Storied Life of A.J. Fikry ~ Gabrielle Zeven ~ June Book Club Online

[BooksAdmin]

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June Book Club Online - Starts June 6

Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
by Gabrielle Zeven

You'll fall in love with Fikry, who owns a bookstore.  Does he have a future?  Will there be any bookstores in the future? Let's discuss it! Join us in June.  This book is perfect for the lovely month of June, you'll laugh!  Yes, you will - OUTLOUD - We did. If you are interested please post, we will post our discussion schedule shortly. SCHEDULE JUNE 6-12  CHAPTERS 1-3 QUESTIONS, CHAPTERS 1-3. 1. Would you have liked AJ's bookstore? Do you know one like it? What do you like in a bookstore? 2. Based on the synopsis, how does each short story relate to the chapter it heads? If you've read any of the stories, did the synopsis give a good impression of it? 3, How do you react to AJ's pronouncements on books? 4. When his wife died, people avoided the bookstore. When Maya came, they flocked to it. Is that realistic? 5. Was Maya's mother right to want her to grow up in a bookstore? Do you agree that where you grow up determines who you are? 6. Is the portrayal of the baby Maya realistic? 7. Do you agree on the "necessity of encountering stories at precisely the right time in our lives."

Discussion Leaders: Joan K and Pat H

[JoanK]

COME JOIN US for the pre-discussion. Let us know if you will be here JUNE 6 in discussing this quirky novel about a misanthropic bookseller in a small town who has an opinion on almost every single book and short story ever written. You'll love him, hate him, want to hit him upside the head. But don't worry: every opinion he has will change at least once.

And let's re-connect to short stories. Don't worry: we wont try to read all the short stories that are mentioned. But I hope we can talk about the short stories we do know, and decide what we think of that often neglected form.

(Note that the book is free to members of kindle unlimited).

[PatH]

Welcome to the prediscussion, all.  Please do come in and tell us you'll be with us, chat a bit if you like.  I'm looking forward to this; I really like the book.

[Frybabe]

Just downloaded the book from Overdrive.

[JoanK]

GREAT! Glad you're joining us.

[mabel1015j]

Getting the book today from the library.

[PatH]

Welcome, Frybabe and Jean.

[JoanK]

GREAT, JEAN. I understand libraries have lots of copies.

[Flavia]

Our book club did it last year.  I seem to remember most of us enjoyed it and it made for a good discussion. I wll try to pop in.

[JoanK]

WELCOME XINE48. Do pop in and share your ideas. There's a lot to discus.

Did your book club try to read the short stories highlighted? We decide it would be too much work to try to get them all.

[BarbStAubrey]

I've been meeting myself coming and hope to have a bit more time when the actual discussion starts - have a copy around here that I have to dig up - till later...

[JoanK]

GREAT, BARB.

[Ella Gibbons]

I'll be here when I can, just home from hospital, etc., very weak.  Have the book.......later.

[JoanK]

ELLA HOORAY! Great to see you. Be well!

[PatH]

Take care of yourself, Ella.

[nlhome]

I checked out a copy of the book last week. I'll try to read along and follow the discussion. I love short stories. I have read the first mentioned in the book.

[PatH]

Welcome, nlhome; it's good to have you with us.  I've read the first short story too; I liked it.

As you've seen, each chapter starts with a summary of a short story, which has some connection with what happens in the chapter.  We decided that it would be too much to ask everyone to read all the stories, but they are mostly well-known, and I'm guessing that most of us have read some of them.  I've read 5 1/2 of them; one (A Good Man is Hard To Find) we read here.  You don't have to have read any of the stories to enjoy this book, but it can add something, so we can pool our knowledge here.

[bellamarie]

Hello ladies & hopefully gents!!!   I can't wait to start the discussion.  I read this a few years back and truly loved the story. I have it on my ipad so am ready to refresh myself when we begin.

JoanK., I love how you put this it made me laugh out loud,  You'll love him, hate him, want to hit him upside the head. But don't worry: every opinion he has will change at least once.

Ella, So sorry to hear you were in the hospital, I hope you feel better soon.

I'm excited about possibly reading the short stories mentioned.  Great idea!!

[PatH]

Welcome, Bellamarie; I'm glad you're with us.  Reading the short stories is optional, but I expect some of us will read at least some of them.

[Leah]

Greetings to everyone!
I read a bit of A.J. in an online sample and rushed to request it from the library - dare I say that this is a character one of my subpersonalities might be related to? *8:>) This is my initiation into a book discussion on SeniorLearn, and I am looking forward to seeing how it works.

Leah

[Frybabe]

Hi Leah, welcome to the discussion.

I have read the first three chapters so far. Looking at the chapter titles, I think I have read only two of the short stories, the Twain and the Poe.

[JoanK]

LEAH: WELCOME, WELCOME! I hope you enjoy the discussion. we take our time, reading a portion of the book each week (I know with a book like this, it's tempting to read the whole thing in one sitting but it's fun to go slower and savor (or tear to shreds) the details). All opinions welcome, (expressed politely and with respect for others).

Do tell us abouit yourself. What do you like to read?

FRY: you might want to stop. I think that is as far as we'll read the first week.

[bellamarie]

Welcome Leah!!!  So happy to have you join us for the discussion.  I think you are going to really like this book, I know I did when I read it a few years back.  And imagine the fact I have already forgotten some of the crucial parts so I will love refreshing my memory, and having others to discuss it with, since I read it by myself first time around.

PatH.  I found this but I don't want it to be a spoiler. 

A.J. FIKRY’S RECOMMENDATIONS (from Island Books)

This list reflects A.J. Fikry’s love of short stories. It was compiled from the stories mentioned at the beginning of each chapter of the novel. Happy reading!

“The Diamond as Big as the Ritz” a novella, F. Scott Fitzgerald

“ What Feels Like the World “ 1985 Richard Bausch

“A Good Man is Hard to Find”, 1953 Flannery O’Connor (The story Amy favours)

“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, 1865, Mark Twain

“The Girls in their Summer Dresses”, Irwin Shaw, 1939

“A Conversation with my Father” Grace Paley, 1972

“A Perfect Day for Banana-fish” by J D Salinger,1948

“The Tell-Tale Heart” E.A. Poe, 1843

“Ironhead”, Aimee Bender, 2005

“Bullet in the Brain” by Tobias Wolfe

His favourite story:  “What We Talk about When We Talk about Love” Raymond Carver, 1980

“The Bookseller”, Roald Dahl, 1986

His suggestions to Maya, now a teenager, who is having trouble writing a story:

“The Beauties”, Anton Chekhov  /  “The Doll’s House” by Katherine Mansfield / “A Perfect Day for Banana-fish” by J D Salinger  /  “Brownies” or “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” by ZZ Packer  / “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried” by Amy Hempel   / “Fat” by Raymond Carver  / “Indian Camp” by Ernest Hemingway

https://pcplblog.wordpress.com/2014/09/30/a-j-fikrys-recommendations-from-island-books/

[PatH]

SPOILER ABOVE!!!

If you read to the end of Bellamarie's post, you will find out something farther along in the plot.

[PatH]

The person who compiled the list left off two.  Here's the complete list:

"Lamb to the Slaughter" 1953 Roald Dahl

“The Diamond as Big as the Ritz” a novella, F. Scott Fitzgerald

"The Luck of Roaring Camp"  1968 Bret Harte

“ What Feels Like the World “ 1985 Richard Bausch

“A Good Man is Hard to Find”, 1953 Flannery O’Connor (The story Amy favours)

“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, 1865, Mark Twain

“The Girls in their Summer Dresses”, Irwin Shaw, 1939

“A Conversation with my Father” Grace Paley, 1972

“A Perfect Day for Banana-fish” by J D Salinger,1948

“The Tell-Tale Heart” E.A. Poe, 1843

“Ironhead”, Aimee Bender, 2005

His favourite story:  “What We Talk about When We Talk about Love” Raymond Carver, 1980

“The Bookseller”, Roald Dahl, 1986

Also mentioned:
“The Beauties”, Anton Chekhov  /  “The Doll’s House” by Katherine Mansfield / “A Perfect Day for Banana-fish” by J D Salinger  /  “Brownies” or “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” by ZZ Packer  / “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried” by Amy Hempel   / “Fat” by Raymond Carver  / “Indian Camp” by Ernest Hemingway

[JoanK]

While we're waiting: we will see that short stories are AJ's favorite reading, but he doesn't stock them because "nobody buys them." How do you feel about short stories? Do you like them? Less or more than novels? Why? Do you read them? buy books of them?

[JoanK]

Note: the week of June 6-12, we will read Chapters 1-3. I will have questions for discussion in the heading. They are entirely a matter of choice: if you find them interesting, fine -- comment. If not, comment on whatever you want.

[mabel1015j]

I haven't thought much about why I don't generally read short stories. As i think back, I enjoyed the short stories that I had to read in high school and college,but maybe i enjoyed the discussions about them more then I enjoyed reading the story. I never have bought a book of short stories. Since college i have only infrequently read a short story in a magazine.

Jean

[Frybabe]

While I've read short stories, I don't ordinarily gravitate to them. When I was school age, I did read and enjoy a lot of essays, though, and through the years short stories I've read stories by Asimov, Bradbury, and Clarke. The most recent short stories I've read were authored by Carmen De Sousa whose specialty seems to be supernatural suspense, and one by Peter Watts which provided a backstory for one of his characters in his most recent excellent book, Echopraxia.

We read a lot of short stories in English classes, but I don't recall many of the titles. Whoever picked them for class reading seemed to concentrate on stories that the boys would like (my impression at the time). It is possible that I read some on the list and don't remember them. I do remember reading some Poe, a Somerset Maugham, some Twain, Edward Everett Hale. 

[PatH]

Leah: 

This is my initiation into a book discussion on SeniorLearn, and I am looking forward to seeing how it works.

It works a little differently from a face to face discussion.  We divide the book up into sections, and discuss them one at a time.  That doesn't mean you can't read ahead if you want to, but we try to avoid any references to future sections.  There are several plot twists in this book.

Questions are posted, mostly to spark the discussion.  Sometimes people ignore them, sometimes they talk about them at length.

Everything is flexible: if we finish talking about a section, we may move on early; if we have a lot to say, we linger.  Length varies; JoanK and I estimate 3 weeks for this one, but it's an estimate.

[nlhome]

I enjoy reading short stories. I do buy books of short stories, although I buy very few books at all. I studied short stories in college, and I enjoyed the classes, possibly because the professor was so good at teaching. I don't know. Anyway, I hope to reach some of those I have not read before and reread some of the others. Short stories are good for summer - an evening on the deck before the sun sets, a glass of wine or iced tea, and the comforting sounds of our neighborhood as I read is one of my simple pleasures.

[PatH]

For those who want to read some of the stories, here are online copies of two of the first three.  They're both short.

Lamb to the Slaughter

The Luck of Roaring Camp

[JoanK]

I posted some questions in the heading for your interest. I wanted to put in a question about Amelia Loman, but couldn't think of one. Any ideas?

[BarbStAubrey]

Not sure if the "necessity of encountering stories at precisely the right time in our lives." is true however, I have read many a story that has helped me unravel some life crisis or given me a new slant on what was happening around me or given me a new goal or more, given me another lifestyle practice or personality trait to develop.

Since childhood I believe I have received more guidance or role models from a book rather than folks around me. I think that some kids react one way and another kid has a different reaction so that all we adults can do is provide opportunity -

As to short stories - I like them - I have a short story delivered in my email every Sunday from the Library of America - they usually have a surprise ending that I never see coming.

http://storyoftheweek.loa.org/

[PatH]

I don't read short stories much anymore, and now I wonder why, since I usually enjoy the ones I read.

When I was growing up, I ingested huge numbers of short stories.  My parents were mystery fans, and subscribed to Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, the gold standard of the time, and my father was a science fiction fan, and subscribed to the important SF magazines.  I slurped it all down, along with the Saturday Evening Post stories (at that time it was a place for serious writers to publish) plus lots of library books.  I'm pretty sure I must have read Lamb to the Slaughter in EQMM, since my memory of it is about that old (1953).

Now the ones I read are a mix of serious and not, but they aren't the bulk of my reading.

[Frybabe]

I bookmarked the site Barb, thank you.

I first came across Arthur C. Clarke via a short story published in Playboy magazine, used to read the New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly. The more I think about it, the more I recall, if not the short stories themselves, the books and magazines in which I read them.

[Leah]

Reading has been a big part of my life, and I often enjoy reading parts of books out loud. More recently I've also enjoyed listening to audiobooks. I cut my ears on Simon Jones reading the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud; and Heather O'Neill's over-the-top narration of Tana French's "The Likeness" which, so far, is the best all-around audioboook mystery I've run across. (It is the second in the Dublin Murder Squad series.) I have also enjoyed other mystery series by Ian Rankin featuring Inspector John Rebus, Michael Connelly and several others, but am also a big fan of Gail Godwin (The Finishing School, A Mother & Two Daughters, etc.), Marion Zimmer Bradley, Sue Miller, Alexander McCall Smith, Kate Green (Shooting Star and her poetry), Alice Hoffman, Edith Wharton, and Amanda Cross (ie Carolyn Heilbrun). And although I feel an affinity with Joyce Carol Oates as a person after having read (most of) her recent autobiography, I have had little success getting through any of her books, save one very small volume the name of which is not on tap at the moment. I have not read the entirety of any of these authors, but they are listed because what I did read really made an impression.

Much of the nonfiction that gets my attention has been more for reference purposes, but recently I surprised myself by purchasing Susan Bauer's History of the Ancient World, with the thought that I might follow her pointers for exploring a "classical education." Which is also what lead me to SeniorLearn to begin with - the Latin classes. I grew up in a small Wisconsin town with great schools which is where I got the notion in my head that being a "renaissance" person (read: well-rounded generalist) was really where it was at!

I am happy to know you all like to take it slow, especially since I am totally interested in simultaneously reading Zevin's book as well as the associated short stories. (And also because because I can listen faster than I can read!) Never been too taken with short stories, but this one just might be the hook I needed to give them more attention.

Thanks for your warm welcomes. It's nice to be here.
Leah

[Ella Gibbons]

Short stories have never interested me for some reason; I like a longer book, one I can really delve into and a few I don't want to end.  Some years ago, we all read and discussed a book of short stories here; perhaps I can find that discussion in our archives.  Loved it; perhaps one needs to share thoughts??

WELCOME LEAH!  We read all kinds of books here and welcome suggestions, what are you reading?

Our f2f book club is reading a book entitled OUR SOULS AT NIGHT by Kent Haruf - Wow, a different kind of book, what a discussion that will be.

I'll be here to welcome FIKREY with all of you. 

[Ella Gibbons]

A few years ago we discussed these. I think this is the last time we did this.

http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/archives/fiction/BestAmericanShortStories2000/BestAmericanShortStories2000Pt1.htm

[PatH]

In 2013 we discussed a miscellaneous bunch of short stories suggested by the participants.  Among them was A Good Man is Hard to Find, one of the chapter stories here.