To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Book Discussion at Joppa

Joppa's Evening Book discussion group had a great discussion on January 24th of To Kill a Mockingbird. Find this book in our catalog. These are the jacket notes for the book: "The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic. Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior-to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Now with over 15 million copies in print and translated into forty languages, this regional story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature."

For this meeting, this moderator was very glad to welcome a male to the group. We hope he will be back because he was such a great participant! We would like to extend an invitation to all male readers: our group is not exclusively female, and we try to select books to discuss with a range of appeal.

Everyone agreed that Harper Lee's book is a great American classic, and discussed the different characters and events which occurred in the book. One member grew up in Virginia when many of the things portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird were still going on. The group also spoke of the 60's when so much happened to change the lives of African Americans. Another attendee worked in Baltimore after Martin Luther King was assassinated and experienced going to work when the National Guard were patrolling downtown. Another person who attended seldom or never viewed the terrible treatment of African Americans because she grew up in The North in New Jersey. The moderator was in elementary school in the 60's living in Pennsylvania. She recalled the views of the adults around her, and of her community, which hired African Americans to work in the local orchards and did not properly respect those temporary workers. So much has changed since this book was published for the better. This was one of our best discussions ever! Joppa Book Group Moderator.

Further Reading:

Publisher's reader's guide to To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee biography

Harper Lee wins Presidential Medal of Freedom

An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther Kingby William F. Pepper
Find this book in our catalog.

Dilys Award Nominees, Plus Bel Air Mystery Book Group

I saw this piece of news in an online newsletter I subscribe to, Shelf Awareness, yesterday's edition (Jan 15). I thought the news would be of special interest, since many of our readers are Mystery fans.

Nominees for the Dilys Award have been announced. This is an award sponsored by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association, recognizing the book that member bookstores most enjoyed handselling. Nominees are:

* Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen Find this book in our catalog.

* Thunder Bay by William Kent Krueger Find this book in our catalog.
* The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz Find this book in our catalog.

* Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn Find this book in our catalog.
* The Blade Itself by Marcus Sakey Find this book in our catalog.
The winner will be announced March 6-9.
For more information, visit IMBA's website

Mystery fans, did you also know that the Bel Air branch of Harford County Public Library is right at this moment planning to start a Mystery book group? It's called Mysterious Minds.
The first meeting will be Wednesday, February 6, 2008 at 7 PM in the Bel Air meeting room. Call for more information: 410-638-3151

Atonement by Ian McEwan

On December 7 the film Atonement, based on Ian McEwan's Booker prize winning novel, with Kiera Knightly and James McAvoy in the lead roles, opened on limited release. The novel, first published in 2001 and nominated for a Booker Prize, was called by PW a “haunting novel." On The Bob Edwards Show of December 7, director Joe Wright discussed the movie. Click here for the website of the film

About Atonement - From the hardcover jacket notes:
"On the hottest day of the summer of 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis sees her older sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country house. Watching Cecilia is their housekeeper's son Robbie Turner, a childhood friend who, along with Briony's sister, has recently graduated from Cambridge. By the end of that day the lives of all three will have been changed forever. Robbie and Cecilia will have crossed a boundary they had never before dared to approach and will have become victims of the younger girl's scheming imagination. And Briony will have committed a dreadful crime, the guilt for which will color her entire life. "

About the Author - from Ian McEwan's website :
"Ian McEwan was born on 21 June 1948 in Aldershot, England. He studied at the University of Sussex, where he received a BA degree in English Literature in 1970. While completing his MA degree in English Literature at the University of East Anglia, he took a creative writing course taught by the novelists Malcolm Bradbury and Angus Wilson.
McEwan's works have earned him worldwide critical acclaim. He won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1976 for his first collection of short stories First Love, Last Rites; the Whitbread Novel Award (1987) and the Prix Fémina Etranger (1993) for The Child in Time; and Germany's Shakespeare Prize in 1999. He has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction numerous times, winning the award for Amsterdam in 1998. His novel Atonement received the WH Smith Literary Award (2002), National Book Critics' Circle Fiction Award (2003), Los Angeles Times Prize for Fiction (2003), and the Santiago Prize for the European Novel (2004). He was awarded a CBE in 2000. In 2006, he won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel Saturday. "

Discussion Guide from Publisher

Conversation Starters from BlogaBook:
Critics have praised McEwan's close observation of people in the English upper middle-class in 1935. Did you enjoy this? What does the opening of the novel on a long sweltering summer's day at a country house-party contribute to the novel?

The book is, in effect, three books in one. The first part is the crime, the second part is Robbie in the war, the third part is Briony working as a nurse in London. Do you think this tripartite approach works?

What did you think of the descriptions of Dunkirk? What significance does Dunkirk have for the characters and for the book?

One critic says, "McEwan brilliantly engages readers in a tour de force of what ifs and might have beens until they begin to wonder what actually happened. " Could you decide what actually happened? How much of the book is real and how much imagined?

Readers have enjoyed the psychological insight McEwan brings to his characters. Did you find the characters well-drawn and their actions believable? Could you detect motives for their behavior?

Would you agree that the book is about the power of memory, the search for truth and absolution, and the human capacity to forgive?

Would you agree that the novel is reminiscent of the works of Virginia Woolf?

"In its broad historical framework, Atonement is a departure from McEwan’s earlier work, and he loads the story with an emotional intensity and a gripping plot reminiscent of the best nineteenth-century fiction. Brilliant and utterly enthralling in its depiction of childhood, love and war, country and class, the novel is a profoundly moving exploration of shame and forgiveness and the difficulty of absolution."

Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick

The Norrisville Book Discussion Group met on October 23, 2007 and discussed Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick. The following was submitted to me by Alan Zuckerman, moderator of the book group.

Reading Nathaniel Philbrick’s book on the Mayflower is like eating lasagna for Thanksgiving dinner: It tastes good and everybody likes it, but it feels strangely out of place on that particular day. At least that’s what the Norrisville book discussion group thought. The members are not naïve, and they knew from the outset that they would have some of their beliefs about the Pilgrims exploded in their faces. Yet it still felt disorienting to learn that Squanto was a two-faced manipulator out for his own gain, Miles Standish was a war-mongering martinet who needed to be tightly controlled to avoid serious diplomatic mistakes vis-à-vis the Native Americans living in eastern Massachusetts, and the friendly and generous behavior of the area’s natives was at least partly due to the breakdown of the region’s social structure as a result of devastating diseases brought to America’s shores by the very first wave of Europeans (since the natives themselves were not doing too well and were vying with each other for allies to help them gain regional dominance).

Mayflower was a book that everyone liked for what they learned about that historic time and place. It proved highly effective both in telling an exciting adventure story about some very brave and committed people and in demonstrating how rich the larger context of the tale is compared to the oft-repeated mythical story of turkey dinner, blunderbusses, and silver buckles. Especially fascinating were:

the critical importance of disease in determining how interactions between Europeans and Native North Americans would unfold,
the surprisingly long history of contact between these two groups before the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, and
the key role of individual personalities in determining the course of history.

There were some negative notes to go with the mostly positive reception the book received. One group member felt that the author had a bias against the pilgrims as a religious group. Several participants were almost turned back by the book’s slow start (much as the Pilgrims themselves were on the verge of being turned back by their own slow start in attempting to migrate from Europe to the New World). In addition, the book’s somewhat challenging vocabulary prompted one reader to comment that whenever she picked up the book, she grabbed her dictionary at the same time.

Potential readers daunted by the apparent size of this book should take heart in recognizing that at least a quarter of the pages, if not more, consist of the endnotes and index.

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

In April 2007, the Jarrettsville book group got together to talk about When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka. I can recommend this book for men or women, adult or teen, because it appeals to both the intellect and the emotions. It is eminently discussible, both for its themes and the artistry with which they are laid out.

Publisher’s Reading Group Guide

ABOUT THIS BOOK
It is Berkeley, California, the spring of 1942. Pearl Harbor has been attacked, the war is on, and and a woman reads a sign in a post office window. Though we do not know what was printed on the sign, we see the woman ready herself and her two young children for a journey that will take them to the high desert plains of Utah. They travel by train and gradually the reader discovers that all on board are Japanese American, and that their destination is an internment camp where they will be imprisoned “for their own safety” until the war is over. With stark clarity and an unflinching gaze, Otsuka explores the inner lives of her main characters—the mother, daughter, and son—as they struggle to understand their fate and long for the father whom they have not seen since he was whisked away, in slippers and handcuffs, on the evening of Pearl Harbor. As the publisher said, “Moving between dreams, memories, and sharply emblematic moments, When the Emperor Was Divine reveals the dark underside of a period in American history that, until now, has been left largely unexplored in American fiction.

REVIEWS
The book received several starred reviews, and was recommended for both adult readers and for older teens. It appeared on several editor’s choice lists and on Books for The Teen Age list for 2004 and 2005. It won the Alex Award for adult books with appeal for teens. These are some of the things that reviewers said:
“Otsuka…demonstrates a breathtaking restraint and delicacy throughout this supple and devastating first novel…”
“…this spare and poignant first novel…”
“A carefully researched little novel…”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Asia Source interview with Julie Otsuka
Random House conversation with the author (includes photo)
Barnes and Noble Meet the Writers (includes photo)

BACKGROUND TO THE BOOK
This is Otsuka’s first novel. It is based on the actual experiences of her grandparents in WWII. After Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were taken forcibly from their homes, some males were imprisoned or at least interrogated. Often families were split up and the women and children taken to internment camps in very remote and inhospitable places, where they suffered keen physical privations as well as the psychological and economic devastation of being interned by the government they considered their own.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

What did you think of the opening of the novel?
The internment of tens of thousands of Japanese Americans during the war has been universally condemned in recent years; however, can you ever see an occasion where the denial of individual civil liberties in favor of the greater good would be right?
Otsuku’s writing has been criticised for being too spare and unsentimental. What do you think of her emotional restraint?
Details abound in the book. What do you think the cumulative effect of all these details is?
What do you think of the relationship between the mother, the daughter, and the son?
What do you think of the resolution and stoicism of the mother? Is there anger at the injustices the people suffer?
The family is alienated from everything they knew. How does Otsuku convey their alienation?
What do you think of the attitude of their neighbors?
What happened to the spirit of the woman’s husband? Is the depiction of his character believable?

In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant

This is a book that I chose to bring to a librarians’ discussion of fiction about artists and the artistic life. In my opinion it is a versatile book that I could recommend equally to individuals who are looking for historical romance and intrigue and also for books that feature real artists in fictional settings.

The cover, featuring the cool and alluring gaze of the semi-clad and reclining Venus of Urbino by Titian signals very clearly what the book is about – a 16th century courtesan - and also by reproducing a real painting, places it among other titles such as Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier.

The plot is exciting and grabs your attention at once when Fiametta Bianchini, a beautiful, intelligent, and talented courtesan in the eternal city of Rome is forced to flee from the troops of the Holy Roman Emperor who are sacking the city. She flees with her major-domo, the dwarf Bucino, in whose disillusioned and bitter voice the story is narrated. Having between them swallowed the best jewels from Fiametta’s casket, they head for Venice, where Fiametta’s mother lives. They arrive in Venice after many harrowing adventures which have left them nearly penniless, to discover all is not well in Fiametta’s mother’s house. The pair of them set out to create a reputation for Fiametta which will enable her to set up a salon for gentlemen of power and culture such as she had had in Rome. As Bucino travels the Venetian canals and alleys, the reader gets a vivid picture of the 16th century city. Bucino has a hard task preserving Fiametta’s reputation and even her life, from violence, despair, and simply from starvation. His efforts are made more difficult by Fiametta’s relationship with a blind healer who insinuates herself into their lives and brings them into potential danger from the religious establishment. Fiametta’s path is smoothed to a degree by her patrons among the art intelligensia of Venice. Fiametta numbers among her friends the painter Titian, and the writer Aretino. Readers of Tracy Chavalier and Susan Vreeland will love this glimpse into the art world as they will appreciate this story of an independent and intelligent woman overcoming adversity.

This would be a good book club book since it has lots of discussible features:

Titian and the artistic/creative life

The role of courtesans

16th century Venice

an interesting relationship between Bucino and Fiametta

Fiammetta's childhood and its effects

16th century medicine and superstition

religious bigotry and intolerance

16th century views on physical disabilities and illness

the cover art - what about the enigmatic look on the face of Venus? Suitable art for this book?

Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead by Nick Drake

This week, rather than focusing on what a book group has been discussing, I wanted to recommend a book I have been reading myself. Since this book is by a debut fiction author, Nick Drake, I am hoping that I can steal a march on you and recommend a book you have not heard about. I think you should really try Nefertiti:the Book of the Dead. Though at times the plot gets a little confusing, I think you will put the book down well satisfied and looking forward to the next installment of the planned trilogy.

The story is set in ancient Egypt at the time of Akhenaten, the king who for political reasons dismantled the ancient structure of priests and gods and put in its place the worship of himself, as the incarnation of the one god, Aten, the sun disk. Our likeable hero, detective Rai Rahotep of the Egyptian secret police is summoned to Akhenaten, the new city built in the desert, to solve a mystery before the festival to celebrate the founding of the new regime. Should Rahotep fail he will be put to death, along with his young family. The mystery is the disappearance of Nefertiti, whose appearance at the festival is essential to Akhenaten to shore up his crumbling reign and equally crumbling city.

Nick Drake does an excellent job of describing the politics of the time, and also vividly depicts the palaces and streets of the city. The background details to me were one of the strengths of the book that kept me engaged. Even clothing and furniture is described, as well as the squalor of the ordinary people, who are not beneficaries of the new order as the rich are. The backstreets and the River Nile itself come into play a lot as Rahotep pursues suspects or is pursued himself. There is plenty of action and adventure in this book, together with some bloody and gruesome scenes of torture. Though there is a mystery to solve, this book is both longer and more complex than a traditional mystery. I think fans of Robert Harris’ Pompeii will enjoy this.

Things to think of as you read:
What does Drake have to say about love and family. Are there different kinds of love?
What are the motives of some of the great men described in the book? Are their characters well-developed? Are their motives believable?
Drake describes obsession and even madness. Is his depiction convincing?
One reviewer thought that the book had “a convincing aura of suspense.” Would you agree? What did you think of the scenes in the Otherworld?
What is the importance of the Nile and the Red Land?

Other authors of Egyptian mysteries:
Lynda Robinson
P. C. Doherty