tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54324522274650042152023-11-16T05:29:14.611-08:00Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group2097 Sir Francis Drake Blvd.
Fairfax, CA 94930Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-60427513713150480432020-04-08T20:51:00.002-07:002020-04-08T20:55:45.804-07:00To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey - April 2020April 2020 selection <u>To the Bright Edge of the World</u> by Eowyn Ivey<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 3px; overflow: hidden; width: 80px;"><img height="3" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/mkJWA7sAK-ila2LHo76GrqvgJ7oxIb2b3dOvtzGgDyK5OSirtroPt5MDN4rw7eu4lUK7TwioUDgaTz0CL6AuB8UPdkMSqWvZP1YYncav1Lt59GcBQrqq3GJqdZh22t7TI0lc9C13" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" title="horizontal line" width="80" /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Thursday, April 9</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> 7pm</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 24pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">To the Bright Edge of the World</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">By Eowyn Ivey</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I hope you are surviving these strange times during the Shelter in Place order. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet virtually on Zoom Thursday, April 9th at 7pm to discuss our April selection, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">To the Bright Edge of the World</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here are some links for additional background and info:</span></div>
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<a href="https://armyhistory.org/5102-2/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Lt. Henry Allen’s 1885 Alaska exploration</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Tureman_Allen" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Lt. Henry Allen’s bio on Wikipedia</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> (he had a long career afterwards)</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHWA_enUS568US568&sxsrf=ALeKk02Re3MWR37MpbvVxuRpNdUtCoWO8A:1586236244082&q=copper+river+alaska+historical+photos&tbm=isch&source=univ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjZue6-xtXoAhVDSK0KHR3LDjkQsAR6BAgKEAE&biw=1366&bih=625" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Historical photos of the Copper River area in Alaska</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://minorityrights.org/minorities/inuit-and-alaska-natives/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Alaska natives’ history and current status</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.vskemanis.com/2017/07/22/bright-edge-world-book-review-interview-eowyn-ivey/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Author interview</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.thealaskalife.com/blog/33-alaska-books-that-are-a-must-read/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">If you’re still craving Alaska adventure stories, here’s a list of 33 books</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 20px; overflow: hidden; width: 617px;"><img height="3" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/tFmzRqiJXiWPU1I3xJUyKTJHUcHEpYKgUzbq76ab1wRTqx44WBABKmV07frZXFFhWmBov47SFz0sRcs0rWbI5jc8XBUNwYmdjnCUgfp3mMA_5Vwa-FeV2iPoBB_DPf3lpsLNeDNC" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" title="horizontal line" width="662" /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: "quicksand" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">UPCOMING BOOKS</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Thursday, May 14th </span></div>
<a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2249595113" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Death and Life of the Great Lakes</span></a><span style="font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Dan Egan</span><br />
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<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/dMWkp-5ey7qLCGqtTo6E_7pmuVn9GKKUi93x7RiDq3Dcy0kLWeCln1ZjwDJiusD3ONYQwAvmG8Dj4NpddT_XUzcIZp6AvBousLIOSO_OJl-asbSP4dZDTcNB9H99oZa-m9UrCIa_" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/dMWkp-5ey7qLCGqtTo6E_7pmuVn9GKKUi93x7RiDq3Dcy0kLWeCln1ZjwDJiusD3ONYQwAvmG8Dj4NpddT_XUzcIZp6AvBousLIOSO_OJl-asbSP4dZDTcNB9H99oZa-m9UrCIa_" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="93" /></a><span style="background: white; color: #404040; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The Great
Lakes--Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario and Superior--hold 20 percent of the
world's supply of surface fresh water and provide sustenance, work and
recreation for tens of millions of Americans. But they are under threat as
never before, and their problems are spreading across the continent. The Death
and Life of the Great Lakes is prize-winning reporter Dan Egan's compulsively
readable portrait of an ecological catastrophe happening right before our eyes,
blending the epic story of the lakes with an examination of the perils they
face and the ways we can restore and preserve them for generations to come. ~
dust jacket</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Thursday, June 11th</span></div>
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<a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2277711113" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Asymmetry</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">by Lisa Halliday</span><br />
<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/nH8vqeoLg7uhfMIIDRb00B5JpdVgQHu3XzzukkMy0aZ48rpfwg3NUFDCODDiqL4u1pb49yv2bcI0NYXQeZGGDfAPu52EdzCHXVkZryZL3GzdIjLFFqYL8qiZ6A0Suliqcj2W1xNC" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/nH8vqeoLg7uhfMIIDRb00B5JpdVgQHu3XzzukkMy0aZ48rpfwg3NUFDCODDiqL4u1pb49yv2bcI0NYXQeZGGDfAPu52EdzCHXVkZryZL3GzdIjLFFqYL8qiZ6A0Suliqcj2W1xNC" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="93" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">
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<span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Halliday's beautiful debut novel is written in
three distinct parts. In the first, Alice, a young editor in New York, embarks
on a relationship with Ezra, a much older, multi-Pulitzer Prize-winning
novelist. In the novel's second part, readers meet Amar, an Iraqi American who
is being detained at Heathrow Airport en route to his brother in Kurdistan.
Amar's story is told mostly in flashbacks, illuminating both the joys of his
family and also the tragedies of a war-torn country and its people. Amar's and
Alice's stories are, at first glance, completely unrelated and can easily be
enjoyed as such. Halliday moves from sparse, purposeful prose in the first to
an almost brooding narration in the second, and only the lightest touches seem
to link them, until one final moment. The third and final section is an
interview with Ezra, and it is here that Halliday deftly and subtly intersects
the two disparate stories, resulting in a deep rumination on the relation of
art to life and death</span><span style="background: white; color: #404040; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">. ~Booklist</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-27992203166492137792020-03-10T16:29:00.000-07:002020-03-19T16:35:26.529-07:00The Soul of An Octopus by Sy Montgomery - March 2020March 2020 selection - <u>The Soul of an Octopus</u> by Sy Montgomery<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 102px; overflow: hidden; width: 125px;"><img height="102" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/S1o-hERJwen4vtqQX9iELPgxx3ZYxTHkTglkF_uw6ESWrKcBX110pRIFhXUajWN356NMx7P8e1iWYUkFFHX1P0bLGrFl_LTvefk7GBEvJW7uHqOYTD8ye_77tR34jRRn03RseWQu" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="125" /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 3px; overflow: hidden; width: 80px;"><img height="3" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/mkJWA7sAK-ila2LHo76GrqvgJ7oxIb2b3dOvtzGgDyK5OSirtroPt5MDN4rw7eu4lUK7TwioUDgaTz0CL6AuB8UPdkMSqWvZP1YYncav1Lt59GcBQrqq3GJqdZh22t7TI0lc9C13" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" title="horizontal line" width="80" /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Thursday, March 12</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> 7pm</span></h1>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/PvWWkyuQHPwaDnz85rY4RmeeqtXMgek6h7wfpNbhJTzCBQLLlhkz0XW7GlpYcCtTknKIowFYCmoKWD6iXfSFOzSw748vzu6QV3_Mv85AhebO6t9dxyMR2pRulOvaAFTWSlGZkKSW" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/PvWWkyuQHPwaDnz85rY4RmeeqtXMgek6h7wfpNbhJTzCBQLLlhkz0XW7GlpYcCtTknKIowFYCmoKWD6iXfSFOzSw748vzu6QV3_Mv85AhebO6t9dxyMR2pRulOvaAFTWSlGZkKSW" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="83" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 24pt; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Soul of an Octopus </span><span style="font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;">By Sy Montgomery</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, March 12th at 7pm </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our March selection, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Soul of an Octopus.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Here are some links for additional background and info:</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/studying-the-creativity-and-intelligence-of-the-octopus/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">CBS Sunday Morning show about the octopus, including an interview with Sy Montgomery</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://lasvegasnonfictionbookclub.blog/2016/07/07/the-soul-of-an-octopus-a-surprising-exploration-of-the-wonder-of-consciousness-by-sy-montgomery/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Las Vegas Nonfiction Book Club blog has lots of info and interesting links</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://symontgomery.com/the-soul-of-an-octopus-reviews/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Author website</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 20px; overflow: hidden; width: 617px;"><img height="3" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/tFmzRqiJXiWPU1I3xJUyKTJHUcHEpYKgUzbq76ab1wRTqx44WBABKmV07frZXFFhWmBov47SFz0sRcs0rWbI5jc8XBUNwYmdjnCUgfp3mMA_5Vwa-FeV2iPoBB_DPf3lpsLNeDNC" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" title="horizontal line" width="662" /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: "quicksand" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">UPCOMING BOOKS</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Thursday, April 9th</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2178126113" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">To the Bright Edge of the World</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 20pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">by Eowyn Ivey</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">In the winter of 1885, decorated war hero Colonel Allen Forrester leads an exploratory expedition </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">up the Wolverine River and into the vast, untamed Alaska Territory. Leaving behind Sophie, his newly </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">pregnant wife, Forrester records his extraordinary experiences in hopes that his journal will reach her </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">if he doesn't return. As they map the territory and gather information on native tribes, whose understanding</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">of the natural world is unlike anything they have ever encountered, Forrester and his team can't escape </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">the sense that some great, mysterious force threatens their lives. Meanwhile, in Vancouver, Sophie </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">chafes under the social restrictions of a pregnant woman on her own, and yearns to travel alongside her </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">husband. She, too, explores nature, through the new art of photography, unaware that the coming winter will</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">test her own courage and faith to the breaking point. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><i>adapted from book jacket</i></span><br />
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T<span style="font-family: lora, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">hursday, May 14th </span></div>
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<a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2249595113" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Death and Life of the Great Lakes</span></a><span style="font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Dan Egan</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Great Lakes - Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario and Superior - hold 20 percent of the world's supply of surface fresh water and provide sustenance, work and recreation for tens of millions of Americans. But they are under threat as never before, and their problems are spreading across the continent. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is prize-winning reporter Dan Egan's compulsively readable portrait of an ecological catastrophe happening right before our eyes, blending the epic story of the lakes with an examination of the perils they face and the ways we can restore and preserve them for generations to come. ~dust jacket</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Thursday, June 11th</span></div>
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<a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2277711113" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Asymmetry</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">by Lisa Halliday</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Halliday's beautiful debut novel is written in three distinct parts. In the first, Alice, a young editor in New York, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">embarks on a relationship with Ezra, a much older, multi-Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist. In the novel's </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">second part, readers meet Amar, an Iraqi American who is being detained at Heathrow Airport en route to </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">his brother in Kurdistan. Amar's story is told mostly in flashbacks, illuminating both the joys of his family and </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">also the tragedies of a war-torn country and its people. Amar's and Alice's stories are, at first glance, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">completely unrelated and can easily be enjoyed as such. Halliday moves from sparse, purposeful prose in </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">the first to an almost brooding narration in the second, and only the lightest touches seem to link them, until </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">one final moment. The third and final section is an interview with Ezra, and it is here that Halliday deftly and </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">subtly intersects the two disparate stories, resulting in a deep rumination on the relation of art to life and death.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">~Booklist</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 79px; overflow: hidden; width: 97px;"><img height="79" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/S1o-hERJwen4vtqQX9iELPgxx3ZYxTHkTglkF_uw6ESWrKcBX110pRIFhXUajWN356NMx7P8e1iWYUkFFHX1P0bLGrFl_LTvefk7GBEvJW7uHqOYTD8ye_77tR34jRRn03RseWQu" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="97" /></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: "quicksand" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">2097 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Fairfax, CA 94930</span></div>
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Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-20152010965368780692020-02-11T16:15:00.000-08:002020-03-19T16:17:13.758-07:00Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips - February 2020February 2020 selection - <u>Disappearing Earth</u> by Julia Phillips<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax
Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, February 13th at 7:00
p.m.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>in the meeting room of the
Fairfax Library to discuss our February book, <u>Disappearing Earth</u> by Julia
Phillips. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><i>I apologize
to anyone who wasn’t able to borrow the book in time for our discussion. It got
very popular after we chose it. Feel free to join us for the discussion and see
if you’d like to read it afterwards.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here are some
links for additional background and information:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.pbs.org/edens/kamchatka/remote.html">Nice PBS overview of
Kamchatka with links for additional info</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jkbphillips/russian-reindeer-herders">Learn
about the reindeer herders in Esso</a> and see a <a href="https://inertianetwork.com/inertia-content/2017/10/29/kamchatkas-reindeer-herders">photo
essay of the herders</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming up, we
have the following book to look forward to reading:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs.
Mar. 12<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2129239113">The Soul of an
Octopus</a> by Sy Montgomery</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for
reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Beth Bailey-Gates<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Friends of
the Fairfax Library<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b>DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:</b></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> 1. </span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white;">Most of the
chapters of the book are stories of women on the peripheries of the
disappearance of the two girls in the first chapter. It has been suggested that
the author uses the suppression of these women to trap the reader as
effectively as these girls are trapped by their stranger abduction and that the
constraining, disheartening, utterly recognizable cages these women navigate
are exhaustingly universal to a female reader with the women stuck in the world
of the men in their lives. Would you agree or disagree with that assessment?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> 2. </span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white;">The Kamchatka
Peninsula almost figures as a character in the book from the city center of
Petropavlovsk to the lives of indigenous people of the north, including the
reindeer herders. Kamchatka is described as a fallen paradise in post-Soviet
times (with the removal of much of the military and an influx of immigrants)
and an isolated provincial enclave filled with even smaller isolated
communities. Did you learn anything about this area of the world? Was the
location used to good effect in the novel?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> 3. </span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white;">Would you
describe the book as a crime thriller, a literary novel, a collection of linked
short stories? Or something else?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> 4. </span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white;">All of the
stories told in the book are from the perspective of a woman. Why did the
author choose to tell the stories only from women’s perspectives? Was this
essential to the novel? Effective?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> 5. </span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white;">The novel has
as many characters as there are chapters. Each has their own individual story
that at least tangentially links to the mystery of the missing girls. Did any
of the characters and their situations stand out to you? Why?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> 6. </span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white;">The novel
shows many of the female characters as oppressed by the people or circumstances
around them. Do any of the characters show surprising strength given their
circumstances?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-38978772461569387992020-01-07T16:10:00.000-08:002020-03-19T16:12:11.051-07:00Women Talking by Miriam Toews - Jan. 2020January 2020 selection - <u>Women Talking</u> by Miriam Toews<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax
Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, January 9th at 7:00 p.m.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>in the meeting room of the Fairfax
Library to discuss our January book, <u>Women Talking</u> by Miriam Toews.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Here are some
links for additional background and information:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Vice News
investigated the Bolivian Mennonite rapes in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSlc_Zib2nw">Part 1</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCwMxAatmbg">Part 2</a> ten-minute videos<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.rdalchemy.com/blogs/news/17946247-deadly-nightshade-atropa-belladonna">Some
information about belladonna</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There is a <a href="https://www.mennonitequiltcenter.org/about-us.htm">Mennonite Quilt Center</a>
in Reedley, CA (outside Fresno)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming up, we
have the following books to look forward to reading:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs.
Feb. 13<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2355636113">Disappearing
Earth</a> by Julia Phillips<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs.
Mar. 12<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2129239113">The Soul of an
Octopus</a> by Sy Montgomery<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thanks for
reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Beth Bailey-Gates</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Friends of
the Fairfax Library<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<o:p><b>DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:</b></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 11.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"><u>Women Talking</u> begins with "A Note on the
Novel" which explains that the story is a fictionalized account of
real events. What is the difference between reading this novel versus
reading a news story or nonfiction book about these events? What questions
does <u>Women Talking</u> encourage readers to ask themselves about these
events and the environment in which they occur?<o:p></o:p></li>
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 11.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">The book is told through August Epp's notes from the
women's meetings. Why does Toews choose Epp to narrate this story? How
does his perspective, gender, and personal history affect the vantage from
which the story is told?<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 11.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">The women frequently discuss the complexity of continuing
to love many of the men in their community despite their fear and they
contemplate the circumstances under which the men would be allowed to join
them in their new society. In what ways does the novel explore questions
about male experiences, perspectives, and culture?<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 11.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">Which of the options would you have taken if you were one
of the women? Explain why. Consider the consequences and benefits of your
choice. How would you convince the others to join you?<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 11.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">The book examines both sexual and domestic violence. How
does the women's environment and circumstances dictate how they understand,
interpret, and, ultimately, deal with violence? How does this intersect
with their religious faith and their beliefs about their place in the
world?<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 11.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">Discuss the power of language and literacy. How would the
women's lives be changed if they could read? How does their ability to
interpret the Bible for themselves change the women's understanding of
their future?<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 11.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">How does this novel engage with mainstream political and
social conversations about women and their rights?<o:p></o:p></li>
</ol>
<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-14111458637628368632019-12-10T16:07:00.000-08:002020-03-19T16:07:41.760-07:00Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie - Dec. 2019December 2019 selection - <u>Home Fire</u> by Kamila Shamsie<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax
Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, December 12th at 7:00 p.m.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>in the meeting room of the Fairfax
Library to discuss our December book, <u>Home Fire</u> by Kamila Shamsie.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here are some
links for additional background and information:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euOOlK0YwVE">Author interview – short
video</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.ancient-literature.com/greece_sophocles_antigone.html">Overview
of Antigone by Sophocles</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">You may not
want to visit Istanbul after reading the ending of Home Fire, but here is a <a href="https://loveandroad.com/first-trip-to-istanbul/">website with lots of
info for a first-time visitor</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The story of
Parvaiz may remind you of <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/05/23/725865999/john-walker-lindh-the-american-taliban-set-to-be-released">The
American Taliban</a> who was from Marin County<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming up, we
have the following books to look forward to reading:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs.
Jan. 9<sup>th<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span></sup><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2345520113">Women Talking</a>
by Miriam Toews<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs.
Feb. 13<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2355636113">Disappearing
Earth</a> by Julia Phillips<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs.
Mar. 12<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2129239113">The Soul of an
Octopus</a> by Sy Montgomery<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for
reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Beth Bailey-Gates<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Friends of
the Fairfax Library<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b>DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 12pt;">1. The opening section begins with Isma Pasha
nearly missing her flight. Talk about her treatment at the hands of
"immigration" officials at Heathrow. How did the indignities she
suffered at their hands make you feel?</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">2. Isma's voice is one of compromise and
accommodation: how else might you describe her?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">3. Talk about Parvaiz Pasha and his quest to
honor his father, Adil. What kind of man, husband, and father was Adil, and
what did his faith mean to him? When Parvaiz's eyes are opened to the caliphate
and its atrocities, did you wonder how he could have been so misled?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">4. What do you think of Isma and Eaamon Lone's
relationship? Do they have a genuine connection? Why doesn't Isma let on that
she knows who Eaamon's father is?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">5. What are your thoughts about Aneeka? How does
she define herself in relation to her faith, and how does her attitude toward
Islam differ from her sister's?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">6. Talk about the vast differences between the
two families, the Pashas and the Lones.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">7. Consider Aneeka's relationship with Eamonn —
she is clearly manipulating him, but does she have a higher purpose? As she
puts it: "Why shouldn’t I admit it? What would you stop at to help the
people you love most?"</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">8. After Isma informs the police that Parvaiz
has left for Syria, Aneeka is appalled: "You betrayed us, both of us.
Don't...expect me to ever agree to see your face again. We have no
sister." Is Aneeka's anger justified? Would it have been bettier directed
at her brother who betrayed them both? What do you think?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">9. Where should Isma's loyalty lie: with her
brother or her country? By informing the police of Parvaiz's intentions, did
she make the right or wrong decision? Can there be a correct moral decision
when faced with the impossible choice between family loyalty and duty to
society?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">10. What is mean by the title, "Home
Fire." How does it differ from the World War I meaning, "keep the
home fires burning."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">11. Talk about the relevance of Home Fire in
today's world. What do you see in the novel that illuminates and/or resonates
with current concerns.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">12. Kamila Shamsie has drawn inspiration from
the ancient playwright Sophocles and his drama Antigone. Antigone, the daughter
of Oedipus, was prohibited by law from burying her brother. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 12pt;">13. What differences, if any, would it have made
if the characters in the book were American?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 12pt;">14. Should someone like Parvaiz be allowed back
into Britain after joining ISIS? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-87317405287661443832019-11-12T16:02:00.000-08:002020-03-19T16:03:03.905-07:00There There by Tommy Orange - Nov. 2019November 2019 selection - <u>There There</u> by Tommy Orange<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax
Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, November 14th at 7:00 p.m.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>in the meeting room of the Fairfax
Library to discuss our November book, <u>There There</u> by Tommy Orange.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Here are some
links for additional background and information:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Dancing-drums-joy-define-powwow-in-Oakland-5046588.php">Description
of 2013 Oakland Pow Wow</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Check out the
<a href="https://www.crazycrow.com/site/california-powwows/">California Pow Wow
website</a> to find other pow wows<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Indian">Urban Indian Wikipedia page</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming up, we
have the following book to look forward to reading:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs.
Dec. 12<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><u><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2262565113" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext;">Home Fire</span></a></u> by Kamila Shamsie<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for
reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Beth Bailey-Gates<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Friends of
the Fairfax Library<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<b><div style="text-align: center;">
<b>DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:</b></div>
</b><br />
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">1. The prologue of <i>There There </i>provides a
historical overview of how Native populations were systematically stripped of
their identity, their rights, their land, and, in some cases, their very
existence by colonialist forces in America. How did reading this section make
you feel? How does the prologue set the tone for the reader? Discuss the use of
the Indian head as iconography. How does this relate to the erasure of Native
identity in American culture?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">2. Discuss the development of the “Urban Indian” identity and
ownership of that label. How does it relate to the push for assimilation by the
United States government? How do the characters in <i>There There </i>navigate
this modern form of identity alongside their ancestral roots?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">3. Consider the following statement from page 9: “We stayed
because the city sounds like a war, and you can’t leave a war once you’ve been,
you can only keep it at bay.” In what ways does the historical precedent for
violent removal of Native populations filter into the modern era? How does
violence—both internal and external—appear throughout the narrative?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">4. On page 7, Orange states: “We’ve been defined by everyone
else and continue to be slandered despite easy-to-look-up-on-the-internet facts
about the realities of our histories and current state as a people.” Discuss
this statement in relation to how Native populations have been defined in
popular culture. How do the characters in <i>There There </i>resist
the simplification and flattening of their cultural identity? Relate the idea
of preserving cultural identity to Dene Oxendene’s storytelling mission.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">5. Tony Loneman’s perspective both opens and closes <i>There
There</i>. Why do you think Orange made this choice for the narrative? What
does Loneman’s perspective reveal about the “Urban Indian” identity? About the
landscape of Oakland?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">6. When readers are first introduced to Dene Oxendene, we learn
of his impulse to tag various spots around the city. How did you interpret this
act? How does graffiti culture work to recontextualize public spaces?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">7. Discuss the interaction between Opal Viola Victoria Bear
Shield and Two Shoes that occurs on pages 50–52. How does Opal view Two Shoes’s
“Indianness”? What is the import of the Teddy Roosevelt anecdote that he shares
with her? How does this relate to the overall theme of narrative and
authenticity that occurs throughout <i>There There</i>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">8. Describe the resettlement efforts at Alcatraz. What are the
goals for inhabiting this land? What vision does Opal and Jacquie’s mother have
for her family in moving to Alcatraz?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">9. On page 58, Opal’s mother tells her that she needs to honor
her people “by living right, by telling our stories. [That] the world was made
of stories, nothing else, and stories about stories.” How does this emphasis on
storytelling function throughout <i>There There</i>? Consider the
relationship between storytelling and power. How does storytelling allow for
diverse narratives to emerge? What is the relationship between storytelling and
historical memory?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">10. On page 77, Edwin Black asserts, “The problem with
Indigenous art in general is that it’s stuck in the past.” How does the tension
between modernity and tradition emerge throughout the narrative? Which
characters seek to find a balance between honoring the past and looking toward
the future? When is the attempt to do so successful?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">11. Discuss the generational attitudes toward spirituality in
the Native community in <i>There There</i>. Which characters embrace their
elders’ spiritual practices? Who doubts the efficacy of those efforts? How did
you interpret the incident of Orvil and the spider legs?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">12. How is the city of Oakland characterized in the novel? How
does the city’s gentrification affect the novel’s characters? Their attitudes
toward home and stability?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">13. How is femininity depicted in <i>There There</i>? What
roles do the female characters assume in their community? Within their
families?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">14. Discuss Orvil’s choice to participate in the powwow. What
attracts him to the event? Why does Opal initially reject his interest in
“Indianness”? How do his brothers react to it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">15. Discuss the Interlude that occurs on pages 134–41. What is
the import of this section? How does it provide key contextual information for
the Big Oakland PowWow that occurs at the end of the novel? What is the
significance of this event and others like it for the Native community?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">16. Examine the structure of <i>There There</i>. Why do you
think Orange chose to present his narrative using different voices and
different perspectives? How do the interlude and the prologue help to bolster
the themes of the narrative? What was the most surprising element of the novel
to you? What was its moment of greatest impact?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-48647104641513231602019-10-08T15:59:00.000-07:002020-03-19T15:59:24.981-07:00Less by Andrew Sean Greer - Oct. 2019October 2019 selection - <u>Less </u>by Andrew Sean Greer<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax
Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, October 10th at 7:00
p.m.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>in the meeting room of the
Fairfax Library to discuss our October book, <u>Less</u> by Andrew Sean Greer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Here are some
links for additional background and information:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHWA_enUS568US568&biw=1366&bih=625&tbm=isch&sxsrf=ACYBGNTnJkAfXAgw5L_DjHU4iJ-pwADKpg%3A1570672564514&sa=1&ei=tI-eXZP5HoTksAX8x4GgDQ&q=mexico+city+subway+stations+murals+images&oq=mexico+city+subway+stations+murals+images&gs_l=img.3...35661.36631..36847...0.0..0.147.967.0j7......0....1..gws-wiz-img.Sb74yhP69sc&ved=0ahUKEwiTo5Ciy5DlAhUEMqwKHfxjANQQ4dUDCAc&uact=5">Images
of Mexico City subway murals</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.tasteofsouthern.com/chow-chow-relish/">Chow chow recipe</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.carnavalet.paris.fr/en/collections/chambre-de-marcel-proust">Proust’s
bedroom in the Musée Carnavalet</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://andrewgreer.com/bio">Author Bio on his website</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming up, we
have the following books to look forward to reading:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs.
Nov. 14<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><u><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2280875113" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext;">There There</span></a></u> by Tommy Orange<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs.
Dec. 12<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><u><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2262565113" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext;">Home Fire</span></a></u> by Kamila Shamsie<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for
reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Beth Bailey-Gates<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Friends of
the Fairfax Library<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b>DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:</b></span></div>
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1. Have you ever had days, weeks, years, like what Arthur
Less is feeling — times when nothing, absolutely nothing, seems to be going
your way? What's your solution?<br />
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2. Everyone points to the books laugh-out-loud humor. What do you find
particularly funny — dialogue, Arthur's haplessness and pratfalls, random
observations, the entire tone of the book?<br />
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3. How would you describe Arthur? Are you sympathetic to him, or is he
primarily a self-pitying guy in midlife crisis? Does he exhibit any humanity or
is he too self-indulgent to connect with others? Or do you find yourself
falling and rooting for him? Does your attitude toward him change during the
course of the novel?<br />
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4. Talk about the writing seminar Arthur gives in Berlin — his inventiveness in
attempting to get students to fall in love with literature.<br />
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5. What do you think of the consolation his former lover/mentor offers him
during the phone call from Japan? Is turning 50 all that bad (for those who've
been there, done that)?<br />
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6. So at the end of his peregrinations, what has Arthur Less come to understand
about his life and life in general?<br />
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7. Finally, were you surprised by the big reveal at the end?<o:p></o:p></div>
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8. <span style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">The novel’s opening line reads: “From where I
sit, the story of Arthur Less is not so bad.” Arthur Less, the book’s
protagonist, is introduced as nearly 50, with “washed-out” blonde hair and
“watery” blue eyes. As we soon learn, he’s also a writer less successful than
his peers. How do you see Arthur Less in the opening chapters? Do you see him
as a hero, as a man deserving of pity, as something else?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">9. When we meet the character of
Freddy, Arthur Less’s soon-to-be-former-lover, he is described as “dreamy,
simple, lusty, bookish, harmless, youthful.” It is Freddy’s marriage invitation
that Less so studiously avoids — choosing to go on a round-the-world trip
simply to avoid having to decline the invitation without a good reason. What do
you make of this decision? Have you ever found yourself doing something similarly
absurd?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">10. Arthur Less’s trip itinerary is as
a follows: New York to interview a more popular writer, Mexico City for an
obscure conference, Turin for an unknown award, Berlin for a teaching gig,
Morocco for someone else’s birthday, India for a writer’s retreat (possibly
during the monsoon), Japan for an article. And somewhere along the way he will
turn 50. Does his sojourn remind you of any others in literature?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">11. The book Arthur Less is writing is
about a man on a journey through a place and his past, as he looks back on a
series of disappointments. Freddy complains that Less is always writing “gay
Ulysses.” Do you see echoes of or references to Ulysses or the Odyssey
throughout “Less”?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">12. Less’s other major relationship in
the book is with the famous poet Robert Brownburn. In the chapter “Mexican,”
Less recalls a day of losing his ring in the grocery store, and how, in telling
Robert about it, Robert saw Less’s infidelities written across his face.
“That’s what it was like to live with genius,” he writes. How does Robert’s
success and genius impact their relationship at the time, and how does it
influence him in the end?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">13. So much of Less’s focus during the
round-the-world trip is on his own mishaps and foibles — or his perceived
mishaps and foibles. Getting into a car with what he believes is the wrong
driver because the name was a letter off. Believing he can speak German well
when in fact he is bungling the words. Bringing athletic bands to every country
that he will only half use. Do you see these as actual mishaps and foibles or
is it a problem of perception for Less? Do you identify with that feeling at
all?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">14. The book alternates between Less’s
trip in the present to memories of his youth — mostly memories involving
nostalgia or regret. And yet the narrator tells us that Less also understands
the pleasures of age: “comfort and ease, beauty and taste, old friends and old
stories….” How does Less’s grappling with age play a role in the book? Is it
something you can relate to?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">15. In a scene at a party in
Paris, Less is told that in fact he is not a bad writer, as he had come to
believe, but a bad “gay writer,” in that he is not telling the narratives the
gay writing community wants him to. What do you make of this critique?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">16. In several countries, simply being
around Less seems to make other characters sick. Why?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">17. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Arthur Less is self-deprecating throughout the book to a fault;
in one of many descriptions he calls himself insignificant compared to other
writers he knows, “as superfluous as the extra a in quaalude.” (Earlier,
though, he asks if there is “any more perfect spelling” than the word quaalude
“with that lazy superfluous vowel.”) Did you find these negative descriptors by
Less funny or frustrating or silly or all of these? How does Greer complicate
these descriptions by having some of them echo back?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">18. A
number of people try to tell Less about what happened at Freddy’s wedding. And
while the wedding dominates his thoughts, he doesn’t listen to them. What is
keeping him from hearing the story? What do you think (or hope) happened?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">19.
In the book, “Less” is always referred to by his last name, while Javier only
by his first, and Robert Brownburn by both. Why do you think Greer chose to
refer to the characters in these different ways?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">20.
What lines in the book made you laugh out loud?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">21.
Toward the end of the book, Less reunites with his supposed enemy and Freddy’s
father, Carlos. When they meet, Carlos tells him that he believes that people’s
lives are half-comedy and half-tragedy and that those just appear at different
times. What do you make of this theory?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">22.
Were you surprised (or glad) to find out who the narrator was? Do any elements
of the book change for you when you revisit them with Freddy as the narrator in
mind?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-55173852221626602072019-09-10T15:52:00.000-07:002020-03-19T15:53:17.487-07:00My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Odessa Moshfegh - Sept. 2019September 2019 selection - <u>My Year of Rest and Relaxation</u> by Odessa Moshfegh<br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Fairfax Library
Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, September 12th at 7:00 p.m.<b> </b>in
the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our September book, <u>My
Year of Rest and Relaxation </u>by Ottessa Moshfegh.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here are some links
for additional background and information:</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.guernicamag.com/miscellaneous-files-ottessa-moshfegh/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Author Interview</span></a> with
some interesting video/audio clips interspersed.</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Check the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/dea-pain-pill-database/#download-resources" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Washington Post’s DEA prescription
database</span></a> to see how many opioid prescriptions have been filled
in this and other areas around the country</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">WebMD provides a <a href="https://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/depression-medications-antidepressants" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">lengthy list of medications available</span></a> to
treat depression</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">WebMD has the <a href="https://www.webmd.com/depression/news/20101001/new-guidelines-for-treatment-of-depression#1" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">New Guidelines for Treatment of
Depression</span></a> (hint: they include drugs)</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.10000birds.com/grackles.htm" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">What is a grackle?</span></a></span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Coming up, we have the
following books to look forward to reading:</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thurs. Oct. 10<sup>th</sup> <a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2245098113" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Less</span></a> by Andrew Sean Greer</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thurs. Nov. 14<sup>th</sup> <a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2280875113" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">There There</span></a> by Tommy Orange</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thurs. Dec. 12<sup>th</sup> <a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2262565113" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Home Fire</span></a> by Kamila Shamsie</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thanks for reading
with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Beth Bailey-Gates</span></i><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Friends of the Fairfax
Library</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
1. What do you
think of our narrator? Is she mentally ill? Or is she the sanest character
you've ever come across in literature? Perhaps she's something in between.<br />
<br />
2. On the surface, our narrator seems to have it all—good looks, money,
education, and a Manhattan apartment. What then is her reason for wanting to
sleep the year away? Her motive isn't suicide, so what is she trying to escape
… or find?<br />
<br />
3. <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Follow-up to
Question 2</span></em>: The narrator says she's seeking "great
transformation." But what kind of transformation—from what … into what?<br />
<br />
4. Talk about the state of the world (at least in the U.S) during the year the
narrator is checking out; how does the author portray the era? We know that
9/11 is around the corner. Why might the author have chosen to set her story in
this particular time, in New York City, and right before the World Trade Center
cataclysm? In what way does your knowledge of what is to come (9/11) affect
your reading experience or your understanding of the book?<br />
<br />
5. Did some (many?) of the narrator's observations and quips ("Caffeine
was my exercise") get you laughing? How would you describe her type of
humor?<br />
<br />
6. If you were Reva, the narrator's friend, what would you do or say to the narrator?
What do you make of Reva?<br />
<br />
7. Why does the narrator decide that if she can't make art (she tells Reva she
has no talent), then she'll <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">become</span></em> art.
What about her project makes it "art"? Once the public sees the
completed film, what is their reaction? How would you have reacted?<br />
<br />
8. Why does Ping Xi want to film the narrator as she burns her birth
certificate? The narrator thinks, "He needed fodder for analysis. But the
project was beyond issues of 'identity' and 'society' and 'institutions.' Mine
was a quest for a new spirit." What does the narrator mean—and why is her
"project beyond" identity and society, etc.?<br />
<br />
9. Toward the end, the narrator does experience a transformation. She attends
the Metropolitan Museum of Art and begins to re-engage. Talk about the nature
of that change. How has she been altered?<br />
<br />
10. <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Follow-up to
Question 9</span></em>: As she looks at the paintings of great artists hanging
in the museum, the narrator wonders about the artists' lives and whether
"they understood …that beauty and meaning had nothing to do with one
another." She wonders if the painters would have preferred spending their
days walking through fields of grass or being in love. What do those notions
mean? Are these thoughts the transformation she hoped to achieve? Do her thoughts
suggest a new understanding of life or of consciousness …or of what?<br />
<br />
11. Despite the museum guard's warning to step back, the narrator reaches out
to touch the canvass of a painting. Why is touching so important?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-86198268162825141472019-08-06T15:48:00.000-07:002020-03-19T15:49:06.234-07:00The Lightkeepers by Abby Geni - August 2019August 2019 selection - <u>The Lightkeepers</u> by Abby Geni<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax
Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, August 8th at 7:00 p.m.<b> </b>in the meeting room of the Fairfax
Library to discuss our August book, <u>The Lightkeepers</u> by Abby Geni.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here are some
links for additional background and information:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.calacademy.org/webcams/farallones">Farallon Islands live
webcam</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z8bPrVgs80">Life on the Farallon Islands</a>
video from KQED<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.oceanicsociety.org/whale-watching/farallons">Take a boat trip
to the Farollones to whale watch</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/san-francisco-farallons-mice-rats-infestation-14086006.php">Plan
to poison mice on Farallon Islands put on hold last month</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.afar.com/magazine/coolest-travel-jobs-what-its-like-to-be-a-wildlife-photographer">The
life of a nature photographer</a> and some <a href="https://www.boredpanda.com/nature-photographers-behind-the-scenes/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic">fun
photos of them at work</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://the-orbit.net/alyssa/2016/12/15/octo-nope-six-reasons-not-get-pet-octopus/">Six
reasons not to keep a pet octopus</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Coming up, we
have the following books to look forward to reading:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.65pt; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs.
Sept. 12<sup>th</sup> <a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2320585113">My Year of Rest
and Relaxation</a> by Ottessa Moshfegh<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.65pt; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. Oct.
10<sup>th</sup> <a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2245098113">Less</a> by
Andrew Sean Greer</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for
reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Beth Bailey-Gates<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Friends of
the Fairfax Library<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b>DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Describe
Farallon: the weather, animal populations (birds, sharks, and rodents),
its stream, even the granite bed rock. In what way does the archipelago
itself become a character rather than simply a setting in the novel? Also,
consider Farallon's history, as well as how it got its epithet—
"Island of the Dead."<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">2. <em>Follow
up to Question #1</em>: If you are familiar with the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock
film <em>The Birds</em> (based on a Daphne du Maurier short story),
what are some of the parallels between the film and <em>The Lightkeepers</em>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">3. How
would you describe Miranda? Why, for instance, is the isolation of the Farallon
Islands suited to her personality? How does she eventually find her way out of
her seclusion? In other words, how does she change by the novel's end?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">4. Talk
about the letters Miranda writes to her mother. What purpose do they serve in
the story, and what do they reveal about Miranda (both the fact that she writes
them and the content of the letters themselves)?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">5.
Miranda's relationship with her fellow housemates has "the dynamic of a
family, minus any semblance of warmth." How would you describe the various
characters in that "family"<em>—</em>Andrew and Lucy, Galen, Mick,
Forest, and Charlene<em>—</em>and their relationships with one another?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">6. Miranda
finds comfort, even relief, from the others in the natural world of Farallon.
What are some of the connections she makes with creatures. How does she come to
view the biologists and their relationship to nature? What effect do their
studies have on island life?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">7. Were you
surprised by the novel's climax? Do you find it somewhat implausible? If so,
does it detract from your enjoyment of the novel?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">8. What is
the derivation of the book's title<em>—The Lightkeepers</em>. Who, in the
novel, are the eggers and who are the lightkeepers?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">9. Is there
an underlying message within the book? What major issues are raised?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">10. <em>Bonus
question</em>: For Shakespeare lovers: Miranda's name?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">From
LitLovers.com</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-36493933160823807772019-06-11T15:43:00.000-07:002020-03-19T15:44:31.864-07:00Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston - June 2019June 2019 selection - <u>Barracoon </u>by Zora Neale Hurston<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax
Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, June 13th at <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">7:30 p.m. (30 minutes later than usual)</b>
in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our June book, <u>Barracoon</u>
by Zora Neale Hurston.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Here are some
links for additional background and information:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My son’s
American history textbook includes this fact: “…<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">of approximately 10 million men, women, and children who crossed from
the Old World to the New between 1492 and 1820, the vast majority, about 7.7
million, were African slaves.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/capitalism-and-slavery/">This article
in The Nation discusses the link between capitalism and slavery.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Many of you
heard about the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/05/clotilda-the-last-american-slave-ship-found-in-alabama/?cmpid=org=ngp::mc=crm-email::src=ngp::cmp=autheditorial::add=Special_20190522::rid=5740104415">Clotilda
being located</a> in South Carolina last month<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Both the
author and Cudjo Lewis had a wealthy, white patron, <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/different-backstory-for-zora-neale-hurstons-barracoon/#!">Charlotte
Osgood Mason</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zg_n4Wy9qE">This 3-min newsclip
discusses a documentary about Africa Town</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/20/18542843/intersectionality-conservatism-law-race-gender-discrimination?te=1&nl=morning-briefing&emc=edit_NN_p_20190603&section=whatElse">Interesting
article about the history of the word, intersectionality</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Two songs my
son was recently listening to both seemed to have roots in slave spirituals:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUDDP9RR_VU&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3FR-c5fUrTHKSlGn-A3TJkZc9NkYkK07tc9oHKb-Rp_j-tehEiFFQkNOM">Broken
Bones by Kaleo</a> (an Icelandic band)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeR7zo2zfKM&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1FfgXX8VBGu_PgO_Yq5k5e8IMzchB8xgohS0BlHWi1jvFMSZCPbFS9iks">Bottom
of the River by Delta Rae</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We’ll take
the month of July off for summer vacation. After that, we have the following
books to look forward to reading:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.65pt; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. August
8<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2164141113">The Lightkeepers</a>
by Abby Geni<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.65pt; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs.
Sept. 12<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2320585113">My Year of Rest
and Relaxation</a> by Ottessa Moshfegh<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.65pt; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. Oct.
10<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2245098113">Less</a> by
Andrew Sean Greer</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for
reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Beth Bailey-Gates<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Friends of
the Fairfax Library</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 19.2pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">Reading
and Discussion Guide</span></b><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: 0.15pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.15pt;">Oral history is an important facet of
maintaining and passing on African history. Hurston positions Cudjo Lewis as a
griot throughout the text. His recollection of the events of his life and those
following his being sold into slavery are verified by other historical texts,
and Hurston is quite confident in the veracity of his stories. Consider the way
history is preserved within your own family context.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: 0.15pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.15pt;">As is pointed out in the book, one of the
most important things about printing and distributing Cudjo’s story is the fact
that at the time of its writing, the world was inundated with stories from
every perspective but that of the slave. Hurston writes in her original
introduction:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 21.6pt; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">“All
these words from the seller, but not one word from the sold. The Kings and
Captains whose words moved ships. But not one word from the cargo. The thoughts
of the ‘black ivory,’ the ‘coin of Africa,’ had no market value. Africa’s
ambassadors to the New World have come and worked and died, and left their
spoor, but no recorded thought” (pg. 6). </span></i><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 19.2pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">Does this consideration
make the experience of reading Cudjo Lewis’ story even more powerful for you?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: 0.15pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.15pt;">Cudjo spares no feelings in sharing that
the events that brought him under bondage were done by his fellow Africans —
the powerful Dahomey nation had made quite the business out of attacking other
tribes who had slighted them, killing many and selling those who they let
survive to the white men. This is a complicated and uncomfortable history for
some Black Americans to accept. Alice Walker struggles with this in her
foreward. Was this a painful history to read about for you? Have you heard
about the practice of some African nations selling their captives to American
and European slavers?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: 0.15pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.15pt;">Hurston returns time and time again to
Cudjo’s loneliness. He had lost essentially his entire immediate family and his
homeland, and the toll this has taken on him is quite evident. One of the most
touching lines of the book was him describing how he felt without his wife.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 21.6pt; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">De wife she de eyes to de
man’s soul. How kin I see now, when I ain’ gottee de eyes no mo’?” (pg. 93).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: 0.15pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.15pt;">Part of the reason why the book was never
published while Hurston was alive was because editors wanted her to rewrite the
text “in language not in dialect” (pg. xxii). She refused, feeling that the
story must be told in Cudjo’s own words and tone. Was the experience of reading
in dialect difficult for you? Did it make Cudjo feel more or less believable to
you? Why?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-20639936519160539912019-05-07T15:39:00.000-07:002020-03-19T15:39:45.051-07:00Days Without End by Sebastian Barry - May 2019<span style="color: #222222;">May 2019 selection - <u>Days Without End</u> by Sebastian Barry</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax
Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, May 9th at 7 p.m. in the
meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our May book, <u>Days Without
End</u> by Sebastian Barry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Here are some
links for additional background and information:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/oct/21/sebastian-barry-interview-days-without-end">Author
Interview</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/lessons-indian-wars">Interesting article
about the Indian Wars that has lessons for later wars</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://irishamericancivilwar.com/">Irish soldiers in the Civil War have
their own website</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://historycollection.co/governments-used-to-pay-for-native-american-scalps-which-made-scalping-a-booming-business/2/">The
business of bounties for scalps in US history</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming up, we
have the following book to look forward to reading:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.65pt; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. June
13<sup>th<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></sup><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2324327113" target="_blank">Barracoon</a>
by Zora Neale Hurston</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for
reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Beth Bailey-Gates<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Friends of
the Fairfax Library<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b>DISCUSSION QUESTIONS</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">The McNulty family has featured in several of Barry’s
novels – including The Secret Scripture and The Temporary Gentleman – how
do you feel about the continuous thread between the books? <o:p></o:p></li>
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">Thomas escapes famine in Ireland for war and horror in the
US. However, at times he finds moments of happiness and safety. How well
did Barry balance these contradictions? <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">Thomas and John were part of both the Indian Wars and the
Civil War – how did the descriptions of these differ in the narrative? <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">The relationship between Thomas and John is central to the
novel – how different would their experience be in the US military today? <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">How does the introduction of Sioux child Winona, into the
complicated relationship of Thomas and John, challenge our preconceptions
of the family dynamic? <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">Both Thomas and John work in their youth, as
cross-dressing entertainers. How does this experience impact their lives
going forward? <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">Thomas’ descriptions of war and battles are very violent.
How do you think that violence affected him? How might it have affected
John Cole?<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">“The ones that don’t try to rob me will feed me. That how
it is in America.” This is one of the last lines in the novel. Does this
sounds like an accurate description of the country? How will Thomas and
John fare in the country now?<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">Since 2012, applicants to California state colleges and
universities are asked to share their sexual identification ie.
transgender, lesbian, gay, heterosexual, bisexual etc. Does this indicate
that life is better or easier for people who identify in ways other than
heterosexual?<o:p></o:p></li>
</ol>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #222222;"></span>Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-26397225939396894202019-04-09T15:35:00.000-07:002020-03-19T15:36:16.718-07:00The Leavers by Lisa Ko - April 2019April 2019 selection - <u>The Leavers</u> by Lisa Ko<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax
Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, April 11th at 7 p.m.
in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our April book, <u>The
Leavers</u> by Lisa Ko.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here are some
links for additional background and information:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIUgG46e_78">Video visit to Fuzhou, China</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/adopting-reason/201605/is-transracial-adoption-harmful-kids">Psychology
Today article about trans-racial adoption</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.globalsources.com/si/AS/Fuzhou-Sherason/6008841423901/Homepage.htm">Fuzhou
Garment Company website</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/immigrants/downloads/pdf/moia_annual_report_2018_final.pdf">2018
NYC Immigrant Annual Report</a> (with lots of colorful graphs)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming up, we
have the following books to look forward to reading:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.65pt; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. May
9<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2206328113" target="_blank">Days
Without End</a> by Sebastian Barry</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.65pt; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. June
13<sup>tt<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></sup><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2324327113" target="_blank">Barracoon</a>
by Zora Neale Hurston</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for
reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><b>DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:</b></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal">What relevance, if any,
does <i>The Leavers</i> have to the immigration issues dividing
much of the world today? What are your opinions regarding immigration. Did
this book alter those opinions...or confirm them?</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">How is Polly Guo portrayed
in this work? Do you admire her...or not? Does she engender sympathy? Does
your attitude toward her change during the course of the novel? Early on
she is ambivalent about Deming's birth, placing him in a bag and leaving
him underneath a city bench...only to return to him, of course. Is she to
blame for her ambivalence?<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Talk about Polly's
turbulent past and how it shapes who she has become. She seems driven by
dreams of her own. What are those dreams?<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">How would you describe
Deming when he arrives back in the U.S. as a six-year-old? What kind of
family do Polly and Leon provide for Deming and Michael? What kind of life
do they lead in the Bronx? Consider Polly's job in the nail salon. <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Deming is utterly
bewildered by his mother's disappearance. Talk about the effect it has on
him as he grows into adolescence and young adulthood? Consider this
observation: "If he held everyone at arm’s length, it wouldn’t hurt
as much when they disappeared." Or this one: "He had eliminated
the possibility of feeling out of place by banishing himself to no
place." <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">What role do Ko's music
and his gambling play; how do they help assuage his pain? At one point,
after a performance with his band, Deming slips out, thinking to himself,
"It felt good being the one making the excuse to get away." What
does he mean?<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">What do you think of Kay
and Peter Wilkinson? Are they clueless? Insensitive? Well-meaning?<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Polly's story is told in
the first person while Deming's is in the third person. Why do you think
the author made that choice? Is Polly's tale meant to be a journal for
Deming?<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Polly is the one who sees
the nature of the immigration system firsthand. How is the system
portrayed in the novel? <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Lisa Ko says the novel was
inspired by a 2009 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/04/nyregion/04immigrant.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">New York Times</span></a> article about an
undocumented immigrant from China who spent 18 months in detention. She
had been arrested at a bus station on the way to Florida for a new job.
Does knowing that the novel has its roots in a true story have any impact
on how you understand it?<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">From Deming to Daniel and
Peilan to Polly, do you think the name changes of the main characters
helped them to find a fresh start, or further complicated their search for
belonging? <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">The Leavers asks us to
grapple with a complicated image of motherhood in Polly’s experience. Did
you empathize with her? Did your view of her change as more of her story
is revealed? <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">A major theme throughout
the book is the fantasy of alternate selves. As Polly accepts that she is
having her child, Ko writes, “Peilan continued on in the village, feeding
chickens and stray cats and washing cabbages, as Polly lived out a bonus
existence abroad. Peilan would marry Haifeng or another village boy while Polly
would walk the endless blocks of new cities.” Likewise, Polly and Deming
have a game of finding their “doppelgangers” and imagining the lives the
alternate Deming and Mama would lead. Why do you think Polly and Deming
keep returning to these ideas? <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Similarly, as Polly and
Deming make choices, face different situations, and develop in their
stories, Ko continually asks us to consider the way we move into differing
versions of ourselves and how how those selves must co-exist, sometimes
painfully. Have you had a life experience that brought you to a different
version of yourself? What truly changes and what stays the same about
Polly and Deming? <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">The novel often goes
backwards and forwards in time, and the viewpoint changes with Polly’s
story in first person and Daniel’s in third person. How do you think
structure relates to the larger narrative, and how did it affect your
connection with the characters? <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Discuss Deming / Daniel.
How is he personally accountable for his choices? Are they a result of
nature or nurture? Whose actions toward him left the greatest impact, for
better or worse – Peter and Kay’s, his mother’s, Roland’s, Vivian’s, even
government policy? <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">What was your first
impression of the title of this book? How did revisiting The Leavers inform
what you might suspect to happen as plot twists appeared throughout the
story? Discuss the power a title has in reference to a greater book. <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">The Leavers won the 2016
PEN/Bellwether Prize, an award that was “created to promote ction that
addresses issues of social justice and the impact of culture and politics
on human relationships.” What did you get out of this novel? If
applicable, compare it to other novels written on a similar subject. <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Deming plays a concert at
the beginning of the novel and again at the end, neither of which could be
considered a success by most standards. Compare these performances and
consider what they convey about the journey he has been on.<o:p></o:p></li>
</ol>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-74642322536054538392019-03-12T15:29:00.000-07:002020-03-19T15:29:32.793-07:00Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail HoneymanMarch 2019 selection - <u>Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine</u> by Gail Honeyman<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax Library Book
Discussion Group will meet <span style="color: black;">Thursday, March 14th</span>
at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our March book,
<u>Eleanor Oliphant isCompletely Fine</u> by Gail Honeyman.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Here are some links for
additional background and information:</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/index.php/features/an-interview-with-gail-honeyman">Author
Interview</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDPMmaHWj1I">Listen to the Carpenters’
Top of the World</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.google.com.ph/maps/place/Glasgow,+UK/@55.8553807,-4.3725403,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x488815562056ceeb:0x71e683b805ef511e!8m2!3d55.864237!4d-4.251806">Map
of Glasgow</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://owlcation.com/humanities/Analysis-of-Poem-Wild-Nights-by-Emily-Dickinson">Emily
Dickinson’s Wild Night poem</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming up, we have the
following book to look forward to reading and discussing:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. Apr. 11<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?query=the+leavers&searchType=smart">The
Leavers</a> by Lisa Ko<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. May 9<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2206328113">Days Without End</a>
by Sebastian Barry<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. June
13<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2324327113">Barracoon</a> by
Zora Neale Hurston<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for reading with
us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:</b></div>
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<span style="color: black;">1. Knowing the truth about
Eleanor’s family, look back through the book to revisit her exchanges with her
mother. Did you see what was ahead? How did Honeyman lay the groundwork for the
final plot twist? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">2. What are the different ways
that the novel’s title could be interpreted? What do you think happens to
Eleanor after the book ends? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">3. Eleanor says, “These days,
loneliness is the new cancer—a shameful, embarrassing thing, brought upon
yourself in some obscure way. A fearful, incurable thing, so horrifying that
you dare not mention it; other people don’t want to hear the word spoken aloud
for fear that they might too be afflicted” (p. 227). Do you agree? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">4. What does Raymond find
appealing about Eleanor? And why does Eleanor feel comfortable opening up to
Raymond? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">5. Eleanor is one of the most
unusual protagonists in recent fiction, and some of her opinions and actions
are very funny. What were your favorite moments in the novel?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">6. “Did men ever look in the
mirror, I wondered, and find themselves wanting in deeply fundamental ways?
When they opened a newspaper or watched a film, were they presented with
nothing but exceptionally handsome young men, and did this make them feel
intimidated, inferior, because they were not as young, not as handsome?” (p.
74). Eleanor’s question is rhetorical and slightly tongue-in-cheek, but worth
answering. What are your thoughts? If men don’t have this experience, why not?
If they do, why is it not more openly discussed? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">7. Eleanor is frightened that
she may become like her mother. Is this a reasonable fear? What is the balance
of nature and nurture? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">8. Is it possible to emerge
from a traumatic childhood unscathed? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">9. Eleanor says, “If someone
asks you how you are, you are meant to say FINE. You are not meant to say that
you cried yourself to sleep last night because you hadn’t spoken to another
person for two consecutive days. FINE is what you say” (p. 226–227). Why is
this the case? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-80173094120183991332019-02-12T15:26:00.000-08:002020-03-19T15:26:22.685-07:00A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles - Feb. 2019February 2019 selection - <u>A Gentleman in Moscow</u> by Amor Towles<br />
<br />
The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Wednesday, February 13th in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our February book, <u>A Gentleman in Moscow</u> by Amor Towles.<br />
<br />
Here are some links for additional background information:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jre2fhvvSnk&list=PLQeH8nGVQpNZ5gORCJV8kQ8jEGjZsKPTn" target="_blank">Four-minute tour of the Hotel Metropol in Moscow</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://sevencircumstances.com/2017/01/10/from-the-inside-looking-out-a-gentleman-in-moscow-by-amor-towles/" target="_blank">Interesting review and analysis of the novel</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amortowles.com/gentleman-moscow-amor-towles/gentleman-moscow-qa-amor-towles/" target="_blank">Author interview</a><br />
<br />
Coming up, we have the following book to look forward to reading and discussing:<br />
<br />
March 14 - <u>Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine</u> by Gail Honeyman<br />
<br />
Thanks for reading with us!<br />
<br />
<b>DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:</b><br />
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1. In the transcript at the opening of A Gentleman in
Moscow, the head of the tribunal and Count Rostov have the following exchange: "Secretary Ignatov: I have no doubt, Count Rostov, that some in the galley are
surprised to find you charming; but I am not surprised to find you so. History
has shown charm to be the last ambition of the leisure class. What I do find
surprising is that the author of the poem in question could have become a man
so obviously without purpose. Rostov: I have lived under the impression that a
man’s purpose is known only to God. Secretary Ignatov: Indeed. How convenient
that must have been for you. "</div>
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To what extent is A Gentleman in Moscow a novel of
purpose? How does the Count’s sense of purpose manifest itself initially, and
how does it evolve as the story unfolds? <o:p></o:p></div>
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2. Over the course of Book Two, why does the Count decide to
throw himself from the roof of the Metropol? On the verge of doing so, why does
the encounter with the old handyman lead him to change his plans? <o:p></o:p></div>
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3. The Count’s life under house arrest is greatly influenced
by his relationship with four women: Nina, Marina, Anna, and Sofia. What is the
nature of the Count’s relationship with each of these women? How do those
relationships differ from his relationship with the members of the
Triumvirate—Andrey and Emile? <o:p></o:p></div>
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4. The majority of A Gentleman in Moscow is told in the
third person from the Count’s point of view. There is, however, an overarching
narrator with a different perspective than the Count’s. Initially, this
narrator appears in footnotes, then in the Addendums, then in the historical
introductions of 1930, 1938, and 1946. How would you characterize this
narrator? How does he differ from the Count in terms of his point of view and
tone of voice? What is his role in the narrative? <o:p></o:p></div>
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5. In the 1946 chapter, Mishka, Osip, and Richard each share
with the Count their perspective on the meaning of the revolutionary era. What
are these three perspectives? Are you inclined to agree with one of them; or do
you find there is some merit to each? <o:p></o:p></div>
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6. One of the pleasures of writing fiction is discovering
upon completion of a project that some thread of imagery has run through the
work without your complete awareness–forming, in essence, an unintentional
motif. While I was very conscious of the recurrence of tolling bells, keys, and
concentric circles in the book, here are a few motifs that I only recognized
after the fact: Packages wrapped in brown paper such as the Maltese Falcon,
Mishka’s book of quotations, the Russian nesting dolls discovered in the
Italians’ closet, and the Count’s copy of Montaigne (in Paris). The likeness of
stars such as the freckles on Anna’s back and the beacon on the top of the
Shukhov radio tower. Sailors (often in peril) such as Robinson Crusoe,
Odysseus, Admiral Makarov, and Arion in the myth of Delphinus. What role do any
of these motifs play in the thematic composition of the book? <o:p></o:p></div>
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7. How does the narrative incorporate the passage of time,
and does it do so effectively? Thematically speaking, how does the Count’s
experience of Time change over the course of the novel and how does it relate
to his father’s views as embodied by the twice-tolling clock? Do you agree with
the Count’s conclusion that we experience time differently as we grow older? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What does the novel suggest about the
influence of individuals on history and vice versa? <o:p></o:p></div>
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8. At the opening of Book Five, the Count has already
decided to get Sofia out of Russia. What occurs over the course of Book Four to
lead him to this decision? Why does he choose to remain behind? <o:p></o:p></div>
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9. Near the novel’s conclusion, what is the significance of
the toppled cocktail glass in Casablanca? <o:p></o:p></div>
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10. This is a novel with a somewhat fantastical premise set
half a century ago in a country very different from our own. Nonetheless, do
you think the book is relevant today? If so, in what way?<o:p></o:p></div>
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11. Is there a danger that Towles’ sympathetic portrayal of
the Count glosses over the part many Russian aristocrats played in the
oppression of the peasants and later, the working classes which eventually led
to the Revolution?<o:p></o:p></div>
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12. How did you interpret the ending of the novel? Was it a
satisfactory conclusion to the story?<o:p></o:p></div>
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13.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A reviewer,
Annalisa Quinn, comments that “Towles never lets anyone merely say goodbye when
the could bid adieu, never puts a period where an exclamation point or dramatic
ellipsis could stand.” How did you feel about the author’s apparent delight in
extravagant language?<o:p></o:p></div>
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14. During his time at The Metropol the Count forges
friendships which crow age, class and political boundaries. How does he make
friends so easily? What is the novel’s overall message about friendship?<o:p></o:p></div>
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15. In a review of A Gentleman in Moscow Ron Charles points
out that “the whole enterprise depends on how deeply you fall in love with the
Count.” Did you fall in love with Count Rostov as a character? Why or why not?<o:p></o:p></div>
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16. How are work and purpose portrayed in the novel? Do you
agree with the implication that a sense of purpose is an essential ingredient
for a fulfilling life?<o:p></o:p></div>
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17. Discuss the different ways in which the historical
events taking place outside the Metropol are conveyed to the reader. Do these
snippets of information tell us enough about the state of the Soviet Union
during this period? Is the light tone of the novel at odds with the horrors of
Stalinist Russia?<o:p></o:p></div>
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18. One of the Count’s favorite stories is the evolution of
the moths of Manchester. Is his story also one of evolution? Are there any
other evolutions throughout the novel?<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-43443356138130105142019-01-08T15:11:00.000-08:002020-03-19T15:12:05.466-07:00The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea - Jan. 2019January 2019 selection - <u>The House of Broken Angels</u> by Luis Alberto Urrea<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Happy New Year!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax Library Book
Discussion Group will meet <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thursday, January
10th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our January
book, <u>The House of Broken Angels</u> by Luis Alberto Urrea.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here are some links for
additional background and information:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/whats-the-easiest-way-get-us-green-card.html">How
to get a green card</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://timeline.com/in-the-1930s-we-illegally-deported-600-000-u-s-citizens-because-they-had-mexican-heritage-f0c5d589a5c3">1930’s
repatriation of Mexicans</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/03/05/590839936/mexican-american-author-finds-inspiration-in-family-tragedy-and-trump">Author
interview with Fresh Air’s Terry Gross</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/luis-alberto-urrea-what-borders-are-really-about-and-what-we-do-with-them-jul2018/">On
Being interview with author discussing the meaning of borders</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming up, we have the following
book to look forward to reading:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Wed</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">. Feb. 13<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2184655113">A Gentleman in
Moscow</a> by Amor Towles (<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: red;">note changed day and date</span></u></b>!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. Mar.
14<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2210395113">Eleanor Oliphant
is Completely Fine</a> by Gail Honeyman<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for reading with
us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-15882562909802752792018-12-11T15:08:00.000-08:002020-03-19T15:08:44.632-07:00The Mothers by Britt Bennett Dec. 2018December 2018 selection - <u>The Mothers</u> by Brit Bennett<br />
<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax Library Book
Discussion Group will meet, Thursday, December 13th at 7 p.m. in the meeting
room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our December book, <u>The Mothers</u> by
Brit Bennett.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Discussion questions, author
interview and reviews are attached. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here are some links for
additional background and information:</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.reproductiverights.org/our-regions/united-states">Issues in
the spotlight with the Center for Reproductive Rights</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/02/07/5-facts-about-the-religious-lives-of-african-americans/">Five
facts about the religious lives of African Americans</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.readitforward.com/video/8-great-questions-with-brit-bennett/">8
Great Questions with Brit Bennett</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Coming up, we have the
following book to look forward to reading:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. Jan. 10<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><u><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2279274113">The House of
Broken Angels</a></u> by Luis Alberto Urrea<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Wed</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">. Feb. 13<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2184655113">A Gentleman in
Moscow</a> by Amor Towles (<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: red;">note changed day and date</span></u></b>!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. Mar.
14<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2210395113">Eleanor Oliphant
is Completely Fine</a> by Gail Honeyman<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for reading with
us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><b>DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:</b></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">1. To what degree do you think Nadia's
discomfort about her ambition is just in her head, and to what degree do you
think her community sees her as an outsider because of it? Why is leaving home
so revolutionary for Nadia? What can her academic accomplishments give her that
her home community cannot?<br />
<br />
2.Nadia and Luke are two black teen who go to a mostly white school, on the
edge of a military base. When Luck ends up in the hospital, he becomes
conscious of how Hispanic male nurse suffers from others’ stereotypes. How does
the author approach identity in relation to race? How must Nadia change the way
she interacts with people inside or outside of her community?<br />
<br />
3. <em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The Mothers</span></em> strives
to handle teen pregnancy with compassion and wisdom, portraying it as a
life-transforming experience with incalculable ramifications. Why do you think
Nadia makes the choices she does? How do these choices affect her life, Luke’s
life, and even the larger community?<br />
<br />
4.After his football injury, Luke must struggle to redefine his own sense of
himself, his potential and expectations. Later in the book he befriends a male
physical therapist who shows Luke that he, too, has the potential for
ministering to the sick or injured—which is a sort of “mothering” in itself.
How does Luke’s sense of masculinity change, before and after his injury? How
does the author explore masculinity in the depiction of Nadia’s father, a
professional military man who must learn to connect with his daughter? Do you
think that, in the end, both father and daughter have found a way to
communicate and show their love to each other?<br />
<br />
5. The novel has a distinct nucleus, made up of “The Mothers,” the elderly
women of the black church community who watch over the small-town goings-on
with a presence that evokes the tone of a fable. Their chorus, Greek in format,
shows the insularity and defiance of a small, loving community. How do “The
Mothers” embody their community? In what ways do they impose their own experiences—their
beliefs, their upbringings, their age—on the younger generation?<br />
<br />
6. Another focus of the book is Nadia’s relationship with her best friend,
Aubrey, as they help each other through adolescence and motherlessness. It
provides poignant commentary about the ways women rely on one another, and
about the necessity of navigating hard truths with the people we love. How do
Nadia and Aubrey change over the course of the book—both within their
friendship and outside of it? What does this friendship give each of the girls?<br />
<br />
7. As Nadia maneuvers the adolescent world and beyond, how does her grief over
her mother's death change her? Do you think it ultimately strengthens her?
Weakens her? </span></o:p></div>
<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-20707323942530320682018-11-06T15:04:00.000-08:002020-03-19T15:05:23.013-07:00The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry Nov. 2018November 2018 selection <u>The Essex Serpent</u> by Sarah Perry<br />
<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax Library Book
Discussion Group will meet, Thursday, November 8th at 7 p.m. in the meeting
room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our November book, <u>The Essex Serpent</u>
by Sarah Perry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Discussion questions, author
interview and reviews are attached. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here are some links for
additional background and information:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.british-paranormal.co.uk/topics/posts-and-reports/supernatural-creatures/">Historical
monsters of England</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://valmcbeath.com/victorian-era-womens-rights/#.W8jcSHtKjcs">Rights
of women in Victorian era England</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/03/17/520517665/that-time-american-women-lost-their-citizenship-because-they-married-foreigners">The
Expatriation law was passed in the US just after the Victorian era.</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_Morgana_(mirage)">Examples of the Fata
Morgana phenomenon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming up, we have the
following book to look forward to reading:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. Dec.
13<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><u><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2196429113">The Mothers</a></u>
by Brit Bennett<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for reading with
us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Beth
Bailey-Gates<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Friends of the Fairfax
Library<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b>DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">1. </span></strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Many comparisons have been drawn between
Sarah Perry’s writing and the Victorian novelists who were writing at the time
the book was set, including Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. Do you think this
book feels Victorian, or contemporary feel when she effectively provides hope
in the form of bread each day?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">2.</span></strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> “I’ll fill your wounds with gold”, Michael says. He means
both literally that he will make sure Cora is financially comfortable during
their marriage in exchange for the pleasure of hurting her, but also that he
will remake her as something more beautiful and interesting than she was
before. Cora survived her horrible marriage, but was definitely damaged by it.
What do you think the seams of gold are in Cora’s character?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">3. </span></strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Many of the characters have unequal
relationships: Cora and Martha, Spencer and Will. Do you think that viewing
someone as a means to an end necessarily precludes loving them?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">4. </span></strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Cora’s son, Francis, might today be diagnosed
as being on the autistic spectrum. Despite his challenges, he gets a lot of
pleasure from learning about the natural world. Eccentricity seems to have been
more acceptable in the Victorian era, at least for men of a certain class. Do
you think Francis would be happier in his time or in our own?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">5. </span></strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Will is at odds with the superstitious
villagers, who insist the serpent is real, whereas he sees their conviction as
a sign of their lack of faith. However, he is also wrangling with Cora, who is
more interested in science than religious belief. And while Will is a minister of
the established Church, he secretly reads Darwin. Do you think he believes
faith is fundamentally rooited in the words of the Bible or a more personal
encounter with the world?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">6. </span></strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">When Francis asks Will what sin is, he
describes it as falling short. When Will and Cora finally have their encounter
in the woods, Will’s wife is still alive. How do you think Will would judge
this incident by his own definition of sin?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">7. </span></strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Cora’s physical size and mannish habits of
dress are frequently commented upon by other characters in the novel. She
rejects a lot of society’s expectations of her as a woman, whereas Stella
Ransome is the living embodiment of the perfect housewife. Despite their
differences, they are friends. What do you think Perry is trying to tell us by
having Cora save her rival instead of quietly letting her drown?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">8. </span></strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Cora sends her angry letter to Luke at a
terrible time --- it arrives as all his other hopes are being dashed. If this
unfortunate coincidence hadn’t taken place, would we still read the letter as
cruel? Should she have expressed her thoughts more kindly or was she right to
be angry?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">9. </span></strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">One of the subplots of the novel is the
disappearance of Naomi Banks. She and Joanna Ransome argued and Naomi ran away.
By the end of the novel, she has returned and Joanna is trying to cope with the
imminent death of her mother. Do you think they will become close friends
again, for good, or are the differences between them simply too great?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">10. </span></strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The novel sets up Cora to choose between two
men and in the end she chooses neither. Do you think this is a comment on
traditional literary plots? Do you think the novel sees friendship as more
valuable and enduring than romantic love?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">11.</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">Cora seems to know that at one level she
married Michael for his money. Martha is faced with a similar choice, though
Spencer is much kinder than Michael. Many of the characters have unequal
relationships: Cora and Martha, Spencer and Will. Do you think that viewing someone
as a means to an end necessarily precludes loving them?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 11.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">12.</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">Cora survived her
horrible marriage, but was definitely damaged by it. How do you think that the
experience has shaped her character?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 11.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">13.</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">Will is at odds with
the superstitious villagers, who insist the Serpent is a message from God and
want him to preach fire and brimstone to them. However, he is also wrangling
with Cora, who is more interested in science than faith. Do you think he
believes faith is more about the following the words of the bible or more about
personal belief?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-7259617799601769302018-10-09T15:01:00.000-07:002020-03-19T15:01:58.376-07:00Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders Oct. 2018October 2018 selection <u>Lincoln in the Bardo</u> by George Saunders<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax Library Book
Discussion Group will meet, Thursday, October 11th at 7 p.m. in the meeting
room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our October book, <u>Lincoln in the
Bardo</u> by George Saunders<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Discussion questions, author
interview and reviews are attached. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here are some links for
additional background and information:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.spiritualtravel.org/OBE/afterdeath.html">The Bardos – or
stages of death and the afterlife</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://georgetownmetropolitan.com/2010/03/18/the-famous-tenants-of-oak-hill-cemetery/">Oak
Hill Cemetery in Georgetown</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/education/williedeath.htm">The
death of Willie Lincoln</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/death-numbers/">The
Civil War by the numbers</a></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming up, we have the
following books to look forward to reading:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. Nov. 8<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><u><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2248111113">The Essex Serpent</a></u>
by Sarah Perry<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. Dec.
13<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><u><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2196429113">The Mothers</a></u>
by Brit Bennett<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for reading with
us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Beth
Bailey-Gates<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Friends of the Fairfax
Library<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b>DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1. The presence of a child in the bardo is rare, but what other
things about Willie make him different from the other ghosts?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2. Which of the ghosts’ stories resonated with you the most?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3. How did the style and form of the book enhance or detract from
your experience of the story? What did you think of the author’s decision to
include snippets of real, historical sources among the fictional narration?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4. In what ways do the social structures of this time period
manifest in the bardo? How does Saunders play with and explore historical
attitudes towards race and class throughout the novel?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">5. In what ways does Saunders challenge and expand the genre of
historical fiction? Why do you think Lincoln and his legacy remain such popular
subjects in literature today?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">6. It is unknown, both to the reader and to the character of the
Reverend Everly Thomas, why he is damned, even though he understands that he is
dead. What do you think is meant by this omission?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">7. On page 87, the Reverend Everly Thomas explains the Barons’
existence on either side of the dreaded fence as not about wealth per se, but
about being “wealthy in spirit.” Discuss what this means, and how it relates to
the slaves’ ability to be near the fence while the other ghosts remain unable
to stand such proximity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">8. Roger Bevins says that “all were in sorrow, or had been, or
soon would be.” Vollman responds by saying “It was the nature of things” and
that we are all “suffering, limited beings.” Do you agree?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">9. George Saunders has described the question at the core of this
book as, “How do we continue to love in a world in which the objects of our
love are so conditional?” Did you find this to be true, and do you feel like
you came to a deeper understanding of mortality?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">10. Towards the end, the ghosts unite in an attempt to “enter”
Lincoln’s mind and stop him from leaving the graveyard. In doing so, they find
themselves transformed from their wretched states, remembering parts of their
lives that had been lost to them since entering the bardo. Discuss the
significance of this transformation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">11. Discuss the final scene, in which Thomas Havens follows
Lincoln out of the graveyard on horseback. What do you think this foreshadows?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /><br />
Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-62901469926094163632018-09-11T22:02:00.000-07:002018-09-13T22:03:58.976-07:00Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi September, 2018September, 2018 selection - <u>Homegoing</u> by Yaa Gyasi<br />
<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax Library Book
Discussion Group will meet, Thursday, September 13th at 7 p.m. in the meeting
room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our September book, <u>Homegoing </u>by Yaa
Gyasi<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Discussion questions are below. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here are some links for
additional background and information:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://theculturetrip.com/africa/ghana/articles/ghana-s-slave-castles-the-shocking-story-of-the-ghanaian-cape-coast/">Ghana’s
slave castles article with photos</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://cityoftuscumbia.org/?page_id=16">Brief history of Tuscumbia,
Alabama</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://timeline.com/convict-leasing-slavery-1fd126f4ad0c">Alabama
convict leasing program</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/stake-beauty-interview-yaa-gyasi/" target="_blank">LA Review of Books author interview</a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming up, we have the
following book to look forward to reading:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. Oct..
13<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><u><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2206477113">Lincoln in the
Bardo</a></u> by George Saunders<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. Nov. 8<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><u><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2248111113">The Essex Serpent</a></u>
by Sarah Perry<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. Dec.
13<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><u><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2196429113">The Mothers</a></u>
by Brit Bennett<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for reading with
us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Beth
Bailey-Gates<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Friends of the Fairfax
Library<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 16pt;">DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Homegoing by Yaa
Gyasi<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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1. Evaluate the title of the book. Why do you think that
the author chose the word Homegoing? What is a homegoing and where does it
appear in the novel? In addition to the term’s literal meaning, discuss what symbolic
meanings or associations the title might have in terms of a connection with our
place of birth, our ancestors, our heritage, and our personal and cultural
histories.<o:p></o:p></div>
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2. Explore the theme of belief. What forms of belief are
depicted in the book and what purpose do these beliefs seem to serve for the
characters? Does the author reveal what has shaped the characters’ beliefs? Do
these beliefs seem to have a mostly positive or negative impact on the believer
and those around them?<o:p></o:p></div>
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3. What perspective does the book offer on the subject of
beliefs and otherness? For instance, does the book delineate between
superstition and belief? Why does Ma Aku reprimand Jo after he is kicked out of
church? What do the Missionary and the fetish man contribute to a dialogue on
beliefs and otherness? Does the book ultimately suggest the best way to
confront beliefs that are foreign to us?<o:p></o:p></div>
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4. Evaluate the treatment and role of women in the novel.
What role does marriage play within the cultures represented in the novel and how
are the women treated as a result? Likewise, what significance does fertility
and motherhood have for the women and how does it influence their treatment? In
the chapter entitled “Effia,” what does Adwoa tell Effia that her coupling with
James is really about? In its depiction of the collective experiences of the
female characters, what does the book seem to reveal about womanhood? How
different would you say the treatment and role of women is today? Discuss.<o:p></o:p></div>
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5. Analyze the structure of the book. Why do you think the
author assigned a chapter to each of the major characters? What points of view
are represented therein? Does any single point of view seem to stand out among
the rest or do you believe that the author presented a balanced point of view?
Explain. Although each chapter is distinct, what do the stories have in common
when considered collectively? How might your interpretation of the book differ
if the author had chosen to tell the story from a single point of view?<o:p></o:p></div>
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6. Consider the setting of the book. What time periods are
represented and what places are adopted as settings? Why do you think that the
author chose these particular settings? What subjects and themes are
illuminated via these particular choices? How does the extensive scope of the book
help to unify these themes and create a cohesive treatment of the subjects
therein?<o:p></o:p></div>
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7. In the chapter entitled “Quey,” Fiifi tells Quey that
“[the] village must conduct its business like [the] female bird” (53). What
does he mean by this and why do you think that Fiifi chooses this approach?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
8. Why was Quey sent to England? After his return home,
why does Quey say that it was safer in England? Why might he feel that what he
faces at home is more difficult than the challenges he faced in leaving home
and living abroad?<o:p></o:p></div>
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9. James’s mother, Nana Yaa, says that the Gold Coast is
like a pot of groundnut soup (89). What does she mean by this?<o:p></o:p></div>
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10. Why does Akosua Mensah insist to James, “I will be my
own nation” (99)? What role do patriotism, heritage, and tradition play in
contributing to the injustices, prejudices, and violence depicted in the book?
Which other characters seem to share Akosua’s point of view?<o:p></o:p></div>
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11. Explore the theme of complicity. What are some
examples of complicity found in the novel? Who is complicit in the slave trade?
Where do most of the slaves come from and who trades them? Who does Abena’s
father say is ultimately responsible (142)? Do you agree with him? Explain why
or why not.<o:p></o:p></div>
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12. Examine the relationships between parents and children
in the book. How would you characterize these relationships? Do the children
seem to understand their parents and have good relationships with them and vice
versa? Do the characters’ views of their parents change or evolve as they grow
up? How do the characters’ relationships with their parents influence the way
that they raise their own children?<o:p></o:p></div>
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13. What significance does naming have in the book? Why do
some of the characters have to change or give up their names? Likewise, what do
the characters’ nicknames reveal both about them and about those who give or
repeat these names? What does this dialogue ultimately suggest about the power
of language and naming?<o:p></o:p></div>
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14. Explore the motif of storytelling. Who are the
storytellers in the book and what kinds of stories do they tell? Who is their
audience? What might these examples suggest about the purpose and significance
of a storytelling tradition?<o:p></o:p></div>
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15. According to Akua, where does evil begin? Where else
in the book do readers find examples that support her view? What impact does
Akua’s opinion have on Yaw’s lifework? Does he agree with Akua’s view or refute
it? Do you agree with her? Discuss.<o:p></o:p></div>
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16. What is history according to Yaw? What does he tell
his students is “the problem of history” (226)? Who does Yaw say we believe
when reading historical texts and what does he say is the question we must ask
when studying history? How might these ideas influence your own reading of
Gyasi’s book and reshape your ideas about the historical subjects and themes
treated therein?<o:p></o:p></div>
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17. Sonny says that the problem in America “wasn’t
segregation but the fact that you could not, in fact, segregate” (244)? What
does he mean by this? What does Sonny say that he is forced to feel because of
segregation? Which of the other characters experience these same feelings and
hardships? Does there seem to be any progress as the story goes on? If so, how
is progress achieved? Alternatively, what stymies and slows progress in this
area?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
18. What is Marcus studying and why isn’t his research
going well? What feeling does he indicate that he hopes to capture with his
project? Why does Marcus go to Ghana and what does he learn from his
experiences there? Marcus believes that “most people lived their lives on upper
levels, not stopping to peer underneath (298). What does he mean by this? Where
do we find examples of this elsewhere in the book? Are there any characters in
the novel who defy this characterization?<o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>
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19. Consider the book’s treatment of colonialism and
imperialism. In the chapter entitled “Esi” at the start of the book, what does
Esi’s mother tell her daughter that weakness and strength really are? How does
her definition of weakness and strength correspond to the dialogue about
colonialism and imperialism that runs throughout the book? Discuss how this
dialogue expands into a deeper conversation about freedom and human rights.
Have the issues surrounding colonialism, imperialism, freedom, and human rights
featured in the book been resolved today or do they linger? If they remain,
does the book ultimately offer any suggestions or advice as to how this might
be remedied?<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-73917919077444868922018-08-07T21:51:00.000-07:002018-09-13T21:52:18.625-07:00The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston - August 2018August 2018 selection - <u>The Lost City of the Monkey God</u> by Douglas Preston<br />
<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax Library Book
Discussion Group will meet, Thursday, August 9th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room
of the Fairfax Library to discuss our August book, <u>The Lost City of the
Monkey God </u>by Douglas Preston<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Discussion questions are below. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here are some links for
additional background and information:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMSR0Gk6__0">CBS Sunday Morning story
about the Lost City (9 minutes)</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/03/150302-honduras-lost-city-monkey-god-maya-ancient-archaeology/">National
Geographic article with photos</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/lost-city-monkey-god-close-enough/" target="_blank">LA Review of Books author interview</a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming up, we have the
following book to look forward to reading:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. Sept.
13<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?query=homegoing&searchType=smart">Homegoing</a>
by Yaa Gyasi<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for reading with
us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Beth
Bailey-Gates<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Friends of the Fairfax
Library<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<u><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Lost
City of the Monkey God</span></u><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> by Douglas
Preston<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">1. The legend of the Cuidad Blanca has
been around for more than five centuries, and in that time, generations of
adventurers have risked their lives in search of it. What do you think the
appeal is of this kind of quest? What is it about the idea of discovering a
lost city that maintains such a perennial grip on the human imagination? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">2. Preston offers a colorful history of
the men who had tried to find the Cuidad Blanca over the centuries—many of whom
came back with vivid accounts of their discoveries. Do you believe that any of
them came across the same city that Preston and Elkins and the expedition found
in T1? Why or why not? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">3. In 1940, the New York Times ran a
front-page article announcing, “City of Monkey God Believed Located” by
swashbuckling explorer Theodore Morde. However, Preston’s research reveals a
shocking new twist to this seventyfive-year-old story. How does this new
information change our understanding of the history of the legend of the lost
city? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">4. Why do you think Morde’s original
account remained unchallenged so long? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">5. Preston opens his account of the
adventure in Honduras with a scene in which he and his fellow explorers are
given a dramatic briefing about the dangers of the rainforest—pit vipers,
scorpions, bullet ants, and diseasebearing sandflies. Yet when they first
arrive in the jungle, it all seems so benign and Edenic that Preston assumes
the leaders were simply being overcautious—until he encounters his first viper.
Do you think the team underestimated the challenges that they would face, alone
in the jungle? What do you feel the biggest challenges were, and how might the
team have prepared for them differently? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">6. If offered the opportunity to go on a
similar adventure, would you want go yourself? Why or why not? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">7. After Elkins, Preston, and the team
emerge from the jungle and announce their findings, a conflict breaks out in
the archeological community. Why do you think this is such a sensitive topic?
Do you believe either side is correct? Why or why not? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">8. What do you think modern Latin
America would look like if the arrival of the conquistadors hadn’t introduced
what Preston terms “Old World” diseases to the indigenous populations? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">9. What can the discovery of the city at
T1 teach modern-day archeologists about the past? What are the biggest
surprises that surround this discovery? Does it change the way we understand
any of the history of the New World?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-18617705907839758952018-07-10T21:43:00.000-07:002018-09-13T21:44:34.198-07:00The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore July 2018July 2018 - <u>The Last Days of Night</u> by <i>Graham Moore</i><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax Library Book
Discussion Group will meet, Thursday, July 12th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room
of the Fairfax Library to discuss our July book, <u>The Last Days of Night </u>by
Graham Moore.<u><o:p></o:p></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Discussion questions are below. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here are some links for
additional background and information:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://mrgrahammoore.com/books/the-last-days-of-night/cast-of-characters/">Photos
and bios of the real life characters in Last Days of Night</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">History of <a href="http://www.westinghousenuclear.com/About/History">George Westinghouse</a>
and his <a href="http://www.science-communications.com/editorial/science_history/the_westinghouse_legacy.html">companies</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN9aR2wKv0U">4 minute video explaining AC
vs. DC current</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.scienceabc.com/innovation/ac-vs-dc-alternating-current-or-direct-current-which-is-better.html">Which
is better – AC or DC?</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming up, we have the
following book to look forward to reading:</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. Aug. 9<sup>th</sup> <u><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?query=homegoing&searchType=smart">The
Lost City of the Monkey God</a> </u>by Douglas J. Preston<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. Sept.
13<sup>th</sup> <a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?query=homegoing&searchType=smart">Homegoing</a>
by Yaa Gyasi<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for reading with
us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Beth
Bailey-Gates<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Friends of the Fairfax Library</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 16.0pt;">DISCUSSION QUESTIONS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<u><span style="color: black; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Last Days of Night</span></u><span style="color: black; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> by Graham Moore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 12.75pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">1. Talk about the role of the lightbulb, that small pear-shaped
device, in changing the face of civilization. Can you imagine life without it?<br />
<br />
2. What do you think about the two great giants of American science and
manufacturing: Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse? Are you surprised at the
manner in which Moore portrays Edison, an American icon? How do the two men
differ?<br />
<br />
3. Can you explain the legal suit that Edison initiated against Westinghouse?
In what way did Westinghouse's bulb differ from Edison's?<br />
<br />
4. Does Graham Moore do a credible job in breaking down the science of
electricity, especially the differences between AC and DC current?<br />
<br />
5. How did Nikola Tesla revolutionize AC current? Do you think it
possible/probable in real life that Edison might have made an attempt on
Tesla's life? Or did Graham add that plot point to build fictional suspense?<br />
<br />
6. How was Nikola Tesla different from the two rivals at the heart of this
story? In what way was his "genius" different from that of Edison or
Westinghouse? What drove Tesla, as opposed to the other two men?<br />
<br />
7. Talk about the role of J.P. Morgan and his insistence that the two men
settle their differences. Was his "coup" of Edison's General Electric
fair?<br />
<br />
8. In the end, is it possible to actually say <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">who</span></em> invented the light bulb? What role
did each of the three men—Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse—play in its
development? Consider this passage from the book:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 12.75pt;">
<em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">For Edison who loved the audience it was
the performance. Westinghouse was different as he loved the products
themselves and he made them better than anyone else. Westinghouse did not want
to sell the most but wanted to make the best. Tesla, the third leg, only cared
for the ideas themselves. Once he had an idea, he was done, he knew he had
solved the problem and moved on</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">(<span style="background: white;">Discussion Questions by </span><a href="http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/fiction/10759-last-days-of-night-moore?start=3" target="_blank" title="LitLovers's Website "><span style="background: white; color: black;">LitLovers)</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-305028755584026582018-06-12T22:18:00.000-07:002018-08-20T22:22:38.036-07:00Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett June 2018June 2018 selection Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax Library Book
Discussion Group will meet, Thursday, June 14th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room
of the Fairfax Library to discuss our June book, <u>Pond </u>by Claire-Louise
Bennett.<u><o:p></o:p></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Discussion questions are below. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here are some links for
additional background and information:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.hogansirishcottages.com/thatched-roof-cottages-in-ireland.html">See
(and rent) a thatched roof cottage in Ireland</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://humag.co/features/claire-louise-bennett">Author Interview</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op1JpYXyQsI">A shortish YouTube review</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming up, we have the
following book to look forward to reading:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. July
12<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?query=the+last+days+of+night&searchType=smart">The
Last Days of Night</a> by Graham Moore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. Aug. 9<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><u><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?query=homegoing&searchType=smart">The
Lost City of the Monkey God</a> </u>by Douglas J. Preston<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. Sept.
13<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?query=homegoing&searchType=smart">Homegoing</a>
by Yaa Gyasi<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for reading with
us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Beth
Bailey-Gates<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Friends of the Fairfax
Library<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">DISCUSSION QUESTIONS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><u>The Pond</u> by Claire Louise Bennett<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">As reader, how well do you feel you know the narrator of <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Pond</span></em>. She is never
named, nor does any other voice describe her to us except for the final
chapter. What do we learn about her? Choose any, or all, of the book's 20
chapters and talk about what each tells us about her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">What is the narrator doing in her cottage by the sea? She talks
about her lack of ambition and says that "real events don't make much
difference to me." Is she hiding? Escaping? If so, from what? Is she
seeking solace in solitude (.except that she interacts with others and his
wi-fi)?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">3.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> Think about the first
story's little girl who climbs over a wall into a garden and falls asleep,
suggesting an <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Alice
in Wonderland</span></em> quality to the stories. What are the instances
in which the narrator finds enchantment in the smallest or most basic and
ordinary things. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">4.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> The stories are infused
with a sense of loss, personal and professional. How does she frame those
experiences, "the essential brutality of love," and what we come to
learn about the various episodes in her life and how they affect her?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">5.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> The narrator tells us that
childhood is when one should...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 67.5pt; margin-right: 75.0pt; margin-top: 0in;">
<em><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">develop
the facility to really notice things so that, over time, and with enough
practice, one ...can experience the enriching joy of moving about in deep and
direct accordance with things." What does she mean to live in "deep
accordance with things</span></em><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Is it
possible to engage in the practice of "noticing things" in adulthood,
or in adulthood do schedules, duties, and egos take over our lives?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">6.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">What is the narrator's relationship with men and sex. Consider,
for instance, her attitude toward rape in the story titled, "Morning
1908."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">7.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> Where do you find humor in
the book? What about "Oh, Tomato Puree" or "Stir-Fry"?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">8.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> In "Control
Knobs" the narator wonders what it would feel like to be the last woman
alive. Referring to a such character in a novel, the narrator claims she would
like "to be undone in just the way she is being undone." What does
she mean?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">9.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> What are some of the
comparisons you see with Thoreau's <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Walden
Pond</span></em>, which Bennett might be nodding to in her book's title? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p>
</o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 12.75pt; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">(<em><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Questions by
LitLovers.)</span></em><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-27351302824634703902018-05-09T22:15:00.000-07:002018-08-20T22:16:42.981-07:00Hero of the Empire by Candice Millard May, 2018May 2018 selection <u>Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, A Daring Escape And The Making of Winston Churchill</u> by Candice Millard<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax
Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, May 10th at 7 p.m. in the
meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our May book, <u>Hero of the
Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape and the Making of Winston Churchill </u>by
Candice Millard.<u><o:p></o:p></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Discussion
questions are below. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here are some
links for additional background and information:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/in-the-media/newsreel-video-archive/">Churchill
history website with interesting videos and recordings</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/churchill-escape-1899-south-africa/">The
Churchill Project at Hillsdale College includes an article about the escape</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/22861/forged-heat-battle-origin-boy-scouts">Another
British soldier was a Boer War hero that set his future career</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming up, we
have the following book to look forward to reading:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. June
14<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2194303113">Pond</a> by
Claire-Louise Bennett<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for
reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Beth Bailey-Gates<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Friends of
the Fairfax Library<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-transform: uppercase;">DISCUSSION QUESTIONS<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><u>Hero of the Empire</u> by Candice Millard</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">1. What were your first
impressions of Winston Churchill as a young man? Did you admire his
confidence and his “unshakable conviction that he was destined for greatness”?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">2. Were you surprised to
learn that Churchill enlisted the services of a “palmist” to predict what the
future held for him?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">3. In Chapter 7, we
learn the provenance of the iconic Burberry trench coat. The average life
expectancy of a horse during the Boer War was six weeks. What other facts
of this nature did you find most interesting or surprising?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">4. “Nothing but being
shot at will ever teach men the art of using cover,” writes George Warrington
Steevens from Ladysmith (p. 121). Discuss how the Boer War transformed
British military strategy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">5. Class plays an
important role in Churchill’s exploits during his early life. How does
his status as a member of a wealthy, prominent family work for–and against–him?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">6. What were your
impressions of Jennie Churchill? Did you think she was a modern woman
ahead of her time or an opportunist?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">7. Did you find the
circumstances of Churchill’s escape from the Staats Model School foolhardy or
was Churchill simply taking advantage of what may have been his only chance to
escape?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">8. <i>Kidnapped</i>, <i>Treasure
Island</i>, Plato’s <i>Republic</i>, Aristotle’s <i>Politics</i>, <i>Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire</i>: Are there any books on Churchill’s
reading list that you would like to try?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">9. Several famous names
make cameo appearances in the book, from Rudyard Kipling to Mahatma Gandhi.
Were you surprised by this intersection of history? Have you read other books,
either nonfiction or fiction, in which the lives of historical figures overlap
in unlikely ways or places?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">10. What additional
thoughts did you have about apartheid and the fight for human rights and social
justice, later led by men like Nelson Mandela, after reading about the history
between the Boers and native Africans, both before and during the Boer War?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">11. After Churchill
returned to England there was a controversy surrounding his escape, and he was
accused of intentionally leaving his friends behind. Do you think he had a
choice? Was he wrong to go on without them, or did he find himself in an
untenable situation?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p>
</o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-3569072282125401552018-04-11T22:11:00.000-07:002018-08-20T22:12:17.080-07:00The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vasquez April 2018<span style="color: red;">April 2018 selection <u>The Sound of Things Falling</u> by Juan Gabriel Vasquez</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Fairfax
Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, April 12th at 7
p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our April book, <u>The
Sound of Things Falling </u>by Juan Gabriel Vasquez.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discussion
questions, author interview and reviews are attached. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are some
links for additional background and information:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/01/colombia-civil%20war-farc-guerillas-peace/">National
Geographic article about the FARC peace process in Columbia</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/business/inside/colombian.html">Brief
history of Columbia drug trafficking</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/colombias-drug-backed-economy-2011-4">Some
shocking facts about the Columbia drug trade as of 2011</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Coming up, we
have the following books to look forward to reading:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thurs. May 10<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?query=hero+of+the+empire&searchType=smart">Hero
of the Empire: The Boer War, A Daring Escape and the Making of Winston
Churchill</a> by Candice Millard<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thurs. June
14<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2194303113">Pond</a> by
Claire-Louise Bennett<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks for
reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beth Bailey-Gates<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friends of
the Fairfax Library<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>DISCUSSION QUESTIONS<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="Default" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 4.3pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">You could say that the shadow of Garcia Márquez's magic realism
still hangs over Latin American literature. Vásquez, a fellow Colombian, has
said that he finds the idea of Latin America as a magical and marvellous place
absurd. How did you respond to his realist style of writing? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 4.3pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Did you find the novel shocking? Why or why not? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 4.3pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">3. Vásquez has said
that he considers this novel to be autobiographical, not in the sense that
these things happened to him, but in the sense that they are things he
witnessed. Is this a useful way to think about fiction written about the recent
past? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 4.3pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">4. Is
it possible for anyone to escape the repercussions of a drug culture? Is drug
smuggling a political or economic issue? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p>
</o:p></div>
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5. The novel opens with a hippopotamus. What does it represent for
you?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Fairfax Library Book Discussion Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17042551270049338058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432452227465004215.post-26884465191098440922018-03-06T22:02:00.000-08:002018-08-20T22:04:12.723-07:00Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Hochschild March 2018March 2018 selection Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Hochschild (One Book/One Marin selection)<br />
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fairfax
Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, March 8th at 7 p.m. in the
meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our March book, <u>Strangers in
Their Own Land</u> by Arlie Russell Hochschild.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Discussion
questions are below. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here are some
links for additional background and information:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Meet the <a href="https://www.rwswla.com/member-of-the-month.html">Republican Women of
Southwest Louisiana</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.teapartyoflouisiana.net/home">The Tea Party of Louisiana lists
the 8 goals of Democrats</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://longreads.com/2017/07/13/the-louisiana-environmental-apocalypse-road-trip/">A
Louisiana Environmental Apocalypse</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/03/06/583973428/after-decades-of-air-pollution-a-louisiana-town-rebels-against-a-chemical-giant">today
a town fights back</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.brproud.com/news/local-news/louisiana-ranked-worst-state-in-nation/325611495">Baton
Rouge news story on quality of life</a> (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you’ll
want your sound on</i>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">How did
California deal with two environmental disasters? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinkley_groundwater_contamination">The PG&E
Hinkley water contamination (Erin Brockovich’s story)</a> and <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-santa-barbara-oil-spill-1969-20150520-htmlstory.html">the
1969 Santa Barbara oil spill</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 112.5pt; text-indent: -112.5pt;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming up, we
have the following book to look forward to reading:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thurs. April.
12</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1959165113">The Sound of
Things Falling</a></u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> by Juan Gabriel Vasquez</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. May 10<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?query=hero+of+the+empire&searchType=smart">Hero
of the Empire: The Boer War, A Daring Escape and the Making of Winston
Churchill</a> by Candice Millard<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thurs. June
14<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="https://marinet.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2194303113">Pond</a> by
Claire-Louise Bennett<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks for
reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Beth Bailey-Gates<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Friends of
the Fairfax Library<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><u>DISCUSSION QUESTIONS</u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">1.
Early in the book, when introducing her important idea of “empathy walls,”
Arlie Russell Hochschild mentions that in 1960 fewer than 5 percent of
Americans would have been disturbed if their child married a member of the
opposite political party, while in 2010 over 30 percent would find it
troubling. Clearly this speaks to our ever-increasing political divide. Have
you yourself experienced or observed this phenomenon in your community? (p. 6)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">2.
Hochschild argues that our political split has widened because “the right has
moved right—not because the left has moved left.” Do you agree or disagree? Is
her evidence persuasive? What are the implications for our democracy? (p. 7) 3.
What does Hochschild consider “the Great Paradox” and why is Louisiana an
extreme example? (p. 8)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">4.
Early on as well as later in the book, Hochschild mentions the friendship of
Sally Cappel and Shirley Slack and says she believes “their friendship models
what our country needs to forge: the capacity to connect across difference.” Do
you agree? Do you have friends from across the political divide? What
challenges do these “across the- divide” friendships present? (pp. 13, 240)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">5.
Discuss the story of Lee Sherman—how does he represent “the Great Paradox
through a keyhole”? How is it possible for an environmentalist whistle blower
to also be a member of the Tea Party? (p. 33)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">6.
When telling the story of Harold Areno, Hochschild quotes him as saying, “If
you shoot an endangered brown pelican, they’ll put you in jail. But if a
company kills the brown pelican by poisoning the fish he eats? They let it go.
I think they <i>overregulate </i>the <i>bottom </i>because it’s <i>harder </i>to
regulate the <i>top</i>.” Hochschild mentions the brown pelican throughout the
book—how does the pelican function as an important motif in the book? (pp. 52,
138, 212)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">7.
When spending time with the General, whom Hochschild calls an “empathy wall
leaper,” she writes that Louisiana residents prize the freedom to do certain
things but resent the <i>freedom from </i>things like gun violence or toxic
pollution, even when such restrictions might improve their lives. How does the
General deal with what he calls this “psychological program”? (p. 71)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">8.
Hochschild provides overwhelming evidence that establishes a correlation between
pollution and red states. She also discusses a report from the 1980s that
helped identify communities that would not resist “locally undesirable land
use.” Do you think she’s right to connect this profile of the “least resistant
personality” with the General’s idea of the “psychological program”? (p. 81,
Appendix B)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">9.
In a moment of feeling stuck on her own side of the empathy wall, Hochschild
asks Mike Schaff what the federal government has done that he feels grateful
for. What do you make of his answer and the idea that the less you depend on
the government, the higher your status? Do you feel one’s status is diminished
by receiving government help of any sort? Do others you know feel this way—and
why? Do you think people generally feel less gratitude to the government today
than in the past? What are you grateful for from the government? (pp. 113–114)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">10.
Discuss the role of religion in the lives of the individuals Hochschild profiles
in determining their political choices, priorities, and outlook. How does it
contribute to the Great Paradox? What do you make of Hochschild’s observation
that the churches she visited “seemed to focus more on a person’s moral
strength to endure than on the will to change the circumstances that called on
that strength”? (pp. 124, 179) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">11.
Hochschild says that Fox News exerts a powerful influence over her Tea Party
friends—what is it about Fox that appeals to them and what do they find
troubling about liberal commentators? Is all media biased? What media do you
read, watch, or listen to, and do you think it is impartial? (p. 126)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">12.
In the chapter “The Deep Story,” Hochschild presents the perspective of people
she meets to understand and explain their point of view, focusing on feelings
and emotions. Does this ring true to you? Hochschild says we all have a “deep
story”—do you agree? What is yours? (p. 135)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">13.
In this same chapter, Hochschild suggests that blue-collar Americans have felt
marginalized in a number of ways, including by the election of President Obama.
How do you think these feelings culminated in the election of Trump? What role
did racism possibly play in the election? Later, Hochschild attends a Trump
rally—why does she call him an “emotions candidate”? (pp. 140, 225)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">14.
How does Hochschild’s idea of racism differ from Mike Schaff’s? Which resonates
more with you? (p. 147)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">15.
Throughout the book, Hochschild discusses the Great Paradox mainly in terms of
the environment. But she also notes that by embracing the free market—which
favors big business—Tea Party members are often working against their own
interests, since many of these members own or work for small businesses. Why
does their deep story make it hard for them to see this? Must we choose between
the free<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">market
and a healthy environment? (p. 150)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">16.
Hochschild presents Mike and Donny’s argument about the I-10 bridge as
dialogue—how does this capture the Great Paradox? If you could enter the
conversation, what would you say to Mike and/or Donny? (p. 185)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">17.
What role does memory play in Hochschild’s story of the people she meets with
regard to the environmental disasters, the development of industry, and the way
things used to be? Looking at Hochschild’s visit with Mayor Hardey, how do
industry and local government allow the potential disaster and pollution to
re-occur in the name of business? What is it about the residents’ deep story
that allows them to be susceptible to “structural amnesia”? (pp. 51, 90, 198)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">18.
How does Hochschild explain Tea Party members’ identification with Trump and
the 1 percent? After reading <i>Strangers in Their Own Land</i>, are there
ideas or stories that you can draw from the book that help you understand
Trump’s victory? (p. 217)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">19.
What does Hochschild mean by the “Northern strategy”—and how does it fit into
the historical narrative she provides? She suggests that the Southern legacy of
secession has been applied to social class: it’s not that the South is seceding
from the North but that the rich are seceding from the poor. What do you make
of this point? (p. 220)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">20.
By the end of the book, Hochschild expresses admiration for her new Tea Party
friends, mentioning their capacity for loyalty, sacrifice, and endurance. Are
there other notable traits you became aware of while reading the book? (p. 234)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">21.
Many of the people Hochschild meets are worried about jobs and blame government
regulations for getting in the way of jobs. Yet the petrochemical companies in
Louisiana are for the most part owned by foreign companies, so the money leaves
the state and the jobs are often held by temporary workers from the Philippines
or Mexico. How do you explain this disconnect?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">22.
Did the book make you feel hopeful about climbing the empathy wall and the
possibility of bridging the political divide with people in your own community?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">23.
In Appendix C, Hochschild provides some startling research that contradicts
more than a few commonly held perceptions. For example, 40 percent of people do
not work for the federal and state government; the correct number is 1.9
percent. And it’s not true that “the more environmental regulations we have,
the fewer jobs.” Why are the perceptions of some of the people Hochschild
writes about so deeply at odds with the research and facts?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">24.
Hochschild argues that left and right focus on different areas of conflict or
“flashpoints.” Do you agree? (p. 236)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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