Author Topic: Suggestion Box for Future Book Discussions ~ (Read 283081 times)

ANNIE · « **Reply #760 on:** March 22, 2012, 11:23:20 AM »

Nominations for June Bookclub Online Discussion-

Post your Nominations now!

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Note that book titles are linked to reviews:

Peony in Love by Lisa See

The Gathering by Anne Enright

Run by Ann Patchett

The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by Jose Saramago

The Viper's Tangle by François Mauriac

In My Father's House by Miranda Seymour

Contact: JoanP

JoanP · « **Reply #761 on:** March 22, 2012, 02:40:07 PM »

Yes, Annie, that would be a big help. Right here in a post. As soon as I see it, I'll put togetrher a new slate for the coming months.

ANNIE · « **Reply #762 on:** March 22, 2012, 05:01:02 PM »

I will not be discussing Peony before the end of Bleak House happens on May 15th. Hope that is okay with you. A link is proving somewhat difficult as so far they are awfully lengthy. Still looking! This one is the best though long and suggests what I said earlier about the book and doing some pre-reading of the book flaps and the Author's Notes on Pg.275.

http://contemporarylit.about.com/od/historicalfictionreviews/fr/peonyInLove.htm

ANNIE · « **Reply #763 on:** March 22, 2012, 05:27:54 PM »

Babi,
Here's quote from the summary about the Snowflower and the Secret Fan which really took me back as didn't realize it was about China for some unknown reason. And still can't get a picture of the movie up in my mind. Wasn't Snowflower presented as a Geisha girl? Now I will have to reread that book for sure. I feel like I just fell off a turnip truck!

"Snow Flower and the Secret Fan", set in 19th Century China, revealed the practice of women's secret writing, which had prevailed for a thousand years."Peony in Love" continues a tradition of strong female protagonists.

Maybe I am confusing Snowflower with Memoirs of a Geisha? Heck, I don't know! I think I need a nap.

JoanP · « **Reply #764 on:** March 22, 2012, 06:40:49 PM »

Thanks, Annie. I entered the title and that link in the heading It's the FIRST suggestion for the next Book discussion. It won't be for a while yet as we have a way to go with Bleak House.

Babi · « **Reply #765 on:** March 23, 2012, 08:37:20 AM »

Oh, my. "Peony In Love" sounds like a beautifully written book, but I really cringed when
I read that only on her deathbed does she learn that the young poet she is dying for was
actually her fiance'. So foolish and pointless. That's even worse than those idiotic
teenagers, Juliet and Romeo.
ANNE, no geisha girl. A matchmaker made a young girl of a poor family more eligible for
marriage by promoting her as a companion and contracted lifelong friend to the daughter
of a wealthy family. All of which was wholly new to me, and fascinating. The movie was simply
too long, imo, and began to drag a bit.

ANNIE · « **Reply #766 on:** March 24, 2012, 07:30:32 AM »

Ah, Babi, but Peony dies early in the book. And then one is dealing with her afterlife plus all the well known women writers. Some alive and some not!

Babi · « **Reply #767 on:** March 24, 2012, 09:08:10 AM »

Oh, good! If Peony has an 'afterlife', then her 'life' was not entirely wasted. I could enjoy the
book under those circumstances. It's natural, isn't it, to hate the thought of young people
dying early, and all their potential lost?

ANNIE · « **Reply #768 on:** March 25, 2012, 09:44:02 AM »

Yes, it is natural. Always seems horrible to me.

JudeS · « **Reply #769 on:** April 13, 2012, 12:41:18 AM »

I would like to suggest "The Gathering" by Anne Enright.
It won the Man Booker Prize for 2007.
Anne Enright is an Irish author and she tells a fascinating story of a very large family of ten children to a middle class family . (She writes as one of the children).
The children, now grown, are gathering in their home in Dublin for the wake of their wayward brother, Liam, who drowned.
It is a story of betrayal and redemption through three generations of the Hegarty clan.
It is about festering secrets and warped memories.

It is a book that grabs you and shakes you and doesn't let you go even for weeks and months after you have finished it.
I think I will never forget this amazing book and the story it tells. I hope we can share it.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #770 on:** April 13, 2012, 01:26:08 AM »

It was a good book wasn't it - and her writing - but then I think she is among the best just being Irish - the Irish have a way with words...

That was a good year - I remember reading all 5 of those in the last cut before the winner and among them was "Pip" another interesting story well written - an Island is occupied by soldiers and the teacher has the children attend school each day remembering sentences and together they rebuilding the story Great Expectations - he has the uncooperative-with-education village adults come and share there life tales - they tell their stories of betrayal, abuse and hardship which enlightens the children to the lives of their elders so the understand them better. As a result one women and her daughter confronts the enemy soldiers - the mother is killed and the daughter is telling the story years later as a school teacher herself. It has been a few years since i read it but those are the highlights I remember.

JoanP · « **Reply #771 on:** April 13, 2012, 08:47:47 AM »

Quote

a book that grabs you and shakes you and doesn't let you go even for weeks and months after you have finished it.

High praise, Jude. Sounds fascinating. Will put it into the heading for consideration when I get back. Thanks!

ANNIE · « **Reply #772 on:** April 13, 2012, 12:47:05 PM »

I just spent two hours on Ancestry.com reading a 2nd cousin's listings of his and my family. Fascinating to see how much he has recorded there and what I supplied him with last year is up there also. We have spoken to each other but he was moving to Texas and I haven't met him personally. Just pure fun!
Jude,
That book sounds really good and I will be looking it up at my library today.

Hmmmm, here a quote from a book group at my library.

The Gathering by Friday Bookworms

Offensive, depressing very dark, but very descriptive narrative. Intriguing, evocative, but not enjoyable. Insight into a grieving troubled mind of a woman dealing with her brother's death.

Now, I am really intriqued! We have 29 copies and many available.

JudeS · « **Reply #773 on:** April 13, 2012, 02:49:56 PM »

adoannie
Why would the library have 29 copies if the book is offensive?
If this book is offensive then so is real life. But perhaps the person that found the book offensive feels the same about real life.

Barb
Thank you for reminding me of the book "Pip" which I read many years ago. I did not put it together with this book written some years later by Enright.
I remember thinking of how much "Pip" made my mind run in new channels.

ANNIE · « **Reply #774 on:** April 13, 2012, 05:21:40 PM »

Jude,
I was already thinking that to myself and I said, "Self, you must reserve this book just to check it out to see what everyone is talking about.

marcie · « **Reply #775 on:** April 13, 2012, 09:57:28 PM »

I'd like to read Charle's Dicken's GREAT EXPECTATIONS. I haven't read it since I was 12 or so and I don't recall the details. I watched the recent PBS production (which I liked very much) and now I want to read the book. I'm reading Bleak House with many of you and learning a lot from your insights and questions.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #776 on:** April 14, 2012, 12:19:46 AM »

Well here is what Amazon has to say about 'The Gathering' http://tinyurl.com/7kxho3j

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #777 on:** April 14, 2012, 12:26:51 AM »

The Gathering won in 2007 and here is the short list

Nicola Barker »
Darkmans »
Fourth Estate

Mohsin Hamid »
The Reluctant Fundamentalist »
Hamish Hamilton

Lloyd Jones »
Mister Pip »
John Murray

Ian McEwan »
On Chesil Beach »
Jonathan Cape

Indra Sinha »
Animal’s People »
Simon & Schuster

JudeS · « **Reply #778 on:** April 14, 2012, 01:49:15 AM »

I now realize that The book "Mr Pip" was written by Lloyd Jones and not by Enright.

This book, for me, was hard to read because of some of the scenes even though the outcome was so positive.
The fact that Pip was a model for so many downtrodden people was an interesting one.
Perhaps, even in England of the mid 19th century, it was Pip who became the person many identified with.

Babi · « **Reply #779 on:** April 14, 2012, 08:36:15 AM »

I'm getting so much more from 'Bleak House' in the current discussion, that I
think I could go back now and get much more from Dickens on re-reading all his
books. I've got a few on my shelves, too.

Never heard of any of those, BARB. Sometimes choices are a reflection of the
current times and fashion, but have no 'staying' power.

JoanP · « **Reply #780 on:** April 14, 2012, 05:04:38 PM »

Marcie, we did say that we'd do Great Expectations this year - it came so close to Bleak House in the vote. I'd like to read it - especially after the PBS adaptation - it took such liberties with Dickens story. It was good television, I thought, but I was uncomfortable with the changes. How can they do that? With Dickens?

Jude, If you aren't happy with the NY Times review of The Gathering in the heading, I would put another that you prefer in its place.

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #781 on:** April 18, 2012, 09:30:37 AM »

Just finished RUN by Ann Padgett - I think it would make a good discussion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/books/20masl.html

JoanP · « **Reply #782 on:** April 18, 2012, 11:14:43 AM »

Ella - I LOVE Ann Patchett. Thank you so much for the recommendation - and the review! Will put it in the header this very minute!

marjifay · « **Reply #783 on:** April 23, 2012, 03:40:12 PM »

I nominate Jose Saramago's novel; THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS CHRIST.

Per the book description: A wry, fictional account of the life of Christ by Nobel laureate José Saramago. A brilliant skeptic, José Saramago envisions the life of Jesus Christ and the story of his Passion as things of this earth: His idea of the Holy Family reflects the real complexities of any family, and—as only Saramago can—The result is a deft psychological portrait that moves between poetry and irony, spirituality and irreverence of a savior who is at once the Son of God and a young man. In this provocative, tender novel, the subject of wide critical discussion and wonder, Saramago questions the meaning of God, the foundations of the Church, and human existence itself.

I am reading it, and finding it a most interesting, sometimes poetical and moving story.

Marj

JoanP · « **Reply #784 on:** April 23, 2012, 05:06:55 PM »

Marjifay, not long ago we read Saramago's The Elephant's Journey here. I think the same descriptiion was applied to that one too - "magical" and "moving." Can you tell us when it was translated in the US? I'll go look for a review and put it up in the heading on the slate of nominations...

JoanP · « **Reply #785 on:** April 23, 2012, 05:26:48 PM »

Here's another new book by an author familiar to all of us - Anne Tyler's Beginner's Goodbye Has anyone read it? I'd love to hear what you thought of it. I've never read an Anne Tyler book I didn't love - or at least, like. Here's a write-up that I came across. recently...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/03/anne-tyler-new-book_n_1399288.html

marjifay · « **Reply #786 on:** April 23, 2012, 06:04:33 PM »

In answer to your question, JoanP, Jose Saramago's novel THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS CHRIST was published in the U.S. in 1994 by Harcourt Brace & Co.

This was the first book I've read by Saramago. I see the group read his The Elephant's Journey in December, 2011. Sounds quite a bit different from the book I nominated.

Marj

JoanP · « **Reply #787 on:** April 24, 2012, 10:35:43 AM »

Marjifay -Thanks for the publishing date - I know JS was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1998 - not too long after The Gospel According to Jesus Chirst was published.

The Nobel committee praised his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony", and his "modern skepticism" about official truths." How does this fit with the book you are reading? Had he abandonned capitalizing proper nouns yet?

Elephant's Journey wasn't published until 2008.

I came in this morning to remove Great Expectations from the slate above, since we have already decided to discuss it...it finished only a few votes short of Bleak House the last time we voted. Tenatatively we'll discuss it in July.

marjifay · « **Reply #788 on:** April 24, 2012, 09:20:26 PM »

Re Jose Saramago's novel, THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS CHRIST, JoanP wrote, " The Nobel committee praised his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony", and his "modern skepticism" about official truths." How does this fit with the book you are reading? Had he abandonned capitalizing proper nouns yet?"

This sounds like the book. Not sure what is meant by "official truths." No, Saramago capitalizes proper nouns, i.e. God, Jesus, Joseph, Mary, et al. He doesn't put quotation marks around what is being said, tho, so you have to get used to reading it fairly closely to see who is speaking. But it's not a difficult book.

I was curious about some of the things he says, so I got a copy from my library of Asimov's Guide to the Bible by Isaac Asimov. It's so interesting I've ordered my own copy. Asimov describes the secular aspects of the bible. He attempts to illuminate events of the Old and New Testaments by telling the actual historical, geographical and biographical aspects of it. Lots of maps. Very interesting.

Marj

kidsal · « **Reply #789 on:** April 27, 2012, 03:48:05 AM »

Am reading Viper's Tangle by Francois Mauriac. This book was written in 1932. Mauriac was later awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. A review of the book on Amazon: The protagonist of the story, a miserly old man close to death, tells of his bitterness towards his family and the world with great psychological acumen. He explains to the reader exactly how his hypocritical bourgeouis family has led him to go to great lengths in plotting to disinherit them. He despises his wife's Catholicism, and he offers an incredibly disturbing because realistic portrait of her narrow-mindedness, her failures of charity, even as he freely confesses his own wretched flaws. What is extraordinary about the story is that his turn of heart begins to occur not as the result of an intervention by some saintly Christian character who shows him the "real meaning of faith." Small, chance discoveries occur that allow the protagonist to see his wife in a new light and allow him to realize that though she and her faith were indeed imperfect, like himself, she too hid complexities and anxieties within her. The religion that he held in contempt because it seemed so false and shallow begins to seem genuine as he gains a better picture of the role it played in her inner life, that he was too self-absorbed to see in the years she was alive. I appreciate this book for its honest portrayal of imperfectly led Christian lives, and the (not-sermonizing) message that the individual members of the church can be both saint and sinner. To acknowledge this, even to be laid psychologically bare, with all one's faults, before a non-believer, does not discredit Christ but is evidence of his mercy. My review may make this book sound explicitly theological, but Mauriac does not beat the reader over the head with theology. The real strength of this book is its exquisite prose and psychological realism.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #790 on:** April 27, 2012, 05:45:22 PM »

Kidsal, I studied this book for French A-level ('Le Noeud de Viperes') and have never forgotten it. I can even remember some of the quotes I had to learn for the essays! ('Isa, vois comment je souffrais' - or something like that - comes to mind.) I can't remember all of the story now - probably should re-read it - but I do remember how powerful it seemed at the time.

The other ones we did were Camus - 'La Peste', and Balzac - 'Pere Goriot'. There was also a Moliere play that I didn't like and whose name I have therefore obliterated from my memory. I absolutely adored reading in French and really wish I had gone on to do languages instead of copping out and taking Eng Lit just because I was good at it - I didn't enjoy it half as much as I think I would have enjoyed French and Latin.

Rosemary

JoanP · « **Reply #791 on:** April 27, 2012, 06:16:45 PM »

kidsal - what a good idea! We haven't read French auteurs since - Stendhal's le Rouge et le Noir - and that was a looong time ago. Can you remember any others?

Rosemary, that's another idea - those who can, could read in French! "Isa, vois comme j'ai été malheureux..." I'll put it up now - I think we're looking at a May vote...

JudeS · « **Reply #792 on:** April 28, 2012, 12:27:28 AM »

RosemaryKay
One of the books you mentioned, The Plague by Camus,
is simply a wonderful book that earned its author a Nobel Prize.
By placing the setting of the Novel in North Africa he fooled the Germans who had conquered France into thinking it was about a Plague of sickness. It really was an allegory about the Nazi Regime.
They allowed it to be published while the war was still on and before they ever found out that Camus was working for the French Underground.
For those of you who haven't read Camus this is a deceptively dark novel that gave hope to people in their days under the Nazi regime.

marjifay · « **Reply #793 on:** April 29, 2012, 04:28:27 PM »

JoanP - What happened to the book I nominated by Jose Saramago? THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS CHRIST.

Marj

marjifay · « **Reply #794 on:** April 30, 2012, 01:14:44 AM »

Jude, thanks for your review of Camus' THE PLAGUE. The only book of his I've read is The Stranger. I've put The Plague on my TBR list.

BTW, Camus was given the Nobel Prize, as you said. But the Nobel Prize (unlike the Pulitzer) is not given for a single piece of literature, but for an author's lifetime body of work. There are a few exceptions, i.e. Hemingway got one for The Old Man and The Sea.

Marj

PatH · « **Reply #795 on:** April 30, 2012, 09:25:25 AM »

Quote from: marjifay on April 29, 2012, 04:28:27 PM

JoanP - What happened to the book I nominated by Jose Saramago? THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS CHRIST.

Marj

It seems to be in the heading, linked to a review.

Jonathan · « **Reply #796 on:** May 03, 2012, 02:59:26 PM »

Could I nominate: IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE, by Miranda Seymour. English country house living and obsession. An unenviable way of life.

JoanP · « **Reply #797 on:** May 04, 2012, 09:07:01 AM »

Jonathan - this sounds fascinating - here's a link from The Guardian - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/feb/11/biography.features

I'm going to check around for its availability in the US - in local libraries before adding it to the mix. Will be right back!

JoanP · « **Reply #798 on:** May 04, 2012, 09:19:10 AM »

Yes, my local library carries In My Father's House. Actually there are several books with this same title. You have to watch for the aurhor name, Seymour. . Amazon.com says they have three copies left. Barnes & Noble has it - the B&N Market Place has copies for 1.99...Also available for their Nook. Thanks for the recommendation, Jonathan~

JoanP · « **Reply #799 on:** May 14, 2012, 03:50:39 PM »

At the end of the day, we'll close the nominations - and bright and early tomorrow morning you may come in here and vote for your favorite for a June discussion. Thank you all for your input...

News:

Author Topic: Suggestion Box for Future Book Discussions ~ (Read 283081 times)