And our next book club pick is....

The meeting will be at my house on Friday June 17th.  Closer to the day I will send out some questions.  Hope to see you there!

Book Choices - Fall 2004 to Spring 2011!

Once in a while someone asks me for the list of books that we've discussed since Hannah, Rachel, Jenn Burnett and I started the book club in the fall of 2004. Since I just updated it for another book clubber whom I met at the kids' music school, I thought I'd share it here too ... enjoy!

2004
Clara Callan (Richard B. Wright)
The World According to Garp (John Irving)

2005
No Logo (Naomi Klein)
Reading Lolita in Tehran (Azar Nafisi)
The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
Boy's Life (Robert McCammon)
The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood)
The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
Crow Lake (Mary Lawson)
Birds Without Wings (Louis de Bernieres)

2006
Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell)
Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (Susanna Clarke)
Time Traveler's Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls)
The Girls (Lori Lansens)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (Mark Haddon)
The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi (Jacqueline Park)
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (Rebecca Wells)

2007
The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
Riding the Bus with My Sister (Rachel Simon)
My Name is Asher Lev (Chaim Potok)
The Shadow of the Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafon)
Special Topics in Calamity Physics (Marisha Pessl)
Rockbound (Frank Parker Day)
The Big Over-Easy (Jasper Fforde)
Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen)

2008
Midwives (Chris Bohjalian)
Objects in Mirror are Closer Than They Appear (Katharine Weber)

The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
No Great Mischief (Alistair MacLeod)
Stones from the River (Ursula Hegi)
Plainsong (Kent Haruf)
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Mohsin Hamid)
Refiner's Fire (Mark Helprin)

2009
The Lost Garden (Helen Humphreys)
Eat Pray Love (Elizabeth Gilbert)
Belle Falls (Sherri Vanderveen)
Olive Kitteridge (Elizabeth Strout)
Girl with a Pearl Earring (Tracy Chevalier)

Mutant Message Down Under (Marlo Morgan)
Persuasion (Jane Austen)
Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (Lisa See)
The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

2010
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows)
An Unquiet Mind - A Memoir of Moods and Madness (Kay Redfield Jamison)
Remembering the Bones (Frances Itani)
The Book Thief (Marcus Zusak)
The Namesake (Jhumpa Lahiri)
That Old Ace in the Hole (Annie Proulx)

The Other Side of the Bridge (Mary Lawson)

Beatrice and Vergil (Yann Martel)

Drowning Ruth (Christina Schwarz)

The Space Between Us (Thrity Umrigar)

What They Wanted (Donna Morrissey)

2011

The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova)

The Housekeeper and the Professor (Yoko Ogawa)

Sarah’s Key (Tatiana de Rosnay)

Our Next Meeting ...

... is at Sarah's place on Friday, March 18. We will be discussing "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay. According to the schedule, Julia will be revealing the book that we're discussing on April 15. Please take a look at the schedule (in a previous blog entry) and keep our meeting dates in mind as you're planning other things, if at all possible. If you have a conflict on the date of your own meeting, you might want to ask Tanya (with as much notice as possible) to take your spot since she hasn't had any luck with her scheduled dates :)

See you in March!

Our Favourite Children's Books

Patti
• The Secret in the Box by W. G. van de Hulst

Denise
• Leo the Magnificat by Ann M. Martin
• Rugby and Rosie by Nan Parson Rossiter
• High-Wire Henry by Mary Calhoun

Rachel
• Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

Lois
• Apple Pigs by Ruth Orbach
• Edward the Emu and Edwina the Emu by Sheena Knowles
• The Mitten by Jan Brett
• Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban
• The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders by Jack Prelutsky

Sue
• When We Were Very Young by A. A. Milne
• A Fish Out of Water by Helen Palmer

Tanya
• The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds
• Ish by Peter H. Reynolds

Elsa
• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
• Just in Time for Christmas by Louise Borden
• Follow Me, The Leader by Dorothea Warren Fox

Julia
• The Baby Sister by Tomie dePaola

Sherri
• Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
• Something From Nothing by Phoebe Gilman

Tara
• All the Places to Love by Patricia MacLachlan
• James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Hannah
• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
• Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
• Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann
• The Island of the Skog by Steven Kellogg
• Random House Book of Poetry for Children selected by Jack Prelutsky

Hi guys!

I hope you're enjoying The Historian. I'm thrilled that I enjoyed it even more the second time around; and I'm really looking forward to discussing it next month. I also happened upon an episode of Cities of the Underground on History that's about Dracula's history. I thought we could watch it at the beginning of the meeting...it includes a trip to Snagov, so we can see what it looks like!

Here are some discussion questions...not sure how much discussion they'll lead to - they're pretty general! But these are the only questions specifically about this book that I could find anywhere!

1. In the "Note to the Reader," the narrator tells us, "There is a final resource to which I have resorted when necessary - the imagination." How does she use this resource in telling her story? Is it a resource to which the other historians in the book resort, as well?

2. The theme of mentors and disciples is an important one in the book. Who are the story's mentors, and in what sense is each a mentor? Who are the book's disciples?

3. Near the end of Chapter 4, Rossi says, "Human history's full of evil deeds, and maybe we ought to think of them with tears, not fascination." Does he follow his own advice? How does his attitude toward history evolve in the course of his own story?

4. In Chapter 5, Paul's friend Massimo asserts that in history, there are no small questions. What does he mean by this and how does this idea inform the book? Do you agree with his statement?

5. Helen and Paul come from very different worlds, although they share a passion for history. How have their upbringings differed? What factors have shaped each?

6. Throughout the book, anyone who finds an antique book with a dragon in the middle is exposed to some kind of danger. What does this danger consist of? Is it an external power, or do the characters bring it upon themselves?

7. Each of the characters is aware of some of the history being made in his or her own times. What are some of these real historical events, and why are they important to the story?

8. At the beginning of Chapter 1, Paul's daughter notes, "I had been raised in a world so sheltered that it makes my adult life in academia look positively adventurous." How does she change as a person in the course of her quest?

9. Helen's history is deeply intertwined with that of Dracula. In what ways are the two characters connectedc? Does she triumph over his legacy, or not?

10. In Chapter 73, Dracula states his credo: "History has taught us that the nature of man is evil, sublimely so." Do the characters and events of the novel prove or disprove this belief?

2011 Schedule

Just because the blog is resurrected and I'm here anyway, I might as well publish the schedule that I had sent out via email. If you can foresee problems with the date that has been assigned to you, please make sure that you switch early enough that it works out for everyone (enough time to pick a book, etc.). Don't forget to be ready to do the Big Reveal during the meeting before the one that you're hosting & leading!

January 21 – Rachel
February 18 – Sue
March 18 – Tanya
April 15 – Julia
May 13 – Tara
June 17 – Lois
July 15 – Patti
August 19 – Elsa
September 16 – Denise
October 21 – Sherri
November 18 – Sarah

Christmas Meeting - Next Monday!

It's been a while, but I am finally responding to the call to resurrect the blog! I just wanted to make sure everyone knows where Patti lives: 412 Sydenham Rd., Dundas, ON L9H 5E2 ... if you're not familiar with the area, just plug that into Google Maps or your GPS, and you should be good! Her phone number is 289-238-8242 in case you get lost :)

This year's assignment is to bring a favourite children's book - either one from your own childhood or one that you've discovered more recently. When's the last time someone read a children's book (or ten) to you while you were enjoying a glass of wine AND not being climbed on? Exactly ... and that's why I'm really looking forward to the experience!

I think that's it for information on our Christmas meeting ... I hope you can all make it!