questions for february's book club

Happy New Year to you all...some questions to ponder for discussion

- Why do u think the story was told in flashbacks. What perceptive can an older Henry give and do u think it would be accurate

- Father-son relationships are a crucial theme in the novel. How is Henry's relationship with his Father and Son different. What accounts for the difference?

-Why does Henry's father insist on only English from Henry when he intends to send him back to China for study.

-If u were Henry would u be able to forgive your father.? Does he deserve forgiveness?

-Henry's mother comes from a culture in which wives are subservient to their husbands. Given this background , do you think she could of done more to help Henry in his struggles against his father? Is her a loyalty to her husband a betrayal of her son.

-bullying is a big part of the theme in the book..Henry's bullied by his father,schoolmates, society in general. How do you think this shaped his character . Do you think society has changed much in regards to bullying.

-Do you think Henry was right to stay with Ethel even after he found out about his fathers deceit. Should he have searched for Kieko.

-Do you think Ethel knew what was happening to Henry's letters?

-Why do u think Kieko didn't make an effort to find Henry once released from the camp?

-Internment of foreigners happened all over the world during WW2 what are ur views on this and do you think it is a practice that could happen today?

Happy reading see u all at my place

224 Schoolhouse Road Woori Yallock

on the first Tuesday in Feb.....

hey reading buddies just wondering if someone can post the name of the next two books because i know i wrote them in a safe place i just can't remember where that safe place is ugh....

Australian Women Writers 2012 challenge

Hello,

Don't want to force anyone into picking certain books but I was wondering if people would be interested in doing this for book club?

http://www.australianwomenwriters.com/p/australian-women-writers-book-challenge_25.html

Let me know

Trilby

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Burrows

This book was generally liked. At first some of us had our reservations. On the back of some copies the author of "Eat, Pray, Love" stated she enjoy this book, which would discourage some readers. Some of us found an epistolary novel (thanks Tahnee) meaning a novel created out of letters, a bit of a challenge at first. For some however found this method of creating a story, enjoyable and an easy was to explore the different characters.

The subject of letters themselves was an interesting topic, as the use of letter writing has changed due to technology. Though it was discussed that writing an email can sometimes be similar to the writing that you post.

The characters Juliet and Elizabeth, were liked because of their independence and heroic behaviour during a time when men were considered "the boss". The risks they both took were different, Elizabeth's actions lead her to her death. Juliet's ultimately lead her to Dawsey

As for the rest of the Guernsey society, it was found they were sometimes too eccentric and quirky. Some of us thought Dawsey was about fifty until Juliet described him. Despite the historical quality of the book, some of us didn't know where the story was leading.

Debbie: 7 Enjoyable read. Inspired to get letters out to read.

Lesley: 5 Interesting but couldn't get into it. Can't fall into a book of letters.

Tahnee: 6 Enjoyed it, love new word "epistolary".

Trilby: 5 Enjoyable, pleasant, interesting.

Kaye: 6 A lovely read. At the start found the letters annoying.

Colleen: 5 Liked format, half way through the book couldn't understand characters, a bit fluffy.

Kerry: 4 Enchanting tale, a bit boring, a bit disjointed.

Hannah: 6 Letters annoying at first, an easy read.

Book club a Kerry's in February; "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jaimie Ford.

At Colleen's in March; "Caleb's Crossing", by Geraldine Brooks.

Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year. Congratulations Irene! (you still could have come to book club though he he just kidding)

Hannah

Hi there, sorry I didn't post this earlier. See you this evening.

What was your experience reading a novel composed of entirely out of letters? Are there types of information letters convey more successfully than other forms of expression? Would a novel in emails have different strengths and weaknesses?

Dawsey first writes to Juliet because books are so difficult to obtain on Guernsey in the aftermath of the war. What differences do you note between the bookselling in the 1940s and bookselling today? Do book lovers share common qualities across generations?

In what ways are Juliet and Elizabeth kindred spirits?

Numerous Guernsey residents give Juliet access to their private memories. Which voices were memorable for you? What is the effect of reading a variety of responses to a shared tragedy?

How would you characterise Juliet? Did you like her?

If you had lived in Guernsey before the occupation, do you think you would have sent your children to England without you?

What do you think of Elizabeth's relationship with Christian? Was it wrong of her to love a Nazi?

Do you think books have the power to lift people out of the circumstances? What role did books play in the lives of the Guernsey Literary Society?

Book Club For 2012

It was agreed that we should know who is deciding what book in what month so here goes.

February: Kerry
March: Coleen
April: Lesley
May: Kay
June: Tahnee
July: Trilby
August: Hannah
September: Debbie
Oct: Meg
November: Irene

Hello Again,
Firstly thanks for a great evening. Loving book club.

The general feeling towards Tamil Tigress was one of disappointment and doubtful as to the sincere description of Niromi's experiences. The word "dubous" was used on more than one occasion!!! The writing in the first person was very uninteresting and made what should have been confronting and shocking content less impactful.

And to the scores:

Debbie: 4 Really struggled to read. Couldn't connect with main character. Name use confusing
and difficult to be sure who was who.

Kerry: 5 Difficult to read,from her point of view.....'insert senior moment'.....written in first person was not engaging enough. Story was 'dubious'.

Hannah: 6 Exhausting read -makes you appreciate the freedoms here in Australia.

Trilby: 3 Not connected to cause or story.Can understand motives. Wouldn't be surprised if story is 'dubous'.

Coleen: 4 Blandly written. Whole story was self promoting.. 'Dubious' read.

Kay: 5 'Dubious' Lack of anticipation.

Lesley: Didn't Read

Tahnee: 4 Distant from story, surprisingly boring given the content.

Irene: 4 Disappointed in lack of education about Sri Lanka's polictical situation.


Next months' book is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, hosted by Hannah who can be found at 36 Railway Road Seville. See you there.

Hello All,

Hope you all had a win on Cup Day.....or at least a nice day off work.

As this is a relatively new book there weren't any book club questions on my google searches so I resorted to coming up with a few questions myself so please be gentle with me.

In an interview Niromi states that violence is no tool or means to achieve resolution. Do you believe this to be true? Is there any scenario/situation in life where violence is the only means to defend a belief or something held dear?


How much do you think she was protected by the other Tamil Tigers? Was this because of her middle class upbringing?


Is her story really one of being a fighter or a protected teenager championing a naive belief? Friends spoke of support for the cause but within her social circle it never translated into action. Why might this be?

Was Niromi brave in not hiding behind the social expectation of the caste system or fear of disappointing her family and the social impact that may have?


Can you understand why Benjamin’s murder by the Tamils was not enough to make her walk away but actually paved the way for innumerable excuses and sacrifices for the Tamil Tigers.


Was Niromi’s honorable intent in joining the Tamils justified or driven by fear?
Can the two be separated in the face of injustice/persecution?


I also came across this article which I thought was rather interesting……
http://groundviews.org/2011/08/31/forbidden-fruits-niromi-de-soyzas-tamil-tigress-noumi-kouri-and-helen-demidenko/


Hope to see you all tomorrow in sunny Reefton.

Irene

Meg is no longer a techno loser

I am sure that you will all be thrilled to know that as at 1.34pm on Thursday 6th Oct 2011 I can access and post to the blog again. I suspect that this shall last all of a week before I have issues again!!!!!

But while I am on here a little bit of info for the group. If you are interested in buying the book the book for the Dec book club go to:

www.thebookdepository.com

$9.88 including shipping!

Happy reading

December book club

Hi it's Hannah. I have chosen "The Guernsey Literary Potatoe Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer. Hopefully it will be good. Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook will know I had help with this one. You may be disappointed I did not choose Karma Sutra although this has been recomended also.

Push, Sapphire

'Push' seemed to be enjoyed by the majority of Book Club, with most people feeling it was a worthwhile story and opened their eyes to a different part of society.

We had much discussion over social security payments and how to ensure that those payments are used wisely, and how to ensure the cycle of poverty is broken.  We also talked about child safety, paedophiles, paternity leave, male and female influence in the home/daily lives of children and how Hannah and I can set up a prostitution business if needs be (you kinda had to be there!)

I held forth a bit about the American economic situation and how it doesn't really allow for people to better themselves and how trying to survive is really quite difficult in the current environment. 
The website I referred to was this one:
www.wearethe99percent.tumblr.com
Read a few pages they are disturbing.

News reports on occupy wall street -
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2011/s3332160.htm

http://www.news.com.au/business/breaking-news/occupy-wall-street-protests-spread-across-us/story-e6frfkur-1226158110369

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street



Nick (Debbie's partner) has a complaint - he says that Book Club is taking up to much of Debbie's valuable time and that she is reading in bed when she should be doing other things!


And the marks are:

Irene - 5/10 – A brutal depiction of an unseen level of society.

Kay – 4/10 Confronting

Tahnee – 7/10 Important – needs to be read

Liz – 8/10 – Story needs to be told; obligated to educate myself to know that these lives exist.

Colleen - 5/10 – The importance of education (haven’t finished yet)

Hannah – 7/10 A good insight into that part of society

Debbie - 5/10 Too superficial; not enough depth - couldn’t connect to the character

Next book is Irene's choice: Tamil Tigeress by Niromi De Soyza
Irene's address is:
9 Reefton Drive, McMahons Creek
If you pass the Reefton Pub, you've gone about 100m to far!
In case you get lost, her number is 5966 8480.


See you all next month, where Tahnee and I will bore the pants off you with our travel stories about China!

Push Reading questions

In what way are Precious and her family members invisible to the larger world?

Precious's file reflects the government "workfare" point of view, that Precious should already be earning her own living, possibly as a home attendant. Precious objects violently to this idea. Can you understand the social worker's point of view? Have Precious's and Jermaine's arguments [pp. 121–123] changed any opinions you previously held on this subject?

 A famous—or perhaps infamous—Labor Department study, the Moynihan Report, blamed the absence of fathers and the dominance of women (rather than economic and racial inequality) for the problems confronting the African American family. Many black scholars and activists have argued against the report's conclusions. Which side of the argument do you believe Push to support?


Push has been called a Dickensian novel, to which Sapphire has responded, "Part of what's so wrong in this story is that we’re not in a Dickensian era. Those things shouldn’t be happening in a post-industrial society” (Bomb, Fall 1996). She sees the novel as “an indictment of American culture, which is both black and white” (ibid). What aspects of our culture have enabled the inequities described in the novel to develop? Would you say that contemporary American cities consist, as Dickens’s London was said to, of two entirely different cultures, the rich one and the poor?

Given the current american economic client (much worse that the economic climate in the book), do you think it's fiscally resonable and/or ethical to provide finacial support to people such as Precious to achieve high level education?

The Black Dahlia

Posting on behalf of Meg because she is a techno loser and can't figure out how to sign in AGAIN!

Ok I have to start (again!) by apologising for being uber slack about the blog!!! Sorry its just really NOT my thing and not helped by the fact that I can't access it again! Anyway I have done it at last!!


The book this month was "The Black Dahlia" by James Ellroy and the overall view of the group was that they didn't enjoy the book. In particular, a number of us felt that the characters were misleading and that there was too much about Bucky and not enough about the murder. While some thought the book had a strong voice in that you could easily picture the setting there was also a strong sense that it didn't read true. Many of us found it hard to get into and then often hard to follow.


Specifically:
Irene - 5/10 - Tried too hard to be complex

Liz - didn't read it

Debbie - 3/5/10 - misleading, hard to feel empathetic

Tahnee - 2/10 - misogynistic, superfluosly descriptive

Harriet (who shall now be known as Hannah) - difficult read

Kaye - 5/10 - more twists and turns than a contornist

Kerry - 5/10 crap writing, twist intrigued enough to finish

Meg 5/10 haven;t finished it yet - strong voice but disjointed and disconnected.



We then proceeded to have a great conversation about children which completely freaked Irene out and a very heated debate about whether the Black Dahlia asked for her death by her behaviour. While Toot did an exemplary job in arguing this, it really needed Trilby's passion!


The next book club meeting is tomorrow night and is at Trilby's place. The book is Push by Sapphire

The following book club meeting will be the 2nd Tuesday in November due to Cup Day and is at Irene's. The book is Tamil Tigress by Niromi De Souza
Colleen - 2/10 - badly written all US slang cheap crap cops and robbers story, hated the book

Trilby - 6/10 liked the noir feel but was longwinded. The afterword freaked me out.

chocolat Joanne Harris

Our monthly meeting for August discussed Chocolat by Joanne Harris.
The general feeling towards the book was one of a reasonable read, but, not fantastic or gripping. We felt that Reynaud was definitely the villain of the piece and none of us could sympathize with the motivations and feelings behind his actions. Reynaud and Vianne were clearly natural enemies, Reynaud believing that Vianne embodied the temptations that would lead his flock to stray and to Vianne, Reynaud represented the figures of authority that her mother had run from all her life. It was therefore impossible for them to have any form of relationship.
The author used the first person narrative voice for both of her principal characters, it was felt that this lead to confusion as often the reader had to work out who was actually talking. However, this did allow the reader to gain a clearer view of the motivations of the characters.
After moving and settling down frequently in the past Vianne's character badly wanted to stay in the village. It was thought that this was primarily to provide her daughter with the childhood that she had not had herself.
We all felt that the book ended with a fizzle rather than a bang and most of us believed that Vianne would continue to move around and not settle in one place for long.

Comments

Trilby -5 Enjoyable holidy read, empty and inconsistent

Tahnee - 5 Comfy, easy to read

Irene - 7 Realistic sketching of country french life

Kerry - 6 Pleasant read

Colleen- 5 Disjointed and era not known

Hannah - 6 Enjoyable at start but ending disappointing

Kaye - 6 Disconnected, required concentration to read

Weird Books

Stuck for ideas... Weird Book Room

Welcome to AbeBooks' Weird Book Room - heralded by the New York Times, Canada's Globe and Mail, The Times of London, and The Guardian (UK) as the finest source of everything that's bizarre, odd and downright weird in books. We now have an excellent selection of crazy and strange titles listed for sale by our booksellers, about every oddball aspect of life you could possibly imagine (and a few things you couldn't possibly imagine). We invite you to not only revel in our collection of literary oddities but to also send us your suggestions.

Chocolat questions

Hi all,

here are a few questions to consider for book club on Tuesday night at my house.

1. To what extent is Reynaud the villain of the piece? Is it possible to understand or sympathize with the motivations and feelings behind his actions?

2. Reynaud and Vianne seem to be natural enemies from the start and yet they both have significant elements in common: a haunted past, a desire for acceptance. How do you think this affects their relationship?

3. The author uses the first person narrative voice for both of her principal characters. Why do you feel she does this and how effective is each in showing the character's attitudes and motivations?

4.The themes of moving on and settling down recur frequently in the book. Why do you think Vianne wants so badly to remain in the village? Do you think she eventually decides to stay?

See you then

Kaye

October Book

The book for October is Push by Sapphire.  This is the book on which the movie Precious is based.  See you all in a few weeks.

The book for the September meeting is The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy. See you next month

August Meeting

Next book for August is Chocolat by Joanne Harris at Kays place. Monbulk Silvan Road Seville.

September book Meg's house, wait for it!

The Lord of the Flies

Leslie--------smashed leg
Kerry--------swanning around Europe
Elizabeth-----too cold
Debbie-------new baby
Kaye---------holidays

Hannah------8 ( New member? No one has met her, she could be fictitious, or maybe she is a member by corrospondence)
Disturbing. Boys are bastards! Percival made me cry.

Trilby--------8
Page turner, scary representation, do not believe it is realistic.

Irene---------8
Morally challenging. Asks more questions than it answers.

Tahnee-------8
Just enough but never too much. Better horror than Steven King. Loved it.

Meg----------5
Sucks to your asthma. Unnecessary descriptive. First half went no where then felt like Golding wants to wrap up the book.

Colleen-------8
A story of the possible out of the impossible. Loved it.