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.