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!

Desert, by J. M. G. Le Clezio

Revisitation

A poem mentioned at book club, about the old Shiloh school:

The Bottoms, by Joe R. Lansdale

"The main concern of the fiction writer is with mystery as it is incarnated in real life."~Flannery O'Connor

"I had an interest in death from an early age. It fascinated me. When I heard 'Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,' I thought, 'Did he fall or was he pushed?'~P.D. James

"I abhor a mystery. I would fain, were it possible, have my tale run through from its little prologue to the customary marriage in its last chapter, with all the smoothness incidental to ordinary life. I have no ambition to surprise my reader."~Anthony Trollope

"I've always enjoyed crime fiction. I think that much of the best writing being done today is in crime novels. The plot and discipline essential to a crime novel save it from the terrible traps of being sensitive and stream-of-consciousness and all of that stuff."~John Mortimer

As we prepare to close out the reading year, Gem Meacham has done her part to make our penultimate formal book discussion one to be remembered for some time to come. That's because for first time in club history (hopefully not the last), we will have a seasoned author present to help us understand his book, and perhaps a bit of the process by which he arrives at his creations. That's right, gracing our lively conversation this month, will be local East Texas author, Joe R. Lansdale.

The meeting has a couple of new wrinkles. We thought dinner with the author would be nice, so the plan is to meet at 6:00 p.m. at Don Giovanni's, an Italian restaurant on White Oak Road, just around the corner from our house. Those wishing to join us can, but it's not required. We also thought it might be nice to cover the author's meal as well as pitch in to help defray the costs of gasoline, and his time for graciously agreeing to spend an evening with us. Purely on a voluntary basis, of course.

As mentioned, the year is hurtling to an end, which means now is the time for considering the entertaining, challenging, and thought provoking books that you might like to share next year. Indeed, if we all begin the arduous, exquisitely agonizing process of choosing our titles now, we stand a better chance of completing the list and the schedule by the November meeting or soon thereafter. So, get to it!

Gem, with the help of Joe Lansdale, presides on Tuesday the 15th. She also provided the questions in the attachment below. I believe this opens an exciting new chapter for our club, and have high hopes of having a poet in our midst in April. Congrats and thanks again to Gem, and we look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday.

The Bottoms, won the Edgar Allen Poe award for best mystery novel in 2001--alternately called mystery fiction, suspense fiction and speculative fiction. 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

The Lottery and Other Stories, by Shirley Jackson

"I have the conviction that excessive literary production is a social offence."~George Eliot

"Once again I can climb about and remind you that a woman in this epoch does the important literary thinking."~Gertrude Stein

"I never appreciated 'positive' heroes in literature. They are almost always cliches, copies of copies, until the model is exhausted. I prefer perplexity, doubt, uncertainty, not just because it provides a more 'productive' literary raw material, but because that is the way we humans really are."~Jose Saramago

Tuesday night brings us back to fiction with one of the most interesting of American female writers, Shirley Jackson. Brad Echols presides as we examine our annual collection of short fiction, as well as a banned book. Known worldwide on the strength of the endlessly anthologized "THE LOTTERY," Jackson was capable of an even wider range of subjects tones, and literary devices.

Brad provided the questions, so it is our job to provide acumen and wit to complement them! Let's get together for another of our signature literary discussions on Tuesday. Also, we can take the opportunity to discuss next month's visit with author Joe R. Lansdale. We want the meeting to be one worthy of Mr. Lansdales time and travel. All ideas will be appreciated. See you then.

Discussion Questions