WPLBookClub

The Painted Veil by Somerset Maugham (June 2009)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:46:00 +0000

Please visit our new blog at http://wplbookclub.wordpress.com/

Set in England and Hong Kong in the 1920s,The Painted Veilis the story of the beautiful but love-starved Kitty Fane. When her husband discovers her adulterous affair, he forces her to accompany him to the heart of a cholera epidemic. Stripped of the British society of her youth and the small but effective society she fought so hard to attain in Hong Kong, she is compelled by her awakening conscience to reassess her life and learn how to love. The Painted Veilis a beautifully written affirmation of the human capacity to grow, to change, and to forgive.

W. Somerset Maugham was one of the twentieth century’s most popular novelists as well as a celebrated playwright, critic, and short story writer. He was born in Paris but grew up in England and served as a secret agent for the British during World War I. He wrote many novels, including the classics Of Human Bondage, The Razor’s Edge, Cakes and Ale, Christmas Holiday, The Moon and Sixpence, Theatre, and Up at the Villa.

Find out a bit more about the book on Wikipedia.

Place a hold on a WPL copy of the book The Painted Veil

You can also borrow the movie The Painted Veil

Watchmen by Alan Moore (May 2009)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:04:00 +0000

The Waterloo Public Library's Book Club meets on the second Monday of every month. The book being discussed at the May 11th meeting is Watchmen by Alan Moore. Hope to see you at the meeting!

This Hugo Award-winning graphic novel chronicles the fall from grace of a group of super-heroes plagued by all-too-human failings. Along the way, the concept of the super-hero is dissected as the heroes are stalked by an unknown assassin. One of the most influential graphic novels of all time and a perennial bestseller, WATCHMEN has been studied on college campuses across the nation and is considered a gateway title, leading readers to other graphic novels such as V FOR VENDETTA, BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and THE SANDMAN series. SOON TO BE A FEATURE FILM!

To learn more about the background, story, characters and themes of the Watchmen series click here.

Biography and links - Alan Moore (Biography Research Guide)

To read an interview with Alan Moore click here.

To place a hold on a WPL copy of the book click here.

The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (April 2009)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:42:00 +0000

Check out this entry on Wikipedia about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Read a biography of Douglas Adams here.

To borrow a WPL copy of the book click here.

A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright (March 9)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:29:00 +0000

Summary:

Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century-a time of unprecedented progress-has produced a tremendous strain on the very elements that comprise life itself: This raises the key question of the twenty-first century: How much longer can this go on? With wit and erudition, Ronald Wright lays out a-convincing case that history has always provided an answer, whether we care to notice or not. From Neanderthal man to the Sumerians to the Roman Empire, A Short History of Progress dissects the cyclical nature of humanity''s development and demise, the 10,000-year old experiment that we''ve unleashed but have yet to control. It is Wright''s contention that only by understanding and ultimately breaking from the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we avoid the onset of a new Dark Age. Wright illustrates how various cultures throughout history have literally manufactured their own end by producing an overabundance of innovation and stripping bare the very elements that allowed them to initially advance. Wright''s book is brilliant; a fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid.

For summaries, criticism and other things to read about the book check out Wikipedia and Anansi Press and CBC Ideas - Massey Lectures 2004

To find out more about the author click here.

Click here to search for this book at WPL.

Blindness by Jose Saramago (February 9)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:00:00 +0000

Summary:
A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" that spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and assaulting women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers—among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears—through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing. A magnificent parable of loss and disorientation and a vivid evocation of the horrors of the twentieth century, Blindness has swept the reading public with its powerful portrayal of man's worst appetites and weaknesses-and man's ultimately exhilarating spirit.

For summaries, discussion questions, and reading guides related to this novel, please visit the following websites: Bookrags, Barnes & Noble and Wikipedia.

To learn more about the author, visit Jose Saramago’s biography on Wikipedia.

Blindness is available in the WPL collection.

If you enjoyed Blindness, you may want to read Saramago's book Seeing, which is set in the same country and features a few of the same characters.

The life and times of the thunderbolt kid : a memoir by Bill Bryson (January 12)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:12:00 +0000

Summary:
From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language, a vivid, nostalgic and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the middle of the United States in the middle of the last century. A book that delivers on the promise that it is “laugh-out-loud funny.” Some say that the first hints that Bill Bryson was not of Planet Earth came from his discovery, at the age of six, of a woolen jersey of rare fineness. Across the moth-holed chest was a golden thunderbolt. It may have looked like an old college football sweater, but young Bryson knew better. It was obviously the Sacred Jersey of Zap, and proved that he had been placed with this innocuous family in the middle of America to fly, become invisible, shoot guns out of people’s hands from a distance, and wear his underpants over his jeans in the manner of Superman. Bill Bryson’s first travel book opened with the immortal line, “I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.” In this hilarious new memoir, he travels back to explore the kid he once was and the weird and wonderful world of 1950s America. He modestly claims that this is a book about not very much: about being small and getting much larger slowly. But for the rest of us, it is a laugh-out-loud book that will speak volumes – especially to anyone who has ever been young.

For summaries, discussion questions, and reading guides related to this novel, visit the following websites: LitLovers and About.com.

To learn more about the author, visit Bill Bryson’s biography on Wikipedia.

Click here to search for this book in the WPL collection.

WPL also has the e-audiobook through Download Library or Net Library.

White Teeth by Zadie Smith (December 8)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:37:00 +0000

Summary:

“In the vibrant multicultural city of London, three families from different backgrounds find themselves linked in every conceivable way: personally, politically, historically and genetically. In White Teeth, these three families all attempt to come to terms with the rich ethnic diversity that their North London community offers. At the center of the novel is the hapless Archibald Jones who can’t seem to make a decision without flipping a coin. And in his chosen city, this proves to be an unlikely advantage as luck is blind to race. This poignant novel is an excellent examination of tolerance and changing attitudes driven by rich characters, taught writing and a bustling city.” - From the Editors

Click here to search for this book in the WPL collection.

To learn more about the author, visit Zadie Smith's biography on Wikipedia.

For summaries and discussion questions related to this novel, visit the LitLovers website.

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (November 10)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:30:00 +0000

Summary:

"When Emma Rouault marries Charles Bovary she imagines she will pass into the life of luxury and passion that she reads about in sentimental novels and women's magazines. But Charles is a dull country doctor, and provincial life is very different from the romantic excitement for which she yearns. In her quest to realize her dreams she takes a lover, and begins a devastating spiral into deceit and despair. Flaubert's novel scandalized its readers when it was first published in 1857, and it remains unsurpassed in its unveiling of character and society." - From the Publisher

For summaries, discussion questions, and reading guides related to this novel, visit the Sparknotes, About.com, and Cliffs Notes websites.

To learn more about the author, visit Gustave Flaubert's biography on Wikipedia.

Click here to search for this book in the WPL collection. You can also download Madame Bovary in "ebook" format for free at the Project Gutenberg website.

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (October 6)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:30:00 +0000

Summary:
“When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum’s classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?

Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.” - From the Publisher

A reading guide for this book and Gregory Maguire's biography is available on the author's website. There is also a discussion guide available through the NoveList database; you will need enter your WPL library card number to view this resource.

Click here to search for this book in the WPL collection.

If you enjoy reading Wicked, try the sequel Son of a Witch. The third book in the Wicked Years series, A Lion Among Men, is due to be released this Fall.

The 100-Mile Diet - 2008's ONE BOOK ONE COMMUNITY SELECTION (September 8)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:30:00 +0000

100 Mile Diet is the Waterloo Region’s One Book, One Community title for 2008.

Summary: “The remarkable, amusing and inspiring adventures of a Canadian couple who make a year-long attempt to eat foods grown and produced within a 100-mile radius of their apartment.

When Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon learned that the average ingredient in a North American meal travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate, they decided to launch a simple experiment to reconnect with the people and places that produced what they ate. For one year, they would only consume food that came from within a 100-mile radius of their Vancouver apartment. The 100-Mile Diet was born.

The couple’s discoveries sometimes shook their resolve. It would be a year without sugar, Cheerios, olive oil, rice, Pizza Pops, beer, and much, much more. Yet local eating has turned out to be a life lesson in pleasures that are always close at hand. They met the revolutionary farmers and modern-day hunter-gatherers who are changing the way we think about food. They got personal with issues ranging from global economics to biodiversity. They called on the wisdom of grandmothers, and immersed themselves in the seasons. They discovered a host of new flavours, from gooseberry wine to sunchokes to turnip sandwiches, foods that they never would have guessed were on their doorstep.

The 100-Mile Diet struck a deeper chord than anyone could have predicted, attracting media and grassroots interest that spanned the globe. The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating tells the full story, from the insights to the kitchen disasters, as the authors transform from megamart shoppers to self-sufficient urban pioneers. The 100-Mile Diet is a pathway home for anybody, anywhere.” - From the Publisher

Visit the official 100 Mile Diet book companion website which features a blog detailing the authors' current activities. CBC also has a transcript of an interview with Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon.

100 Mile Diet is the 2008 book selection for the Waterloo Region's One Book One Community (OBOC) program. If you are interested in resources and events organized by the OBOC Committee to celebrate 100 Mile Diet and to create awareness of locally produced food, visit the OBOC blog and website.

Click here to search for this book in the WPL collection.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (August 11)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:30:00 +0000

Summary:
“Audrey Niffenegger''s innovative debut, The Time Traveler's Wife, is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry finds himself periodically displaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.

The Time Traveler’s Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare''s marriage and their passionate love for each other, as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, pursuing familiar goals -- steady jobs, good friends, children of their own. All of this is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control, making their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.” - Publisher's Description

If you would like to delve deeper into this book, there are reading guides available (see ReadingGroupGuides.com and Random House UK), critical reviews from various newspapers, and a biography of author Audrey Niffenegger.

Click here to search for this book in the WPL collection.

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (July 14)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:00:00 +0000

"Fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled American cultural imperialism abroad. That's a lengthy list of charges, but Eric Schlosser makes them stick with an artful mix of first-rate reportage, wry wit, and careful reasoning.

Schlosser's myth-shattering survey stretches from California's subdivisions, where the business was born, to the industrial corridor along the New Jersey Turnpike, where many of fast food's flavors are concocted. Along the way, he unearths a trove of fascinating, unsettling truths-from the unholy alliance between fast food and Hollywood to the seismic changes the industry has wrought in food production, popular culture, and even real estate." (description from the book jacket)

There are several reading guides for Fast Food Nation that feature summaries, reviews, lists of read-alike titles, the author's biography, and a list of websites for further reading: BookBrowse, ReadingGroupGuides, and Harper Collins. There are also a variety of discussion questions to explore here, here, and here. For more information about the author's personal background visit Eric Schlosser's Wikipedia biography.

Click here if you would like to place a hold on one of WPL's copies of Fast Food Nation.

Have your say in our comments section: has this book (or any other book) made you reconsider your food choices?

Calling All Book Club Participants - Share Your Experiences!

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:23:00 +0000

The New Quarterly: Canadian Writers and Writing (TNQ) is a publication based out of the University of Waterloo that features poetry, fiction, interviews, and articles that showcase Canada’s emerging writers. For their Summer issue, TNQ is examining the presence of book clubs in the Waterloo Region. If you currently or have ever participated in a book club in any form, you are invited to share your insights on any of the following topics:

The Lore: the oral history of area book clubs. What do you think motivates like-minded people to gather and explore works through book clubs? Who founds, participates in, and sustains these clubs? Do you have any tales about fellow readers, or about WPL, KPL or local booksellers who have helped to establish clubs in the past three decades?

The Rules: the conventions for a successful book club. Are there dos and don’ts that can make or break a group? For example: one group’s “wine and pretzels only” rule helps minimize competing hosts; another group reads Dickens’ works strictly in the order they were written—a rule that makes “reading ahead” a deal-breaker! What is your club’s bottom line and why?

The Reads: matching writers’ works with readers. What would you say are some of the principles of attraction between readers and writers? What can each learn from the other? What do you think book clubs reveal about literary culture, especially how it’s celebrated, critiqued and circulated in our community?

The List: what kinds of clubs thrive and why? There are social clubs, interest clubs, neighbourhood clubs, work-based clubs, educational clubs, etc.. What’s a fit for you and why? What do you think these differences reveal about priorities and gaps in literacy and/or the cultural makeup of our region?

If you would like to share your thoughts on any of these topics, please send your ideas to Susan Scott at sscott@gto.net by May 20th.

An Audience of Chairs by Joan Clark (June 9)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:08:00 +0000

An Audience of Chairs opens with Moranna MacKenzie living alone in her ancestral Cape Breton farmhouse, waging a war with the symptoms of bipolar disorder and grieving the loss of her two daughters, taken from her over thirty years previously.

In her early years, Moranna’s accomplishments and beauty, along with the protection of a father who saw glimmers of his suicidal wife in his beloved daughter, allow her to struggle through childhood and adolescence in Sydney Mines relatively unscathed. She is a gifted pianist, a magazine covergirl, and a promising actress when she makes a brilliant marriage to an up-and-coming young journalist, Duncan. But she soon finds herself unmoored by motherhood, and the oddities that the people in her life have always chosen to overlook become more difficult to disguise with drama and wit when maternal expectations are placed upon her. Her staged life comes crashing down around her ears when she is left alone with her daughters and in a manic artistic phase risks their lives terribly. Her family can no longer explain away her eccentricities, her husband forsakes her, and she is institutionalized, her children taken from her forever.

She enthralls the audiences in her mind – in reality an audience of chairs – with daily virtuoso performances on the piano board, a silent keyboard upon which she does battle with her demons through the music of Chopin and Rachmaninov.

Through these and other ingenious – and often hilarious – strategies, Moranna has over the years constructed a life of delicate balance, all of which is jeopardized one day by a glimpse of television. Visiting town with Bun, she is astonished to see her now-grown daughter Bonnie being interviewed for a local station about a climatalogical lecture she is to give, to be soon followed by her wedding in Halifax. Moranna knows she must make what will certainly be a surprise appearance at the wedding. But this means a high-stakes gamble with everything she has–her pride, her precarious mental health, her hope for a measure of grace in the world. (Summary is adapted from Amazon.com)

If you would like to learn about this Canadian author, visit here and here. There is also an online reader's guide available that features questions related to the novel. To place a hold on a WPL copy of this book, visit here, click on "Place Hold on Item," then enter your name, card #, and PIN.

What did you think of this book? Post a comment to discuss your opinion with other readers!

Millroy the Magician by Paul Theroux (May 12)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:48:00 +0000

“Fourteen-year-old Jilly Farina was enthralled with Millroy the Magician at the Barnstable County Fair. After all, he once turned a girl from the audience into a glass of milk and drank her. But when Jilly stepped into the wickerwork coffin during a performance, she had no idea he would transform her dreary life into something truly magical, and a touch bizarre.For Millroy was no ordinary magician. He could smell the future, and Jilly was going to be part of it. Yet not even Millroy could foresee how far determination and a dream could take him, as he and his new young assistant hit the road -and the airwaves -- to save America's unhealthy appetite and floundering soul....” (Amazon.com)

Read Paul Theroux’s biography, a Plot Summary of Millroy the Magician, and place a hold on WPL’s copy of this book.

If you've read and enjoyed Millroy the Magician you might also enjoy:

The Rope Trick (2002) by Lloyd Alexander
Following the death of her verbally abusive, magician father, Lidi continues the family tradition and travels from town to town entertaining crowds with her magic tricks. Accompanying her are Jericho, her canvasmaster, and later Daniella who predicts the future and Julian, a tenant farmer who's been badly beaten. Lidi travels in search of Ferramondo, the famous magician who performs the rope trick, where the magician climbs a stiff rope and disappears when he reaches the top. This little troupe meets both good and bad people on the road but, when Scabbia and his cronies descend upon them and burn their wagons, they replicate the rope trick and are whisked away to another land where Ferramondo awaits them. (195 pages)

Animal Planet (1995) by Scott Bradfield
In this satirical look at marketing gone haywire, the animals of Earth can talk; and they decide they've had enough of being pets or caged animals in a zoo. They quickly find that freedom means having to work for humans, but they adapt to that life. Charlie the Crow becomes a celebrity, appearing on talk shows until the animal revolution is such a media event that Charlie and his friend Buster head to Antarctica to escape from the notoriety. (231 pages)

Killer Diller: A Novel (1991) by Clyde Edgerton
First introduced in Edgerton's Walking Across Egypt, Wesley Benfield is a former car thief who had changed his old ways, but couldn't resist the temptation of keys left in a white Lincoln Continental. He's now part of the "Back on Track Again" project sponsored by a Baptist college whose president and provost love to receive credit for helping underdogs. Wesley's assigned task is to teach bricklaying to teenaged Vernon, a mentally handicapped but musically talented young man. The irrepressible Wesley settles in and organizes a band that plays fast and loose with gospel music. He also dates a girl from campus and, with an infectious sense of humor, tweaks his nose at certain holier-than-thou Christian members of Ballard University. The novel offers a warm-hearted and comic poke at judgmental behavior and attitudes occasionally associated with some Christian denominations.

Sati (1990) by Christopher Pike

One night while driving through the Arizona desert, trucker Michael picks up a pretty teen-age hitchhiker who calls herself Sati. Letting her stay the night on his couch, she announces the next morning that she is God. Preaching a message of happiness and joy, she holds meetings and begins to touch the lives of all around her. More than anyone else, Michael wonders who Sati is and where she's come from in this Young Adult author's first adult novel.

(This list is courtesy of the “What Do I Read Next?” database, available through the WPL's website. Click on "What Do I Read Next?" on this webpage and enter your WPL card number and PIN when prompted.)

We invite your comments about this book - did you enjoy Millroy the Magician? Why (or why not)?

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (April 14th)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:21:00 +0000

The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, first published by McClelland and Stewart in 1985. The novel explores themes of women in subjugation, and the various means by which they gain agency against a backdrop of the establishment of a totalitarian theocratic state. Sumptuary laws (dress codes) play a key role in imposing social control within the new society.
The novel is often studied by school and college students. The American Library Association lists it in "10 Most Challenged Books of 1999" and as number 37 on the "100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000" due to many complaints from parents of pupils regarding the novel's anti-religious content and sexual references.

The Handmaid's Tale won the Governor General's Award for 1985, and the first Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987. It was also nominated for the 1986 Nebula Award, the 1986 Booker Prize, and the 1987 Prometheus Award. It has been adapted several times into performance works.
(Wikipedia)

*********************

Read The Handmaid's Tale Study Guide here. (SparkNotes)

See Reading Group Guides for other books by Margaret Atwood here.

Read a biography of Margaret Atwood and list of her other works here.

Place a hold on a WPL copy of the book here.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (March 10, 2008)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:08:00 +0000

Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemnas of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnivoc, an impoverished student in St. Petersburg who formulates and executes a plan to kill a hated, unscrupulous pawnbroker seemingly for her money, thereby solving his financial problems and at the same time, he argues, ridding the world of evil. Raskolnikov also strives to be an extraordinary being, similar to Napoleon, who can murder without repercussions.

Book Club - Reading Guide (Penguin Group)

Biography of Fyodor Dostoyevsky here.

Crime and Punishment (Wikipedia) including a Plot Summary, Characters, Symbology, Film Adaptations and more

Review and Summary here.

Place a hold on a WPL copy of the book here.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (February 2008)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:20:00 +0000

About the book:

During the height of the Chinese Cultural Revolution in 1971, the sons of two allegedly reactionary doctors are sent to a remote village on the fictional mountain Phoenix of the Sky to be 're-educated' by hard work and peasant living. There, the two characters meet the daughter of the local tailor (the Little Seamstress) and discover a collection of various translated Western novels hidden by another city boy sent to the country for re-education, Four-Eyes. As they flirt with the seamstress and secretly devour these banned works, they find transit from their grim surroundings to worlds they never imagined.

To place a hold on a WPL copy of the book click here or to place a hold on the DVD click here.

Read the Discussion Questions here (ReadingGroupGuides.com).

Learn more about the Cultural Revolution in China here (Wikpedia).

If you've read and enjoyed Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress you might also enjoy:

Anchee Min, Wild Ginger: A Novel (2002). Wild Ginger tells the story of two girls in Shanghai caught between their personal desires and party politics during China's Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Min crafts a tale of coming-of-age and thwarted passion while exploring the pain and psychological damage inflicted during Mao's regime.

Gao Xingjian, One Man's Bible (2002). Nobel-Prize winner Gao Xingjian follows up his critically acclaimed first novel, Soul Mountain, with this fictionalized memoir of growing up during the Cultural Revolution which captures the anxiety of the time and the effects of oppression on the spirit. The long-exiled narrator recalls his youth at the request of a Western lover who believes healing and memory are intricately connected.

Jian Ma, Red Dust: A Path Through China (2001). In 1983, Jian Ma left his life and his home in Beijing behind him and took off on a journey of exploration into his country and himself with little more than a camera, a notebook, and Leaves of Grass. Three years of wandering the western border of China, as well as remote areas of Tibet and Myanmar, result in much more than a travelogue: he creates a funny, frightening, often surprising portrait of Chinese society and the enduring appeal of the adventure-quest story.

Ha Jin, In the Pond (1998). Shao Bin is a maintenance employee at a fertilizer plant and artist whose loyal work over the years is steadfastly ignored -- at least until he publishes a satirical cartoon. The consequences of that small act of rebellion change everything in this comic send-up of bureaucracy and political allegory that resonates with readers far from Ha Jin's Communist China.

Mo Yan, Red Sorghum: A Novel of China (1993). Winner of several literary awards and inspiration for an Oscar-nominated film, Red Sorghum depicts the turbulent and brutal unrest of China's countryside during the 1920s and 1930s, as a family is caught in the struggle against Japanese invaders and Chinese warlords.

Ji-li Jiang, Red Scarf Girl (1997). Ji-li Jiang writes a unique memoir of coming-of-age during China's Cultural Revolution. Taught by government propaganda to despise old culture and habits, she describes a Communist regime she both believed in and came to doubt as she is asked to denounce her family and testify against her imprisoned father.

The Attack by Yasmina Khadra (January 8th, 2008 Book Club meeting)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:15:00 +0000

Dr. Amin Jaafari is an Arab-Israeli surgeon at a hospital in Tel Aviv. As an admired and respected member of his community, he has carved a space for himself and his wife, Sihem, at the crossroads of two troubled societies. Jaafari’s world is abruptly shattered when Sihem is killed in a suicide bombing.

As evidence mounts that Sihem could have been responsible for the catastrophic bombing, Jaafari begins a tortured search for answers. Faced with the ultimate betrayal, he must find a way to reconcile his cherished memories of his wife with the growing realization that she may have had another life, one that was entirely removed from the comfortable, modern existence that they shared.

Book Discussion Questions (from Random House):

What was your reaction to the novel’s powerful opening scene? How did your perception of this scene shift as the narrator’s life later unfolded for you?
What were your initial perceptions of Amin and Sihem’s marriage? Whom did you trust during the interrogation in chapter four?
Why does Kim remain so supportive of Amin? In what way is her friendship different from Navid’s? Why are they more patient with him than most of their colleagues are?
Discuss the very concept of an attack, which forms the novel’s title. What is the nature of the attacks that take place in the book, including not only the terrorist explosions but also the beating Amin receives when he tries to return to home. What emotional and psychological attacks take place? What motivates the novel’s numerous attackers?
How were you affected by the structure of the novel, including the author’s use of present tense, the first-person narration, and the way the timeline unfolds? What makes fiction itself a useful form in examining horrific realities?
Revisit the passages that emphasize two of the novel’s elderly characters: Kim’s grandfather, Old Yehuda, who in chapter six recalls Hitler’s rise; and in chapter sixteen, Omr, Amin’s great-uncle, who recalls the destruction of family orchards to make way for an Israeli colony. What do Yehuda and Omr reveal about the history of violence, not only in the Middle East but throughout humanity?
At the end of chapter seven, Amin tells Kim he has no idea why he did not tell Navid about the letter. In your opinion, why did he keep the receipt of Sihem’s letter a secret?
In the novel’s latter chapters, Amin believes his wife was having a romantic affair with Adel. What parallels exist between her actual liaisons with him and the infidelities usually associated with adultery? Was Sihem seduced?
In chapter nine, Amin’s taxi driver lauds a militant imam and plays one of his recordings. What elements of persuasion did you detect in the imam’s diatribe? What similar tactics are used by religious and political leaders in other circumstances around the world?
In chapter eleven, the imam at the Grand Mosque tells Amin, “The margin between assimilation and disintegration is quite narrow. There’s not much room for maneuver” [p. 150]. Do you agree? Is assimilation a dangerous goal? Knowing what you do about Amin’s upbringing, is it surprising that he was an advocate for assimilation? Does assimilation require a secular society?
What is Amin’s goal in investigating the truth about Sihem himself, and confronting those who assisted her, rather than letting the Israeli authorities handle it? In the end, has he achieved his quest?
Adel and the militants Amin encounters emphasize their anger about being humiliated, saying emotional and cultural destruction are just as devastating as physical destruction. What do these observations imply about solutions for peace? What did you learn from the novel–not only about daily life in the Middle East but also about the prospects for peace?
The author is a retired army officer from Algeria, a former French colony. After he won a small French literary prize for a collection of short stories, his writing came to the attention of Algerian army officials and he was forced to submit future works to army censors. Thus, he created a female pseudonym to avoid censorship. He now lives in France and has since revealed his true name, Mohammed Moulessehoul. In what way did his life prepare him to write The Attack? Would your impressions of the novel have been different had you thought the author was female?
Compare The Attack to the author’s previous novel, The Swallows of Kabul, which is set in Afghanistan during the Taliban’s rule. In what ways do these novels complement each other? How do the dynamics of marriage play out in each of these books?

Find about more about the author here. (Barnes & Noble interview)

Place a hold on a WPL copy of the book here.

As for my and my house by Sinclair Ross (December 2007)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:04:00 +0000

As For Me and My House, is a novel by Sinclair Ross (New York, 1941; Toronto, 1957), explores the spiritual, social and natural forces which threaten to crack a strained marriage. Philip Bentley, a thwarted artist turned minister, and his wife have just moved to Horizon, a small Saskatchewan town struggling through the 1930s.

Their story is told in diary form by Mrs Bentley, whose descriptions of Horizon's false-fronted stores become increasingly suggestive of the Bentley's false-fronted lives. She also records the bleak oppression of a pretentious and puritanical social ambience, and of a constantly threatening natural environment which assaults the town's flimsy structures with seasonal cycles of heat and cold, dust and snow. The novel closes with the Bentleys adopting Philip's illegitimate child, determined to make a new life beyond Horizon. Ross depicts the trials of small-town life on the Prairies with a starkly repetitive style and beautiful clarity (taken from The Canadian Encyclopedia)

Read a brief biography of the author here.

Narrative Technique in Sinclair Ross' As For Me and My House (Studies in Canadian Literature) by Paul Denham

"As If I Really Mattered": the Narrator of Sinclair Ross's As For Me and My House (Studies in Canadian Literature) by Anne Compton

Place a hold on a WPL copy of the book here.

Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope - November 12th

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 13:54:00 +0000

This novel concerns the adventures of Rudolf Rassendyll. He is a young gentleman in the fictional land of Ruritania. He bears a strong relation to the king in looks at least and there are rumours that certain dishonourable acts had occurred between the king and one of Ruolf's ancestors six generations ago. Rudolf is charming, witty and courageous. He sets out on a supposed fishing expedition to Tyrol but intends to see Rudolf the Fifth crowned in Streslau. He learns that the king's throne is in danger and so Rudolf makes his way to Zenda. He meets the king himself and they get on well, but a drugged bottle send by Michael leaves Rudolf in a stupor unable to defend his crown. Our hero, Rassendyll must step in for the other Rudolf. We learn of his adventures as the king's double and the true love of Flavia (the king's betrothed) who he gallantly gives up finally with the kingdom. Although it is a fairly slim novel and far-fetched in the extreme, it was hugely popular. As such, in the sequel, Rupert of Hentzau - a villain from Zenda - is defeated and Rudolf has a second chance with Flavia and the throne though this time he unable to make a decision since fate intervenes.

Prisoner of Zenda (Wikipedia) here.

Read the book online here.

Place a hold on a WPL copy of the book here.

By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart (October 15, 2007)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:12:00 +0000

A fictional account of Elizabeth's Smart's intense love affair with poet George Barker.

Read a biography of Elizabeth Smart (from Wikipedia) here.

Read a review of the book here.

Read literary criticism about the book(from Studies in Canadian Literature) here.

Place a hold on a WPL copy of the book here.

Smoke by Elizabeth Ruth (September 10, 2007)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:47:00 +0000

In the 1950s, in the Ontario tobacco-growing community of Smoke, a young boy on the verge of manhood is scarred forever. A night out with his buddies, too much booze and a lit cigarette, and Buster McFiddie's life will never be the same. Through the process of healing, one man's voice speaks to him, softly to ease his pain, spinning yarns of The Purple Gang, the notorious Detroit mob. It is the voice of John Gray, the town doctor, and soon it’s clear that telling these tales means as much to Doc as hearing them means to Buster. In an era of conformity, a disfigured boy tries to move his life forward, and an old man grapples desperately with his past: the convergence of two lives on the cusp will change each of them, and the small-town world that binds them, in ways they could not have imagined.

Elizabeth Ruth's second novel is a tour de force: a potent, richly inventive story of identity and transformation, of reconciliation between the way you are seen, and the truth of who you really are.

Check out Elizabeth Ruth's website here.

View the Book Discussion Guide here.

Read and add your comments on the One Book, One Community blog here.

Find out about upcoming Author visits here.

Place a hold on a WPL copy of the book here.

Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. (August 2007)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 18:23:00 +0000

When Marie-Josephe-Rose Tascher was a girl in Martinique, a voodoo priestess predicted that she would be unhappily married, would then be widowed, and would become queen. With the profits from her father's sugar plantation spent largely on his gambling and drinking, the final prediction seems unlikely. An arranged marriage takes Rose to France, where she finds herself woefully uneducated and unprepared for high society. But in 1779 no one is prepared for the bloody upheaval that will convulse France for years. Rose endures her husband's infidelity and abandonment before his execution leaves her a widow. Combining charm, intelligence, empathy, and luck, she copes with poverty and prison, surviving the revolution with her children. Gulland skillfully re-creates the era's turbulence without confusing readers. A chronology and genealogy provide assistance, and Rose is a character worth caring about and remembering. Her marriage to Napoleon ends this first volume in a projected trilogy, leaving readers eager to know the rest of her story. (from Library Journal)

Josephine de Beauharnais on Wikipedia click here.

Sandra Gulland's homepage click here.

To place a hold on a WPL copy of Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. click here.

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (July 2007)

noreply@blogger.com (WPL Staff) — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 13:52:00 +0000

Into Thin Air is a riveting first-hand account of a catastrophic expedition up Mount Everest. In March 1996, Outside magazine sent veteran journalist and seasoned climber Jon Krakauer on an expedition led by celebrated Everest guide Rob Hall. Despite the expertise of Hall and the other leaders, by the end of summit day eight people were dead. Krakauer's book is at once the story of the ill-fated adventure and an analysis of the factors leading up to its tragic end. Written within months of the events it chronicles, Into Thin Air clearly evokes the majestic Everest landscape. As the journey up the mountain progresses, Krakauer puts it in context by recalling the triumphs and perils of other Everest trips throughout history. The author's own anguish over what happened on the mountain is palpable as he leads readers to ponder timeless questions. (Amazon.com)

Discussion questions (from the Manitowoc Public Library) are here.

Read an author biography here.

Suggestions for further reading (Spark Notes) are here.

Mount Everest (National Geographic)

If you liked Into Thin Air (and want to read more about mountaineering) click here.

Place a hold on a WPL copy of the book here.