Books & Meetings in 2009

Monday January 26

Joan's choice The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson, at Colette's home, Betty is hosting.

Monday February 23

Janet's choice - Stanley Park by Timothy Taylor at Carla's home

Monday March 23

Jolene's choice - Mr. Darcy Presents his Bride: A sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice by Helen Halstead at Janet's home

Monday April 27

Beth's choice - Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor at Jolene's home

Monday May 25

Shirley's choice, Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum at Linda's home

Monday June 22

Colette's choice The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows at Shirley's home

Monday September 28

Carla's choice Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See at Colette's home

Monday October 26

Linda's choice The Hatbox Letters by Beth Powning at Beth's home

Monday November 23

Betty's choice Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin at Janet's home

Meeting of November 17th 2008

Our meeting was held at Michèle's home and the book discussed was "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini. This is the second book by this author that we have read. Almost all members were present, Betty, Carla, Colette, Janet, Joan, Jolene, Linda, Michèle and Shirley.  

Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul in 1965. He left Afghanistan with his family in 1976 when his father,  a diplomat was posted to Paris. Because of the communist coup in 1978, they were not able to return and immigrated to the United States, specifically California in 1980.  He went on to Medical School at the University of California in San Diego and graduated in 1993. He wrote "The Kite Runner" while still practicing medicine. Even though he was no longer practicing when he wrote "A Thousand Splendid Suns", it took him longer to write this book. He had difficulty writing from a woman's perspective until he decided to just write in their characters simply as people.   

The book was well liked by all members of the Book Club who were present.  Many members felt that the strength of the book is its character development and the family interactions. Mr. Hosseini himself says that his books are about families.  

Many members found that the book was a very sad story but that there was almost always a tiny light of hope. Miriam in particular touched many members, the sacrifices she made, the humiliation she must have felt when Laila arrived, a second wife and the courage it must have taken to help protect Laila and her children.  

We had a discussion about the war in Afghanistan and Canada's involvement. Many members felt that the world could not abandon this country especially because of the plight of women and children under the Taliban.  

We also talked considerably about a woman's situation in a muslim community, the restrictions she must endure such as the veil or burka, the lack of support for education, the lack of respect.  Many members had stories of women they knew and their experience. 

We had a short discussion about the title of the book. The phrase "A Thousand Splendid Suns" comes from a poem by 17th century Persian poet Saib-e-Tabrizi and is titled Kabul. The phrase taken from the poem is: 

"One could not count the moons that shiver on her roofs

And the Thousand Splendid Suns that hide behind her wall"

The whole poem can be found on Wikipedia.  Some members wondered if the suns represented the women hidden behind walls. Some thought it might be hope.

It was a great discussion as usual including not only the book and storyline but also politics and current issues. 

Meeting of October 27, 2008

We met at Joan's home and discussed the film, "Last King of Scotland" based on the book of the same title by author Giles Foden. Thank you to Joan for hosting this evening's meeting. The cheese plate was especially appreciated. We had almost full attendance, Beth, Betty, Carla, Colette, Linda, Janet, Joan, Jolene, Shirley and myself Michèle.

The movie is a fictionalized version of Idi Amin's rule as dictator in Uganda. General Amin is played by Forest Whitaker. It is based around the story of a young scottish doctor, Nicholas Garrigan, played by James McAvoy who becomes Idi Amin's personal physician.

Most members thought the film was well done though many visual errors were apparent in the movie. All members felt that Forest Whitaker was excellent and portrayed Amin's paranoia very well. Some members saw a correlation to the rise of Hitler, the charisma that mesmerized the population. Some members saw a correlation to MacBeth, King of Scotland and very paranoid. Members also felt that James McAvoy played Dr. Garrigan well as a naive easily influenced young man.

This month's choice generated a particularly good discussion. It is very apparent that this is a serious book club! Many members had very thoughtful and insightful comments. Two members had read the book even though the only requirement was viewing the movie. The plot and characters were quite different from the movie itself. One member did research on the British Empire and the impact of the British rule and quick withdrawal from African colonies. One member watched the director's version that gave background information on what scenes are fictional and what scenes are based on facts. There was a good discussion about the so-called benevolent but domineering and racist British rule that did not properly prepare native leaders for independence.

All members felt that this was a good choice generating a lot of discussion and thoughtful insight. Thank you Linda and thank you also to MJ.

Meeting of September 29, 2008

We met at Colette's home. Thank you Colette for great hors d'oeuvres and a great choice of wines! Thanks to Dan for a wonderful wild blueberry pie. Members present were Beth, Carla, Colette, Janet, Jolene, Linda, Michèle and Shirley.

The book discussed, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger was Carla's choice. 

Ms. Niffenegger is a professor in Fine Arts at Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts. This is her first novel that took her 4.5 years to write.  

Reaction to the book was mixed. Some members very much enjoyed the book and others much less. Some had difficulty following the timeline of the story with Henry moving back and forth in time.  One member felt like she was reading a textbook.  

Carla and others felt that there is significant character development. We know what type of music they enjoy, what food they prefer. There is considerable description of their environment, where they live, the decor, etc. 

Janet liked that it portrayed a feeling of longing. We often have feelings of longing for past experiences and emotions. It also reminded her of dreaming and dreams we may have of close family members who are no longer with us. 

Colette felt that there was portrayal of "loss of love". Ingrid cannot deal with the loss of Henry's love and commits suicide. Henry's father Richard is unable to move on after the death of his wife.  Colette felt the book did not portray a message of hope, that ultimately all love is lost in the end. 

However, Michèle pointed out that the ending gives the impression that Henry comes to get Clare to continue their life and love in the afterlife. 

Though feelings about the book were decidedly mixed, all felt that it was an interesting concept.  For those who enjoy Time Travel stories, Beth suggested, the movie, Somewhere in Time with Jayne Seymour and Christopher Reeves and the book by Robert Nathan or movie directed by David O. Selznick Portrait of Jennie. 

Meeting of June 23, 2008

We met Jolene's home last night for our final evening before the summer hiatus.  The book was Suite française by Irène Némirovsky, Colette's choice.

Colette summarized details about the author's family life, originally as a refugee from Moscow during the Russian Revolution.  She had a good relationship with her father but not her mother.  Ms. Némirovsky, a proflic and famous writer from an early age, married in 1926 and had 2 daughters.  Because of her Jewish background, she was arrested in 1942 and died in a prison camp a month later of typhus.  Her husband died in a gas chamber, and her nanny escaped with the children.  Suite française was published by daughter Denise some 64 years after being written, having been kept closed for a long time because the family mistakenly thought it was a diary too painful to be read.  The author received an award posthumously.  Many of these details are included in Appendix 2 and the prefaces in the book itself.

Most of the club ladies liked the book, though  there was some some ambivalence, especially on the part of a few who could not attend in person but gave me their comments.  We found it interesting that the author did not write about the events of WWII from her own Jewish perspective, but was successful in portraying the thoughts of so many others, including a memorable scene involving a cat.  The class consciousness in France was a topic of discussion, as was the flight from Paris of so many when the German occupation began.  For Jolene personally, the book gave her a context for her own childhood experiences on a Canadian Air Force base in post-war Germany.  The appendices also reinforced her feeling that family letters that have been preserved from those days are of real value in capturing history through the eyes of everyday people. 

Meeting of May 26th, 2008

Hi all. We met at Shirley's last night and were treated to wonderful hors d'oeuvres and a strawberry dessert, all in an African ambiance in honour of the book. Thanks for going the extra mile yet again, Shirley!

We discussed Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Shirley's choice at the recommendation of Linda's boss. Shirley gave us some background on the author. Ms. Ali apparently speaks 6 languages, has also written Caged Virgin, and has won numerous awards. Her life is still in danger as a result of her anti-Islamic stance and her speaking out against violence against women. A website with more information is http://www.aei.org/ (American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C.). Shirley also recommends that we view a 10-minute movie, made with Theo VanGogh, who was later murdered for his work. See http://www.youtube.com/ to view Submission: Part One. Shirley points out that the tone of voice in the movie is totally wrong.

All the ladies found the book great, and the discussion was long and lively. Beth pointed out that the theme is "It is not tolerant to tolerate intolerance." Carla thought the read so compelling that she even went on to read the Quran, which she found revealing and inconsistent. Some of the ladies were uncomfortable and confused by the book, since it didn't mesh well with their experience of Muslims in everyday life. In fairness, Ali does not suggest that all Muslims are violent--some are quite progressive. We talked about the Arabization (sp?) of Islam as part of the problem, and felt that silence on matters of violence is tantamount to being an accomplice to injustice. In essence, we all feel that as Canadians, so comfortable with tolerance of minorities, it is still important that citizens adhere to the laws of the land. The issues should not be seen as racial and cultural, but as a part and parcel of living in a liberal democracy.

Janet's comments:

I really enjoyed this book. I did google the author and saw the vitriolic hatred against her by many in the Muslim community. For those interested in the larger political issues, I recommend Madeleine Albright’s book, The Mighty and the Almighty. She was the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in the Clinton government in the US . She argues cogently that it is very important to support moderate Muslims in order to bring and maintain global peace. Moderate Muslims are often threatened by extremists. But there are many forms of Islam, like there are many forms of Christianity.

Meeting of April 28th , 2008

Colette, Beth, Carla, Jolene and Linda discussed John Berendt's City of Falling Angels, about Venice just after the Fenice Opera House was burned down in 1996. Beth had suggested the book after it had been given to her by her father-in-law, an avid opera-goer who has been to the Fenice. Beth pointed out that the author is based in New York but stayed in Venice off and on for 9 years until 2005. His writing is in the style of Truman Capote and Tom Wolfe, labelled "new journalism" or "literary non-fiction." Berendt was drawn to Venice in the off-season and liked the city's magical beauty and unreality. He also apparently enjoyed investigating the mystery of the Fenice fire, considering the possibilities of arson, negligence, an Act of God, and even the sinister work of the Mafia. (Note that in the end, two electricians were found guilty of arson, and the one who had fled the country was apparently arrested in Mexico last year.) Berendt says that the feedback he gets about his writing is that people are drawn to his eccentric characters, whom he sees as artists. Long time Book Clubbers may remember discussing his Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil several years ago.

Most of the ladies liked the book because of characters like the brilliant glass maker Seguso and because of the sense of history, detailed in both the architecture and city life of Venice and in the likes of famous people such as Ezra Pound. I ( Jolene) was in the minority, finding the book boring overall, gossipy in nature. I did like the Italian memories the book revived, as the photos of my childhood gave proof. :)

Beth concluded by saying that she herself found the book uneven, with Berendt's depiction of places like the Barbero Palace well done, on the one hand, but his failure to pull all the pieces of the narrative together, a drawback on the other hand. The evening ended with a clip from the film version of Wings of the Dove by Henry James, a turn-of-the-century period piece shot in 1997 in the Barbero, where James himself had been staying.

Meeting of March 31st, 2008

The meeting was held at Beth’s home. Thank you Beth for a warm reception and wonderful goodies and wine! We had the largest attendance in a long time, nine members were present. Along with Beth and Michèle, Betty, Carla, Collette, Joan, Jolene, Linda and Shirley were present. We also received written comments from Janet.

The book discussed at this meeting was Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Jolene’s choice. The novel won the Mann Booker Prize in 2002. Mr. Martel is a Canadian who was born in Spain in 1963 to Canadian diplomats. He received an undergraduate degree in Philosophy from Trent University in Peterborough. Life of Pi is his second book. Martel also publishes a letter to Prime Minister Harper every two weeks with a book suggestion for him to read. The letters and the list of books that have been suggested are on the website What is Stephen Harper reading .

Most members thought that the book is well written and that Martel is an excellent storyteller. Some members had read the book twice and found it more enjoyable the second time. Only some however, found the book enjoyable. The story of a teenage Indian boy named Piscine (Pi) Molitor Patel, begins with a description of his life in the Pondicherry region of India, his family, the family zoo his father manages and Piscine’s interest in several religions. Pi’s parents decide to immigrate to Canada and leave on a ship with a menagerie of animals. When the ship sinks, Pi is the only survivor along with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a Bengal tiger. The rest of the story is one of survival on the lifeboat.

Beth told us about a radio interview she heard with Martel and how he came to write this book. He had traveled to India and had a bit of a writing block while trying to write another book. A lot of what he said is in the preface of the book and Beth found it important to read before reading the book.

Several members wondered if the story as Pi told it when he was finally rescued was real or if he used his imagination as a coping mechanism for survival, a way to keep him alive a bit like the role of the basketball in the film Castaway. When he is interviewed by the Japanese owners of the ship that sank, he tells two stories and challenges them to decide which is the real story. Carla felt that the story and the book stayed with you, though it was a fairly easy read, is quite thought provoking.

There was also some discussion on the considerable knowledge this 16 year old boy had and whether it was credible that he would know so much about animals and religions. Carla thought he might be what we call an "old soul".

Janet saw it as an allegory. She sent us the following comment: “The story begins with Pi's journey of faith and at the end challenges the reader to either take it on faith or disbelieve. Of course, Martel means it to be an allegory of the journey of faith that we each must take. Yet in the end, it falls short as an allegory for there is no deeper truth.” . It certainly links the beginning of Pi’s life in India to his harrowing ordeal.

This book elicited considerable discussion and the evening was very interesting!

April’s meeting at Linda’s home is Beth choice City of Falling Angels by John Berendt on April 28^th.