A Spool of Blue Thread, by Anne Tyler

Characters

Mr. and Mrs. Brill – first owners of house Jurvis Roy Whitshank “J. R.” or “Junior” Linnie May – wife Merrick and Redcliffe – children Merrick Barrister Walter “Trey” Barrister III – husband Pookie Vanderlin – Merrick’s friend, first engaged to Trey Redcliffe “Red” Whitshank Abby Amanda – Hugh (husband), Elise (daughter) Jeannie – Hugh (husband), Deb and Alexander 9children) Denny Douglas “Stem” - Nora (wife), three sons Susan – Denny’s daughter (not biological) with Carla Lawrence O’Brien and Barbara Jane “BJ” Eames Autry – Stem’s parents

 For Discussion:

NOTE:  Page numbers are from the paperback edition of the novel.

1. Discuss Junior and Linnie.  Could Junior have avoided marrying Linnie?  Did her really love her but didn’t know it?
2. It seemed the only time Linnie asserted herself was when she poured the blue paint on the sidewalk after Junior repainted the blue porch swing.   Do you think Linnie was happy?
3. In Part Two, before Abby and Junior were dating, Abby was helping Linnie in the kitchen and discussing Merrick.  Linnie said, “…it seems to me there’s just these certain types of people that come around and around in our lives…Easy types and hard types” (page 240, chapter 9).  Did you agree with this statement?   Are people even aware of being one type or another?  How would  you describe the characters in the novel – easy or hard?
4. When the Red and Merrick were young, Abby brought “orphans” into the house to help them, which annoyed the children.   At one point they commented that, “Other people showed love by offering compliments.  Abby offered pity.  It was not an attractive quality, in her children’s opinion” (page 67, chapter 4).  How did the different characters in the novel show their love to each other?
5. What did you think about Nora?  Was she really so perfect and easy going?  On page 195 (beginning chapter 8) Amanda commented to Denny, “I wish Stem and Nora weren’t so …virtuous.  It’s wearing, it what it is.”  
6. Discuss Denny.   What did you think he was like when he was away from family?    On the one hand the family thought he did not care about them, but on the other hand he helped out Jeannie during her postpartum depression (page 202, chapter 8).
7. Why didn’t Denny tell the family that he had graduated from college?  Abby thought it was because he wanted her to continue to worry about him (page 156, chapter 6).
8. Discuss Denny and Stem.  On the last page of chapter 3 Denny felt that Stem was, “More of a Whitshank than Denny was.”   Also, he asked his mother if the parents ever thought about asking the children’s permission before bringing Stem to live with them.   Do you think they should have asked?
9. When the subject of a retirement community came up, Red told his sister that he and Abby were “too independent for a retirement community” (page 132, chapter 5).   Her reply was that is was just another word for “selfish” and “It’s stiff-backed people like you who end up being the biggest burdens” (same page).  Do you agree?
10. In the last scene, do you think Denny should have spoken to the boy crying on the train?  Why or why not?
11. Have you ever heard the quote, “You are only as happy as your least happy child” (page 159, chapter 6)?  Do you think it is true?
12. This is the author’s 20^th novel.  How would it be different if she wrote it when she was much younger?
13. How do you think readers of different ages would read this book?  

*****

First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and  Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the upper right link.

The Inkblots, by Damion Searls

REVIEW:  Inkblots is a very interesting and well-written book.  Don’t read it if you are pressed for time – it is extremely detailed and thorough as it follows the Rorschach inkblot test from inception to the present day.  I did find the staying-power of the test very interesting.    Besides being used throughout its history, it became a part of our popular culture.   While it might not be the best book for a book discussion group, if you have varied and wide-ranging interests, this book is a good choice.  I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for this review.

People
Family	Clinics/Psychiatrists/ Psychologists/Timeline
Hermann Rorschach 1884-1922 Olga – wife Children – Elisabeth and Ulrich Ulrich – father Philippine – mother Siblings – Anna and Paul Aunt Regina – stepmother Regina – half-sister	Burgholzli clinic and teaching hospital: Eugen Bleuler – psychiatrist, professor, clinic director 1898 Carl Jung – professor in Zurich, asst. doctor, 1900 Franz Riklin – asst. doctor, 1902 Sigmund Freud Munsterlingen Clinic 1909 – 1913 Elrich Brauchli – director Rorschach and Dr. Paul Sokolov – assistants Robert Vischer – defined empathy (page 84) and influenced abstract art Rorschach to Kryukovo – private clinic in Russia 1913 Rorschack and Nikolai Osipov – doctors Waldau Clinic – Switzerland – 1914 Walter Morgenthaler – researched art and mental illness Krombach Clinic in Switzerland – 1915 – psychiatric hospital and asylum Szymon Hens – medical student – used black blots to measure imagination David Mordecai Levy – brought test to America in 1923 Samuel Beck – 1927 – first article and dissertation on Rorschach test – objective view Bruno Klopfer – Rorschach Research Exchange journal - more holistic approach to test, subjective World War I –test  given as group multiple choice test in armed services  1945 – test used to examine imprisoned Nazi criminals for Nuremberg Trials Douglas Kelly and Gustave Gilbert Istvan Kulcsar – administered test to Eichmann – “psychopathic personality with an ‘inhuman’ worldview” (page 232) John E. Exner Jr. – 1969 – described five scoring systems for test – revived popularity Robyn Dawes – 1994 – “’use of Rorschach interpretations in establishing an individual’s legal status and child custody is the single most unethical practice of my colleagues’” (page 262). Gregory Meyer – 2011 – latest version of test, Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) Joni Mihura – 2013 – gave test scientific basis Stephen Finn – current – new focus on empathy

 For Discussion:

NOTE:  Page numbers refer to the 2017 paperback edition of the book.

1. At the end of the book the author wrote about his experience taking the Rorschach test.   If you could also take it, would you like to know the doctor’s interpretation?
2. In 1919, Rorschach wrote that, “Probably the only thing impossible to change by working on oneself is how one’s introversion and extraversion relate to each other, although the relationship does shift over the course of one’s life because of a kind of maturation process” (page 127).  Do you think we are capable of changing these basic characteristics?  Do you think we should try to change our basic personality?
3. Carl Jung in 1921 wrote that it is impossible to see things from someone else’s perspective, writing, “…Every man is so imprisoned in his type that he is simply incapable of fully understanding another standpoint” (page 157).   Compare this to Stephan Finn who identified that empathy does three different things.  (See page 303.)   How important do you think empathy is to your life and to our society?
4. Why do you think the inkblots have had such an influence in pop culture: for example, in Hollywood films such as “The Dark Mirror,” used in perfume ads, in Ray Bradbury novel, and a painting by Andy Warhol?
5. Why do you think the Rorschach test has been in use for so long?  What makes it different from other tests?

*****

First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the upper right link.

News of the World, by Paulette Jiles

Characters

Capt. Jefferson Kyle Kidd Maria Luisa Betancort y Real – wife, deceased Olympia – daughter - husband, Mason, killed in war Elizabeth – daughter – husband, Emory, lost arm in war Johanna Leonberger – captured by Kiowa at age six, sold back at age ten Wilhelm and Anna Leonberger – aunt and uncle Britt Johnson – brought Johanna to Capt. Kidd Wife and two children taken captive, he found them and brought them home Simon Boudlin – fiddler Doris Dillon – fiancé Mrs. Gannet – ran livery stable John Calley – married Johanna

For discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from paperback edition.

1. In the War of 1812, Kidd was 16 years old when he was made a sergeant.  He wrote a list of the duties of a sergeant, “…because written information was what mattered in this world” (chapter 3, page 22).  He later was put in charge of transporting prisoners and, “…learned all the devices of interrogation” (page 23).   How did what he learned in the military help him in his future career as a traveling reader and in returning Johanna?
2. In chapter two, Capt. Kidd reflected on the differences between the young and elderly.  For example, he thought young people could dress with less care (page 15) and how much the younger generation liked the latest devices (page 17), in this case a more modern gun.  Could you relate?  How did Capt. Kidd adapt to growing older?
3. Discuss the changes in the children after living with the Kiowa tribe:
1. Britt Johnson’s son almost didn’t want to return to his dad.  He said he, “was on his way to becoming a warrior” (chapter 1, page 10).
2. Britt’s son didn’t like to be inside, roofs bothered him.    He had a difficult time quieting down to study.  He was often afraid.
3. Johanna, “…remained at heart a Kiowa to the end of her days” (chapter 22, page 202).
4. In the author’s note she wrote that children adopted by the Indians totally adapted to their new life, forgetting everything from their early years.  We think of the early childhood years as the most formative.  Why do you think the children so completely forgot everything and adopted the Indian ways?
5. The character who seemed to understand Johanna the best was Doris Dillon.  She said that Johanna had been through two creations (chapter 6, page 56) and that the second, “…tears all the making of the first creation and sometimes it falls to bits.”  Did this help you or the other characters understand Johanna better?
6. What did you think of John Calley?  He appeared three times in the novel: 1.) when he and two friends demanded money from the Capt. Kidd for safe passage (chapter 13), 2.) after one of the readings when he apologized for taking the money and said he only wanted honest work (chapter 15), and 3.) in chapter 22 when he came to San Antonio to see Capt. Kidd and stayed to marry Johanna.  
7. How were the Kiowa values (chapter 22, page 201) different from those of the white people?   How did they make it difficult for Johanna and the others to readjust to their original white culture?
1. Pride in doing without
2. Courage most important trait
3. Animals are food, not pets
4. It is not impolite to stare at what is interesting and to ask pointed questions
8. How did Johanna adapt back to the white lifestyle?   What coping mechanisms do you think she used?  How was she able to have a happy life and marriage?
9. What can we learn from Johanna and Capt. Kidd?
10. Discuss the writing style – no quotation marks, sometimes incomplete sentences (“And a man with a grave look and a silver lapel badge in the shape of a shamrock from Hancock’s Second Artillery Corps, Union.” page 91).  How did this affect your reading?

*****
First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and wordassociation.com.  Click on the upper right link.

Daring to Hope, by Katie Davis Majors

REVIEW: This book is a memoir of one extraordinary woman’s journey of faith in Uganda.  I really wanted to love and be inspired by the book, and that happened, but not to the extent I was hoping for.  From the standpoint of a reader I found myself skimming the first few chapters looking for something to move the story along.  Perhaps a bit tighter editing might have kept the story moving without losing the impact of the inspirational parts.   (Note: I found the second half better in this regard.)  Besides the enthralling story, there are multiple positives about this book including that it is well grounded in scripture and the author makes it possible for the reader apply her faith and growth in Uganda to a completely different life in another country.   I particularly related to her realization that she was tired (chapter 11) but that God never gets weary.  I highly recommend this book to a bible study as well as a Christian book discussion group.  I received a complementary copy of the book for this review.  

People
Katie Davis Majors Thirteen adopted daughters Patrick and Celeste – friends – adopted Gift Christine – friend and co-worker Benji Noah	Stayed at house while ill or recuperating
	Jane – 4 years old Lisa – biological mother Gift – orphaned baby Mack – injured leg and Katie dressed Katherine – young, ill widow with six children Betty Simon, grandmother and Anna (mother)

For Discussion:

NOTE: The page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1. Consider the idea of joy versus happiness.  The author writes that, “The difference between shallow happiness and a deep, sustaining joy is sorrow” (page 89).  Do you agree?   How does experiencing sorrow help you experience joy?

 

2. In the same vein, when considering the sunflowers planted by her daughters in the backyard she writes, “Maybe the greatest joy isn’t just in beholding the flowers but in the process” (page 71).   Can you think of a time in your life when the process was more meaningful than the outcome?

 

3. Do you think a missionary can separate their personal life from the lives they are ministering to?  Katie writes that, “…this separation seems not only unbiblical but impossible” (page 59).  Do you agree?

 

4. One difference she noted was the Western idea of, “… valuing personal space and privacy” (page 59).   How difficult would it be for you to give up your personal space?

 

5. On the same page (59), one idea that really hit home to me was that she decided to, “practice the art of being interrupted.”   How difficult would this be for you? 

6. The Bible teaches that God works all things for our good.   Mack stated an example of this when he said to Katie, “If I hadn’t hurt my leg, we wouldn’t be friends now.  I wouldn’t know you, and maybe I wouldn’t know Jesus.  This leg, it was bad.  But now it is good, you know?” (page 31).  Can you think of other examples in the book?  In your own life?

7. Katie wrote that, “…the most powerful thing we can do for another person is not to try to fix his or her pain or make it go away but to acknowledge it” (page 101).  How difficult is this?   Do you think our culture is too focused on fixing everything?  What about things we cannot fix?

8. One of my favorite quotes from Aristotle is in the book, “We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit” (page 139).  How does this apply to your religious faith?

9. Did this book help you see things such as courage, burdens, being tired, etc. in a different light?

*****

First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and  Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.   Click on the upper right link.

A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles

Characters
Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov Helena – sister Nina Kulikova Sofia – daughter, left with Rostov at age 5 Mikhail Fyodorovich Mindrich “Misha” RAPP – Russian Association of Proletarian Writers Katerina Litvinova – married Misha Anna Urbanova – movie star Katuzov – one-eyed cat Osip Ivanovich Glebnikov – dinner with Rostov once a month to learn Western ways of thinking Capt. Richard Vanderwhile – American Victor Stepanovich Skadovsky – musician and Sofia’s piano teacher Lt. Pulonov – shot by Rostov after betraying Helena in revenge for incident at party	Metropol Staff
	Arkady – front desk Valentina – cleaning Pasha and Petya – bellhops Vasily – concierge Marina – seamstress Boyarsky restaurant: Andrey Duras – maître d’ Emile Zhukovsky – chef Shalyapin – hotel bar Audrius – bartender Jozef Halecki – manager of Metropol Leplevsky, “the Bishop” – manager of Metropol Abram - Handyman met on rooftop
	Timeline
	Book One – 1922 Book Two – 1923 Book Three – 1930 Book Four – 1950 Book Five – 1954

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from hardback edition.

1. When the Count was confined to the hotel and most of his possessions confiscated, he ordered three luxuries: fine linens, his favorite soap and a sweet from his favorite bakery (page 29).   What are your favorite luxuries?
2. On page 28, the Count, “acknowledged that a man must master his circumstances or be mastered by them.”  How did this concept help him survive?    Are there any circumstances that you have had to come to grips with?  How did you do that?
3. What lessons can we learn from Count Rostov?
4. What did Katuzov, the one-eyed cat, add to the novel?
5. Why was Anna Urbanova so annoyed with the Count for being able to control her dogs and picking up her blouse?  (page 129)
6. Given that the two men were raised in such different circumstances, how were Count Rostov and Abram, the handyman he found on the hotel roof, able to connect so easily? (pages 126-128)
7. Misha was sent to Siberia because he protested the removal of a few lines about Russian bread in a letter from Chekov.  Why did those in power want the lines removed?  Why was it so important to Misha that the lines stay in?
8. When Misha came to visit Rostov after leaving Siberia he commented that, “For as a people, we Russians have proven unusually adept at destroying that which we have created” (page 290).  He went on to say that this, …was not an abomination…it was our greatest strength” and that, “We are prepared to destroy that which we have created because we believe more than any of them in the power of the picture, the poem, the prayer, or the person” (page 291).   Do you understand this idea?  What do you think?
1. Rostov continued this conversation with Osip who pointed out that American neighborhoods were destroyed to build skyscrapers and said, “…we [Russians] and the Americans will lead the rest of this century because we are the only nations who have learned to brush the past aside instead of bowing before it.  But where they [Americans] have done so in service of their beloved individualism, we are attempting to do so in service of the common good” (pages 293-4).   What do you think?
9. Rostov and Osip watched many American movies in order to learn about America.   He argued that during the Depression, the movies were, “…unprecedented mechanism of class repression.  For with the cinema, the Yanks had apparently discovered how to placate the entire working class at the cost of a nickel a week” (page 293).  Do you agree?  
1. Rostov wondered if the movies during the depression were “narcotics designed to put a restless nation to sleep? Or were they signs of a native spirit to irrepressible that even a Depression couldn’t suppress it?” (page 299).
2. What would Osip and Rostov think of today’s movies?  What is their overall message?
10. What were your thoughts about Rostov sharing Russian information with the Americans?  Was this a betrayal of his country? 
11. The author has high expectations of the reader.  For example, you were expected to remember small details that became important later, such as:
1. Nina not seeing the need to say “Thank you” when a kindness is not requested but offered (pages 52 and 185).
2. The importance of the “round-faced fellow” on pages 102, 113 and 198.
3. Osip has a, “scar above his left ear where, by all appearances, someone had once attempted to cleave his skull” (page 456).   Compare  to passage on page 205.

Discuss your reading experience.  Were there times you were confused?   What parts of the story do you particularly remember?   What did you like/dislike about the novel?  Did you gain any insights into your own life through this novel?

12. Do you think a Russian would read this novel differently than an American? 

*****

First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the  upper right link.

Lullaby Road, by James Anderson

REVIEW:  I enjoyed reading this novel and cared about the characters.  The story was very engrossing which made me want to keep reading and look forward to when I could get back to the book.  I particularly enjoyed the author’s descriptions of the desert and the people who might choose to live such an isolated life style.  The only problem I had was that it was at times hard to follow and connect the small details throughout the story.  At the end I had several unanswered questions, even though I went back through the book to see if I missed anything.   I received a complimentary copy of the book for this review.  Rating: four stars out of five.

Characters
Price, Utah	Route 117	Rockmuse, Utah
Ben – truck driver Cecil Boone – Stop ‘n Gone Truck Stop Ana –works at truck stop -  in picture on missing poster with Manita at end of novel Pedro – tire man at truck stop Juan – Manita Dog Ginny – lived in duplex connected to Ben’s Annabelle – infant daughter Nadine – mother Rod – Nadine’s boyfriend Dr. Wanda Stafford Los Ojos Negros Michaela Josefina Tiffany (Julieta)	Walt Butterfield – Well-Known Desert Diner Bernice – wife – raped Claire – daughter, cellist – killed by ex-husband Walt’s Son with a married rancher’s wife – smuggling tires from Mexico with Cecil, also involved in child smuggling Dan Brew Andy Smith – State Trooper	John “Preach” – First Church of the Desert Cross Phyllis Bradford Joe – Rockmuse Mercantile Peggy -wife Lenny – nephew Toby – Collision Center Roy Cuthbert – inventor Eckhardt – Rockmuse Shell Station Ginger – Ginger’s Glass, Whatnots, Handmade Soap and Ballroom Dance Emporium George Dr. Rupert Conway Hector and family

 For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the hardback edition of the book.

1. On page 18, after being hit by the truck Ben wonders if he should have made “the harder” choice and just gone home with the boy and Belle.   He thought, “Like a good many people, when faced with a hard decision, most of my thinking involved trying to come up with a good excuse not to do what I knew I should do.”   Do you think this is true for most people?   Why do some people make the harder decisions?
2. Why did Ginger run over John?  Was it on purpose or an accident?  Why did George call the hospital and tell them he had died?
3. Were you able to picture the town of Rockmuse as you were reading?
4. Which characters did you connect with the most?  Which would you like to learn more about?
5. When thinking about Roy on page 86, Ben saw Roy in a different light, “resourceful, hardworking, determined, even ingenious…”   Did this novel make you think of people who might be worse off than you in a more positive or different way?
6. What happened to Manita in the end?  How was Ana at the truck stop connected to Manita?  When was the picture taken for the missing poster?
7. How did Claire get such an expensive cello?  Was that important to the story?
8. Why do you think Pedro said the child was a boy?
9. Did you think the man driving the truck that hit Ben at the beginning of the novel and then attacked Ben, Walt and Andy at the end was Walt’s illegitimate son?  Why did he attack the three men?
10. On page 303 Ben muses that, ‘There was only one reason why all three of us were still alive.”   What was the reason?
11. What part did Los Ojos Negros play in the novel?  Why did they seem so connected with Ben?   What part did they play in the three men’s survival at the end of the novel?
12. Discuss your reading experience.  What was positive and what, if anything, was negative?

*****

First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click  on the upper right  link.

Last Bus to Wisdom, by Ivan Doig

Characters

Donal Cameron – “Red Chief” Dorie Blegen – grandmother Kitty Brinker – Dorie’s sister, “The Kate,” “Aunt Kate” Herman Brinker – husband Karl May – Western writer, Herman’s favorite author, Austrian Wendell Williamson – ranch owner People met in travels: Letty Minetti – passenger on bus, knew Dorie from truck stop in Browning Harv – Letty’s boyfriend, being taken to jail Sheriff Carl Kinnick – Harv’s stepbrother, taking him to jail Mae and Joe Schneider Jack Kerouac Rags Rasmussen Reverend Mac – thief on bus Dr. Paul Schneider

Diamond Buckle Ranch: Rags Rasmussen Jones Smiley Highpockets Harv Mrs. Costello Waltzing Matilda

For discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the paperback edition of the novel.

1. Did you ever have an autograph book?   Do you still have it? 
2. Discuss the various characters.   Who did you sympathize with and who did you not?  What were the positives and negatives of each?   What decisions made by the characters changed your idea of them?
3. Donal was surprised to learn that Kate had been a waitress.   Why do you think Herman never brought that up in their arguments in the kitchen over how he ate toast?
4. When Donal was first getting to know Herman, he was impressed with Herman’s imagination.  He reflected, “Wherever Herman Brinker got it from, he’s held on to the rare quality that usually leaves a person after a certain number of years as a kid, to let what he had read possess him” (Chapter 10, page 154).   How you ever had the experience of being totally possessed by what you are reading?
5. How did Donal’s attitude of “I’ll toughen in.” (chapter 27, page 387) help him survive and thrive?  How can we develop that attitude in our children and in ourselves?
6. At the end of the novel, in the saloon when Donal wanted to tell Herman about returning to his grandmother and Letty in Glasgow, he decided to wait because Herman was having a good time.  Donal thought, “There are times when mercy cancels anything else.” (chapter 29, page 416).  Do you agree?  Can you think of any examples?
7. Were you surprised when at the end of the novel Donal chose to stay with Herman rather than return to his grandmother?
8. Discuss your reading experience.  (I felt anxious anticipating all of the bad things that could happen to Donal in his travels.    I read the last few pages to see how it ended and then was able to enjoy the rest of the story much more.)

*****

First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.   Click on the upper right link.