief without the events he experienced? Do you think he could have learned to believe without discovering the stories of his parents, his aunt, and other family members who went before him?

12. What does the title The Hour I First Believed mean to you? Have you had a moment of belief or witnessed it in another’s life?

13. In the Afterword Wally Lamb writes, “I placed my fictional protagonist inside a confounding nonfictional maze and challenged him to locate, at its center, the monsters he would need to confront and the means by which he might save himself and others. Along the way to discovering Caelum Quirk’s story, I, too, wandered down corridors baffling and unfamiliar.” Did reading the novel take you to unexpected places or raise unfamiliar feelings? Explain.

14. Caelum’s aunt, Lolly, lived by the philosophy of the sign that hung behind her desk at the prison: “A woman who surrenders her freedom need not surrender her dignity.” What did that mean to Lolly? What does that mean to you? Did Maureen find freedom in her imprisonment?

15. The novel recalls the debate of nature versus nurture. How much are we the sum of our families? How much can we change?

16. Fate and free will also play a role throughout the novel. How are the two connected? How are fate and free will related to nature and nurture?

17. In his community college class, Caelum asks his students to relate the Greek myths to their own lives. In reading their responses to his question, which, if any resonate with your own life?

18. Throughout the novel, Wally Lamb interweaves numerous calamities that have befallen our country, from school violence to Hurricane Katrina to the Iraq War, that have touched all of us to some degree. Can you find hope in any of these dramas? If so, what?

19. We live in a society that believes more in punishment and retribution than in rehabilitation when it comes to the incarcerated—a far different view than that held by Caelum’s aunt, Lolly, a correctional officer at a successful women’s prison before she was forced into retirement. Do you believe in rehabilitation? Do you think kindness is important even when it comes to criminals? Why or why not?

20. Wally Lamb has worked within the prison system, using his gifts to reach out and help inmates. Have your views of crime, prison, and criminals changed in any way from your reading of the novel?

21. One critic called Wally Lamb a “modern-day Dostoyevsky,” whose characters struggle not only with their respective pasts, but with a “mocking, sadistic God” in whom they don’t believe but to whom they turn, nevertheless, in times of trouble (New York Times). Do you think this describes The Hour I First Believed?

22. If you’ve read Wally Lamb’s previous novels, compare and contrast them withThe Hour I First Believed.

23. If you’ve read the autobiographical essays written by the women in Wally Lamb’s York Prison workshop (Couldn’t Keep It To Myself, I’ll Fly Away), would you say that Lamb’s work with these students informed the plot of The Hour I First Believed? If so, in what ways?

24. The Hour I First Believed interfaces fictional characters with actual people who are alive today and people from the historical past. Did you enjoy this technique or not? Is it fair or unfair to blend fiction and nonfiction? Was it fair of Lamb to draw on the actual Columbine tragedy, or should he have created a fictional school shooting incident?

25. Caelum makes note of the irony of a maze: how that which seems illogical and confounding on the ground looks logical and ordered from above. Explain how these two perspectives apply to Caelum’s life story as well.

26. The novel’s final two sentences are: Yes, that was when at last it happened. That was The Hour I First Believed. Identify the hour to which Caelum refers? That which Caelum came to believe is open to interpretation. How do you interpret what the character finally believed?

27. Play the casting game. If a movie were to be made of this novel, which actors would you cast in the key roles?

Found at Harper Collins publishers

Art Of Racing

Lu — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:33:23 +0000

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Some early readers of the novel have observed that viewing the world through a dog’s eyes makes for a greater appreciation of being human. Why do you think this is?
Enzo’s observations throughout the novel provide insight into his world view. For example:
- “The visible becomes inevitable.”
- “Understanding the truth is simple. Allowing oneself to experience it, is often terrifically difficult.”
- “No race has ever been won in the first corner; many races have been lost there.”How does his philosophy apply to real life?
In the book’s darkest moments, one of Zoe’s stuffed animals — the zebra — comes to life and threatens him. What does the zebra symbolize?
Can you imagine the novel being told from Denny’s point of view? How would it make the story different?
In the first chapter, Enzo says: “It’s what’s inside that’s important. The soul. And my soul is very human.” How does Enzo’s situation–a human soul trapped in a dog’s body–influence his opinions about what he sees around him? How do you feel about the ideas of reincarnation and karma as Enzo defines them?
Do you find yourself looking at your own dog differently after reading this novel?
In the book, we get glimpses into the mindset and mentality of a race car driver. What parallels can you think of between the art of racing and the art of living?
The character of Ayrton Senna, as he is presented in the book, is heroic, almost a mythic figure. Why do you think this character resonates so strongly for Denny?