Our next book:

Hi everyone,
My book pick for March 19, 2010 is, "REMEMBERING THE BONES"by FRANCES ITANI. I found my copy at the new Value Village in Waterdown. Hope you enjoy it! See you in March!
Tara

Discussion questions for An Unquiet Mind

I hope everyone has gotten a copy of An Unquiet Mind and maybe even read it already!  Here are some questions to ponder:

1. "The long and important years of childhood and early adolescence...were to be an extremely powerful amulet, a potent and positive countervailing force against future unhappiness"[p. 15]. What aspects of Jamison's early life and upbringing helped to provide her with emotional support on which to draw years later?



2. What benefits did the conservative military lifestyle led by the Jamisons confer upon the young Kay Jamison? With what disadvantages did that same culture, with its stiff-upper-lip creed, afflict her in her battle with mental illness?



3. In graduate school, Jamison writes, "Despite the fact that we were being taught how to make clinical diagnoses, I still did not make any connection in my own mind between the problems I had experienced and what was described as manic-depressive illness in the textbooks"[p. 58]. Why did she refuse to acknowledge the obvious? Why didn't she question the "rigid, irrelevant notions of self-reliance"[p. 101] she had been taught?



4. "Being open is the sort of thing that I advise people to think very long and hard about,"Jamison has stated. "It's one thing if you're independently wealthy. It's another thing if you're out in the real world"(Washington Post Magazine, 4/16/95). Why did Jamison avoid bringing her illness into the open for so many years, and what made her finally decide to do so?



5. Jamison worries that we could "risk making the world a blander, more homogenized place if we get rid of the genes for manic-depressive illness"[p. 194]. On the other hand, E. Fuller Torrey, a well-known author and schizophrenia researcher, says he "would quite happily lose a van Gogh to treat the disease"(Washington Post Magazine, 4/16/95). Which point of view do you endorse? Can you sympathize with both sides of the issue?



6. With her book Touched with Fire and her public television specials on artists like Byron, van Gogh and Schumann, Jamison has been accused by some of her colleagues of romanticizing manic-depressive illness by associating it with creative genius. Does this accusation seem reasonable or unreasonable to you?



7. "Lithium moderates the illness,"Jamison observes, "but therapy teaches you to live with it"(Time, 9/11/95). Has she convinced you that drugs plus psychotherapy is the answer for mental illness? In that case, might not psychotherapy benefit people suffering from any debilitating illness, not just a mental one?



8. Some physicians wonder whether the increased use of mood-regulating medications might lead to a society-wide practice of chemically altering personality, with the result of making people blander and more conformist (the widespread use of the anti-depressant Prozac has helped fuel this debate). "Which of my feelings are real?"Jamison asks. "Which of the me's is me"[p. 68]? Jamison's sister discouraged her from taking lithium, saying that her "soul would wither if [she] chose to dampen the intensity and pain of [her] experiences by using medication"[p. 99]. How much of personality do you believe to be intrinsic, and how much is a result of biological impulses and chemicals? Is such a question even answerable?



9. Her work, and her own illness, convinces Jamison of "the total beholdenness of brain to mind and mind to brain. My temperament, moods, and illness clearly, and deeply, affected the relationships I had with others and the fabric of my work. But my moods were themselves powerfully shaped by the same relationships and work"[p. 88]. Jamison expresses anger against physicians who draw a distinction between "medical illnesses"and psychiatric illnesses [p. 102]. Does she imply that there is, in actuality, no difference? If there is a difference, of what does it consist?



10. "Depression, somehow, is much more in line with society's notions of what women are all about....Manic states, on the other hand, seem to be more the provenance of men"[p.122]. What might the results of this stereotyping be when it comes to giving treatment?



11. After David's death, Jamison reflects that "grief, fortunately, is very different from depression"[p.150]. How can you explain the essential difference between the two? Is it more possible to cope with the "real"causes of grief than with the impalpable causes of depression?



12. Through bitter experience Jamison comes to recognize the value of emotional steadiness in a relationship, but "somewhere in my heart,"she writes, "I continued to believe that intense and lasting love was possible only in a climate of somewhat tumultuous passions"[p. 170]. Is this feeling peculiar to Jamison and her temperament, or does it reflect certain assumptions in our society? How is the importance of love and friendship demonstrated again and again in the story? How does each of the three principal men in Jamison's life help her to seek a cure?



13. Jamison worries that her work may now be seen by her colleagues "as somehow biased because of my illness,"while admitting that "of course, my work has been tremendously colored by my emotions and my experiences"[p. 203]. Does this make her work less viable than strictly "objective"work, or more so?



14. "My major goal has been to really try and make a difference in how the illness is seen and treated"(Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/18/95). Has she succeeded, so far as you are concerned? Which of your preconceptions were changed by reading her account?



15. "Do I really think that someone with mental illness should be allowed to treat patients?"[p. 204] Jamison asks. She ultimately answers the question in the affirmative. What would your own answer be?

February: An Unquiet Mind

Sarah picked our next book for February, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison. I believe the date for the next meeting is February 19th.  Enjoy!  Questions will come a bit closer to the date.

2010 Meeting Schedule

Here is the schedule, rearranged a bit in Feb-April. I have also added Tanya at the end (i.e. before Hannah, who has always been The Beginning of the List :)) Let me know if anything needs to be changed, and I'll send out an update!

• January 15: Sue
• February 19: Sarah
• March 19: Sherri
• April 16: Lois
• May 14: Julia
• June 18: Tara
• July 16: Elsa
• August 20: Denise
• September 17: Patti
• October 15: Tanya
  
• November 19: Hannah
  
• December 20 (Monday) - tentative date for our Christmas Girls' Night?
  

Discussion Questions for Novels

(from http:// www.litlovers.com/questions_f.htm)

These questions work well for any novel—use them for memoirs, biographies and histories as well.

1. Overall, how did you experience the book while reading it? Were you immediately drawn into the story or did it take a while? Did the book intrigue, amuse, disturb, alienate or irritate you?
2. Do you find the characters convincing? Are they believable? Compelling? Are they fully developed as complex, emotional human beings?
3. Which characters do you admire or dislike? What are their primary characteristics?
4. What motivates a given character's actions? Do you think these actions are justified or ethical?
5. Do any characters grow or change during the course of the novel? If so, in what way?
6. Who in this book would you most like to meet? What would you ask or say?
7. If you could insert yourself as a character in the book, what role would you play?
8. Is the plot well-developed? Is it believable? Do you feel manipulated along the way, or do events unfold naturally?
9. Is the story plot- or character-driven? In other words, does the plot unfold quickly or focus more on characters' inner lives?
10. Consider the ending. Did you expect it or were you surprised? Was it forced? Was it neatly wrapped up - too neatly? Or was it unresolved, ending on an ambiguous note?
11. If you could rewrite the ending, would you? In other words, was the ending satisfying?
12. Can you pick out a passage that strikes you as particularly profound or interesting - or perhaps something that sums up the central dilemma of the book?
13. Does the book remind you of someone - a friend, family member, co-worker, boss - or something - an event, problem - in your own life?
14. If you were to talk to the author, what would you want to know?
15. Have you read the author's other books? Can you discern a similarity - in theme, writing style, structure - between them, or are they completely different?
    

Guernsey ... Discussion Questions

Our next meeting is at my place this Friday ... 7:30-8 start time. Hope you can make it! Here are some discussion questions for you to think about before the meeting:

1. What was it like to read a novel composed entirely of letters? What do letters offer that no other form of writing (not even emails) can convey?
2. What makes Sidney and Sophie ideal friends for Juliet? What common ground do they share? Who has been a similar advocate in your life?
3. Dawsey first wrote to Juliet because books, on Charles Lamb or otherwise, were so difficult to obtain on Guernsey in the aftermath of the war. What differences did you note between bookselling in the novel and bookselling in your world? What makes book lovers unique, across all generations?
4. What were your first impressions of Dawsey? How was he different from the other men Juliet had known?
5. Discuss the poets, novelists, biographers and other writers who capture the hearts of the members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. What does a reader's taste in books say about his or her personality? Whose lives were changed the most by membership in the society?
6. Juliet occasionally receives mean-spirited correspondence from strangers, accusing both Elizabeth and Juliet of being immoral. What accounts for these judgmental letters?
7. In what ways were Juliet and Elizabeth kindred spirits? What did Elizabeth's spontaneous invention of the society, as well as her brave final act, say about her approach to life?
8. Numerous Guernsey residents give Juliet access to their private memories of the occupation. Which voices are most memorable for you? What was the effect of reading a variety of responses to a shared tragedy?
9. Kit and Juliet complete each other in many ways. What did they need from each other? What qualities make Juliet an unconventional, excellent mother?
10. How did Remy's presence enhance the lives of those on Guernsey? Through her survival, what recollections, hopes, and lessons also survived?
11. Juliet rejects marriage proposals from a man who is a stereotypical "great catch." How would you have handled Juliet's romantic entanglement? What truly makes someone a "great catch"?
12. What was the effect of reading a novel about an author's experiences with writing, editing and getting published? Did this enhance the book's realism, though Juliet's experience is a bit different from that of debut novelist Mary Ann Shaffer and her niece, children's book author Annie Barrows?
13. What historical facts about life in England during World War II were you especially surprised to discover? What traits, such as remarkable stamina, are captured in a detail such as potato peel pie? In what ways does fiction provide a means for more fully understanding a non-fiction truth?
14. Which of the members of the Society is your favourite? Whose literary opinions are most like your own?
15. Do you agree with Isola that "reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones"?

See also the generic fiction discussion questions (separate blog post) in case these aren't thought-provoking enough. I'm also looking forward to finding out which passages strike you as interesting, funny, well-written, or otherwise noteworthy!