It's time to talk books with the Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group!
Confessions of a Pagan Nun
When? Thursday,December 4th at 7 p.m.
Where? Fairfax Library meeting room
What Book? Confessions of a Pagan Nun by Kate Horsley
Discussion questions for the book are below.
Our next book selection (for January 8th) is People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.
Late one night in the city of Sydney, Hanna Heath, a rare book conservator, gets a phone call. The Sarajevo Haggadah , which disappeared during the siege in 1992, has been found, and Hanna has been invited by the U.N. to report on its condition. Missing documents and art works are endlessly appealing, and from this inviting premise Brooks spins her story in two directions. In the present, we follow the resolutely independent Hanna through her thrilling first encounter with the beautifully illustrated codex and her discovery of the tiny signs that will help her to discover its provenance. In the other strand of the narrative we learn, moving backward through time, how the codex came to be lost and found, and made. From Publishers Weekly Review.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Confessions of a Pagan Nun
1. How much of this novel is a true story?
2. Is the novel an attack on Christianity?
3. Does the novel reflect a post-modern sensibility that all native traditions are superior to the Western/Invader culture?
4. Does the novel present a feminist’s story and perspective?
5. How are marriage and male/female relations presented in the novel?
6. How do the Pelagians and Druids differ from the Christians in the novel?
7. What is the significance of words and writing? Of education?
8. What purposes do chastity and celibacy serve in the story?
9. What is the significance of the various incidents of mutilation in the book?
10. What was the relationship like between Giannon and Gwynneve? Why did Giannon hide his identity from Gwynneve in the monastery?
