Circling the Sun September 2016

September 2016 Book Selection

We’re back! The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, September 8th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our September book Circling the Sun by Paula McLain.

Discussion questions are below.

Here are some links for additional background and information:

Movietone video of Beryl Markham at the start of her East-West Atlantic crossing

NPR audio interview with Paula McLain

Author website (check out her essays link)

History of horse racing in Kenya

Coming up, we have the following books to look forward to reading and discussing:

Thurs. Oct. 13^th         Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon

Thurs. Nov. 10^th        Season of the Witch by David Talbot

Thurs. Dec. 8^th          Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

Thanks for reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.

Beth Bailey-Gates

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

1.      At the beginning of the book, Beryl reflects that her father’s farm in Njoro was “the one place in the world I’d been made for.” Do you feel this is a fitting way to describe Beryl’s relationship with Kenya, too? Did she seem more suited–more made for–life there than the others in her circle? Is there a place in your life that you would describe the same way?

2.      While it is clear he loved his daughter, do you feel Beryl’s father was a good parent? Do you think Beryl would have said he was? Did you sympathize with him at any point?

3.      Beryl is forced to be independent from a very young age. How do you think this shaped her personality (for better or for worse)?

4.      After Jock’s drunken attack, D fires Beryl and sends her away. Do you understand his decision? Despite all the philandering and indulgent behaviors of the community, do you feel it’s fair that Beryl was being judged so harshly for the incident?

5.      How would you describe Beryl and Denys’s relationship? In what ways are they similar souls? How does their first encounter–outside, under the stars at her coming out party–encapsulate the nature of their connection? 

6.      Karen and Beryl are two strong, iconoclastic women drawn to the same unobtainable man. Do you understand how Beryl could pursue Denys even though he was involved with Karen? Did you view the friendship between the women as a true one, despite its complications?

7.      Why do you believe the author chose the title Circling the Sun? Does it bring to mind a particular moment from the novel or an aspect of Beryl’s character?

8.      When Beryl is quite young, she reflects that “softness and helplessness got you nothing in this place.” Do you agree with her? Or do you think Beryl placed too much value on strength and independence?

9.      When Beryl becomes a mother herself, she is determined not to act as her own mother did. Do you feel she succeeds? How does motherhood spur her decision to exchange horse training for flying? Could you identify with this choice?

10.  After Paddy the lion attacks Beryl, Bishon Singh says, “Perhaps you were never meant for him.” Do you think that Beryl truly discovered what she was meant for by the end of the novel?

11.  Beryl Markham’s memoirs, West with the Night, were published in 1942, furthering her notoriety as a sexually liberated woman conquering more than one field considered the territory of men. How have attitudes changed since the days of Markham’s bold choices?

12.  While Circling the Sun is a piece of historical fiction, Beryl Markham was a living, breathing historical figure. What responsibilities do authors of these types of imagined retellings of a person’s life have to the reader? More importantly, what responsibilities do authors of historical fiction have to their subjects?

13.  Throughout the book, Beryl’s romantic choices – the limitations of marriage notwithstanding – conclude at best in disappointment, at worst in tragedy. Compared with other popular strong-willed heroines, how do her opinions on love and fulfillment differ? Are we just as free as Beryl to make similar choices, or are relationships still driven in part by societal pressures?

14.  One of the most important friendships in Circling the Sun exists between Beryl and Kibii, a young Kipsigis village boy living near her father’s farm. How do their worlds interact? Can they co-exist?