As Bright as Heaven, by Susan Meissner

 

Characters
1918-1919	1925-1926
Pauline -mother (died) Thomas – father Henry – deceased baby Evelyn “Evie” – 15 Maggie – 12 Willa – 6   Grandpa and Grandma (Eunice) Adler – Quakertown Jane – Pauline’s sister   Uncle Fred – Bright Funeral Home (died)   Mrs. Landry – housekeeper Mrs. Brewster – does hair and makeup   Sutcliff Accounting – neighbors Roland and Darla – parents Charlie (died) Jamie   Evelyn – school Mr. Galway – teacher (died) Gilbert Keane – student (died)   Willa – school Florence “Flossie” Gretchen Weiss – German (died)   Maggie – school Sally (died) Wendell Ruby	Thomas Evelyn “Evie” – medical school, psychiatrist Maggie – did make-up and hair Willa – singer “Polly Adler”   Alex - Leo   Ursula Novak   Cal Dabney – Alex’s father Rita and Maury Dabney – parents   Darla and Roland Sutcliff Jamie   Palmer Towlerton – courting Maggie   Dr. Bellfield – Fairview Hospital Conrad Reese Sybil – patient   Silver Swan – speakeasy Mr. Trout Albert Lila – singer Mr. Weiss – rescues Willa when club raided   Landmark Club Lila

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the paperback edition.

1.       When we first met Maggie, she was in school and having trouble with math.   She was hesitant to ask Evelyn for help because, “asking my sister for help is like asking to be stung by bees.  Somehow she makes me feel stupid.  I don’t think she means to, but she does” (page 61).  Have you ever felt that way when asking for help?  Do you think you ever made someone else feel that way?  How can you avoid that?

2.       Could you understand Maggie’s actions when she took the baby?   When she looked back, the sister had disappeared.   What about when she lied and said she could not remember the address when she went back to check on the family?

3.       The afternoon after she took Alex, Maggie went to the church to tell Mrs. Arnold the partial truth.  She thought, “I suddenly realize sometimes things aren’t simple.  Sometimes you do a bad thing for good reasons.  Sometimes you do a good thing for a bad reason” (page 150).  Did Maggie do a good thing, a bad thing, or something in between?

4.       Did you understand Eunice Adler’s response when she said no to Pauline’s request to return to Quakertown during the Spanish Flu because she was protecting her other daughter and baby?   Did you understand Thomas blaming Pauline’s mother then for her death?

5.       Maggie had conversations with the bodies she was working on in the embalming room.  Did this surprise you?  Do you think you could do that type of work?

6.       Did you like the ending and the way everything was wrapped up?   For example, Willa still sneaking out to sing in a speakeasy and Evelyn is married and taking care of her husband’s first wife.

7.       Do you think you would have read this book differently before COVID?

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers

 

Characters

John Singer   Spiros Antonapoulos   Jake Blount   Kelly family: Father – watch repair, took in borders Mother Mick – 12 years old Bubber Ralph – baby Hazel – second oldest Bill – oldest Etta   Dr. Benedict Mady Copeland Daisy – wife, deceased Portia – Kelly’s cook Highboy – Portia’s husband William “Willie” – works in New York Café kitchen, in jail due to fight over a girl Hamilton Karl Marx “Bubby”

New York Café Bartholomew “Biff” Brannon Alice – wife, deceased   Lucile – Alice’s sister “Baby” Wilson – groomed to be child movie star   Sunny Dixie Show – carnival, rides Patterson – owner   Mr. B. F. Mason – pretended to be from government signing people up for pensions, really a thief   Harry Minowitz – Mick’s schoolmate, Jewish   People who visited Singer on a regular basis: Dr. Copeland Mick Kelly Jake Blount Biff Brannon

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 2000 paperback.

1.       Discuss Mick and her outside and inside worlds.  “School and the family and the things that happened every day were in the outside room.  Mister Singer was in both rooms.  Foreign countries and plans and music were in the inside room” (page 163).  Did you understand her feelings?  Why was Singer in both rooms?

2.       What did you think about Mick hosting a prom party?  Would you have been willing to take such a risk in high school?

3.       At the party, Mick and Harry Minowitz went off along and had sex.  As a result, Harry left home because he was afraid his mother would be able to tell what he had done.  Could this have been avoided at the time?

4.       Did you see it coming when Bubber shot Baby Wilson?  Bubby ran away and, when Mick found him, she made up a story about the electric chair and then going to Hell.  His father thought it was deliberate (page 170).  Did you think he meant to shoot her?  Was it his fault?

5.       Discuss Dr. Copeland.  His mother was born a slave and his father was a preacher.  He worked for 10 years to become a doctor, returned to the south, and, while taking care of people “went endless from house to house and spoke the mission and the truth” (page 143).  He also hit his wife with a poker.  What did you think his mission was?  Does his violence toward his wife affect your opinion?

6.       What did you think about Dr. Copeland talking about Karl Marx and socialism at his Christmas party? 

7.       Why do you think Jake talked so much to Singer when he could not hear him or understand everything he said?

8.       Why were so many people drawn to Singer?  How did he affect the people he came in contact with?  Biff, when thinking about Singer asked himself, “why did everyone persist in thinking the mute was exactly as they wanted him to be” (page 224).  Why do you think this was?

9.       Why was Spiros Antonapoulos in the novel?   What did we learn from him about Singer?

10.   Why did Singer commit suicide?

11.   McCullers was 23 when she wrote this novel, her first one.  How was she able to have such insight into people as well as the plight of African Americans in the 1930s at such a young age?

12.   Martin Luther King organized a march on Washington for jobs and freedom for his race in 1963.  This book was written in 1940 and Dr. Copeland and Jake discussed just such an event (pages 301-305).  Where do you think the author got this idea?

13.   This novel was named to both the Modern Library’s “100 Best English Novels of the 20^th Century” and Time magazine’s “100 Best English Novels 1923-2005.”  Why do you think it was accorded these honors?

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, by Gabrielle Zevin

 

Characters

Fikry, A. J. Nic – wife, deceased Island Books   Ismay Evans-Parish – Nic’s sister, teacher, directs school plays Daniel Parish – husband, A. J.’s friend, novelist   Chief Lambiase   Amelia Loman “Amy” – sales rep for Knightley Press   Maya Tamerlane Firky – toddler left in bookstore, adopted by A. J. Marian Wallace – mother, suicide   Tamerlane – by Edgar Allan Poe   Leonora Ferris – author, The Late Bloomer Leon Friedman – pen name

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 2014 paperback edition

1.       One of the customers, Mrs. Cumberbatch, wants to return The Book Thief because it was narrated by Death, it kept her up reading all night, and the novel made her cry.  What did you think of her complaints?  What would make you return or throw away a book?

2.       Could you relate to A. J.’s complaints about Maya – “She’s worse than a puppy…She’s not potty trained and I have no idea how to do that…We talk about Elmo, and I can’t stand him…She’s totally self-centered” (page 60 and 61)?

3.       He also complained that “she always wants to read the same book.  And it’s like, the crappiest board book, The Monster at the End of the Book” (page 61).  What was your favorite book as a child?

4.       There was lots of quotes about books and reading, such as “Sometimes books don’t find us until the right time” (page 92).  Have you ever experienced something like that – feeling a book was yours to read at exactly the right time in your life?

5.       Firky said “You know everything you need to know about a person from the answer to the question, What is your favorite book?” (page 87).  What is your favorite book and what does it say about you?

6.       Discuss Leonora Ferris/Leon Friedman and the book The Late Bloomer.  The book was fiction, but to help it sell Leonora called it a memoir and hired Leon to portray the author at signing events.   Was that deceitful? 

7.       Did you think it was Leonora who read at the wedding (page 157)?  If so, why would she be invited to do so?

8.       Discuss the storyline of the book, Tamerlane, throughout the novel.   Ismay stole it and gave it to Marian Wallace to sell.  Then Lambaise found it and the sale funded A. J.’s surgery.  Why didn’t Marian sell the book?  Did this storyline add to the novel?

9.       Firky was very upset when his mother gave him, Amelia, and Maya e-readers.  He said to her, “do you even understand that that infernal device is not only going to single-handedly destroy my business but, worse than that, send centuries of a vibrant literary culture into what will surely be an unceremonious and rapid decline?” (page 217).  Do you agree?  Do you prefer actual books or e-readers?  Why?  What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

10.   After his surgery A.J. preferred to read short stories because of his decreased attention span.  He told Maya, “novels certainly have their charms, but the most elegant creation in the prose universe is a short story” (page 246).  Do you agree?  Do you like short stories?  Why or why not?

11.   The chapter titles are short stories that A J. describes.  Why do you think he is creating the list?  Have you read any of the stories?  Was that an effective way to introduce each chapter?

12.   When Ismay and Lambiase were thinking about running the bookstore they discussed the following.  Do you agree?

a.       “There ain’t nobody in the world like book people.  It’s a business of gentleman and gentlewomen.” (page 254).

b.       “I like talking about books with people who like talking about books.  I like paper.  I like how it feel…I like how a new book smells, too.”  (page 255)

13.   What helped the new book store be a success?

14.   Did you like the ending?