November 2019: Family Life by Akhil Sharma

Meeting Details:  Thursday, Nov 7th; meeting starts at 7:30pm, with discussion to begin at 8pm

Discussion Questions: 

1. Did you enjoy enjoy the book? Why or why not? Have you read any other books by Akhil Sharma? How does this compare?
2. The novel opens in the present, when Ajay is forty and his parents are elderly.  How does the opening affect your experience of the rest of the novel, which takes place during Ajay's childhood?
3. What is the books message? How did you feel about the characters? Whom did you like or not like and why?
4. America is marvelous to the Mishra family at first.  If tragedy hadn’t struck, do you think that America would have met the Mishra’s expectations for it? Or do you think that at least certain elements of their disillusionment were inevitable?
5. How does the Mishras’ status as immigrants affect their experience of Birju’s accident? How might their lives following the accident have played out differently if they weren’t strangers in a strange land?
6. Describe the process through which Ajay becomes a writer. How does writing change the way he experiences his childhood.
7. In the aftermath of Birju’s accident, Ajay’s mother turns to religion and his father to alcohol. How are these two coping mechanisms different? Do you think they have anything in common? Do you think that Ajay’s own way of coping [academic success] has anything in common with his parents?
8. Describe the prose style in Family Life. What do you think the author achieves through the candor and lack of sentimentality in his storytelling?
9. On the second anniversary of his brother’s accident, Ajay thinks, “I couldn’t believe that everything had changed because of three minutes” (p. 129). What do you make of this? How does the brevity of the accident itself affect your experience of the passage of time in the novel, which takes place over many years? Has your own life ever changed so drastically, so quickly?
10. Compare and contrast the scenes when the family is awaiting news of Ajay’s college acceptances to the scenes when they are awaiting news of Birju’s high school acceptance.
11. Describe Ajay’s love life in high school and beyond. What is he seeking from his girlfriends? In what ways is he being honest with them, and in what ways, dishonest?  How are his relationships with women affected by his experience with his brother? His experience as an immigrant?
12. Family Life ends in a moment of ambiguity. “I got happier and happier,” Ajay says. “In the distance was the beach and the breaking waves and the red seaplane bobbing in the water. The happiness was almost heavy. And that was when I knew I had a problem” (page 218).  What is it about this moment and about Ajay’s happiness that tells him he has a problem? How would you describe his problem? Do you think he will ever escape or solve it?
13. Would you recommend this book? Why or why not?

Menu:

- Indian or American!

April 2017: The Wonder by Emma Donoghue

Meeting Date: Thursday, April 6th at Shelagh's house; meeting @ 7:30 with plans to start discussion by 8pm.















Discussion Questions

1. Did you like the book? Why or why not?

2. How would you describe Lib Wright (consider the name, perhaps)—especially when we first meet her? How does she approach her move to Ireland, the people, superstitions, the food?  When does it become evident that there is part of Lib's past she is not revealing to us? How reliable of a narrator is she?

3. Describe the Ireland that confronts Lib, the way in which Emma Donoghue presents the country in the 19th Century after the devastation of the infamous potato famine.

4. How does Anna O'Donnell differ from expectations, both yours and Lib's? When Lib first sees her, what is the state of Anna's health—does Lib find her as healthy as everyone claims she is?

5. Is Anna too young to understand her reasons for fasting? What responsibility do the family and the church have for Anna? What about the doctor's role? 

6. As the days pass and Anna's condition deteriorates, Lib begins to feel she may be complicit in girl's demise. Is she?

7. How does Lib change from who she was when she first ventured into Ireland? How would you describe her as you progress through the novel?

8. The novel brings up basic philosophical and religious questions, one of which is what it means to give up the most vital necessity of life in the name of something greater than yourself. Is it admirable, mad, selfish, narcissistic?

9. What is the role of an outsider, like Lib? Does she have the right to intervene or an obligation to do so? What would you say or do to Anna?

10. The novel has a gothic feel to it: spooky, menacing, even harrowing. What makes for the sinister atmosphere that pervades the novel?

11. Do you find interesting the clinical detail regarding the descriptions of Anna's symptoms and the theory and practice of nursing in the 19th century?

12. Discuss the book's title. What are the multiple meanings of "The Wonder"?

13. Would you recommend this book?

Menu Ideas 

Many of the meals which Lib had contained oats, fish or was in the form of a stew. If you wanted to expand on this?  -I will make corned beef and Irish soda bread as well as provide the beverages on Thursday. 

Reminder: next month we'll be choosing books for the next 1/2 year; 

don't forget to look over the choices!

May 2016: Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

Hello Ladies!
This Thursday is our book club meeting to discuss 'Station Eleven'. If you could arrive anytime after 7:30 to begin our discussion at 8:00.

You are welcome to bring what you would like...
I will provide the beverages and some kind of snack. 

Our Discussion Questions:

1) Did you like the book why/why not?

2) Did the story seem realistic to you? Realistic enough to frighten you?  Why or why    aren't you afraid of the possibility of something like a virus wiping out most of humanity and the world reverting to the dark ages?

3) Does the novel have a main character?  Who would you consider it to be?

4) Who was your favourite character and why?  Who was your least favourite character? (not including the prophet)

5) Did you have any ideas about why the symphony members, and then the entire symphony itself, disappeared from the road?

6) Certain items turn up again and again, for instance the comic books and the paperweight-things Arthur gave away before he died, because he didn't want anymore possessions. Clark's Museum of Civilization turns what we think as mundane belongings into totems worthy of study. What is the point Mandel is making?

7) Some characters (like Clark) believe in preserving and teaching about the time before the flu. But in Kirsten's interview with Francois Diallo, we learn that there are entire towns that prefer not to: "We went to a place once where the children didn't know the world had ever been different..." (Page 115). What are the benefits of remembering, and not remembering?

8) What do you think happened during the year Kirsten can't remember? 

9) What do you think the Travelling Symphony finds when they come to the place where Kirsten saw the electric lights through the telescope at the airport?  Do you think there could be a large communities or even countries that have either been untouched by the collapse or have begun to rebuild?

10) Arthur was never interested in Miranda's Dr. Eleven comics. Why do you think the author chose to name her novel after the comic?

11) What does the 'Star Trek' quote on the side of the symphony's van mean "Because survival is insufficient"?

12) Did you like the novel flashed back and forth between pre and post apocalypse?  What was your overall opinion of the style?

13) Would you recommend 'Station Eleven' to others?

Menu Suggestion -

The Travelling Symphony spends a lot of time around the campfire, so how about campfire snacks?  Anything that you might typically roast around the campfire (no freshly caught squirrel please!!)

Ideas:
chowhound campfire treats

campfire desserts

camp snacks (both sweet and spicy)

February 2015: What If... by Randall Munroe

Meeting Details  - It's couples night!  Bring your hubby along to Matt and Shelagh's on Friday, Feb 6th at 7:30.

Discussion Questions:

1. Did you like the book? Why or why not? 
2. Have you see the web-comic (https://what-if.xkcd.com/) before?  If so, did that make you more/less excited to read the book?  How is the web-comic the same or different from the book?
3. Remember the teachers who told you over the years that there was no such thing as a stupid questions?  Do you think Randall Munroe would agree?  Support your answer with evidence from the book.
4. Was there a question that Randall Munroe quotes in the book that you had wished he would have answered?
5. Guys: what was your favorite question in the book?  What did you like about it?
6. Girls: What was your favorite question in the book?  What did you like about it?
7. This book combines humor with philosophical musings and serious science.  Did you enjoy the humor?  Did the humor help interest you in the "serious" part of the answers?
8. Did you learn anything new from this book?  What was it?
9. Did you find any errors in the science in this book? (hint: there are a few!)
10. Do you have a question for Randall Munroe to answer?  What would you like to know?
11. Upon reading reviews of "What If?" It has been suggested that Randall Munroe should author a science textbook for middle school/high school students.  Do you agree with this suggestion?
12. Would you recommend this book to anyone?  Who and why? 

Menu: What if.. you could eat all your favorite things tonight?

'What If'...each couple brought their favourite dessert and/or savoury dish/appetizer to share with the group?

Savory:

Sweet and Sour Chicken Bites - S and R

Jalepeno Popper and Olive Cheese Bread - J and T

Sweet:

Skor Trifle - S and R

Cherry Cheese Cake - J and T

 Matt and I will also provide the beverages. 

Please add a comment with what you plan to bring once you've decided!