Author Topic: Suggestion Box for Future Book Discussions ~ (Read 283372 times)

BooksAdmin · « **on:** March 05, 2009, 01:27:58 PM »

Polls are now open to choose Bookclub Online titles for JULY and AUGUST Discussion!

VOTE HERE UNTIL JUNE 8!

Title	Author
*Adventures of Huckleberry Finn*	Clemens
*The Lacuna*	Kingsolver
*Frankenstein*	Shelley
*Dracula*	Stoker
*Gulliver's Travels*	Swift
*From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers*	Warner

Contact: JoanP

JoanP · « **Reply #1 on:** March 07, 2009, 11:10:34 AM »

Good morning!
Some of you have been posting suggestions for future book discussions - in various locations - the Library, the Fiction discussions etc. (The first two titles in the chart came out of these discussions.) We seem to need this central space to post all suggestions, which we will consider for future discussion. Just post the name and title here and something you know about the book. This should be fun!

I've just nominated Dicken's last work- unfinished: The Mystery of Edwin Drood. I'd never heard of it until recently, have you? It seems to have captured the imaginations of several fiction writers: Matthew Pearl's The Last Dickens and Dan Simmon's Drood, the Novel.
I know for sure I want to read Dicken's work, and maybe we can consider reading one of the other two along with it?

How about you - Is there something you would like to discuss along with the group?

marcie · « **Reply #2 on:** March 09, 2009, 03:58:45 PM »

Joan, The Mystery of Edwin Drood sounds like an interesting read...especially in conjunction with another novel and/or film. There have been several films and a musical related to the story. Dicken's unfinished novel is available for reading online at several places including http://charlesdickenspage.com/drood.html. (CAUTION: the plot is described at this link but there is also another link at the top to the actual novel).

It would be fun to discuss the novel and one or more of the other renditions.

JoanP · « **Reply #3 on:** March 12, 2009, 11:06:31 PM »

Matthew Pearl's book is scheduled to be published on March 19 - it's been well received in England. I'm going to nominate it and put it in the chart with Dicken's Drood as soon as I can get a link for it.

hats · « **Reply #4 on:** March 15, 2009, 09:37:46 AM »

JoanP,

I just happened upon this title. I am not familiar with the author, Dan Simmons. There seems to be high interest in Dickens' Drood.

http://features.csmonitor.com/books/2009/02/23/drood/

JudeS · « **Reply #5 on:** March 16, 2009, 12:24:04 AM »

I saw that "Loving Frank" was nominated as a possible choice. My f2f book club just read it. The only person who didn't rip it apart was the person who suggested it. We are a group of ten Psychotherapists who have been in a book group for five years and this is the first time any book was so attacked. That doesn't mean there isn't a lot of issues to discuss pertaining to the contents-Women's Lib, the feminist movement , men who have non-stop affairs and the women that love them etc., etc. However the writing is really a let down.
I feel safe with a suggestion of Dickens-you just can't go wrong with genius.

JoanP · « **Reply #6 on:** March 16, 2009, 12:17:23 PM »

-Sandy, we're looking for you - would love to hear your suggestion...

-Hats - thanks for the article on Simmon's Drood. He seems to have taken liberties with Dicken's Drood, but relies heavily on biographies of Wilkie Collins and Dickens to construct his plot. I really want to wait to see what Matthew Pearl's Drood looks like in his Last Dickens before nominating a companion piece to Dicken's Drood. It is to be released in a few days - March 19th, I think.

- Jude! Please do join us in The Elegance of the Hedgehog pre-discussion (Actual discussion of the book begins April 1). I read an article, will have to find the link and put it in the discussion, that the book is a huge international best seller internationally - and that French psychotherapists are "recommending it to their patients over Prozac." A silly assertion, I think it was in Time magazine, but I really think you would enjoy the book!

Loving Frank and Three Cups of Tea will be proposed for the month of May. I'm not sure where the interest is in either book. From what you say of your f2f group's reaction to Frank, it must have been the most spirited discussion YOU all have had in years! And as you say, there were a number of issues to which some readers might be attracted.

hats · « **Reply #7 on:** March 16, 2009, 01:35:58 PM »

After you invited Matthew Pearl to the discussion, I felt like he was a personal friend. I would always choose to read his book over another book written on the same subject. I just thought it was weird to come up on Drood again.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #8 on:** March 17, 2009, 09:26:29 PM »

My sister enticed me to read Gail Fraser's Lumby Lines, first in a series about a small town full of characters, in the sense of, "What a character that guy is!". I've read 2 and have the third on reserve. Lumby is a quirky little town and its doings are low key, much like Jan Karon's stories. Gail's husband is an artist and illustrates the books. Here is the Lumby site: http://www.lumbybooks.com/home.php

Sandy · « **Reply #9 on:** March 18, 2009, 06:52:46 PM »

How about Death in the Devil's Acre or something else by Anne Perry? I hear such good things about her writing.

Sandy

JoanP · « **Reply #10 on:** March 19, 2009, 08:44:54 AM »

Hats, I'm going to look for Matthew Pearl's book today. Today it should appear in bookstores in the US. It's been a hit in England, so I understand. One reviewer said it is his best. I can't wait to see how he has approached Dickens' Edwin Drood...

Speaking of Dicken's - here's Powell's review of
Death in the Devil's Acre

Quote

"Give her a good murder and a shameful social evil, and Anne Perry can write a Victorian mystery that would make Dickens's eyes pop."

Thanks for the suggestion, Sandy. Any other Perry fans out there? I'll enter it in the chart for future consideration.

Mrssherlock - the Lumby Lines link is quite an experience. I love the whole presentation - the illustrations. We'll put this in the chart for consideration- title and link too! Thank you so much.

Since two of the recommended books are now proposed for May, I'll take them from the chart above...
Ann's proposal to discuss Loving Frank (Lloyd Wright ) is now open - While she is busy with Ralph's post surgery recovery, Traude has been working to get the proposal for May to you -

Quote

"Nancy Horan has blended the known facts with novelistic imagination to create a compelling narrative of a dramatic, ultimately tragic love story."

Those interested in FLW's work will be fascinated at the turmoil in his private life. This is fiction - based on fact. Historical fiction? If you are interested, Traude is waiting to hear from you right here -
Loving Frank

lucky · « **Reply #11 on:** March 19, 2009, 09:38:52 PM »

I would like to suggest "Reading Lolita In Iran". Live in Iran has become so regimented that reading western literture is criminal yet a group of women secretly read Lolita braving the censure of the powers that be.

JoanP · « **Reply #12 on:** March 20, 2009, 09:35:23 AM »

I am smiling at the very idea of the girls reading and giggling over Lolita together - in Tehran! I'll enter it into the chart for future consideration. Thanks, Lucky!

Persian · « **Reply #13 on:** March 20, 2009, 04:02:42 PM »

I've known several Persian women in Maryland and Washington DC - and two of their teenage daughters - who took copies of this book with them when they visited relatives in Iran. They presented the books, read and discussed them together and one told me that she "thoroughly enjoyed the experience and recalled some of the dreams from my own teenage years."

Mahlia

mrssherlock · « **Reply #14 on:** March 20, 2009, 08:54:01 PM »

The tide of muslimism seems to be spreading across the earth. I wonder at the outcome of this confrontation between those who want to model their lives on Mohamad and the others. Many follow not just his philosophy but want the clock turned back. Being a free thinker from my teens I've contemplated those who are eager to allow others to dictate the minutiae of their lives. Somehow they are more comfortable following, being one among many. America is full of those who stray.

lucky · « **Reply #15 on:** March 23, 2009, 08:34:37 PM »

I think Sophie's World would be a good choice for the group reading foreign literature. It was originally written in Norwegian. It is quite an extraordinary work in that although it is fiction there is a great deal of philosophy so that one could say that is a philosophic work disguising as a novel.

JoanP · « **Reply #16 on:** March 24, 2009, 09:09:49 AM »

Hello, Lucky -
I will put Sophie's World in the chart for future consideration - with a link to this description from Publishers' Weekly -

Sophie's World

From the description and from your recommendation, I think you would like very much our discussion of The Elegance of the Hedgehog which will begin April 1. I remember reading one of your posts in which you said reading cures many ills. This is such a book.

hats · « **Reply #17 on:** March 27, 2009, 11:29:17 AM »

I loved, loved, loved "Reading Lolita in Tehran. I have the book ready to reread one day.

hats · « **Reply #18 on:** March 27, 2009, 11:30:06 AM »

JoanP, I like that quote.

Steph · « **Reply #19 on:** March 29, 2009, 09:39:05 AM »

I just got the newest Wally Lamb.. It looks just great.. Maybe that could goon for late in the summer or fall.

JoanP · « **Reply #20 on:** March 29, 2009, 11:53:25 AM »

Wally Lamb is a special friend of ours - would love to hear what you think of his latest book, Steph. It's a big book, isn't it? Over 700 pages. It would be an investment of $ and time. We need to hear from some who have read it - or started it. It's been added to the heading with a clickable link to Bookmarks Magazine if folks want to read more about it.

We'll vote soon to see not only where there is interest in our next discussions, but also for the fall selections. Thanks, Steph!

lucky · « **Reply #21 on:** April 01, 2009, 06:59:27 PM »

I would like to recommend Doctorow's excellent work on the Civil War, "The March". The book is fiction but Doctorow has done very thorough research on the war and the people involved. One can feel the pain of the inhabitants as Sheridan's march to the sea wreaked havoc and destruction, something that the south never forgave the north. It is one of the few works that depicts the pain and horror that the southern women felt as the Union troops looted, starved, and committed outrages against the "fairer sex". It is a good companion to the book we have been reading, "The Team Of Rivals.
.

JoanP · « **Reply #22 on:** April 01, 2009, 07:09:47 PM »

Thanks, again, Lucky! We will be voting very soon, not only for the next discussion, but also to assess interest for the future.

marjifay · « **Reply #23 on:** April 04, 2009, 06:12:13 AM »

I second Lucky's nomination of Doctorow's THE MARCH. I read this book a couple of years ago and wouldn't mind re-rereading it, it was so good. You feel as if you are there with Sherman's men fighting the war. I have intended to read more about Sherman, but haven't gotten to it yet. Also wanted to try to read more about the surgeon, one of the fascinating characters in this book.

JoanP · « **Reply #24 on:** April 15, 2009, 01:37:40 PM »

We'll vote the first week in May for future book discussions. Some good titles in the header right now - still time to add some more. We're looking for books that you think might make for a good group discussion.

I'm going to add Matthew Pearl's latest novel, The Last Dickens- as a companion to Charles Dickens last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. (We might even get Matthew to join us as he did for two of his earlier novels. His books are always fun. This one is said to be his best. And we all know Dickens - though many are unfamiliar with Edwin Drood)

Remember that all of the nominated titles are links to reviews so that you can learn something more about them.

The last time we voted, these were some of the also-rans. Still interested? Say the word and we'll add them to this list too. There will be more than one "winner" ...

The Bookseller of Kabul
The Hour I First Believed
Olive Kitteridge
Love in the Time of Cholera
White Tiger
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
Look Homeward, Angel

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #25 on:** April 17, 2009, 10:39:48 PM »

A Summer of Hummingbirds: Love, Art, and Scandal in the Intersecting Worlds of Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Martin Johnson
http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Hummingbirds-Scandal-Intersecting-Dickinson/dp/0143115081/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240020874&sr=1-1

My Life on a Hillside Allotment
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Hillside-Allotment-Terry-Walton/dp/0552155004/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240021374&sr=1-1

All the Pretty Horses
http://www.amazon.com/All-Pretty-Horses-Cormac-McCarthy/dp/0679744398/ref=pd_sim_b_9

Homecoming: A novel
http://www.amazon.com/Homecoming-Vintage-International-Bernhard-Schlink/dp/0375725571/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240021818&sr=1-15

The Book Thief
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Thief-Markus-Zusak/dp/0375842209/ref=pd_sim_b_2

I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=+Amy+Sedaris&x=8&y=19

The Moorland Cottage
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1934648280/ref=ord_cart_shr?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

ALF43 · « **Reply #26 on:** April 18, 2009, 03:35:41 PM »

How long is Dicken's History of Edwin Drood? I would love to read that one in conjunction with Matthew's new book- like we did with Dante a couple of years ago. That is great to be able to correlate them at the same time. I vote for Matthew. I read Edgar Sawtelle and enjoyed it but----

I have Wally Lamb's and am more than half way through. I love the way he writes so that would be my 2nd choice. Interesting, particulaly with the 10th annviersary of the Columbine killings so fresh in eveyone's mind. Yes! It is epressing but it is also life!

mrssherlock · « **Reply #27 on:** April 18, 2009, 07:40:30 PM »

This one sounds interesting: A Summer of Hummingbirds: Love, Art and Scandal in the Intersecting Worlds of Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Martin Johnson Heade. ". . .renowned critic Christopher Benfey maps the intricate web of family, friendship and romance that connects these larger-than-life personalities to one another, and in doing so discovers a unique moment in the development of American character." What the Civil War wrought is reflected in the lives of these artists and thinkers. Twain, remarking on the Mississippi after his 20-year absence: it has changed like ". . . a place in the sky where a cloud has been." So had America changed. A documentary on Twain in PBS in February commented that he was the first American writer as opposed to Hawthorne, et al., Americans writing English literature.

JoanP · « **Reply #28 on:** April 19, 2009, 06:03:54 AM »

Barbara - a bushel basketful of possibilities for group discussion! I'm on the road this weekend - will be home tonight to enter them into the chart in the heading. Thanks for the links too!

Jackie, I love the books that shed light on the friendship, relationships among writers too. You learn so much more about these well-known writers. I often find myself re-reading their works during the discussion too. A Summer of Hummingbirds sounds like such a book, doesn't it?

Andy, Dickens never finished his Drood - was only about half way when he died...yet the book was over 300 pages. I see that it is available online - so that would save the cost of buying two books if we did Matthew Pearl's book too. It's also available in libraries, even though it is unfinished. Kindle too, I think.

I hear Wally Lamb's book is quite long - over 700 pages...and several of you are finding it depressing. I'd like to know how you feel about a group discussion of this book.

We have a two weeks before we vote yet. Keep the suggestions coming!

mrssherlock · « **Reply #29 on:** April 19, 2009, 10:19:37 AM »

Hummingbird is non-fiction so it can't be considered here. I forgot that we are a fiction-only discussion. Sorry.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #30 on:** April 19, 2009, 03:35:00 PM »

Oha so it is not fiction - wow - I have the book but have not yet had a chance to read it - sticking to fiction that eliminates Not only A summer of Hummingbirds: but also Hillside Allotment and I Like You:

That leaves:

All the Pretty Horses
http://www.amazon.com/All-Pretty-Horses-Cormac-McCarthy/dp/0679744398/ref=pd_sim_b_9

Homecoming: A novel
http://www.amazon.com/Homecoming-Vintage-International-Bernhard-Schlink/dp/0375725571/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240021818&sr=1-15

The Book Thief
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Thief-Markus-Zusak/dp/0375842209/ref=pd_sim_b_2

The Moorland Cottage
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1934648280/ref=ord_cart_shr?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

Where I would love to tackle Homecoming written by the author of The Reader (which we can all rent or it may still be in theatres.) I would prefer the idea of reading the Gaskell story, Moorland Cottage. - I was so taken with Cranford that included Lady Ludlow on PBS and since the time is about the same as the Dickinson stories with the place being in the English countryside rather than in crowded London it would be a chance to see how another writer of the period put it on paper.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #31 on:** April 19, 2009, 03:40:11 PM »

P.S. I didn't get rid of Wally Lamb's book but I didn't get very far into it either - I just did not like the characters - since it is about an important event I figure one day I will read the book but it will be like taking molasses in spring.

JoanP · « **Reply #32 on:** April 19, 2009, 05:19:49 PM »

Hi everyone.

We are back from Charleston - a 9 hour drive on a Sunday afternoon when everyone is returning to DC area from weekend out of town.

I'll be in later tonight, to put the titles in the heading, but feel compelled to make it perfectly clear -

WE WRE NOT A FICTION-ONLY BOOK SITE!!!

We have many who are interested in Non-Fiction - witness the last Book Club Online discussion - Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals - a non-fiction biography of Lincoln - and the upcoming Three Cups of Tea, the May Book Club Online discussion. I don't know where that idea came from, Jackie. Tell whomever told you that - they are mistaken.

We are in the hunt for non-fiction as well as fiction titles!!!

mrssherlock · « **Reply #33 on:** April 20, 2009, 12:03:49 AM »

No one told me that; I guess it was a mental holdover from SN.

JoanP · « **Reply #34 on:** April 20, 2009, 08:39:35 AM »

Barbara, are you nominating the titles above, or have you brought them here for consideration for future discussion - to talk over here before nominating - If you wish to nominate, will you indicate that here - and I will put them up in the chart for the May vote. . Are you also nominating Cranford? Elizabeth Gaskell's Moorland Cottage is a short story - are you proposing that we consider a discussion of the collection of 8 short stories, or just this one...which is available online?

I was interested in reading more about A Summer of Hummingbirds - found this in Bookmarks Magazine...

From Bookmarks Magazine

Quote

Reviewers found much to praise in A Summer of Hummingbirdsâ€"from the many anecdotes Benfey has uncovered to his critical insights into art and literature. However, they disagreed over whether his book has uncovered an underlying theme that helps explain the thought of an entire period (as Louis Menand did in The Metaphysical Club, for example), or whether he has simply pointed readersâ€™ attention to a series of interesting but unconnected coincidences. Even if his argument crumbles under scrutiny, critics still found it â€œvery pleasant to float alongside so curious and playful a writer as he drifts from one anecdote or observation to the nextâ€ (New York Times Book Review). Since cultural changes like the one Benfey seeks to describe are notoriously difficult to pin down, readers may have to judge the book for themselves.

Jackie, m'dear, SeniorNet was never a fiction only site, either.. Possibly you are thinking of another fiction book site?

mrssherlock · « **Reply #35 on:** April 20, 2009, 10:58:05 AM »

So far I can heartily endorse Bookmark's review. Hummingbird is a delight. While I can't address the concept of a universal social change, Benfey makes a strong case IMHO for its affect on writers and artists in one small corner of New England. The logic is strong for consanguinity rather than coincidence.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #36 on:** April 20, 2009, 12:31:37 PM »

I did not know that Moreland Cottage was a short story - I never understand the reason for reading a book that was recently featured in either a movie or a well done TV series/special - and so No on Cranford.

I have started to read 'Hillside...' - and where it is a delight I can see now it is not that great a story to discuss - it is really about one man's experience becoming and continuing a well loved garden discussion based on his garden allotment .

I do think the 'Summer of Hummingbirds...' reading about those in the Northeast that were the artistic creators who influence our reading lives today would be a change of pace for us and and interesting look at how time and place can influence creativity. And so Yes, I would like to nominate A Summer of Hummingbirds: Love, Art, and Scandal in the Intersecting Worlds of Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Martin Johnson
http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Hummingbirds-Scandal-Intersecting-Dickinson/dp/0143115081/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240020874&sr=1-1

The other books are good but the list is getting too long so I will save them to offer another time I think especially The Book Thief would be a great book to discuss - however it is the kind of book I would prefer to discuss after the summer months are over.

JoanP · « **Reply #37 on:** April 20, 2009, 02:31:22 PM »

I agree about Book Thief - and All the Pretty Horses, but we can save them for the next time, Barbara.
Benfey's Butterflies is now in the chart. I hope folks take the time to read about books they are not familiar with - as the next vote will ask not only for top choice, but for other titles they might participate in down the road. Once in the middle of voting, you can't back out to see what the other books are about. Remember - the titles you see in the chart are all links to reviews.

pedln · « **Reply #38 on:** April 20, 2009, 09:57:33 PM »

Oh hey, guess what just won the 2009 Pulitzer for Fiction – None other than Olive Kittredge by Elizabeth Stout – Stout’s collection of 13 stories set in hardscrabble Maine, all linked by the title character, a math teacher. And, the same title is also on the short list for the Book Critics Award.

This title was mentioned in the library several months ago, and I’d like to nominate it.

JoanP · « **Reply #39 on:** April 20, 2009, 10:41:13 PM »

Sounds like a winner, Pedln! In more ways than one. A Pulitzer! Is that enough to sway the vote, do you think? I think Olive K was nominated the last vote too. Will get it up on the chart right now! Thanks!

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Author Topic: Suggestion Box for Future Book Discussions ~ (Read 283372 times)