To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey - April 2020

April 2020 selection         To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey

Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group

Thursday, April 9th 7pm

To the Bright Edge of the World

By Eowyn Ivey

I hope you are surviving these strange times during the Shelter in Place order.

The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet virtually on Zoom Thursday, April 9th at 7pm  to discuss our April selection, To the Bright Edge of the World

Here are some links for additional background and info:

Lt. Henry Allen’s 1885 Alaska exploration

Lt. Henry Allen’s bio on Wikipedia (he had a long career afterwards)

Historical photos of the Copper River area in Alaska

Alaska natives’ history and current status

Author interview

If you’re still craving Alaska adventure stories, here’s a list of 33 books

UPCOMING BOOKS

Thursday, May 14th 

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes    by Dan Egan

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

Thursday, June 11th

Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday

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. ~Booklist

The Soul of An Octopus by Sy Montgomery - March 2020

March 2020 selection - The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery

Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group

Thursday, March 12th 7pm

The Soul of an Octopus By Sy Montgomery

The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, March 12th at 7pm
in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our March selection, The Soul of an Octopus.

Here are some links for additional background and info:

CBS Sunday Morning show about the octopus, including an interview with Sy Montgomery

The Las Vegas Nonfiction Book Club blog has lots of info and interesting links

Author website

UPCOMING BOOKS

Thursday, April 9th 

To the Bright Edge of the World     by Eowyn Ivey

In the winter of 1885, decorated war hero Colonel Allen Forrester leads an exploratory expedition
up the Wolverine River and into the vast, untamed Alaska Territory. Leaving behind Sophie, his newly
pregnant wife, Forrester records his extraordinary experiences in hopes that his journal will reach her
if he doesn't return. As they map the territory and gather information on native tribes, whose understanding
of the natural world is unlike anything they have ever encountered, Forrester and his team can't escape
the sense that some great, mysterious force threatens their lives. Meanwhile, in Vancouver, Sophie
chafes under the social restrictions of a pregnant woman on her own, and yearns to travel alongside her
husband. She, too, explores nature, through the new art of photography, unaware that the coming winter will
test her own courage and faith to the breaking point. adapted from book jacket

Thursday, May 14th 

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes    by Dan Egan

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

Thursday, June 11th

Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday

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.
~Booklist

 

Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group

2097 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Fairfax, CA 94930

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips - February 2020

February 2020 selection - Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, February 13th at 7:00 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our February book, Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips.

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.

Here are some links for additional background and information:

Nice PBS overview of Kamchatka with links for additional info

Learn about the reindeer herders in Esso and see a photo essay of the herders

Coming up, we have the following book to look forward to reading:

Thurs. Mar. 12^th          The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery

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

Beth Bailey-Gates

Friends of the Fairfax Library

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1.       1. 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?

2.     2.   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?

3.      3.  Would you describe the book as a crime thriller, a literary novel, a collection of linked short stories? Or something else?

4.       4. 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?

5.      5.  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?

6.      6.  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?

Women Talking by Miriam Toews - Jan. 2020

January 2020 selection - Women Talking by Miriam Toews

The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, January 9th at 7:00 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our January book, Women Talking by Miriam Toews.

Here are some links for additional background and information:

Vice News investigated the Bolivian Mennonite rapes in Part 1 and Part 2 ten-minute videos

Some information about belladonna

There is a Mennonite Quilt Center in Reedley, CA (outside Fresno)

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

Thurs. Feb. 13^th          Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

Thurs. Mar. 12^th          The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery

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

Beth Bailey-Gates

Friends of the Fairfax Library

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

Women Talking 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 Women Talking encourage readers to ask themselves about these events and the environment in which they occur?

1. 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?
2. 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?
3. 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?
4. 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?
5. 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?
6. How does this novel engage with mainstream political and social conversations about women and their rights?