Discussion Questions for "Animal Dreams" by Barbara Kingsolver

Please join us for our next book discussion on Wednesday, May 13th @ 2pm. Everyone is welcome! We're reading "Animal Dreams" by Barbara Kingsolver.

The following are discussion questions provided by the publisher:

1. Why are Hallie and Codi different? What happened that caused them to take such different life paths? How and why does Codi change? Why does she become more engaged with the world?

2. One theme of the novel is the relationship between humans and the natural world. What does the novel have to say about the difference between Native American and Anglo American culture in relation to nature? How do creation stories, such as the Pueblo creation legend and the Garden of Eden story, continue to influence culture and behavior?

3. How do you feel about Doc Homer? What kind of parent was he, and why? In what ways did his strange point of view serve as a vehicle for the novel's themes of memory, amnesia, and identity?

Great Books Discussion Group Informational Meeting

There will be a Great Books Book Group informational meeting on Monday, April 13th @ 10am. Please join us to hear our group leader's ideas for the new book group!

Questions? Call Andi @ 781-2351 or library@falmouth.lib.me.us.

Read Around Maine Selections

This month (March) we're reading "Any Bitter Thing" by Monica Wood. April's selection is Stephen King's "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon". Please join us for this fun online book group. You can join in from home, just add your comments to the ongoing blog at http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/bookclub/037516.html

On Line Book Group

If you can't attend our monthly book group, how about participating in "Read Around Maine"? This online book group is available at the Portland Press Herald website. So far, participants have read "Olive Kitteridge" by Elizabeth Strout and "One Man's Meat" by E. B. White. You can even vote here for upcoming choices from the Literary Map of Maine.

I hope you'll join is in reading books that are set in Maine, rather real or imagined. Keep checking back here, I hope to start visiting some of the sites described in the books listed.

Questions and Topics for Discussion For "Breakfast with Buddha" by

Roland Merullo The following discussion questions were provided by the publisher:

1. How do the first scenes of Otto with his family set the stage for what happens in the rest of the novel?

2. In what ways does Otto change over the course of the story? What key moments during the trip play a part in his evolution?

3. How would you describe Cecelia? Is she, as Otto says, “as flaky as a good spanakopita crust”? Is there some substance to her?

4. Do you believe Cecelia changes over the course of the story, or do you think it’s only Otto’s opinion of her that changes? Share specific scenes that support your view.

5. Which events or remarks in the novel convince you that Rinpoche is a legitimate spiritual teacher? Were there situations where you doubted his authenticity?

6. Humor is often employed a way of making us relate to a particular situation. How does the author use humor in this way? Are there particular passages that were especially funny to you? If so, why?

7. The book is partly about “meaning of life” issues, but it also has a lot to say about contemporary American society. What does Otto see and hear that makes him encouraged or discouraged about the state of American life?

8. Discuss the role landscape plays in the story.

9. Jeannie, Anthony, and Natasha are minor characters in the novel, but how do they serve to round out Otto’s character? How do they influence your feelings about Cecelia and Rinpoche?

10. Amish country, the Hershey’s factory, a bowling alley, a baseball game, taking an architectural tour of Chicago, playing miniature golf, swimming in a Minnesota lake, why do you suppose the author chose these kinds of activities? Discuss the purpose each activity serves in the story. What would the book have been like had these activities not been included?

11. When Otto comes across the metaphor of the piano-playing boy in Rinpoche’s book, he says, “If I had been editing the book, I would have written in the manuscript margins, ‘Work this,’ meaning that the author should take the general idea and sharpen it, make it clearer to the reader” (page 174). Yet Otto can’t get the the plight of the piano-playing man out of his mind. Why do suppose that is? What aspect of the metaphor is unsettling to Otto? Do you find it unsettling? If so, why?

12. How would you characterize what Otto experiences after sitting with Rinpoche for two hours in silence (page 237)? Have you ever experienced the pleasure of a quiet mind? Was it similar or dissimilar to Otto’s reaction?

13. Do you believe Rinpoche is changed by the end of the trip with Otto? If so, to what degree is Otto responsible for that change?

14. Do you believe the ending of the novel was the best ending for this story? If the story were to continue, where should it go from here?

February Questions for Wednesday, Feb. 11th

The following questions are provided by the publisher for "One Thousand White Women":

Reading Group Discussion Questions for ONE THOUSAND WHITE WOMEN The Cheyenne are often referred to as "savages," even by the women who voluntarily travel to live among them. During this time period, what is it that makes the Cheyenne savage, and the white "civilized"? Are there ways in which you would judge the Cheyenne in the novel are more civilized than the whites? Are there ways in which you consider them less civilized? Were you surprised that Little Wolf, the Cheyenne chief, was so aware and seemingly resigned to the fact that his culture was doomed? How does this differ from our attitudes and assumptions as United States citizens? Did you admire May Dodd's rebelliousness? Did you find it shocking that she would leave her children behind? Do you consider her a sympathetic character? Did you find it believable that the US government might undertake a covert project such as the "Brides for Indians" program? Do you think the author had more modern history in mind when he developed this idea? Were you surprised by elements of the Cheyenne Culture as depicted here? Do you think that the Cheyenne culture was respectful of women? Consider what might seem contradictory elements--for example, it is a matrilineal society, and yet warriors could have multiple wives. Compare what the Cheyenne culture valued in women compared with what white culture at the time valued in women. Contrast Captain Bourke's fiancée, Miss Lydia Bradley, with May Dodd. In what way do May and Lydia represent different types of women? In what ways have cultural expectations of women changed since this time period, and in what ways have they remained the same? Did you find it believable that the white women embraced the Cheyenne culture, and willingly married with them? Compare your concept of romantic love, and married love, with the relationship that develops between May and Little Wolf. Were you surprised by the violence among tribes as depicted here? Did it contrast with your understanding of Native American cultures? What similarities were there between the violence among tribes, and the violence between whites and Native Americans? While depicting the slaughter of Native American culture, Jim Fergus also portrays the imminent decimation of the natural landscape. Consider both tragedies. Were they equally inevitable? Are they equally irreversible?

"A Conspiracy of Paper"

The following questions are provided by the publisher: I will provide copies at our meeting on Wednesday, January 14th!


1. Do you think Weaver should have constantly bailed Miriam out of trouble? What do you think about him not getting the girl in the end? Did you want to see them together or was the books' ending more believable?

2. Did this novel make you change your sentiments about the current stock market? Did it make you want to become more cautious in your own investments? Did you read it as a cautionary tale?

3. For many centuries orthodox Jewish communities have lived inside European societies but also outside of them. In what ways did Lienzo's fear harm his son? In what ways did it protect him? Do you think the Jews of the eighteenth-century London did themselves a service or disservice by closing themselves off?

4. The "gentlemen" at Sir Owen's club put Weaver in the uncomfortable position of having to speak for his entire culture. Have you ever been in a situation where you were the only minority (religious, racial, economic, etc.)? How did it feel to have a group looking at you as the spokesperson for your community? Can you think of any modern parallels?

5. Instead of praising his son, Benjamin, for defending the elderly Mrs. Cantas from anti-Semites, Lienzo strikes him? What did you think of Lienzo's behavior? What would it be like to live in constant fear of drawing attention to your community? Can you think of any modern parallels?

6. Who do you think was more honorable in his ways of doing business: the criminal Jonathan Wild, or Nathan Adelman? Why?

7. Near the end of the book, Adelman says to Weaver about the murder of Sir Owen, "You need only to believe, Mr. Weaver." And Benjamin answers, "Like the new finance . . .it is true only so long as we believe it is true." What do you think the author is trying to say about the future of the stock market by letting Weaver believe someone he knows is unreliable?

8. Have you ever been caught up in a mania like the South Sea Bubble? What did it teach you about fads? Would you allow it to happen again?

9. As a child, Benjamin idolized boxers for their ability to fight. Compare his physicality to his relatives' intellectual and financial pursuits. Do you think Weaver's attraction to boxing was a response to the precariousness of his community?

10. At the end of the book the powerful Adelman comes out on top. Yet he is a member of a disempowered group. Do the many conspiracies in this book ultimately benefit the disenfranchised, or the powerful?

11. Discuss the title A Conspiracy of Paper. Do you think the author used the word "paper" to evoke written histories and novels as well as money? Do you believe that history is written by those who come out on top? How do you think "paper" will fare in our increasingly electronic age?