All These Wonders: True Stories About Facing the Unknown, Stories from The Moth

Review:  I loved this book and enjoyed every word!  The only problem I had was that is it addictive.  I would set time aside to read one story and find myself still sitting there after reading four or five.  I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read!  It is a perfect gift book and a book to keep nearby in case you have a few free minutes.  (Just be prepared to have to force yourself to put it down!) I received a complimentary copy of the book for this review. 

For discussion:

1.       In the Foreword, Neil Gaiman writes that “The practiced jokes and the witty one-liners all crash and burn up on a Moth stage.”   Why do you think these short stories work and connect with listeners and readers?

2.       Neil Gaiman, in the Foreword, also writes that, “with these wonderful stories, it [The Moth] teaches us to read.”  What does he mean?

3.       The information about the authors at the end of each story was very interesting.  Many are actors and writers.  Do you think they are natural story tellers?   What skills do you think it takes to be a good storyteller?

4.       After finishing the book, what story or stories do you still remember?  Why?

5.       What story would you tell?

*****

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 Summer Before the War, by Helen Simonson

Characters
Rye Prominent Families	Rye Citizens	Others
Agatha Kent John Kent – Senior Official in Foreign Office Hugh Grange – nephew, medical student Daniel Bookham – nephew, poet   Mayor Fothergill Bettina Fothergill Charles Poot – nephew   Lady Emily Wheaton Colonel Wheaton Harry – son Eleanor – daughter, married to German Baron   Mr. Tillingham – writer   Dr. Lawton - doctor	Beatrice Nash – Latin teacher Joseph – father, writer, deceased   Mrs. Turber – landlady Abigail – servant   School boys: Richard Sidley “Snout” – Abigail’s brother Jack Heathly Arty Pike   School: Headmaster Mr. Dobbins – math Mr. Dimbly – science and gymnastics Miss Clauvert – French Miss Devon – English, history, sewing   Alice Finch - Suffragette Minnie Buttles – Suffragette, Vicar’s daughter   Algernon Firth – writer Amberleigh de Witte – writer under name of A. A. de Witte	Lady Merbely – Beatrice’s aunt, guardian   Refugees: Professor Celeste – daughter, raped by Germans   Maria Stokes – gypsy, Snout’s great-grandmother   London: Sir Alex Ramsey – surgeon Lucy - daughter   Lord and Lady North Craigmore – son, Daniel’s friend

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from hardback edition.

 

1. Did you think the author gave an accurate depiction of education during that time period?  On page 51 she wrote that Beatrice’s father had the opinion that “…education in general, and Latin in particular, should not be kept for the few, that it was wrong to divide the world and keep all success and distinction in the hands of a small elite.”  Do you think this was a common belief?   What about today?
2. When the refugees arrived, the town was disappointed with the people who came, they were hoping for children. Does this disappointment tamper their good intentions?
3. When Beatrice was talking with Abigail about getting married, Abagail said that her prospects for a husband, “likely won’t take kindly to a wife with airs of reading books and such” (page 164).   Beatrice replied, “I think you’ll find most women in pursuit of a husband share an interest in appearing less educated than they really are…It’s why I have a low opinion of them [husbands]” (page 164).  Do you understand how the times might have made this a true statement?   Is it any different today?
4. On page 183 Hugh, when thinking about Snout, said, “But I’ve found that intelligence is often no match for the circumstances of life.”   Do you think this is a true statement?    Can we overcome our circumstances or are there times when they are just too influential?
5. When Cook was telling Agatha about her son-in-law going off to war and her worries about her crippled granddaughter, the author wrote that, “Agatha was forced to consider whether her sympathetic interest in her staff’s families might have more to do with appearing generous than with any willingness to be inconvenienced by their actual problems” (page 186).   Was she being too hard on herself?  Is this a natural thought process?
6. On page 187 the author wrote that Agatha took off her mobcap before talking on the telephone, “as a nod to the importance of maintaining standards.”  How importance was standards in that time period?  What about today? 
7. Discuss the view of women in that time:
1. When talking with Beatrice about the prospect of writing an essay promoting the war to American’s Mr. Tillingham said, “Always tricky to be embraced by the ladies…The risk of dismissal by serious minds” and “on the other hand, it is the ladies who seem able to whip up a frenzy for some idea” (page 202). 
2. Both Beatrice and Celeste were betrayed by their fathers; Beatrice’s by telling her she was independent and then putting her money in a trust and Celeste’s father sacrificing her to the German’s to save some books.
3. When her husband did not tell Agatha that Daniel had left for the war until he was gone, she said, “Why do men presume to know what is best for us?” (page 286).
8. Agatha offered to be secretary of the Belgian Relief Committee because she felt that position gave her, “complete control over the committee” (page 208).  Does the secretary wield the most control in many organizations?
9. In the Acknowledgements, the author wrote that “writers and poets are at the heart of my novel.”  But Mr. Tillingham is not depicted in a positive light.  When he was at the war cemetery with Beatrice, she observed him looking “as greedy as that of a glutton before the feast” and that “it seemed to her that all of his novels were filled with people he knew and betrayed” (page 473).   How were writers and poets portrayed as positive?
10. Do you think Beatrice would have liked Mr. Tillingham if he were not a famous writer?
11. Lady Emily refused to talk on the phone and always had someone relay her messages.  She said, “Terrible thing, the telephone, I refuse to be a slave to it.”  Has that changed?
12. What was your reading experience at the end of the novel compared to the beginning?

*****
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 Chilbury Ladies’ Choir, by Jennifer Ryan

REVIEW: I love this book!  It is the perfect blend of a good story, interesting characters and meaningful ideas to consider long after the reading is done.  I enjoyed the format of telling the story through diary entries, letters, etc.  and thought the author did a good job of revealing the characters through their own thoughts as well as their observations of others.  I highly recommend this book to individuals and book groups.  I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for this review.

Characters

Mrs. Tilling – widow, nurse David – son Colonel Mallarad – widower, Mrs. Tilling’s boarder - Head of Litchfield Park Brigadier Winthrop Mrs. Winthrop – pregnant Edmund – son – killed in war Venetia – 18 Kitty – 13 Silvie – 10 – Jewish evacuee Lawrence – newborn son (switched with Hattie Lovell’s baby) Proggett - butler Hattie Lovell – pregnant, school teacher Rose – newborn daughter (switched with Mrs. Winthrop’s baby) Mrs. Edwina Paltry – midwife Clara – sister Vicar Angela Quail – daughter, friend of Venetia’s Mr. Alastair Slater – artist, spy Mrs. Primrose Trent (Prim) – Professor of Music, must tutor, choir director Mrs. Brampton-Boyd (Mrs. B.)

For discussion:

NOTE: The page numbers are from the hardback edition of the book.

1. On page 4 the author wrote, “There is something bolstering about singing together.”  If you do not like to sing, could you appreciate the power of singing and how the Ladies’ Choir helped unite the women and also helped them cope with their intense feelings?  If you currently are in or have sung in a group, do you think the author accurately described the experience or was it magnified because of the war?
2. Could you understand how difficult and how much courage it took for the women to form an all-female choir at that time?  What would be a comparable undertaking today?
3. On page 112 Kitty wrote in her diary about the positives in conventional wisdom and continuing to do things the way they had always been done.  When do you think tradition is good and when should it be abandoned?  How do you know?
4. In one of her journal entries Kitty mused about the power of women; “Does Hitler have any idea of the force and determination of thirteen impassioned women?”  (page 140) What did the women accomplish in the novel?  Would the men of the town been able to do the same?
5. Prim held a special choir practice open to everyone in the village to commemorate the lives lost at Dunkirk.  She had them stand in a circle, hold hands and sing a Gregorian chant.  Mrs. Tilling wrote in her diary, “We gingerly held hands.  Such a simple, childish think, but so rare in our busy, untouching world.”  (page 146) Why do you think the experience was so moving to everyone?  What do you think of holding hands with someone outside of your family today?
6. Do you think it was realistic that Hattie was able to switch the babies?  Do you think a mother would recognize her own child or not be able to tell?
7. After the bombing, were you surprised that people were looting their neighbors’ homes?  Do you think this would happen in a small town?
8. Which character did you think was the most interesting?  The most likeable or unlikeable?  Why?
9. Discuss your reading experience.  Did you like the chapters from different character’s viewpoints?  Would you recommend this book to a friend?  Why or why not?
10. Do you think a man would enjoy and appreciate this book or is it geared toward a woman’s experience?

*****

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.