Announcement for the May 12th Book Group

Just a reminder to all FML Book Group members....we will be reading Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park" for May and watching the movie as well! Please be sure to view the movie and read the book before coming to the May 12th meeting. We will be discussing both the book and movie.

Discussion Questions provided by ReadingGroupGuides.com

1. Mansfield Park was written after a silence of more than a decade. During this period, Austen moved several times, saw the deaths of her father and a potential suitor, and became the dependent old maid we find so often among her more pitiable characters. The Napoleonic Wars continued; England embarked on imperialistic adventures. Austen followed both with interest. Do you see evidence of these things in the novel?

2. At the heart of its plot, Mansfield Park has three sisters. What kind of family life do you imagine would account for Mrs. Bertram and Mrs. Norris and Mrs. Price? Find something good to say about Mrs. Norris.

3. Fanny is an Austen heroine who, throughout the course of the book, has nothing to learn. In this she stands in sharp contrast to Emma Woodhouse. Do you like Fanny as well as you like Emma? Less? More?

4. In one of the book's most famous scenes, Fanny sits wilted in the heat at the Rushworth's estate, while the other characters come and go around her. Discuss the ways this epitomizes the entire plot of the book.

5. The various roles played in The Lover's Vows often result in Austen characters who are, under the cover of the play, allowed to act in ways more congruent with their real natures than polite society permits. They perform themselves.Meanwhile, William H. Galperin suggests that, when Fanny Price insists she cannot act, she is actually demonstrating her "inability to know one is always acting." Galperin speaks of "a fundamental duplicity in which one literally performs one's inability to act."Think about this until your head explodes.

6. Plato has suggested that one cannot be both a good actor and a good citizen. What do you imagine he meant? Discuss the relevance of this to Mansfield Park.

7. In most books, the villains are identifiable through their mistreatment of the hero/heroine. In Mansfield Park, the Crawfords are among the tiny handful of people who see the value of Fanny Price. Are they ever unkind to her?Why is Fanny so little moved by their interest and esteem?In your opinion, is any of this esteem genuine?

8. The Crawfords are superficially the most attractive characters in the book. Where do their virtues become vices? Answer the same question with regard to Fanny and Edmund.

9. Kingsley Amis said, "Edmund and Fanny are both morally detestable and the endorsement of their feelings and behavior by the author . . . makes Mansfield Park an immoral book." Do you agree? Is there any difference in your mind between Austen herself and the book's narrator?

10. Earlier Austen novels suggest a society in positive transformation; earlier heroines struggle towards the possibility of improvement. In contrast, Mansfield Park is about a society threatened with transformation. Fanny Price makes no positive movement. She protects Mansfield Park by her resistance, by her refusal to change. In the end, the society represented by the estate of Mansfield Park will not and cannot be saved? What in that society seemed valuable to you? Is there anything to regret about its loss?

"The Colour" by Rose Tremain

Our next book group meeting will be Wednesday, April 14th at 1pm. Please pick up a copy of April's selection "The Colour" and join us in the discussion. We will also be reading and discussing poems in celebration of Poetry Month!

Discussion questions from the publisher:

1. Consider the concept of Englishness in the novel, and how you feel Tremain deals with the idea of 'reassembling' little pieces of England in New Zealand.
   
   
2. How does Tremain handle the presence of the Maoris in the novel, in relation to the English people who have descended upon them?
   
   
3. Many of the characters are driven by the force of escapism, an over-powering urge to leave all that is behind them and find a brave new utopia in New Zealand. Who do you think is most driven by this romantic notion, and is Tremain critical of this in any way?
   
   
4. Compare Tremain's treatment and characterisation of the indigenous Maoris, and their desire for greenstone, with that of Joseph's, and the other gold-diggers, whom she describes as 'Men like moths, going towards a golden light' (p148).
   
   
5. How does the 19th century notion of Goldrush relate to our modern day? Consider whether you can think of any contemporary examples where the Goldrush mentality - and all its social and cultural effects - is still manifest in our society.
   
   
6. 'Without desire, nothing is made.' (p138). How important is this line to the overall story? Consider the concept of desire and the different forms it takes on in the novel.

March 10th Book Group Meeting-"House of the Spirits"

We meet again on Wednesday, March 10th @ 1pm in the library's Russell Room. Please feel free to join us. If you need to obtain a copy of our selected title, please contact the library @ 781-2351 and have your Falmouth Memorial Library card number ready!

SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION(provided by http://www.booksattransworld.co.uk

1. The way in which Allende writes about the women gives this novel an extraordinary power. In what ways does Allende explore the evolution of the feminine consciousness over the generations (beginning with Clara, and ending with Alba) throughout the novel and how does she express her concern for the position of women in Latin American society?

2. 'I wanted to show that life goes in a circle, events are intertwined, and that history repeats itself there is no beginning and no end'. How do Allende's comments shed light on this novel?

3. Are you able to feel any sympathy for Esteban Trueba despite his boorish tyrannical ways? Do you see him as a despicable monster or as a product of his time and social class?

4. Although The House of the Spirits is a profoundly political novel, Allende's narrative voice and characterisation is so rich that it never read likes a political tract. Would you agree with this and, if so, how do you think Allende achieves this?

5. What other books have you read that explore political events and social injustice, using metaphor and allegory in such a way?

6. The novelist Barbara Trapido wrote 'Alongside the grim ''outer'' narrative of power struggle, corruption and brutality, it presents an alternative ''inner'' version of history: a feminine sub-culture of extrasensory understanding. If this sounds a shade polemical it is wholly redeemed by a fine humour in the telling'. Does this strike you as an accurate assessment of this novel?

7. What other elements of this novel struck you as particularly effective and moving?

Book Group This Wednesday

The FML Book Group meets this Wednesday, February 10th at 1pm. We have read "The Flame Trees of Thika" by Elspeth Huxley.

Book group members, remember April is Poetry Month so bring in your selection no later than our March 10th meeting!

January 13, 2010 Book Group Meeting

Since our December meeting was canceled due to bad weather, we will discuss both "The Zookeeper's Wife" and our December selection, "The Piano Teacher"

See you on Wednesday, January 13th @ 1pm!

"The Zookeeper's Wife" by Diane Ackerman

There is no available reader's guide for our January selection, "The Zookeeper's Wife". However, you might want to check out the following link to a video of the author, Diane Ackerman, discussing her book.

Diane Ackerman on "The Zookeeper's Wife

Also, come to the book discussion on Wednesday, January 13th @1pm with some questions of your own.

Here's one to start you off:

1. How did the way Ackerman structured her book affect your overall feeling of the Zabinski's story?

Winter Cancellations

Please note, if we have winter weather that results in the closing of the library, the Falmouth Memorial Library Book Group will be canceled. There will be no rescheduling of the canceled meeting, the group will meet the following month as scheduled. Any questions? Please call Andi @ 781-2351 or post a comment on our blog!