Choose Your Own Adventure - February

For February's book, we are choosing a book written by a Black author. Please vote in the poll by January 14th.

Here are the contenders, in no particular order (all summaries have been pulled from Amazon & Google Books). Please respond to the poll at the end. Thank you!

The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride
James McBride grew up one of twelve siblings in the all-black housing projects of Red Hook, Brooklyn, the son of a black minister and a woman who would not admit she was white. The object of McBride's constant embarrassment and continuous fear for her safety, his mother was an inspiring figure, who through sheer force of will saw her dozen children through college, and many through graduate school. McBride was an adult before he discovered the truth about his mother: The daughter of a failed itinerant Orthodox rabbi in rural Virginia, she had run away to Harlem, married a black man, and founded an all-black Baptist church in her living room in Red Hook. In her son's remarkable memoir, she tells in her own words the story of her past. Around her narrative, James McBride has written a powerful portrait of growing up, a meditation on race and identity, and a poignant, beautifully crafted hymn from a son to his mother.

 

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow
Rachel, the daughter of a danish mother and a black G.I., becomes the sole survivor of a family tragedy after a fateful morning on their Chicago rooftop.
Forced to move to a new city, with her strict African American grandmother as her guardian, Rachel is thrust for the first time into a mostly black community, where her light brown skin, blue eyes, and beauty bring a constant stream of attention her way. It’s there, as she grows up and tries to swallow her grief, that she comes to understand how the mystery and tragedy of her mother might be connected to her own uncertain identity.
This searing and heartwrenching portrait of a young biracial girl dealing with society’s ideas of race and class is the winner of the Bellwether Prize for best fiction manuscript addressing issues of social justice. 

 

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who—from the New Jersey home he shares with his old world mother and rebellious sister—dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fukú—a curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, following them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA. Encapsulating Dominican-American history, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao opens our eyes to an astonishing vision of the contemporary American experience and explores the endless human capacity to persevere—and risk it all—in the name of love.

 

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
One of the most important works of twentieth-century American literature, Zora Neale Hurston's beloved 1937 classic, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is an enduring Southern love story sparkling with wit, beauty, and heartfelt wisdom. Told in the captivating voice of a woman who refuses to live in sorrow, bitterness, fear, or foolish romantic dreams, it is the story of fair-skinned, fiercely independent Janie Crawford, and her evolving selfhood through three marriages and a life marked by poverty, trials, and purpose. A true literary wonder, Hurston's masterwork remains as relevant and affecting today as when it was first published—perhaps the most widely read and highly regarded novel in the entire canon of African American literature.

 

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age–and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns about love for herself and the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned.

  

The Known World by Edward P. Jones
The Known World tells the story of Henry Townsend, a black farmer and former slave who falls under the tutelage of William Robbins, the most powerful man in Manchester County, Virginia. Making certain he never circumvents the law, Townsend runs his affairs with unusual discipline. But when death takes him unexpectedly, his widow, Caldonia, can't uphold the estate's order, and chaos ensues. Jones has woven a footnote of history into an epic that takes an unflinching look at slavery in all its moral complexities. 

Thank you! Please vote here by January 14th.

December - Discussion Questions

Here are some discussion questions to keep in mind for our meeting tonight. As always, please come with additional questions if you have them!

Questions for Discussion 

1. This book was chosen for the "winter" theme. Can you tell why immediately? What was the role that winter played in the novel?
2. The relationship between Lev & Kolya changes throughout the novel. Was this relationship depicted realistically?
3. The two characters are on a quest for one dozen eggs. Why do you think the author chose eggs as the commodity? Would the message of deprivation been as strong (or stronger) with another product?
4. Kolya talks about the brilliance that is The Courtyard Hound. What indication does the author give you that Kolya is the author? What was the significance to Kolya that he wrote this?
5. One of the plot peaks of the book is when Lev & Kolya find the house filled with the girls who are kept plump and healthy for the German Einsatzgruppen. Discuss what goes on in this house. How did it change Lev's character?
6. The author wrote this as if it was about his grandfather, although he admits in interviews that his grandfather has never been to Russia. This speaks to the flexibility that the story has; it could be anyone's grandfather. Did you feel as if your family's history could fit into this story somewhere?
7. David Benioff is a writer for Game of Thrones. For those of you who have seen GoT, do you see any similarities in the storytelling?

 Thank you for participating again this month! I look forward to seeing you for the discussion!

January - Book Pick & Date

Thanks to all for voting for January's book! The chosen book for the theme of "new beginnings" is Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed.

The book discussion will be on January 26th (4pm) at Pratt Street Ale House. Please let me know your RSVP for the discussion no later than January 21st, so I can finalize it with them.

Thank you and I look forward to seeing you in January!

Looking Forward

I am really excited about how quickly this book club has grown & how much interest I've seen in it so far. Not only that, but I've made new friends & have been able to get really nerdy and passionate about books with folks that I really like. With that said, there's a few things I'd like to discuss moving forward into 2013 with Bookmarks & Barstools.

Monthly Themes
I think that the monthly theme thing is working well, so I've decided to post the next few month's themes. Of course, you are the ones to nominate books for each of them (THE POWER IS YOURS!). Here you go & maybe you can begin to think about books you'd like to nominate in the future.

February: Books written by Black authors (in honor of African American Heritage month)
March: Science fiction
April: Poetry (in honor of National Poetry Month)
May: Second place winners (it's our one-year anniversary, so we will choose from all second-place books from previous months).
June: Books written by LGBTQ authors (in honor of Pride month)
July: Memoir
August: Historical Fiction

The Blog
I really think that this blog can be more than a book club blog, but I would need help from you lovely folks. I'm thinking that this would be more of a collaborative place where we can all discuss anything bookish (and, of course, we'd still use it as our home base for the book club). Let me know if you'd like to be a regular contributor, and if you have something in mind for a specific column that you'd like to write (as in, you would write under that over-arching topic semi-monthly).

Swag
So, Leanne made this awesome logo for us, and now I want to do stuff with it! I was thinking, obviously, bookmarks and maybe koozies or shot glasses/pint glasses. Maybe t-shirts. What do you all think? How much money would you be willing to put in for book club swag? If there is no interest in B&B products, I totally understand, just let me know!

Are there any additional questions, concerns, suggestions? Let me know, either post in the comments, post on FB, or send me a message.

Thanks again for making this book club such a success. I'm having a great time with it & I hope you are too.

Ann Marie

Literary Gift Guide

So, everyone's doing these & I thought it'd be kind of fun to write one up for the book club. Who knows? Maybe this blog can start to be a more literary blog in addition to being a book club blog.

This list is a compilation of really awesome literary gifts. I hope you enjoy & if you have any additional suggestions, feel free to leave a comment!

Out of Print Clothing ($20-$42)
This is one of my favorite shops to browse on the Internet. I pretty much want everything on the website. They are known for their shirts, but check out their coasters, bags, and notecards. You won't be disappointed.
Holiday deal: Free shipping with a $75 purchase

Novel Tea by Bag Ladies Tea ($2.50-$12.50)
I know tons of bookworms that are also tea-lovers, and this is perfect for them. Each teabag has a printed quote by a famous author on it. I can't vouch for the tea's taste (I haven't tried it...yet), but I can vouch for how awesome these are. Please note that the minimum order amount is $25 and you must have a Paypal account.

In the Library by CB I Hate Perfume ($12-$90)
This is a more weird gift, but I'm so intrigued that I have to list it. This perfume smells like a library (Russian & Moroccan leather bindings, worn cloth and a hint of wood polish, to be specific) and was inspired by the creator's favorite book's smell.

Jezebel Charms ($20-$45)
These literary-inspired cuffs, cuff links, and necklaces are brilliant. If you know someone that really loves Jane Austen, Arthur Conan Doyle, or Shakespeare, this shop is perfect for them.

Personal Library Kit by Knock Knock Stuff ($15)
One of our book clubbers (Leanne) can vouch for this awesome library kit. I remember when she got it & I remember checking a book out from her. It was glorious. This is perfect for those of you who like to lend your books out.
Holiday deal: Flat-rate shipping for all orders, free shipping for orders over $50.

Transit Issue Waterproof Nomad Journal ($74)
Writers will totally appreciate this journal because it is completely waterproof (and comes with a cool space pen too!). This gift would pair well with the next one, for those that are getting into the Jack London or Christopher McCandless mood.
Holiday deal: 10% off over the holidays.

Fully Booked by Field Candy ($800)
And for those of you that want to break the bank, this gift is really, really badass. A tent. With a book cover. I'm in love.

Choose Your Own Adventure - January

 The theme for January's book pick is "new beginnings." Please vote by December 21st.

Here are the contenders, in no particular order (all summaries have been pulled from Amazon & Google Books). Please respond to the poll at the end. Thank you!


Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone.

Strayed faces down rattlesnakes and black bears, intense heat and record snowfalls, and both the beauty and loneliness of the trail. Told with great suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild vividly captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
1987. There’s only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that’s her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn’s company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June’s world is turned upside down. But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life—someone who will help her to heal, and to question what she thinks she knows about Finn, her family, and even her own heart.

At Finn’s funeral, June notices a strange man lingering just beyond the crowd. A few days later, she receives a package in the mail. Inside is a beautiful teapot she recognizes from Finn’s apartment, and a note from Toby, the stranger, asking for an opportunity to meet. As the two begin to spend time together, June realizes she’s not the only one who misses Finn, and if she can bring herself to trust this unexpected friend, he just might be the one she needs the most.
 

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali.

Atlas of the Human Heart by Ariel Gore
Ariel Gore spins the spirited story of a vulnerable drifter who takes refuge in fate and the shadowy recesses of a string of glittering, broken relationships. With just a few pennies and her I Ching, a change of clothes and a one-way ticket to Hong Kong, a perceptive, searching sixteen-year-old Gore makes her way from the sterile suffocation of the Silicon Valley through the labyrinthine customs of Cold-War China, wanders through bustling, electric Kathmandu, and hunkers down in an icy London squat with a prostitute and a boyfriend on the dole. Yet it is in the calm, verdant landscape of rural Italy where, pregnant and penniless, nineteen-year-old Gore’s adventure truly begins. An illuminating glimpse into the boldly political Gore—creator of HipMama.com and Hip Mama magazine—this unflinching memoir offers a poignant exploration of the meaning of home and surveys the frontiers of both land and heart.

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
The Year of Magical Thinking is Joan Didion’s account of the year following the death of her husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, and her attempts to make sense of her grief while tending to the severe illness of her adopted daughter, Quintana. It is a stunning book of electric honesty and passion. Didion explores an intensely personal yet universal experience: a portrait of a marriage--and a life, in good times and bad--that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband or wife or child.

Please vote here no later than December 21.

Thank you for keeping this book club as awesome as it is!

December - Discussion Questions

I am just really bad at getting these out on time. Here are some discussion questions to keep in mind for our meeting tomorrow. As always, please come with additional questions if you have them!

Questions for Discussion

1. Did you read the perks of being a wallflower as an adolescent/teen? If so, was it different this time around? In what way?
2. How did you feel about the style of the story (Charlie writing anonymously to an unknown recipient)? Do you think it lended to Charlie's story or not? How would the story have changed if it was written as a more traditional narrative storyline?
3. Music was an important theme throughout the story. Did you feel like Charlie was creating a soundtrack to this story? To his life? What songs would you have added or subtracted, if any, from this "soundtrack?"
4. This story is primarily about relationships. Charlie has many in the story (Bill, his parents, his siblings, Sam, Patrick, Mary Elizabeth, Aunt Helen). Do you think that Charlie's relationships make him the way he is, or are they defined by his character?
5. Is Charlie's story a universal one?
6. This book is a new motion picture, written and directed by the book's author. If you've seen it, what did you think about the similarities and differences? If you haven't, what are your expectations?

 Thank you for participating again this month! I look forward to seeing you for the discussion!

December - Book Pick & Date

The theme for December is (unsurprisingly): "winter." Based on the poll, December's book pick is City of Thieves by David Benioff.

The book discussion will be on December 29th (5pm) at Heavy Seas Ale House. Please let me know your RSVP for the discussion no later than December 26, so I can finalize it with them.

Thank you and I look forward to seeing you in December!

Choose Your Own Adventure - December

The theme for December's book is "winter." We will be reading books related to winter, cold, etc.  Please vote by November 16th.

Here are the contenders, in no particular order (all summaries have been pulled from Amazon & Google Books). Please respond to the poll at the end. Thank you!

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson (460 pages)
San Piedro Island, north of Puget Sound, is a place so isolated that no one who lives there can afford to make enemies.  But in 1954 a local fisherman is found suspiciously drowned, and a Japanese American named Kabuo Miyamoto is charged with his murder.  In the course of the ensuing trial, it becomes clear that what is at stake is more than a man's guilt. For on San Pedro, memory grows as thickly as cedar trees and the fields of ripe strawberries--memories of a charmed love affair between a white boy and the Japanese girl who grew up to become Kabuo's wife; memories of land desired, paid for, and lost. Above all, San Piedro is haunted by the memory of what happened to its Japanese residents during World War II, when an entire community was sent into exile while its neighbors watched.  Gripping, tragic, and densely atmospheric, Snow Falling on Cedars is a masterpiece of suspense-- one that leaves us shaken and changed.

The Ice Storm by Rick Moody (288 pages)
 The year is 1973. As a freak winter storm bears down on an exclusive, affluent suburb in Connecticut, cark skid out of control, men and women swap partners, and their children experiment with sex, drugs, and even suicide. Here two families, the Hoods and the Williamses, com face-to-face with the seething emotions behind the well-clipped lawns of their lives-in a novel widely hailed as a funny, acerbic, and moving hymn to a dazed and confused era of American life.

City of Thieves by David Benioff (258 pages)
During the Nazis’ brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful Soviet colonel to use in his daughter’s wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a hunt through the dire lawlessness of Leningrad and behind enemy lines to find the impossible.

Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg (512 pages)
In this international bestseller, Peter Høeg successfully combines the pleasures of literary fiction with those of the thriller. Smilla Jaspersen, half Danish, half Greenlander, attempts to understand the death of a small boy who falls from the roof of her apartment building. Her childhood in Greenland gives her an appreciation for the complex structures of snow, and when she notices that the boy's footprints show he ran to his death, she decides to find out who was chasing him. As she attempts to solve the mystery, she uncovers a series of conspiracies and cover-ups and quickly realizes that she can trust nobody. Her investigation takes her from the streets of Copenhagen to an icebound island off the coast of Greenland. What she finds there has implications far beyond the death of a single child. The unusual setting, gripping plot, and compelling central character add up to one of the most fascinating and literate thrillers of recent years.

Tinkers by Paul Harding (191 pages)
An old man lies dying. Propped up in his living room and surrounded by his children and grandchildren, George Washington Crosby drifts in and out of consciousness, back to the wonder and pain of his impoverished childhood in Maine. As the clock repairer’s time winds down, his memories intertwine with those of his father, an epileptic, itinerant peddler and his grandfather, a Methodist preacher beset by madness. At once heartbreaking and life affirming, Tinkers is an elegiac meditation on love, loss, illness, faith, and the fierce beauty of nature.

The Snow Child by Eoywn Ivey (416 pages)
Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.

Again, please vote by November 16. Here is the link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BCY9GZJ

November - Book Pick & Date

Based on the poll sent out last month, November's book pick is the perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. It is a YA book, to go with our theme of BookIt!

The book discussion will be on December 1st at Joe Squared in Village (I know you were expecting Pizza Hut, but Joe Squared is amazing). Please let me know your RSVP for the discussion no later than November 26, so I can finalize it with them.



There will be BookIt! swag handed out for those of you who attend. Thank you and I look forward to seeing you in November! 

 

October - Discussion Questions

Here are some discussion questions to keep in mind for our meeting tonight. As always, please come with additional questions if you have them!

Questions for Discussion

1. The theme of this month's book was "scary/horror." Why do you think that this book won the most votes versus the other, more traditional horror novels?
   
2. Cormac McCarthy has a distinct style of writing. Did you like it or not? Did you think that his style lent to the story that was being told?
   
3. How did you feel about the main characters never being named? Why do you think McCarthy made this choice?
   
4. There is a lot of symbolism in this book. What does the road mean to the characters? To you?
   
5. What does "the fire [inside]" mean to the characters? To you? Do you believe that we all have the fire inside now, without trial?
   
6. There is a distinction for the boy about who the "good guys" and the "bad guys" are in this book. Do you believe that keeping this idea of "them" versus "us" is helpful or hurtful for their survival?
   
7. Has anyone seen the movie (released in 2009)? What did you think of it in comparison to the written work?

Thank you for participating again this month! I look forward to seeing you for the discussion and ghost walk.

Choose Your Own Adventure - November

The theme for November is Book It! We will be reading books related to adolescence and hosting our discussion at a pizza place, with great prizes. Please vote by October 19.

Here are the contenders, in no particular order (all summaries have been pulled from Amazon & Google Books). Please respond to the poll at the end. Thank you!


School Days by Patrick Chamoiseau 

Through the eyes of the boy Chamoiseau, we meet his severe, Francophile teacher, a man intent upon banishing all remnants of Creole from his students’ speech. This domineering man is succeeded by an equally autocratic teacher, an Africanist and proponent of “Negritude.” Along the way we are also introduced to Big Bellybutton, the class scapegoat, whose tales of Creole heroes and heroines, magic, zombies, and fantastic animals provide a fertile contrast to the imported French fairy tales told in school.

In prose punctuated by Creolisms and ribald humor, Chamoiseau infuses the universal terrors, joys, and disappointments of a child’s early school days with the unique experiences of a Creole boy forced to confront the dominant culture in a colonial school.

 

Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon
A wildly successful first novel made Grady Tripp a young star, and seven years later he still hasn’t grown up. He’s now a writing professor in Pittsburgh, plummeting through middle age, stuck with an unfinishable manuscript, an estranged wife, a pregnant girlfriend, and a talented but deeply disturbed student named James Leer. During one lost weekend at a writing festival with Leer and debauched editor Terry Crabtree, Tripp must finally confront the wreckage made of his past decisions. Mordant but humane, Wonder Boys features characters as loveably flawed as any in American fiction.

 

the perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective…but there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor. 

since its publication, stephen chbosky’s haunting debut novel has received critical acclaim, provoked discussion and debate, grown into a cult phenomenon with over a million copies in print, and inspired a major motion picture.

the perks of being a wallflower is a story about what it’s like to travel that strange course through the uncharted territory of high school. the world of first dates, family dramas, and new friends. of sex, drugs, and the rocky horror picture show. of those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

Looking for Alaska by John Green
Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . . After. Nothing is ever the same.

About a Boy by Nick Hornby

Nick Hornby's second bestselling novel is about sex, manliness and fatherhood. Will is thirty-six, comfortable and child-free. And he's discovered a brilliant new way of meeting women - through single-parent groups. Marcus is twelve and a little bitnerdish: he's got the kind of mother who made him listen to Joni Mitchell rather than Nirvana. Perhaps they can help each other out a little bit, and both can start to act their age.

 

Please vote on the online poll (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WMBB55H) by October 19. Thank you!

October - Book Pick & Date

Based on the poll sent out last month, October's book pick is The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It is a dark, post-apocalyptic book to go with the theme of gloomy and dreary for the month.

Our meeting will be on October 26th and, like last month, it will be a two-part meeting. When you RSVP, please be sure to let me know if you are going to one event or both. 

The book discussion will be at Alexander’s Tavern (not one of the haunted pubs, but a good one nonetheless) starting at 6:00pm. I know this is early for a Friday, but the tour is at 7:30pm and I want to make sure we’ll have enough time. Please let me know your RSVP for the discussion no later than October 22, so I can finalize it with them.

Then, for those that want to come, we will be going on the Fells Point Haunted Pub Ghost Tour, beginning at 7:30pm. Please be aware that the ghost tour is $20 and you should buy your reservation ahead of time. I am a little worried about them selling out (they've already sold out of a few), so please buy your tickets as soon as you can, if you think you can go. This tour is really fun and you'll have somewhere between 4-6 beers while you're out, so also make sure you have a DD (we can discuss carpooling if needed).

 

Thank you and I look forward to seeing you in October!

September - Discussion Questions

Again, this post is coming out a little later than originally planned, but I hope most of you have had a chance to look at the reader's guide, because most of the questions are lifted from there. These questions are to prompt discussion for the meeting this weekend to start the conversation. Please come with additional questions if you have them!


Questions for discussion

1. How did you like the style of the book (with four different perspectives)? Would you have liked it more "traditionally" written, or did you like hearing different stories?
2. What effect do the constant confrontation of war and occupation have on each narrator? Do suffering, violence, and loss ever become the norm? Further - what resources, both physical and mental, are the four characters in the book using to help them survive?
3. What effect does music have on Sarajevo and the lives of the characters? Did you have a chance to listen to the Adagio? Did it have the same effect on you?
4. Are the characters in the book courageous?
5. Each one of the characters does something to create a sense of "normalcy" in this time of chaos. What do you think about this? Was it all for naught?
6. What was your favorite part of the book? Your least favorite part?
7. What does this book convey about war and humanity?
8. Let's construct at least one question to ask Steven Galloway about his book. What would you like to ask him?

Thank you to all participating this month, and I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow at 10am!

Recap: The Book Thief

I am outrageously late on writing this up and for that, I hope you can forgive me. We had a really great discussion last month at the Kegs & Corks festival (and thanks so much to everyone for coming out in the rain!). Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, although a lengthy book, was a good fit for the book club, as everyone really seemed to enjoy it and had much to say on it.

Again, please note that this post may include spoilers, and please be aware of that as you continue to read.

Going into The Book Thief, one must know that this book was meant to be written as a book for adults, but the publishers decided to market it toward children. It has won multiple Young Adult/Childrens' book awards, but some people still think that it is too "adult"-themed for children (and in some international countries, it is still marketed as an adult book). We all agreed that the book definitely reads as young adult (the word choice and syntax), its font and style (specifically with the asterisks and drawings), and a lot of its adult themes are presented in a YA-style, such as a main protagonist who defies authority and is smarter than the adults in the story. The main difference that we noticed is that this book doesn't dumb it down for children, but instead offers heavy topics in a way that isn't too overwhelming. We did note that this novel doesn't actually explain the Holocaust outright and in that way, children may be at a disadvantage if they are fairly unaware of the historical content. Despite this, The Book Thief works hard to show that not all Germans in Nazi Germany were practicing members of the Nazi Party, which is a story not told often.

While The Book Thief has a much more traditional writing style than the other books that we have read in the book club so far, the narrator of the book is Death, and as such, there are quite a few implications of this, such as Death telling us ahead of time that a character will die, or giving us a closer view into certain character's pasts that we may not have gotten otherwise. Our book club really felt like knowing that Death is the narrator really set the tone for this novel up front: there will be a lot of dying in this book. Even so, most readers enjoyed Death as a narrator, and Stephanie said that it gives this book a "unique, different voice" than it would otherwise have had.

Another unique part of The Book Thief is that a lot of the book's story is interspersed with German words. Both Stephanie and I speak German, but the rest of the book club does not. Leanne said that she enjoyed that the German words broke up the reading, and that a lot of the time she caught herself pronouncing the words aloud. Leanne also said that the story felt "more effective with the German words." Anthony enjoyed that the author helped translate the words in a creative (non-textbook) style each time. Stephanie and I both agreed that the translations were good approximations of the German word, which shouldn't be surprising, as the author speaks fluent German.

This story is about a book-loving German girl, Liesel, living in World War II, mostly in a neutral stance (her parents were not political, and neither was she), until her father, Hans, is called upon for a favor; their family is asked to take in a Jewish man, Max, and he lives hidden in their basement. Something that was noticed by the readers is that this book is about one family, doing one small thing. It is "not a sob story," and they are not trying to save all the Jews in Nazi Germany. Each character has a way of rebelling in such a strict world; Liesel's family hides Max, Max reads Hilter's Mein Kampf to stay safe, Rudy wants to be Jesse Owens.

We all really enjoyed that a main theme in this novel was reading, writing, and loving books in general. Liesel feels as if she needs to write, to commemorate, as an escape, as a relationship builder. Written words save her life in more than one way multiple times throughout the book. As for Max, he ironically reads Mein Kampf ("My Struggle") to flee under the radar, and eventually paints over the pages of Mein Kampf and writes his own story. The symbolism of creating one's own story and rewriting one's history was not lost on our group. Stephanie addressed the question of why Liesel picked up the book at her brother's funeral. Anthony answered, "the book is an artifact [in this case], not reading material." I enjoyed the juxtaposition of how sentimental and emotional that book was to Liesel in contrast to the grave digger that it belonged to, who just used it for work. Additionally, as time goes on and the mass killings become more rampant in Germany, a grave digger's book is irrelevant. 

Like some of the other books that we've read, there are talks of turning The Book Thief into a full-length motion picture. We all discussed if they will still use Death as the narrator (we hope so!), and what he would look like. We all agreed that Death would have to be very attractive (or as Jenny said, "Death is sexy as hell.") and Anthony brainstormed that Death would simply be a character in each scene, and would be in charge of carrying the dead away. Either way, we did agree that the book will translate well to screen.

Our final word on the book was the theme in only one sentence.
Anthony: "Seductive Truth."
Ann Marie: "Human nature surprises even death."
Stephanie: "Survival and the duality of human nature."

If you enjoyed the book, or have any comments on our comments, please feel free to continue the conversation below. I look forward to seeing your feedback!

Thanks again for making this book club a success!