Book Club List: FHBC 2015

Book Club List: FHBC 2015

JAN

GIRLS by Frederick Busch - Durren

FEB

THE 1910 SLOCUM MASSACRE by E.R. Bills - Jonna

NOTE: The author will be joining us for this book club meeting, and can't make it to Longview on a Tuesday evening, so the meeting will be held on Saturday, February 21, 2014! We may meet at our house instead of at UUFL, but that's yet to be decided.

MARCH

CARRY ME LIKE WATER by Edward Saenz - Donna

APRIL

SPACE, IN CHAINS poetry by Laura Kasischke - Durren

MAY

THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT by John Steinbeck - James

JUNE

THE RAILWAY MAN by Eric Lomax - Dick

JULY

UNNATURAL CREATURES stories selected by Neil Gaiman - Trudy

AUG

LAMB by Christopher Moore - Brad

SEP

I AM CHINA by Xaiolu Guo - Paul

OCT

ALAN TURING: THE ENIGMA by Andrew Hodges - Huey

NOV

WILD by Cheryl Strayed - Sky

Books from the Fredonia Book Club December Meeting

Books from 2014
A Year in Review

Tom -

1493, by Charles Murray,

The story is about the early heisory of the post colonial, post Columbus in Mexico City.

World issues are integrated such as malaria that infected ihe native Inedians - the perspecives that we really didn’t hear about in our histyr.  

Forgotten Fires, based on a paper by Omar Stuart

This book was neglected for long time.  The content features how fire affected lives all over the world.  The burn cycle - controlled burns -  prove to be healthy for the land.

The Forest Unseen, by

He stakes out a portion of land - and calls it his mandala.  He visits throughout the year, and records and reports a great deal of information from this one meter square of land, a micro-universe under scrutiny.  

Durren -

A Heart Blown Open, Dennis Kelly, biography

The transition of Buddha from the east to the west.  Koan - Zen riddles - what is the sound of one hand clapping?  These answers come from unattachment. This zen masters uses Koans in a way that intrigues Durren.  The story is a narrative - about a person who travels a challenging life of crime and drugs, but lands in the life of a zen master.  The shape of the book is unique.

Flavia De Luce novels, by Alan Bradley

Light and entertaining fun with deep topics sure to tantalize.  Seven novels in total are well written and fun.  It is set in a village in England.  

Brad -

The complete series of Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin

If you read all five of the books - you are still not through.  There are 2 additional books coming out.  Well written and compelling - dark but fascinating.  Tolkein was more alegory, and you knew how it was probably going to end - but not so in the Game of Thrones.  The details of everyting is bright  - the descriptions are incredible.

Vickie -

Carol Dweck who has written the book, Mindset, provides the proposal that people choose to use a fixed or growth mindset.  The chapters focus on how this perspective effects education, business, sports and relationships.  Several YouTube videos feature her work, but the book is highly recommended.  

Jonna-

Such a Long Journey, by Rohinton Mistry

Religion and culture of India is depicted in a story centered around a man who is politically conservative.  Gustav comes from a very cultured background with wealth, but ends up in a tenement building. The story covers a variety of experiences - explicit descriptions and compelling storyline.

Paul -

How to be Both, by Ali Smith

A painter is living as an immortal being - telling a story about a boy who is looking at her painting - from the future. 

Jonna -  

The Meaning of Darkness, and The Glass of Time (sequal) by Michael Cox, which centers on a man who lost his birthright in England.  It is almost fantasy (nothing supernatural) - but it more an aristocratic thriller.  

Trudy - 

Rabid, by Bill Wasick and Monica Murphy, is about the disease, which affects humanity massively.  2/3rds of the book takes place before the vaccine for rabies, and then how people get a grip on the disease.  It pits the relationship between humans and disease - fascinating read.

Sky -

Dog Songs, by Mary Oliver is a celebration of poetry about the relationships between human and dogs.  Drawings are included.  An essay is also included.  Skye lost her dog this year, and when she read these poems found an honesty in the meaning of life in our relationship with dogs.  

Our World, by the same author, is a great book with photography by her partner, Molly.  She describes how she learned to see her dogs through new eyes.  

The Time it Never Rained, by Elmer Kelton (1973)

Howdy Book Mavens!

This month's discussion features one of the major works of Texas writer Elmer Kelton. It's Gem's pick, and accordingly she will preside over our conversation on Tuesday. Gem seems to be putting us through our paces on Texas born writers, witness our wonderful meeting with East Texas native, Joe R. Lansdale. This time around we explore the people and places on the opposite side of the state, West Texas, in Kelton's THE TIME IT NEVER RAINED.

Let's get together on a chilly night and warm our spirits with literature and literary talk. 

In related news, the list for 2015 is shaping up nicely! More on that later. But if you're considering picking a title, we need a few more titles by female authors. We have a selection for Black History Month, I will choose a poet for April, Paul has chosen a work by a Chinese dissident writer (banned), and Trudy has chosen a book of short fiction. That leaves the field clear for whatever you might like to choose. More suggestions?

Discussion Questions

1. Borrowing from Paul’s question about Alice Munro’s Canada, is there anything that makes this book specifically Texan? Conversely, does it transcend regionalism or speak to greater truths?

2. We all bring a personal history to our reading which determines if a book “speaks” to us. Did this book speak to you? If so, what did it say?

3. A host of diverse characters inhabit Rio Seco. Are they believable in their identities and in their relationships to each other?

4. The Texas drought of the 1950s lasted seven years. In 2011, East Texas along with the entire state was in severe drought. How did it affect you? Or did it? Here are two websites that speak about drought in Texas.

http://twri.tamu.edu/publications/txh2o/fall-2011/the-time-it-never-rained/http://waterdatafortexas.org

5. Colloquialisms are sprinkled liberally throughout the narrative. Did they enhance or detract from the story? Did you have any favorites?

6. Charlie endures. Does “The Time It Never Rained” resonate Faulkner’s comments?http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1949/faulkner-speech.html

Runaway, by Alice Munro (2004)

Just as a swimmer, who with his last breath
flounders ashore from perilous seas, might turn
to memorize the wide water of his death --
so did I turn, my soul still fugitive
from death's surviving image, to stare down
that pass that none had ever left alive.
from Dante's Inferno

I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him, where are you going
And this he told me
I'm going on down to Yasgur's farm
I'm going to join in a rock 'n' roll band
I'm going to camp out on the land
I'm going to try an' get my soul free
We are stardust
We are golden
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
from Woodstock, by Joni Mitchell


Howdy All,

As we prepare for the last two titles in this reading year, RUNAWAY, by Alice Munro (Paul) and THE TIME IT NEVER RAINED, by Elmer Kelton (Gem), I would like to take this opportunity to urge each of you to begin considering your pick for next year's list. That is, assuming you haven't already nailed that down! As in the past, I would prefer to have the list and its accompanying schedule completed by November first. Does this mean that the annual harassment of members for titles is upon us? But of course!

Please bear in mind the yearly categories of short fiction, banned book, poetry, Nat'l Black History Month, and sub-cultural/international title. Also, attention should be paid to insuring a solid representation of female writers. Beyond these areas, the sky's the limit! I would also send a special appeal to anyone who has not led a discussion for a while, as well as anyone who has yet to choose a book. Please, share with us your insight and your interests. In this way we'll continue to give voice to the diversity and depth of the best book club in all East Texas. So. My pen/cursor is poised to note your suggestions for 2015. I know that we'll all be challenged and delighted by your suggestions.

Also, this might be a good time to start considering where we might like to have our annual holiday party. Ideas on this would be appreciated. For instance we might consider whether we want to hold the party in one of our homes, or at a restaurant or other public venue. Thoughts?

Paul Cronemeyer presides on Tuesday night. See you there.

All My Sons, by Arthur Miller (1947)

All My Sons -- Discussion Questions


1. Many have pointed out that reading a book is a much more interactive process that watching a movie or a play, because the reader creates her own mental version of the characters, the setting, the action, etc. from the writer's descriptions while the watcher simply has to accept the version provided. Reading a play can require even more imagination, because the descriptions given of the characters, setting and action are often much more sparse. Many book authors describe settings in extreme detail and novelists often give us direct insight into the thoughts and motivations of characters. In a play the detail of setting is often left to the imagination of the set designer and conveying the emotions and motivations of the characters is often largely left to the craft of the actors and director. Does having to supply so much information yourself work for you as a play-reader? In other words, does the experience seem richer, weaker, more difficult, more challenging, etc. when compared to reading a novel?


2. I understand James "beat me to it" by selecting the first and only other play for FHBC consumption -- The Merchant of Venice. How did your experience reading a Shakespeare classic differ from reading what many consider a modern classic? What do you gain or lose moving from Shakespeare's use of language compared to the more straight-forward language of Miller's characters? Although different in language and structure, do you see any parallels between Shakespeare and Miller?


3. a) I chose Miller because he is considered a modern master and because his works have been banned --- it is Banned Book Month, after all. In 1970, Miller's works were banned in the Soviet Union after he campaigned for the freedom of dissident writers. Any comments on the irony of the Soviet Union banning Miller?


b) I chose All My Sons because it is much less well known than Death of a Salesman or The Crucible which many of us read for school or have seen portrayed on stage or screen. All My Sons was Miller's first real success. It was written and produced for the Broadway stage in the late 1940s. What are the themes of the play and do they still resonate today?


4. Were any scenes or characters particularly impactful or memorable to you? Why? Did any development in the story surprise you?


5. (SPOILER ALERT!) Why does Joe Keller kill himself?


6. Did you like the play?

The BBC Book List of Top 100 Books

The BBC posted that most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up? Comments anyone?

Copy, edit and paste into a note of your own.

What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, by Nicholas Carr

"Between the intellectual guardrails set by our genetic code, the road is wide, and we hold the steering wheel. Through what we do and how we do it--moment by moment, day by day, consciously or unconsciously--we alter the chemical flows in our synapses and change our brains."~Nicholas Carr

"We must always be on the lookout for perverse dynamic processes which carry even good things to excess. It is precisely these excesses which become the most evil things...The devil, after all, is a fallen angel."~Kenneth E. Boulding

"We become what we behold. We shape our tools, and thereafter, our tools shape us."~Marshall McLuhan

"IT'S ALIVE, IT'S ALIVE!"~ Victor Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)

Hello Book Mavens,

This month's selection has been a real eye-opener for this reader, and I suspect that it will have made quite an impression on most, if not all of you as well. Nothing could be of more import to those as deeply invested in the benefits and pleasures of reading as we are. So, when I chanced upon the original article in the Atlantic that gave rise to the expanded book that I chose for this month, I greedily devoured it. Carr's book, at least for me, has filled out a chilling picture that may bode ill for the future prospects of book culture.

As I read, fascinated with the cultural shifts described by the author, and the startling results of many scientific experiments backing up his claims, I felt the same concern that I experienced many years ago when the first e-readers were coming onto the scene. Now, having been given an e-reader as a gift a few years back (I doubt I would ever have bought one for myself), I sense the same foreboding described by Carr as sitting on the cusp of a tectonic paradigm shift in culture. As the author described it near the beginning of his book, "My life, like the lives of most Baby Boomers and Generation X'ers, has unfolded like a two-act play. It opened with Analogue Youth and then, after a quick but thorough shuffling of props, it entered Digital Adulthood."

I have a feeling that our discussion on Tuesday night August 26, at the home of Jay and Jessica Noble, will be as lively a conversation as we've had all year. In case you haven't gotten the e-mails about the meeting re-location, the Nobles live at 229 Bridgers Hill Rd, Longview. We look forward to seeing you all there.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz.

Discussion led by James Harold.

Book Mavens

This month’s selection is Dominican-New Jersey- American writer JunotDiaz’s Pulitzer Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award, John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize, and Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winning novel, “The BriefWondrous Life of Oscar Wao”.

I’m using quotes to Introduce the questions, but they are by no means meant to bias or direct your thoughts or answers.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters, by Mark Dunn

June's Selection

Ella Minnow Pea: A novel in letters, a progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable, by Mark Dunn.

Discussion led by Linda Smith

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1.  What was your reaction to Ella Minnow Pea?

2.  Letter Form

Mark Dunn: "I'm on a mission that every new novel I write is going to bend or tweak narrative as much as I can. I think writers need to be a little more daring. There are a lot of ways to tell stories and construct narratives that writers shy away from because they want to be either traditional or safe. I decided that's not going to be my mission."

Why has the author chosen to tell this story through letters rather than a more straightforward narrative?  How does the structure of the novel enhance Dunn’s purpose?

3. New words/expressions

All the inhabitants of Nollop are forced into linguistic contortions to avoid being prosecuted by the High Council, substituting words like "cephalus" for "head" and "sub-terra" for "underground" .  Sometimes hybrids

are made that combine the sounds and meanings of two different words,. Example: leapdash, vocabulazy.  Also Dunn invents a number of phrases to express an idea without the use of a banned letter.

Example spinal-defectives

What are some of the more amusing verbal acrobatics the people are forced to perform?

The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt

May's Selection -

The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt -

Discussion led Jay Noble

Audio Book:  https://m.soundcloud.com/slateradio/audio-book-club-the-goldfinch

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Heaven from Steam, by Carol Light

Able Muse Press

"Iambics march from short to long;--
With a leap and a bound the swift Anapaests throng."~Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"A poet's mind ...is constantly amalgamating disparate experience; the ordinary man's experience is chaotic, irregular, fragmentary. The latter falls in love, or reads Spinoza, and these two experiences have nothing to do with each other, or with the noise of the typewriter or the smell of cooking; in the mind of the poet these experiences are always forming new wholes."~T.S. Eliot

"The poet makes silk dresses out of worms."~Wallace Stevens

Hello Book Mavens,

We are thrilled at the prospect of having a living poet in our midst, and in the bargain, to reconnect with a family member whom we haven't seen in quite some time. For her part, Carol is excited as well to be coming to the Piney Woods of East Texas to share her poetry with fellow lovers of literature and with family. Heaven From Steam has attracted the notice of more than a few luminaries from the world of poetry, and I have to say, from the first of what will surely be many readings of the book, the praise is well deserved.

We believe that the reading/signing that Carol has generously agreed to do is a unique event for Longview. I can't recall another reading by a working poet in all the years I've lived here. As a club, I think congratulations are in order for bringing something new and exciting to the cultural landscape of the city and the region.

Thanks to all for your cooperation in moving our regularly scheduled meeting to accommodate the poet's schedule. I think after the reading on Friday evening, and the brunch with a very talented author at the Taylor's on Saturday, it will all have been worth it. Trudy has advised us that in accordance with their Home Owners Association's rules, the parking that will be available to us will be the Taylor's driveway, the street in front of their home, and the street in front of empty lots. This should easily accommodate four to six vehicles.

Below are a few more or less formal discussion questions, but I trust that each of you will have much to discuss and ask about during this time when we'll be fortunate enough to have the author all to ourselves. I can't think of a better way to celebrate and enjoy National Poetry Month.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Poetry Readings by Carol Light

The audio is Carol Light reading her poem, Odalisquie, Titian's Bacchanal, which was recorded during a reading at the Fredonia House Book Club event, Friday, April 25, 2014;  the accompanying music is a Mozart overture, Ascanio in Alba, K.111.

The Bacchanal of the Andrians is an oil painting by Titian. Tiziano Vecellio, known as Titian in English, was born in the small alpine village of Pieve di Cadore, which is located near the Austrian border.  The painting is dated to 1523–1526, and is now held at the Museo del Prado in Madrid, but it was commissioned by Alfonso I d'Este for his Camerini d'alabastro in Ferrara.


This video was taken during a reading at the Bushwick Book club event, November 30, 2012.

Twelve Years a Slave, Solomon Northup

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”
Patrick Henry

“Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.”
Frederick Douglas

“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”
Abraham Lincoln

“You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”
William Wilberforce

“Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.”
Abraham Lincoln

“Those who will not reason are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves.”
George Gordon Byron

Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.”
Henry David Thoreau

Twelve Years a Slave, is about Solomon Northup, who was born in 1808, kidnapped in 1841, rescued in 1853. After he wrote the book, he became an abolitionist, and died in 1853 at the age of 55.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

I hope you all agree that this book is a great start to the New Year of FHBC!! If not, feel free to tell us all about it next Tuesday evening!!

Here are the questions! Don't be surprised if Durren sends out another letter with quotes, etc. I would've, but didn't have enough time!

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

2014 Book Club List

Howdy,

Well, here it is, a good bit later than usual, but oh well! As no one came forward to claim the August slot, I took the opportunity to add another non-fiction title (a Pulitzer Prize finalist!) for which I'm happy to act as monitor.

Remember, the schedule is not quite written in stone! We only ask that changes be made as early as possible to allow our readers to make the adjustment in their own personal purchasing (and reading) schedules. Thanks everyone. Looks like an excellent year of reading ahead.

2014 Book Club List

January - The Book Thief - Markus Zusak - Jonna Anderson

February - (Nat'l Black History Month) - Twelve Years a Slave - Solomon Northup - Huey Mitchell

March - Mama Day - Gloria Naylor - Trudy Taylor

April - (Nat'l Poetry Month) Heaven From Steam - Carol Light - Durren Anderson

May - The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt - Jay Noble

June - Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters - Mark Dunn - Linda Smith

July - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz - James Harold

August - The Shallows: What The Internet is Doing to Our Brains - Nicholas Carr - Durren Anderson

September - (Nat'l Banned Books Month) - All My Sons, a play - Arthur Miller - Brad Echols

October - (Short Fiction) Runaway - Alice Munro - Paul Cronemeyer

November - The Time It Never Rained - Elmer Kelton - Gem Meacham

December - Holiday Party!