Lucky Jim - Aug. 2013

August 2013 Book Selection

The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, August 8th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library todiscuss our August book: Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis.

Discussion questions are below.

Here are some links for additional background and information:

Author Interview with the Paris Review

1996 Obituary of Kinsgsley Amis

Christopher Hitchens article in The Atlantic 2002

Lucky Jim has been filmed twice – once in 1957 and a BBC version in 2003. Watch short excerpts by clicking on the links.

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

Thurs., Sept 12       Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

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

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

1              What do you think Amis meant by referring to Jim as “lucky” in the book’s title?

2              At the beginning of Lucky Jim, Kingsley Amis compares assistant history professor Jim Dixon with Dixon’s department head, Professor Welch. What sets Dixon and Welch apart? How do their attitudes towards the study of history differ? How does their class background influence their sense of responsibility, whether academic or social? Are they alike in any ways?

3              What role(s) does humor play in Lucky Jim? As we can see with Jim’s somewhat dire situation, comedy is often generated at the expense of the misfortune of others. What does Amis’s use of humor say about his attitude towards university life? Do you feel that those who are mocked deserve it? Who, if anyone, comes out unscathed?

4              Some modern critics have labeled Kingsley Amis a misogynist. From his portraits of Margaret Peel, Christine Callahan, Carol Goldsmith, Mrs. Welch, and Miss Cutler, would you agree with this assessment? How is each portrayed? What traits does Amis seem to value in women? How do his female characters relate to men? Do you think that Amis was simply a “man of his times”? What do you think of this defense or explanation?

5              Kingsley Amis was one of Britain’s “Angry Young Men,” a group of postwar authors from working-class backgrounds who aimed to skewer upper-class pretensions. What evidence of this do you find in Lucky Jim? How is this portrayed in the book?

6              Speculate on a contemporary version of Lucky Jim: do race, gender, and class play different roles today? How have immigration and affirmative action changed society? What might Kingsley Amis have to say about “political correctness?” Which of today’s issues might Amis take on? What might be Jim’s “lucky” end today?

7              Is familiarity with the British education and class systems helpful to understand and enjoy Lucky Jim and his predicaments? How has the humor aged since the book was first published in 1954?

8              Christopher Hitchins, in his 2002 article about Lucky Jim in The Atlantic writes, “Lucky Jim illustrates a crucial human difference between the little guy and the small man. And Dixon, like his creator, was no clown but a man of feeling after all.” Do you agree with this assessment of Jim Dixon?

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks July 2013

July 2013 Book Selection

The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet this Thursday, July 11th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our July book: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

Discussion questions are below. Here are some links for additional background and information:

Comprehensive Reader’s Guide from the author’s website

1998 BBC Documentary about HeLa and Henrietta Lacks (the Lacks family appears at around the 40 minute mark.)

The Stanford Prison experiment – a psychology experiment that triggered changes in the ethics standards of the American Psychological Association.

This American Life just updated their Patent Trolls story last month. Is this related to patenting genes?

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

  

Thurs. Aug. 8              Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

Thurs., Sept 12           Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

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

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

1) The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is the story of an African American woman and her family that  touches on many big issues: bioethics, racism, poverty, science, faith, and more. What threads stand out to you and why?

2) Race and racism are woven throughout the book, both in the story presented and in the process of the research for the book. Skloot was yet another white person asking the Lacks family about Henrietta. How do you feel about a white woman creating the narrative of this story? How did her race help or hinder Skloot in the writing and researching of the book?

3) The author notes social inequities both explicitly and implicitly. What parts of Henrietta’s story might be different if she had been white? What might have been different if she had been middle or upper middle class?

4) What role did the deferential attitude toward doctors in the early 20th century play in the interaction between Henrietta and her family and Johns Hopkins? How has that attitude toward doctors changed over the decades? Do patients’ socioeconomic differences affect the relationship today?

5) Henrietta Lacks died in 1951, but her cancer cells are still alive today. Do you think they carry some essence of Henrietta? How do you think you would perceive cells from someone close to you that grow in culture in a laboratory?

6) A week after you finish reading the book, will you remember how cells divide? Do you now have a better understanding of cell biology? Either way, does it matter to you?

7) What does this book tell us about the history of science and how science has progressed since the 1950s? After reading this book and considering the events it details, what do you think are key factors that influence scientific progress?

8) The book is filled with stories of people used as research subjects, sometimes without their knowledge, sometimes with ill-informed consent, sometimes because of their inability to understand (patients with mental illness) or resist (prisoners). Were you aware of this history before reading the book? Do you think doctors and researchers of the past had a fundamentally different view of people than they do today?

9) Today the definition of ‘informed consent’ remains murky. What did you learn about what it means or doesn’t mean? What does it mean to you?

10) In the years since the uniqueness of Henrietta Lacks’s cells were discovered, others have been identified with cells that are valuable on the research market. In Chapter Five, Skloot details the history of  John Moore, whose cells produced rare proteins, and Ted Slavin, whose cells produced valuable antibodies. All three cases are quite different in many ways, including how their doctors used the information. Should individuals be able to profit from their own cells? Should their doctors? With consent? Do you think Henrietta would have provided consent for her cells to be taken and used had she been asked?

11) How do you think Zakariyya reacted to the completed book and to the way the family was depicted? How do you think Deborah would have reacted?

12) One of the issues the book addresses is patient privacy. Henrietta completely lost hers long before the book was published, but also didn’t get the fame her daughter, Deborah, thought she so richly deserved. Why does Deborah want fame for Henrietta?

13) Skloot had to make a lot of choices about how she recounted Henrietta’s story and how she structured the book. What do we know about her process from the foreword and endnotes? How does her narrative reconstruction of Henrietta’s life impact the story? How do you feel about the reconstruction?

14) Skloot recounts Deborah’s abuse by Galen in Chapter 15. While difficult to read, it gives the reader important information about what Deborah has been through. Why did Deborah think this part of her story was important to the overall narrative? Does it change how you see Deborah? Her father, Day?

15) Skloot tells several stories in this book: personal, family and scientific. How is she able to do this? In an interview with Booklist magazine  Skloot says she first heard of HeLa cells at the age of 16 when her own father was battling a viral infection with experimental drugs administered three to four times a week. Do you think her father’s illness influenced her decision to pursue this story? Might his illness and treatment have influenced what threads she included in the book?

16) Making health care affordable to all Americans has been a recent political focus. What does the story of Henrietta Lacks and her family add to this discussion?

The Tiger's Wife - June 2013

June 2013 Book Selection

The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet  Thursday, June 13th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our June book: The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht.

Discussion questions are below.

Here are some links for additional background and information:

Superstitions about death

Think escaped tigers are rare? Think again!

Video of a man playing a gusla

Short synopsis of The Jungle Book

An angry rant about the author’s Orange Prize. Deserved, or not?

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

Thurs. July 11 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Thurs. Aug. 8  Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

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

The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obrecht

1. Natalia says that the key to her grandfather’s life and death “lies between two stories: the story of the tiger’s wife, and the story of the deathless man.” What power do the stories we tell about ourselves have to shape our identity and help us understand our lives?

2. Which of the different ways the characters go about making peace with the dead felt familiar from your own life? Which took you by surprise?

3. Natalia believes that her grandfather’s memories of the village apothecary “must have been imperishable.” What lesson do you think he might have learned from what happened to the Apothecary?

4. What significance does the tiger have to the different characters in the novel: Natalia, her grandfather, the tiger’s wife, the villagers? Why do you think Natalia’s grandfather’s reaction to the tiger’s appearance in the village was so different than the rest of the villagers?

5. “The story of this war—dates, names, who started it, why—that belongs to everyone,” Natalia’s grandfather tells her. But “those moments you keep to yourself” are more important. By eliding place names and specific events of recent Balkan history, what do you think the author is doing?

6. When the deathless man and the grandfather share a last meal before the bombing of Sarobor, the grandfather urges the deathless man to tell the waiter his fate so he can go home and be with his family. Is Gavran Gailé right to decide to stop telling people that they are going to die? Would you rather know your death was coming or go “in suddenness”?

7. Did knowing more about Luka’s past make him more sympathetic? Why do you think the author might have chosen to give the back stories of Luka, Dariša the Bear, and the apothecary?

8. The copy of The Jungle Book Natalia’s grandfather always carries around in his coat pocket is not among the possessions she collects after his death. What do you think happens to it?

9. The novel moves back and forth between myth and modern-day “real life.” What did you think of the juxtaposition of folklore and contemporary realism?

10. Of all the themes of this novel—war, storytelling, family, death, myth, etc.—which one resonated the most for you?

The Sandcastle Girls - May 2013

May 2013 Book Selection

The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet tomorrow -  Thursday, May 9th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our May book:The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian.

Discussion questions are below.

Here are some links for additional background and information:

Brief history of the Armenian genocide

(DISTURBING!) Photos from 1915 – from the Near East Relief Society and from Armeniapedia

Story of Maria Jacobsen, a Danish missionary to Armenia during the genocide

Two YouTube videos – a 9 minute history of Armenia and BBC documentaryabout the genocide

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

Thurs., June 13           The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obrecht

Thurs. July 11             The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

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

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

1. Though The Sandcastle Girls is a novel, author Chris Bohjalian (and fictional narrator Laura Petrosian) based their storytelling on meticulous research. What can a novel reveal about history that a memoir or history book cannot? Before reading The Sandcastle Girls, what did you know about the Armenian genocide? How does this history broaden your understanding of current events in the regions surrounding Armenia?

2. What lies at the heart of Armen and Elizabeth’s attraction to each other, despite their seemingly different backgrounds? What gives their love the strength to transcend distance and danger?

3. The novel includes characters such as Dr. Akcam, Helmut, and Orhan, who take great risks opposing the atrocities committed by their superiors; Bohjalian does not cast the “enemy” as uniformly evil. What do these characters tell us about the process of resistance? What separates them from the others, who become capable of horrific, dehumanizing acts?

4. Discuss the bond between Nevart and Hatoun. What do they demonstrate about the traits, and the trauma, of a survivor? How do they redefine motherhood and childhood?

5. Bohjalian is known for creating inventive, authentic narrators for his novels, ranging from a midwife to a foster child. Why was it important for The Sandcastle Girls to be told primarily from the point of view of a woman? How was your reading affected by the knowledge that the author is a man?

6. In chapter 9, Elizabeth courageously quotes the Qur’an to appeal to the conscience of the Turkish lieutenant. What diplomacy lessons are captured in that moment? For the novel’s characters—from aid workers to Armenians who tried to convert—what is the role of religion?

7. When Laura describes the music of her 1960s youth, her steamy relationship with Berk, her belly-dancing aunt, and other cultural memories, what is she saying about the American experience of immigration and assimilation? Culturally, what did her grandfather sacrifice in order to gain security and prosperity in America?

8. Discuss the various aid workers depicted in the novel. What motivated them to assist in this particular cause? Do Alicia, Sister Irmingard, and Elizabeth achieve similar outcomes despite their different approaches? What overseas populations would you be willing to support so courageously?

9. Does Ryan Martin use his power effectively? How does Elizabeth gain power in a time period and culture that was marked by the oppression of women?

10. The vivid scenes of Gallipoli bring to life the global nature of war over the past century. As Armen fights alongside Australians, what do we learn about the power and the vulnerabilities of multinational forces? What did it mean for his fellow soldiers to fight for a cause so far removed from their own homelands, and for his own countrymen to rely on the mercy of outsiders?

11. At the end of chapter 19, does Elizabeth make the right decision? How would you have reacted in the wake of a similar tragedy?

12. How do Laura’s discoveries enrich her sense of self? Discuss your own heritage and its impact on your identity. How much do you know about your parents’ and grandparents’ upbringing? What immigration stories are part of your own family’s collective memory?

13. As she tries to explain why so few people are aware of the Armenian genocide, Laura cites the fact that the victims perished in a remote desert. The novel also describes the problem of trying to document the atrocities using the cumbersome photography equipment of the day. Will the Information Age spell the end of such cover-ups? For future generations, will genocide be unimaginable?

14. Which aspects of The Sandcastle Girls remind you of previous Bohjalian novels you have enjoyed?

15. The Turkish government still vehemently denies the fact of the Armenian genocide. Why is this so important to Turks? Is their denial similar to Holocaust deniers? Why or why not?

Packing for Mars - April 2013

April 2013 Book Selection

The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet  Tuesday, April 16th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our April book: Packing for Mars by Mary Roach.

(Please note new day and date this month)

Discussion questions are below.

Here are some links for additional background and information:

The Daily Show interview with Mary Roach

Wikipedia article about Pascal Lee

News article about Devon Island and some Mars Society FAQs

Video tour of the International Space Station

After this month, we’re back to our normal second Thursday of the month meeting time.

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

Thurs., May 9           The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

Bohjalian powerfully narrates an intricately nuanced romance with a complicated historical event at the forefront. With the centennial of the Armenian genocide fast approaching, this is not to be missed. Simply astounding….. Library Journal

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
Packing for Mars by Mary Roach

1.    Did you or someone you know want to become an astronaut when you were a kid? Has this book changed your view of what it would be like? How?

2.    What do you think is the hardest part about being an astronaut? Easiest?

3.    Potential astronauts are observed for a number of days in close quarters with other candidates to see how they cope in stressful situations. How do you think you would fare in this type of experiment? Would you make it to the end? What type of personality traits would you need to make it through?

4.    When Mary Roach visits the Flight Analogs Research Unit, she meets people who are paid to lie in bed to simulate the body’s degradations during space flight. Besides the money, why would people be interested in becoming human guinea pigs? Would you consider trying this?

5.    Roach talks about the first test flights using rhesus monkeys after World War II. What do you think of this type of animal testing? Was it necessary? How could it have been different?

6.    Why do you think humans are so fascinated by the prospect of visiting Mars and beyond? What is it about the unknown that is so intriguing?

7.    Why do you think nations glorify astronauts? Do they risk more than people in other dangerous professions?

8.    Cultural differences can cause major problems on space flights. How do you think space agencies should deal with these differences? How can people from various national backgrounds be taught to understand other cultures?

9.    How do you think the space program will progress in the future? Do you think we should try to reach the outer limits of visible space?

10. Roach ends her work very optimistically about the future of space travel. After reading about all the dangers and costs associated with space travel, do you think it is worth it?

11. Most reviewers have talked about the humor in Mary Roach's book, a number using the word "hilarious." What do you find particularly funny in Packing for Mars? Does her humor enhance her narrative...or, as one lonely reader thought, become tiresome and distracting?

12. Does this book's irreverent look at space travel deflate your balloon—reverence you may have felt for the men and women who don space suits and enter the zone of zero gravity? Does the book bring astronauts back down to earth a bit too precipitously for your taste? In other words, has Mary Roach made human space travel a noble endeavor...or an absurd one?

13. Talk about the toll that zero gravity has on humans—biologically and psychologically. What is the most difficult challenge for long-term manned (or womanned) space travel?

14. After having read this book, and knowing how space travel affects the human body and its bodily functions, would you, if given a chance, want to go into space? Of all the problems/issues Roach describes—biological, social, psychological—which would be the hardest for you?

15. Did this book alter—or confirm—your view of NASA and the people who devote their lives to space travel? Do you feel differently about the entire space program—its long-range goals and its costs?

16. Should the U.S. continue its efforts to travel to Mars? With humans...or robots?

17. What were some of the things that most surprised you in reading Roach's book? Which chapters did you find most interesting...and why?

18. Of the former astronauts Roach interviewed, do any, in particular, stand out—some you admire more than others or found more engaging?

19. Do you think some of Roach's interview questions are too close to the bone—too personal or probing? Or do you think her inteview technique enables her to uncover valuable and heretofore unkown information?

One Amazing Thing - January 2013

January 2013 Book Selection

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, January 10th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our January book: One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.

Discussion questions are below.

Here are some links for additional background and information:

A nice, succinct analysis of Chaucer’s work

TED talk by author Chimamanda Adachie  titled, “The Danger of a Single Story” (about 18  minutes long)

TheMoth is an amazing program that encourages regular people to get up and tell their story (usually in 10 minutes or less.) They’re very compelling.

If you use iTunes you can download their podcasts. You can also watch some of the stories on YouTube.

Beautiful time-lapse video of an Aurora Borealis

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

Please note that the next 3 meetings will be held on Tuesdays!

Tues., February 12   The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

Tues., March 12        Train Dreams by Denis Johnson

Tues., April 16          Packing for Mars by Mary Roach (OneBook/One Marin selection)

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

One Amazing Thing by Chitra Divakaruni

1. If you were to tell the story of one amazing thing that had happened in your life, what would it be? Would it be a memory of a gift, an experience, a person that you met, or an event that you witnessed? What made it amazing, and how did it change your life?

2. Would the experience of reading One Amazing Thing have been different had the narrative been from the point of view of just one person, or if the story was told by an outside figure removed from the events in the book?

3. If you were trapped in a similar dangerous situation as the characters in One Amazing Thing, how do you think you’d react? Was there an action or behavior by a character that resonated with you?

4. Out of the nine people in the visa office, did you identify with any in particular? Which one(s) and why?

5. Why was each character’s “one amazing thing” remarkable?

6. The book begins and ends with Uma Sinha, the graduate student. Why did the author choose Uma’s story to “bookend” the novel in this way? What about Uma set her apart from the members of the group, in your mind?

7. Which character’s story did you find the most unexpected? Conversely, were you able to predict what was to happen in any of the stories?

8. Refresh your memory with the stories of the female characters in the book. Did these stories have anything in common?

9. “Apologize to a woman and she would gain the upper hand. Mangalam knew better than to let that happen” (pg. 55). What did you first think of Mr. Mangalam, and did this change after you learned his story?

10. Discuss Mr. and Mrs. Pritchett. Were you surprised, as their stories unfolded, to discover their reasons for going to India?

11. Almost all of the characters experience or perpetuate some kind of cultural misunderstanding. What did you learn about some of the cultures and religions explored in the book?

12. What did you think of the book’s ending? What do you think the group’s fate was? Why did Uma’s story end where it did?

13. When writing of ethnicity, an author risks stereotyping. Uma is an American Indian girl who rebels against her parents’ wishes by having a relationship with a non-Indian man. Tariq is a young rebellious bearded Muslim, prone to violence. How does Divakaruni attempt to flesh out these characters? Are they three dimensional, or caricatures?

14. The symbol of the tiger crosses over between two stories in the novel. Mr. Pritchett speaks of his boyhood remembering, “Should anyone ask him what he wanted most in life, the boy wouldn’t hesitate. A dog, he would say-though this is not completely true. He would prefer a tiger.”1 When he finds the kitten, “he thinks it looks like a miniature tiger” In the next story, Malathi describes the dark secrets of the rich which the beauty parlor girl were privy to. She states, “we knew that to meddle in the affairs of the powerful was akin to riding the proverbial tiger”. What does Divakaruni’s use of the Tiger represent?

15. One Amazing Thing is a novel with an open ending. How did this affect your reading of the book? As a reader, did you choose to create your own ending?

16. The stories shared by the characters show how easy it is to divert young lives into unforeseen and restrictive channels, and how hard it is for people to realize their early dreams.. Do you think this is true for most people?

17. In One Amazing Thing, the different characters respond in very different ways to being trapped in a dangerous situation that is out of their control. Can you describe some of these responses? What kinds of people seem to respond most positively in such circumstances? What kinds of people respond most negatively? Are there mental habits we can learn that would allow us to deal better with such circumstances, should they occur in our lives? What do you have in your pockets or purse now that would help in a survival situation?

18. Language is an important theme in the book. Jiang surprises her granddaughter, Lily, by speaking English to tell her story. Why would she hide the fact that she speaks English in an American city from even her family? Malathi speaks English but asks Mangalam to translate from her native Tamil, but warns him that she’ll know if he changes her story. Uma is reading Chaucer’s tales which are written in Middle English, a language that bridges modern English with Old English. How does language identify people? Is it helpful or even important to be multi-lingual?

19. There are several stories in the book about love and marriage. Do any of the characters marry for love? What are the reasons people get married? Should you get married if you love someone? Are there any stories of unrequited love? Malathi says she would rather be a bride maker rather than a bride. Mrs. Pritchett said, “She’s ready to take a little risk, to follow the yellow brick road into romance and a house on a hill with all-white carpeting” (182). Was the young Vivienne (Mrs. Pritchett) making the right decision? Mangalam keeps a photo of his wife on his desk because his employers have told him that “It would make the Americans who came to the office feel more comfortable [ . . .] since Americans believed that the presence of a smiling family on a man’s table was proof of his moral stability” Do you believe this to be true?

20. Why did the author choose to have some of the character’s “amazing” stories told in the third person?