Iris Book Club

The Golden Spruce (John Valliant)

2009-06-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

The Golden Spruce is the story of a glorious natural wonder, the man who destroyed it, and the fascinating, troubling context in which his act took place.

A tree with luminous glowing needles, the golden spruce was unique, a mystery that biologically speaking should never have reached maturity; Grant Hadwin, the man who cut it down, was passionate, extraordinarily well-suited to wilderness survival, and to some degree unbalanced. But as John Vaillant shows in this gripping and perceptive book, the extraordinary tree stood at the intersection of contradictory ways of looking at the world; the conflict between them is one reason it was destroyed. Taking in history, geography, science and spirituality, this book raises some of the most pressing questions facing society today.

On the night of January 20, 1997, with the temperature near zero, Hadwin swam across the Yakoun river with a chainsaw. Another astonishing physical feat followed: alone, in darkness, he tore expertly into the golden spruce – a tree more than two metres in diameter – leaving it so unstable that the first wind would push it over. A few weeks later, having inspired an outpouring of grief and public anger, Hadwin set off in a kayak across the treacherous Hecate Strait to face court charges. He has not been heard from since.

Vaillant describes Hadwin’s actions in engrossing detail, but also provides the complex environmental, political and economic context in which they took place. This fascinating book describes the history of the Haida’s contacts with European traders and settlers, drawing parallels between the 19th century economic bubble in sea otter pelts – and its eventual implosion – and today’s voracious logging trade. The wood products industry is examined objectively and in depth; Vaillant explores the influence of logging not only on the British Columbia landscape but on the course of western civilization, from the expansion of farming in Europe to wood’s essential importance to the Great Powers’ imperial navies to the North American “axe age.” Along the way, The Golden Spruce includes evocative portraits of one of the world’s most unusual land- and seascapes, riveting descriptions of Haida memorial rites, and a lesson in the difficulty and danger of felling giant trees.

Thrilling and instructive though it may be, The Golden Spruce confronts the reader with troubling questions. John Vaillant asks whether Grant Hadwin destroyed the golden spruce because – as a beautiful “mutant” preserved while the rest of the forest was devastated – it embodied society’s self-contradictory approach to nature, the paradox that harrowed him. Anyone who claims to respect the environment but lives in modern society faces some version of this problem; perhaps Hadwin, living on the cutting edge in every sense, could no longer take refuge in the “moral and cognitive dissonance” today’s world requires. The Golden Spruce forces one to ask: can the damage our civilization exacts on the natural world be justified? (From Chapters Online)

Book Club Discussion Questions

(Questions provided by Lisa - posted because it is very difficult to find good questions for this book)

1. Do you think Grant Hadwin is still alive?

2. Can you empathize with Grant's position? Do you think his actions were forgivable?

3. Do you agree with John Valliant when he says "It seems in order to succeed - or even function - in this world, a certain tolerance for moral and cognitive dissonance is necessary"?

4. Which parts of the books did you like best? Do you have any criticisms?

5. Do you find The Golden Spruce to be a disappointing or inspiring read? Did it leave you with any lasting thoughts?

6. The Golden Spruce is a Canadian book. What does it tell us about our experience of nature, our economy, and how we see ourselves?

7. Does this book make you want to visit the Queen Charlotte Islands?

Book Club Discussion Notes

We enjoyed this book for what it was: an non-fiction account of an event and the background surrounding the situtation. It reminded a lot of us of a documentary, and was a little disjointed in parts. However, if you are from British Columbia, it is a must read as it provides an interesting history of logging, and native culture in our province. We also though the descriptions of the logging practice, and the geography of British Columbia was amazing. After reading this book, we all want to visit the Queen Charlotte Islands.

Rating = 3 Irises

Gods Behaving Badly (Marie Phillips)

2009-05-03T22:06:00.000-07:00

From Marie Phillips, hailed by the Guardian Unlimited website as a “hot author” destined to “break through” in 2007, comes a highly entertaining novel set in North London, where the Greek gods have been living in obscurity since the seventeenth century.

Being immortal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Life’s hard for a Greek god in the twenty-first century: nobody believes in you any more, even your own family doesn’t respect you, and you’re stuck in a dilapidated hovel in North London with too many siblings and not enough hot water. But for Artemis (goddess of hunting, professional dog walker), Aphrodite (goddess of beauty, telephone sex operator) and Apollo (god of the sun, TV psychic) there’s no way out… until a meek cleaner and her would-be boyfriend come into their lives and turn the world upside down.

Gods Behaving Badly is that rare thing, a charming, funny, utterly original novel that satisfies the head and the heart. (From Chapters Online)

Book Club Discussion Notes

We found this book to be a funny, light read that provided a new and interesting perspective on the Greek Gods of Mount Olympus. And while the books is filled with many characters, it is easy to follow even if you aren't familiar with the Greek Gods. In fact, for many this book provides a humourous introduction to each of the gods and their purpose, which have been modernized in this story. All of our members had no problems finishing this book, but for other book clubs, we would recommend this as a lighter read after something heavy, perfect for summer. We also though it might be interesting if paired with The Odyssey, as it would provide for some interesting comparisons.

Rating = 4 Irises

The Doomsday Book (Connie Willis)

2009-04-05T22:27:00.000-07:00

For Kivrin, preparing an on-site study of one of the deadliest eras in humanity''s history was as simple as receiving inoculations against the diseases of the fourteenth century and inventing an alibi for a woman traveling alone. For her instructors in the twenty-first century, it meant painstaking calculations and careful monitoring of the rendezvous location where Kivrin would be received.

But a crisis strangely linking past and future strands Kivrin in a bygone age as her fellows try desperately to rescue her. In a time of superstition and fear, Kivrin -- barely of age herself -- finds she has become an unlikely angel of hope during one of history''s darkest hours.

Five years in the writing by one of science fiction''s most honored authors, Doomsday Book is a storytelling triumph. Connie Willis draws upon her understanding of the universalities of human nature to explore the ageless issues of evil, suffering and the indomitable will of the human spirit. (From Chapters.ca)

Book Club Discussion Notes

We found this book a little slow to start, but was well worth the read and read quickly after the first 100 pages. We enjoyed the two parallel storylines between modern time and the past. And while this book is techincally considered science fiction, we found it was more of a historical fiction novel, and even our members who avoid science fiction at all costs, enjoyed it. The Doomsday Book is definitely a good book that sparked some interesting questions and discussion.

Rating = 5 Irises

Last Chance to See (Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine)

2009-03-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

Douglas Adams leads us on an unforgettable journey around the world to see species on the brink of extinction.

After years of reflecting on the absurdities of life on other planets, science-fiction author Douglas Adams teams up with zoologist Mark Carwardine on an expedition to find out what’s happening to life on this one.

Rating = 5 Irises

Additional Information about the Animals in the book

Komodo Dragons (Monitor Lizards)

http://www.travel2komodo.com/rincaislandinformation.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komodo_dragon

Mountain Gorillas

http://www.awf.org/content/wildlife/detail/mountaingorilla

http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/endangered_species_list/great_apes/gorillas/mountain_gorilla/VirungaMountains

http://www.go2africa.com/virungavolcanoes/map#popup2439http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virunga_Mountains

Northern White Rhinocerous

http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/northernwhiterhinoceros/northernwhiterhinoceros.html

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/136

http://www.africaparks.org/apffoundation/index.phpoption=com_gallery2&Itemid=28&g2_itemId=61

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Garamba_National_Park,_Democratic_Republic_of_Congo

http://www.iucn.org/what/species/mammals/

BillBlack

http://www.southwesthelicopters.co.nz/the_people_who_make_it_happen.html

Kakapo

http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/nativeanimals/birds/landbirds/kakapo/docswork/rangediaries/februa-2009/

http://www.kakaporecovery.org.nz/

Blue Penguin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_PenguinBaijihttp://www.baiji.org/index.php?id=2

http://www.ptes.org/index.php?cat=2

Rodrigues Fruit Bat

http://www.thewildones.org/Animals/rodbat.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pteropus_rodricensis

http://www.durrell.org/Animals/Mammals/Rodrigues-fruitbat/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritian_Wildlife_Foundation

http://www.maurinet.com/wildlife.html

A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseini)

2009-02-01T22:08:00.000-08:00

After more than two years on the bestseller lists and over four million copies in print, Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel of enormous contemporary relevance.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years—from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding—that puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives—the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness—are inextricable from the history playing out around them.

Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heart-wrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love—a stunning accomplishment.

Rating = 4 Irises

The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror (Christopher Moore)

2008-12-07T21:59:00.000-08:00

'Twas the night (okay, more like the week) before Christmas, and all through the tiny community of Pine Cove, California, people are busy buying, wrapping, packing, and generally getting into the holiday spirit.

But not everybody is feeling the joy. Little Joshua Barker is in desperate need of a holiday miracle. No, he's not on his deathbed; no, his dog hasn't run away from home. But Josh is sure that he saw Santa take a shovel to the head, and now the seven-year-old has only one prayer: Please, Santa, come back from the dead.

But hold on! There's an angel waiting in the wings. (Wings, get it?) It's none other than the Archangel Raziel come to Earth seeking a small child with a wish that needs granting. Unfortunately, our angel's not sporting the brightest halo in the bunch, and before you can say "Kris Kringle," he's botched his sacred mission and sent the residents of Pine Cove headlong into Christmas chaos, culminating in the most hilarious and horrifying holiday party the town has ever seen.

Move over, Charles Dickens -- it's Christopher Moore time. (From Chapters Online)

Rating = 4 Irises

Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)

2008-11-02T21:55:00.001-08:00

Andrew "Ender" Wiggin thinks he is playing computer simulated war games at the Battle School; he is, in fact, engaged in something far more desperate. Ender is the most talented result of Earth''s desperate quest to create the military genius that the planet needs in its all-out war with an alien enemy.Is Ender the general Earth needs? The only way to find out is to throw the child into ever harsher training, to chip away and find the diamond inside, or destroy him utterly. Ender Wiggin is six years old when it begins. He will grow up fast.But Ender is not the only result of the experiment. The war with the Formics has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender''s two older siblings, Peter and Valentine, are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways.Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.

Rating = 4 Irises

Molokai (Alan Brennert)

2008-09-28T22:19:00.000-07:00

This richly imagined novel, set in Hawaii more than a century ago, is an extraordinary epic of a little-known time and place---and a deeply moving testament to the resiliency of the human spirit. Rachel Kalama, a spirited seven-year-old Hawaiian girl, dreams of visiting far-off lands like her father, a merchant seaman. Then one day a rose-colored mark appears on her skin, and those dreams are stolen from her. Taken from her home and family, Rachel is sent to Kalaupapa, the quarantined leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka'i. Here her life is supposed to end---but instead she discovers it is only just beginning. With a vibrant cast of vividly realized characters, Moloka'i is the true-to-life chronicle of a people who embraced life in the face of death. Such is the warmth, humor, and compassion of this novel that "few readers will remain unchanged by Rachel''s story. (From Chapters Online)

Rating = 5 Irises

Guards! Guards! (Terry Pratchett)

2008-08-19T14:17:00.000-07:00

Guards! Guards! is the 8th Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, first published in 1989. It is the first novel about the City Watch. The first Discworld computer game borrowed heavily from Guards! Guards! in terms of plot.

The story follows a plot by a secret brotherhood, the Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night, to overthrow the Patrician, Ankh-Morpork and install a puppet king, under the control of the Supreme Grand Master (Vetinari's secretary, Lupine Wonse). Using a stolen magic book, they summon a dragon to strike fear into the people of Ankh-Morpork.

Once a suitable state of terror and panic has been created, the Supreme Grand Master proposes to put forth an "heir" to the throne, who will slay the dragon and rid the city of tyranny. It is the task of the Night Watch - Captain Vimes, Sergent Colon, Corporal Nobbs and new volunteer Carrot Ironfoundersson– to stop them, with some help from the Librarian of the Unseen University, an orangutan trying to get the stolen book back.

Rating = 4 Irises

Stardust (Neil Gaiman)

2008-07-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

Young Tristran Thorn will do anything to win the cold heart of beautiful Victoria—even fetch her the star they watch fall from the night sky. But to do so, he must enter the unexplored lands on the other side of the ancient wall that gives their tiny village its name. Beyond that old stone wall, Tristran learns, lies Faerie—where nothing, not even a fallen star, is what he imagined.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman comes a remarkable quest into the dark and miraculous—in pursuit of love and the utterly impossible. (From Chapters Online)

Rating = 4 Irises

Infidel (Ayaan Hirsi Ali)

2008-07-01T12:37:00.000-07:00

In this profoundly affecting memoir from the internationally renowned author of The Caged Virgin, Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells her astonishing life story, from her traditional Muslim childhood in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya, to her intellectual awakening and activism in the Netherlands, and her current life under armed guard in the West.

One of today''s most admired and controversial political figures, Ayaan Hirsi Ali burst into international headlines following an Islamist''s murder of her colleague, Theo van Gogh, with whom she made the movie Submission.

Infidel is the eagerly awaited story of the coming of age of this elegant, distinguished -- and sometimes reviled -- political superstar and champion of free speech. With a gimlet eye and measured, often ironic, voice, Hirsi Ali recounts the evolution of her beliefs, her ironclad will, and her extraordinary resolve to fight injustice done in the name of religion. Raised in a strict Muslim family and extended clan, Hirsi Ali survived civil war, female mutilation, brutal beatings, adolescence as a devout believer during the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and life in four troubled, unstable countries largely ruled by despots. In her early twenties, she escaped from a forced marriage and sought asylum in the Netherlands, where she earned a college degree in political science, tried to help her tragically depressed sister adjust to the West, and fought for the rights of Muslim immigrant women and the reform of Islam as a member of Parliament. Even though she is under constant threat -- demonized by reactionary Islamists and politicians, disowned by her father, and expelled from her family and clan -- she refuses to be silenced.
Ultimately a celebration of triumph over adversity, Hirsi Ali''s story tells how a bright little girl evolved out of dutiful obedience to become an outspoken, pioneering freedom fighter. As Western governments struggle to balance democratic ideals with religious pressures, no story could be timelier or more significant. (From Chapters Online)

Rating = 4 Irises

Friday Night Lights (H.G. Bissinger)

2008-05-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

Return once again to the timeless account of the Permian Panthers of Odessa -- the winningest high-school football team in Texas history. Odessa is not known to be a town big on dreams, but the Panthers help keep the hopes and dreams of this small, dusty town going. Socially and racially divided, its fragile economy follows the treacherous boom-bust path of the oil business. In bad times, the unemployment rate barrels out of control; in good times, its murder rate skyrockets. But every Friday night from September to December, when the Permian High School Panthers play football, this West Texas town becomes a place where dreams can come true. With frankness and compassion, H.G. Bissinger chronicles a season in the life of Odessa and shows how single-minded devotion to the team shapes the community and inspires -- and sometimes shatters -- the teenagers who wear the Panthers'' uniforms. (From Chapters Online)

Rating = 3.5 Irises

The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)

2008-03-31T14:52:00.000-07:00

Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever. The Alchemist is such a book. With over a million and a half copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has already established itself as a modern classic, universally admired. Paulo Coelho’s charming fable, now available in English for the first time, will enchant and inspire an even wider audience of readers for generations to come.

The Alchemist is the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found. From his home in Spain he journeys to the markets of Tangiers and across the Egyptian desert to a fateful encounter with the alchemist.

The story of the treasures Santiago finds along the way teaches us, as only a few stories have done, about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life’s path, and, above all, following our dreams. (From Chapters Online).

Rating = 5 Irises

Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)

2008-02-15T19:53:00.000-08:00

Margaret Mitchell's epic novel of love and war won the Pulitzer Prize and went on to give rise to two authorized sequels and one of the most popular and celebrated movies of all time.

Many novels have been written about the Civil War and its aftermath. None take us into the burning fields and cities of the American South as Gone With the Wind does, creating haunting scenes and thrilling portraits of characters so vivid that we remember their words and feel their fear and
hunger for the rest of our lives.

In the two main characters, the white-shouldered, irresistible Scarlett and the flashy, contemptuous Rhett, Margaret Mitchell not only conveyed a timeless story of survival under the harshest of circumstances, she also created two of the most famous lovers in the English-speaking world since
Romeo and Juliet. (From Chapters Online)

Rating = 5 Irises

Atonement (Ian McEwan)

2008-01-15T15:13:00.000-08:00

The novel opens on a sweltering summer day in 1935 at the Tallis family’s mansion in the Surrey countryside. Thirteen-year-old Briony has written a play in honor of the visit of her adored older brother Leon; other guests include her three young cousins -- refugees from their parent’s marital breakup -- Leon’s friend Paul Marshall, the manufacturer of a chocolate bar called “Amo” that soldiers will be able to carry into war, and Robbie Turner, the son of the family charlady whose brilliantly successful college career has been funded by Mr. Tallis. Jack Tallis is absent from the gathering; he spends most of his time in London at the War Ministry and with his mistress. His wife Emily is a semi-invalid, nursing chronic migraine headaches. Their elder daughter Cecilia is also present; she has just graduated from Cambridge and is at home for the summer, restless and yearning for her life to really begin. Rehearsals for Briony’s play aren’t going well; her cousin Lola has stolen the starring role, the twin boys can’t speak the lines properly, and Briony suddenly realizes that her destiny is to be a novelist, not a dramatist.In the midst of the long hot afternoon, Briony happens to be watching from a window when Cecilia strips off her clothes and plunges into the fountain on the lawn as Robbie looks on. Later that evening, Briony thinks she sees Robbie attacking Cecilia in the library, she reads a note meant for Cecilia, her cousin Lola is sexually assaulted, and she makes an accusation that she will repent for the rest of her life.

The next two parts of Atonement shift to the spring of 1940 as Hitler’s forces are sweeping across the Low Countries and into France. Robbie Turner, wounded, joins the disastrous British retreat to Dunkirk. Instead of going up to Cambridge to begin her studies, Briony has become a nurse in one of London’s military hospitals. The fourth and final section takes place in 1999, as Briony celebrates her 77th birthday with the completion of a book about the events of 1935 and 1940, a novel called Atonement.

In its broad historical framework Atonement is a departure from McEwan’s earlier work, and he loads the story with an emotional intensity and a gripping plot reminiscent of the best nineteenth-century fiction. Brilliant and utterly enthralling in its depiction of childhood, love and war, England and class, the novel is a profoundly moving exploration of shame and forgiveness and the difficulty of absolution.

Rating = 2 Irises

Gone With The Wind Discussion Questions

2007-12-12T09:38:00.001-08:00

Please note: questions from http://www.simonsays.com/ and page numbers refer to a paperback edition.

1. Gerald O'Hara is described as "vital and earthy and coarse" (pg. 50). Why do you think society still considers him a gentleman? Is it simply because he married Ellen? Does his daughter Scarlett possess these same traits? What about her sisters, Suellen and Careen?

2. Discuss the general attitude towards education in Gone With the Wind. Gerald, Scarlett, and others refer to Ashley Wilkes's studies as "foolishness." Does this surprise you? If art and literature are unimportant to so many, what qualities are admired?

3. "To Mammy's indignation, [Scarlett's] preferred playmates were not her demure sisters or the well-brought-up Wilkes girls but the negro children on the plantation and the boys of the neighborhood..." (pg. 75). Why doesn't Scarlett befriend other girls? As a young woman, whom does she show general affection and why?

4. "Sacrilegious though it may be, Scarlett always saw through her closed eyes, the upturned face of Ellen and not the Blessed Virgin, as the ancient phrases were repeated" (pg. 87). Does Scarlett have these emotions because Ellen is her mother or because she admires her as a person? Why is Ellen so special to Scarlett? Is there anyone else Scarlett admires to the same degree?

5. While preparing for the party at Twelve Oaks, Scarlett asks Mammy "Why is it a girl has to be so silly to catch a husband?" (pg. 95). Considering the times, do you think this statement is accurate? Does Scarlett follow these rules herself? Are there any women in the novel who don't act "silly" in the presence of men?

6. Several of the families frequently refer to the Slatterys and others as "white trash." Is this simply a matter of them having less money? During the time period, which traits must one possess to be considered a member of genteel society? Are exceptions ever made?

7. After overhearing her declaration of love to Ashley, Rhett Butler tells Scarlett "you, Miss, are no lady" (pg. 131). Is this the very reason he's drawn to her? What is it about Scarlett that instantly attracts Rhett's eye? Conversely, Aunt Pitty believes Rhett could be a gentleman if only he respected women. Do you agree? Are there any women he does respect? Why them as opposed to others?

8. There is very little discussion of Scarlett's first husband, Charles Hamilton: "Within two weeks Scarlett had become a wife, and within two months more she was a widow" (pg. 139). Why is there a jump in time from Charles's introduction to his death? Were you at all surprised at Scarlett's reaction to widowhood?

9. Discuss the many complicated issues of race in this novel. Mammy and Pork consider themselves a higher status than those who work in the field. Why do they believe this? Do they also consider themselves better than "po whites" like the Slatterys? How would you describe Scarlett's different relationships with Mammy, Pork, Dilcey, and Prissy?

10. When Scarlett first arrives in Atlanta, she notes the city as being "as headstrong and impetuous as herself" (pg. 149). Both during wartime and afterwards, what other similarities exist between Scarlett and her adopted home?

11. Most of her fellow Southerners will do anything for "The Cause," and yet Scarlett admits to herself it means "nothing at all to her" (pg. 177). Is she being selfish or merely honest? Why do you think she feels this way? Does her opinion change throughout the novel? And if she doesn't care about The Cause, why does she still hate "Yankees" so much?

12. Rhett warns Scarlett that he "always gets paid" (pg 242). Discuss the times when this is true. Why does he have this attitude? Is Rhett ever purely generous?

13. Considering he knows of her love, why does Ashley ask Scarlett to look after his wife, Melanie, while he's at war? Is this a fair favor to ask? Does Scarlett agree only because she's in love with him, or has she learned to love Melanie, as well?

14. "Oh, what fun! If he would just say he loved her, how she would torment him and get even..." (pg. 327). Why do Scarlett and Rhett feel the need to trick one another? Are there ever moments when they allow themselves to be vulnerable with each other? Why is honesty such a problem for them?

15. When the Yankees arrive in Atlanta, Rhett leaves Scarlett in the wagon to take care of Melanie and the others. Why does he leave them behind, as well as a life of comfort, to join the army he claims to dislike so much?

16. On her deathbed, Ellen calls out for her lost love, Philippe. Why does Margaret Mitchell include this seemingly insignificant back-story? Does this relationship parallel any others in the novel?

17. When she returns to Tara to find the Yankees have destroyed all their food and cotton, Scarlett utters one of the most well-known lines from Gone With the Wind: "as God as my witness, I'm never going to be hungry again" (pg. 408). Does this moment change Scarlett? From where does she find her strength?

18. Scarlett is often annoyed that her son, Wade Hampton, appears to prefer Aunt Melly. How would you describe her relationship with Wade? Much like his father Charles, why is he mentioned so infrequently? Do you judge Scarlett when she yells at him?

19. After Scarlett kills the Yankee soldier, Melanie immediately helps her dispose of the body, causing Scarlett to begrudgingly admire her "thin flashing blade of unbreakable steel" (pg. 420). How would you describe Melanie -- as weak or strong? Does she know about Scarlett's feelings for Ashley? If so, why does she remain so loyal to her?

20. Describe Atlanta once the war is over. Besides the physical damages, what are the biggest changes? Why do you think some of the newly free men remain loyal to their white families, while others try to start new lives? Do any of the former slaves now seem "successful"?

21. When Ashley returns to Tara, he confides in Scarlett that despite his wartime heroics, he considers himself a coward. What does he mean by this statement? Do you agree with him? Does Scarlett agree?

22. After finally finding a moment alone with each other, Scarlett and Ashley declare their love, but she admits "they were like two people talking to each other in different languages" (pg. 499). Were they ever really in love, or do they just admire each other greatly? And if he does love her, why doesn't he stop her from offering herself to Rhett in exchange for the money to pay off the taxes?

23. When the war leaves them all poor, Scarlett cannot believe so many respectable families "still think, in spite of everything, that nothing really dreadful can happen to any of them because they are who they are..." (pg. 517). Do you agree that the former aristocrats remain the same, or as Ashley describes it, are in a "state of suspended animation" (pg. 677)? If so, why do you think this is? What makes Scarlett different? Does she still care what they think of her?

24. After Tara is safe, why does Scarlett remain so involved with the mill? Does she enjoy working even though it's deemed unladylike? Where did she learn her business skills? Why is she successful when so many of the men are not? And why does she decide to do business with the Yankees, whom she continues to hate?

25. Why do so many of the white Southern men join the Klan? Is it a matter of race, or politics, or dislike of the Yankees? Do they want some sense of control after losing the war and having "Carpetbaggers" run their local government? Why is Scarlett one of the few to speak against the Klan? And why does Rhett try to rescue Ashley and Frank from the meeting when he learns of the Yankee soldiers' trap?

26. Discuss the importance of religion in the novel. How important is God to Scarlett? During tough times, she often claims not to care what He thinks. Do you believe this is true? What about following the death of her second husband, Frank Kennedy? Does she feel guilt? When she tells Rhett she's afraid of going to Hell and has many regrets, do you believe her (pg. 768)?

27. "No, my dear, I'm not in love with you, no more than you are with me, and if I were, you would be the last person I'd ever tell" (pg. 778). If what Rhett says is true, why does he propose to Scarlett, especially after repeatedly claiming he isn't a marrying man? And why does he choose to propose so shortly after Frank's death? Does he make a good husband?

28. Scarlett has one child with each of her husbands. Does she treat them differently? Does fatherhood change Rhett? If so, do you think his behavior would be different if he had a son instead of a daughter? How are Scarlett and Rhett affected by Bonnie's death, both individually and as a couple?

29. The novel ends with Rhett rejecting Scarlett's love, and her thinking "tomorrow is another day" (pg. 959). Is this another example of Scarlett refusing to quit, or does she really believe she'll win him back? Do you think he's truly fallen out of love, or will Rhett return to Scarlett "another day"?
30. In the beginning of the novel, Gerald tells Scarlett that land is "the only thing in the world that lasts..." (pg. 55). Is this true in Scarlett's world? Ultimately, does she love Ashley, or Rhett, or her own children as much as she loves Tara?

The Mermaid Chair (Sue Monk Kidd)

2007-12-12T09:33:00.000-08:00

Inside the abbey of a Benedictine monastery on Egret Island, just off the coast of South Carolina, resides a beautiful and mysterious chair ornately carved with mermaids and dedicated to a saint, who, legend claims, was a mermaid before her conversion.

When Jessie is summoned home to the island to cope with her eccentric mother’s seemingly inexplicable act of violence, she is living a conventional life with her husband, Hugh, a life “molded to the smallest space possible.” Jessie loves Hugh, but once on the island, she finds herself drawn to Brother Thomas, a monk who is soon to take his final vows.

Amid a rich community of unforgettable island women and the exotic beauty of marshlands, tidal creeks and majestic egrets, Jessie grapples with the tension of desire and the struggle to deny it, with a freedom that feels overwhelmingly right and the immutable force of home and marriage. Is the power of the mermaid chair only a myth? Or will it alter the course of Jessie’s life? What transpires will unlock the roots of her mother’s tormented past, but most of all, allow Jessie to make a marriage unto herself.

Where does the yearning for soul-mated love come from? When it comes to love, what are the pulls inside a woman between the ordinary and the sublime? The Mermaid Chair is a vividly imagined novel about mermaids and saints, about the passions of the spirit and the ecstasies of the body, brilliantly illuminating the awakening of a woman to her own deepest self. (From Sue Monk Kidd Website)

Rating = 3 Irises

Still Life With Woodpecker (Tom Robbins)

2007-11-15T11:06:00.000-08:00

"Still Life with Woodpecker is sort of a love story that takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes. It reveals the purpose of the moon, explains the difference between criminals and outlaws, examines the conflict between social activism and romantic individualism, and paints a portrait of contemporary society that includes powerful Arabs, exiled royalty, and pregnant cheerleaders. It also deals with the problem of redheads.

Rating = 4 Irises

The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)

2007-11-01T17:15:00.000-07:00

On her way home from school on a snowy December day in 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon ("like the fish") is lured into a makeshift underground den in a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer--the man she knew as her neighbor, Mr. Harvey.

Alice Sebold''s haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, The Lovely Bones, unfolds from heaven, where "life is a perpetual yesterday" and where Susie narrates and keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working on her case. As Sebold fashions it, everyone has his or her own version of heaven. Susie''s resembles the athletic fields and landscape of a suburban high school: a heaven of her "simplest dreams," where "there were no teachers.... We never had to go inside except for art class.... The boys did not pinch our backsides or tell us we smelled; our textbooks were Seventeen and Glamour and Vogue." The Lovely Bones works as an odd yet affecting coming-of-age story. Susie struggles to accept her death while still clinging to the lost world of the living, following her family's dramas over the years like an episode of My So-Called Afterlife. Her family disintegrates in their grief: her father becomes determined to find her killer, her mother withdraws, her little brother Buckley attempts to make sense of the new hole in his family, and her younger sister Lindsey moves through the milestone events of her teenage and young adult years with Susie riding spiritual shotgun. Random acts and missed opportunities run throughout the book--Susie recalls her sole kiss with a boy on Earth as "like an accident--a beautiful gasoline rainbow."

Though sentimental at times, The Lovely Bones is a moving exploration of loss and mourning that ultimately puts its faith in the living and that is made even more powerful by a cast of convincing characters. Sebold orchestrates a big finish, and though things tend to wrap up a little too well for everyone in the end, one can only imagine (or hope) that heaven is indeed a place filled with such happy endings. (From Chapters Online)

Rating = 3 Irises

The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)

2007-10-17T09:10:00.000-07:00

Amir and Hassan are childhood friends in the alleys and orchards of Kabul in the sunny days before the invasion of the Soviet army and Afghanistan’s decent into fanaticism. Both motherless, they grow up as close as brothers, but their fates, they know, are to be different. Amir’s father is a wealthy merchant; Hassan’s father is his manservant. Amir belongs to the ruling caste of Pashtuns, Hassan to the despised Hazaras.

This fragile idyll is broken by the mounting ethnic, religious, and political tensions that begin to tear Afghanistan apart. An unspeakable assault on Hassan by a gang of local boys tears the friends apart; Amir has witnessed his friend’s torment, but is too afraid to intercede. Plunged into self-loathing, Amir conspires to have Hassan and his father turned out of the household.When the Soviets invade Afghanistan, Amir and his father flee to San Francisco, leaving Hassan and his father to a pitiless fate. Only years later will Amir have an opportunity to redeem himself by returning to Afghanistan to begin to repay the debt long owed to the man who should have been his brother.

Compelling, heartrending, and etched with details of a history never before told in fiction, The Kite Runner is a story of the ways in which we’re damned by our moral failures, and of the extravagant cost of redemption. (From Chapters Online).

Rating = 5 Irises

Saving Fish from Drowning (Amy Tan)

2007-10-04T11:22:00.000-07:00

San Francisco art patron Bibi Chen has planned a journey of the senses along the famed Burma Road for eleven lucky friends. But after her mysterious death, Bibi watches aghast from her ghostly perch as the travelers veer off her itinerary and embark on a trail paved with cultural gaffes and tribal curses, Buddhist illusions and romantic desires. On Christmas morning, the tourists cruise across a misty lake and disappear.

With picaresque characters and mesmerizing imagery, Saving Fish from Drowning gives us a voice as idiosyncratic, sharp, and affectionate as the mothers of The Joy Luck Club. Bibi is the observant eye of human nature–the witness of good intentions and bad outcomes, of desperate souls and those who wish to save them. In the end, Tan takes her readers to that place in their own heart where hope is found. (From Chapters Online)

Book Club Discussion Comments:

This book is definitely different from any of Amy Tan’s other novels. Instead of a mother-daughter central theme, this book follows a large group of characters on an adventure through China and Burma/Myanmar. It is also interesting given the current events occurring in Myanmar. This book provides a bit of background at what life is like for the people of that country. Some of the flaws of this book are the inconsistent narration, and the large amount of characters, none of who go through any sort of personal development. For book clubs, this book provides some interesting discussion topics, and is definitely something that all of your members will be able to finish.

Rating = 3 Irises

Death on the Nile (Agatha Christie)

2007-08-15T15:04:00.001-07:00

Linnet Doyle is young, beautiful, and rich. She's the girl who has everything including the man her best friend loves. Linnet and her new husband take a cruise on the Nile, where they meet the brilliant detective Hercule Poirot. It should be an idyllic trip, yet Poirot has a vague, uneasy feeling that something is dangerously amiss...(From Chapters Online)

Rating = 5 Irises

A Complicated Kindness (Miriam Toews)

2007-08-08T10:46:00.001-07:00

Sixteen-year-old Nomi Nickel longs to hang out with Lou Reed and Marianne Faithfull in New York City’s East Village. Instead she’s trapped in East Village, Manitoba, a small town whose population is Mennonite: “the most embarrassing sub-sect of people to belong to if you’re a teenager.” East Village is a town with no train and no bar whose job prospects consist of slaughtering chickens at the Happy Family Farms abattoir or churning butter for tourists at the pioneer village. Ministered with an iron fist by Nomi’s uncle Hans, a.k.a. The Mouth of Darkness, East Village is a town that’s tall on rules and short on fun: no dancing, drinking, rock ’n’ roll, recreational sex, swimming, make-up, jewellery, playing pool, going to cities or staying up past nine o’clock.

As the novel begins, Nomi struggles to cope with the back-to-back departures three years earlier of Tash, her beautiful and mouthy sister, and Trudie, her warm and spirited mother. She lives with her father, Ray, a sweet yet hapless schoolteacher whose love is unconditional but whose parenting skills amount to benign neglect. Father and daughter deal with their losses in very different ways. Ray, a committed elder of the church, seeks to create an artificial sense of order by reorganizing the city dump late at night. Nomi, on the other hand, favours chaos as she tries to blunt her pain through “drugs and imagination.” Together they live in a limbo of unanswered questions.

Eventually Nomi’s grief — and a growing sense of hypocrisy — cause her to spiral ever downward to a climax that seems at once startling and inevitable. But even when one more loss is heaped on her piles of losses, Nomi maintains hope and finds the imagination and willingness to envision what lies beyond. (From Chapters Online)

Rating = 2 Irises

The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)

2007-07-18T09:15:00.000-07:00

Sue Monk Kidd's ravishing debut novel has stolen the hearts of reviewers and readers alike with its strong, assured voice. Set in South Carolina in 1964, "The Secret Life of Bees" tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the town’s fiercest racists, Lily decides they should both escape to Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters who introduce Lily to a mesmerizing world of bees, honey, and the Black Madonna who presides over their household. This is a remarkable story about divine female power and the transforming power of love--a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come. (From Chapters Online)

Rating = 5 Irises

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Ian Fleming)

2007-07-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

For more than a year, James Bond, British secret agent 007, has been trailing the private criminal organization SPECTRE and its leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, in 'Operation Bedlam'. Frustrated by his inability to find Blofeld, Bond composes a letter of resignation for M. Meanwhile, Bond encounters a suicidal, beautiful, young woman named Teresa di Vicenzo and interrupts her attempted drowning. He is then captured.

Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo ('Tracy' to her friends) is the daughter of Marc-Ange Draco, head of the Union Corse, the biggest European crime syndicate. Draco believes the only way to save his daughter is for Bond to marry her. To facilitate this, he offers Bond a great dowry—as well as Blofeld's whereabouts; Bond refuses the offer, but agrees to continue romancing Tracy while her mental health improves.

Draco informs Bond that Blofeld has been hiding in Switzerland

; upon further investigation, Bond discovers he has assumed the title and name Comte Balthazar de Bleuville. Blofeld has undergone plastic surgery to physically pass as heir of the de Bleuville bloodline—to the degree that he has asked the London College of Arms to declare him the reigning count. Impersonating a College of Arms representative, Sir Hilary Bray, Bond infiltrates Blofeld's lair atop Piz Gloria and finally meets Blofeld. (From Wikipedia)

Rating = 4 Irises