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?

Atonement, by Ian McEwan

 

Atonement, by Ian McEwan

Characters

Part One - 1935

Briony Tallis Emily – mother Jack – father Cecilia – older sister Leon – older brother   Cousins: Lola – 15 Jackson and Pierrot – twins Hermione (Emily’s sister) and Cecil – parents, divorced   Staff Robbie Turner – Grace’s son (cleaning lady), schooling financed by Jack Hardman – handyman Danny Hardman – son Betty – cook   Paul Marshall – Leon’s friend   “The Trials of Arabella”

Part Two – WWII

Robbie – released after serving 3 ½ years in jail following night in Part One   Corporal Nettle – lorry driver Corporal Mace – cook   Cecilia – left family, nurse

Part Three – Hospital

Briony – student nurse Fiona – friend   Sister Marjorie Drummond   Lola and Paul Marshall married   Cecilia and Robbie – both died in 1940

Part Four - 1999

Briony, age 77 – vascular dementia   Lola and Paul – philanthropists

 

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.       Section One ended without any information about the missing twins.  Did that bother you?

2.       At the beginning of chapter thirteen the author wrote, “Within the hour Briony would commit her crime” (page146).  At the time, what do you think she did?

3.       When Briony found Lola, she never said who had attacked her.   Briony said, “It was Robbie, wasn’t it?” (page 156) and Lola did not correct her.   Why do you think she did not correct Briony?  Is she also complicit in the event?

4.       At one point later on, Lola said to Briony, “It might not have been him” (page 161).  Briony replied, “You wouldn’t be saying that if you’d been with me in the library” (page 161).  Was Briony actually punishing Robbie for what he did with Cecilia?  What part did the letter from Robbie to Cecilia play in her actions?

5.       Briony’s family knew how much she liked to write stories.  Should they have questioned her more or investigated what happened more?  Why were they so quick to accept her story?

6.       Why do you think Briony kept quiet about the truth for so long?   Why didn’t she do something when Robbie was sent to jail?  Was her age at the time any excuse?

7.       What part did Chapter Two about Robbie’s time in the war play in the overall story?

8.       Discuss Briony’s time as a student nurse.  Before her training was complete, she was working in the hospital for injured soldiers and made several mistakes:

a.       Page 275 – she almost dropped her end of the stretcher and, after getting the soldier in bed, waited instead of heading back to the ward

b.       Page 277 – She told an injured man he could not rest before a procedure because she was following protocol, but was corrected by a nurse                          

c.       Page 277 – She forgot and left injured men downstairs who she was going to bring up on the lift

She felt her training had been useful in obedience, but that “everything she understood about nursing she learned that night” (page 286).   What do you think she learned?  If you are a nurse, can you relate to this?  Does this hold true for other professions?

9.       The version of Briony’s novel in the book is the one that will be published after she, Lola and Marshall are dead.  How do you think the remaining relatives will feel about finally learning the truth?

10.   Did you understand that Cecilia and Robbie never were reunited and Briony never met with them and tried to tell others what really happened?  On page 350 Briony wrote, “Who would want to believe that they never met again, never fulfilled their love? … When I am dead, and the Marshalls are dead, and the novel is finally published, we will only exist in my inventions.”

11.   Discuss your reading experience.  Was there any time you were confused?

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin

NOTE: This novel had many words new to me.  There is a vocabulary quiz at the end!

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin

Characters

Games

Samson Mazer - Harvard Anna Lee – mother George Masur – father Bong Cha – grandmother Dong Hyun – grandfather   Sadie Green Sharyn – mother Alice – sister, childhood leukemia, Dr. Alice Green Freda Green – grandmother   Dov Mizrah – Sadie’s professor at MIT   Marx Watanbe – Sam’s roommate, partner in Unfair Games   Naomi Watanabe Green – Sadie and Marx’s daughter   Unfair Games Sam and Sadie Marx Dov – producer and equity partner Zoe Cadogan – composer Simon Freeman Anthony Ruiz “Ant” Gordon, receptionist

Sadie’s class project games: Emily Blaster Solution   Ichigo: A Child of the Sea   Ichigo II: Go, Ichigo, Go   Both Sides Mapletown – Alice Ma, cancer (two worlds – hospital and outside the hospital) Myre Landing – Rose the Mighty   The Maplewood Experience – MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) Free – money earned from maintenance   Mayor Mazer – Sam’s avatar in Mapletown   Counterpart High – four games, one for each year of high school   Master of the Revels Master of the Revels: The Scottish Expansion (Had an Easter Egg of Marx hidden by Sadie)   Oregon Train Dr. Edna Daedalus Emily Alabaster Brown

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.       When you first started the book, what were your thoughts – confusion, stepping into the unknown, pleasant anticipation, or something else?

2.       Was it right for Sadie to consider the time she spent with Sam in the hospital as community service?  Her grandmother, Freda Green, did not think so.  She told Sadie that is might hurt Sam’s feelings “if he thinks he is charity to you, and not a genuine friendship” (page 23).

3.       In Sadie’s class, Dov said that the game designer had to think about the player at all times and that, “There is no artist more empathetic than the game designer” (page 44).  What did you think about this?

4.       Could anything have been done to heal the divide between Sam and Sadie?  Starting with the release of Ichigo II, Sadie felt that Sam was always taking the credit.   Also, they each felt they moved to California for the other one, not themselves.

5.       As you were reading, did you think that Sam and Sadie would somehow end up together?  Would that have worked? 

6.       Discuss the various characters.  Were there any you did not like at all?   Did the author do a good job of describing each person?

7.       Section VII when Marx is killed (The NPC) and section IX (The Pioneers), were written in different styles that the rest of the novel.  Did you like this? Was it effective?  Did the different writing styles help you understand the shooting and death from Marx’s point of view and the video game differently.

8.       The novel had many thoughts on life and success in general, such as:

a.       Page 80 – “How your sense of self could change depending on your location.”

b.       Page 219 – Dov to Sadie about failure: “You take advantage of the quiet time that a failure allows you…You try again. You fail better.”

c.       Page 247 – “The most successful people are also the most able to change their mindsets.”

Do you agree with these statements?  Were there other ideas in the book that you thought insightful?

9.       Did reading this book cause you to think differently about computer and video games?  For example, on page 18 Sam said playing video games requires hand-eye coordination and observing patterns.   And when Sadie was going to visit Sam in the hospital to play games, the author wrote that to play with another person, “means allowing yourself to be open, to be exposed, to be hurt” (page 21).

10.   Also, Marx’s mother, Mrs. Watanabe who taught textile design, told Sadie, “Computers are great for experimentation, but they are bad for deep thinking” (page 230).  Do you agree?

11.   Why was this book on the New York Times hardcover best seller list for almost a year?

12.   What were your thoughts about the book when you were finished?   Would you recommend it to a friend?  Do you think different age groups would read the book differently?

 

 

 

 

 

Vocabulary Quiz!!!

(Answers are at the bottom of the page.  No peeking!)

 

_____ 1. grok (page 77)                         

_____ 2. cicerone (page 65)                                

_____ 3. tautology (page 41)                              

_____ 4. collogue (page 131)                              

_____ 5. auteur (page 132)                                 

_____ 6. palimpsest (page 214)                         

_____ 7. turpitude (page 215)                            

_____ 8. susurrus (page 283) 

 

a.                  needless repetition of an idea

b.                  confer secretly

c.                   a soft murmuring or rustling sound

d.                  a guide

e.                  to understand completely and intuitively

f.                    depravity, a shameful act

g.                   filmmaker with distinct individual style

 

Answers:

1-e     2-d     3-a     4-b     5-g     6-h     7-f     8-c

Meet You in Hell, by Les Standiford

 

People and Events
Andrew Carnegie Louise - wife Margaret - daughter   Tom Carnegie – brother, chairman of board   Built 2,800 libraries Donated 8,000 organs   Carnegie Institute of Technology – became Carnegie Mellon University	Henry Clay Frick – main manufacturer of coke Adelaide – wife Martha – daughter, died 1981 Henry Clay Frick Jr. – died Helen Clay - daughter Childs – son   Alexander Berkman – assassin   Art collector – Frick Collection in New York   Frick Nature Preserve
Others	Homestead Plant
Henry Bessemer – change iron into steel Edgar Thompson	Captain Jones Charales Schwab – replaced Jones John Potter – replaced Schwab as superintendent 1892   Amalgamate Assoc. of Iron and Steel Workers of the US 1987 – American Federation of Labor
Companies	Homestead Strike
Frick Coke Company   Carnegie, Phipps and Company 1886   Carnegie Brothers and Company 1889 Frick – chairman and 11% interest   Carnegie Steel – merger of Carnegie, Phipps and Carnegie Bros. and Co. Charles Schwab – president   United States Steel Corporation 1900 $480,000,000 to buy out Carnegie and family Charles Schwab – president 2 years Elbert H. Gray – president 26 years Henry Clay Frick – board member	William McCleary – sheriff Allegheny County Samuel Cluely – chief deputy   Pinkertons – strike breakers, July 5, called in by Frick July 1982   Hugh O’Donnell – spoke for workers   National Guard General Snowden

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers come from the 2005 paperback edition.

1.       Carnegie did not approve of Frick’s methods during the strike.  He said he would have shut down the mill and waited for workers to ask to come back under his terms.  Would this have worked?

2.       Carnegie was in Scotland for most (if not all) of the problems and strike.  Would it have made a difference if he was here?

3.       In 1868 Carnegie wrote himself a letter in which he wrote “the amassing of wealth is one of the worst species of idolatry (page 39).  How do you think he justified his actions regarding money during his life?

4.       Both Carnegie and Frick grew up without much and they both got opportunities to rise up from their current state.  Do you think they felt they provided the same opportunities for others?  If not, how did they justify their actions?

5.       A major difference between the two was that Frick was “a man willing to take considerable risk in defense of his principles” (page 81), while Carnegie’s “self-interest reigned supreme” (page 81).  How did this difference affect their actions and futures?

6.       Carnegie’s business plan was to focus on “what it cost to produce goods than in revenues or profits” (page 89).  How did this influence his decisions during the strike?

7.       When Captain Jones was plant manager, he realized that it was counter-productive to have men working 12 hours a day.  When the work was divided into 8-hour days, the output increased without any increased cost of salaries.   Why did Carnegie go back to the 12-hour shifts after the strike.

8.       After the strike the workers’ conditions declined: wages down by one-half, the minimum basis for wages was discontinued, and they went back to the 12-hour day working seven days a week.  How could Carnegie and Frick justify this?

9.       If the reader is not from Pittsburgh, what do you think they learned about our city?  For example, on page 17 the author mentioned KDKA as the first radio station and Dr. Jonas Salk developing the polio vaccine at the University of Pittsburgh.

10.   If you are from Pittsburgh, what did you read that was new or interesting?  For example, did you realize the Frick Building built in 1900 at 22 stories was designed to overshadow the 15 story Carnegie building next to it?

11.   Discuss your reading experience.   Did you like how in Chapter Two the author gave some historical background?  Did this add to your reading?

12.   Out of This Furnace, by Thomas Bell, started in 1900 and was set in the Pittsburgh steel mills.  Did reading this book give you any additional insights into the lives of the steelworkers?

The Henna Artist, by Alka Joshi

 

Characters

Lakshmi “Jiji” Pitaji – father, teacher Mother Radha – sister, “Bad Luck Girl”   Hari – husband Saasuji – mother, taught Lakshmi about herbs, etc. for healing   Malik   Naraya – builder Mrs. Iyengar - landlady   Samir Singh – asked Lakshmi to move to Jaipur for henna and contraceptives, architect Parvati – wife Ravi – son Lala and niece – servant   Joyce Harris – baby either husband’s or Samir’s, abortion at 5 months   V. M. Sharma – official building contractor for royal family Wife Sheela – daughter, pledged to Ravi   Kanta Agarwal – educated in England, adopted Nikil Manu - husband   Maharaja of Jaipur Indira – Maharaja’s step-mother, parakeet Madho Singh Latika – current wife   Dr. Jay Kumar Lady Bradley Hospital – Shimla Lady Bradley Healing Garden

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from hardback edition.

1.       As Radha was adjusting to living with Lakshmi, Lakshmi kept telling her the “rules.”  On page 85 she told Radha, “You should cover your mouth when you yawn, Radha” and she replied “Twentieth thing?”  Could you live with all those rules, or do we already and they are just second nature?

2.       Lakshmi felt very guilty about abandoning Radha, but she did not even know she existed.  Did you understand her feelings?

3.       Discuss Samir.  He was an important character throughout the novel: he brought Lakshmi to Jaipur and helped her business, he was romantically involved with her, he introduced her to Dr. Kamar, and he financed a loan for her house.

4.       Parvati, Samir’s wife, first promoted Lakshmi’s business to her friends.  But when she discovered Lakshmi had dealings with her husband, she got everyone but a few people to stop calling her and thus ruined the business.  Given how talented and successful Lakshmi was helping people, were you surprised they were so willing to immediately drop her?

5.       Were you surprised Lakshmi turned Parvati down when she offered to restore Lakshmi’s reputation and business? (Page 278)

6.       What did you think about the maharaja wanted to adopt an heir and banishing his natural heir to England on the advice of an astrologer? He was told “his natural son would overthrow him” (page 149).

7.       When Radha became pregnant, Lakshmi started to have second thoughts about how she had helped men’s mistresses end their pregnancies.  She had “justified it by treating it as a business transaction” (page 241).  She did see this different from the “sachets for the courtesans…who had been raised to be prostitutes” (page 241).  What did you think as your read this?

8.       Discuss Hari.   Were you surprised he made such a dramatic change and started to practice his mother’s herbs, etc.?  Why do you think this happened?  Did you think Lakshmi could get back together with him?  (Malik got the palace chef to tell maharani about Hari and then finance his efforts.)

9.       Why do you think the henna designs Lakshmi painted on various parts of the women’s bodies were so successful in helping them?

10.   What do you think happened after the story ended?

The Librarian of Burned Books, by Brianna Labuskes

 

Characters/People
New York 1943-1944	Berlin 1932-1933	Paris 1936-1937
Vivian Childs – Council on Books in Wartime Edward – husband, deceased Emmett Hale – half-brother, State Representative Charlotte – mother-in-law Theodore Childs – father   Philip Van Doren Stern – head of Council   Mary Kathleen Sullivan – Emmett’s mother William Hale – adopted father   American Library of Nazi Burned Books Hannah Brecht - librarian   Armed Services Editions   Senator Robert Taft   Althea James Joe – brother, manager	Althea James – author, German heritage The Unfractured Light An Inconceivable Dark Six-month author residency in Berlin   Professor Deidrich Muller   Deveraux Charales “Dev” – spy, turned in Adam with Otto’s help   Otto Koch – actor   Hannah Brecht Adam Brecht	Hannah Brecht – German   German Library of Burned Books   Alfred Kantorowicz – library founder Heinrich Mann - library president   Adam – brother, deceased, in concentration camp   Lucian – resistance meetings   Otto Koch   Natalie Clifford Burney – weekly salon   Bridgette Blanchett – landlady   Dev - actress
Berlin 1995
Vivian Hale Emmett Hale Martha Hale Schumacher – daughter, House of Representatives   Hannah Brecht Althea James

 

For discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the paperback edition.

1.       Did you like the way the author kept hinting about the story between Hannah and Althea but never told the full story until the end of the book?

2.       In Althea’s stories, “No character was ever completely good or evil, but rather they were made up of a number of traits” (page 171).  Do you like clear-cut villains and heroes?

 3.       The author used this book to emphasize the importance of reading and books.  For example:

a.       Page 69 – “a pen could destroy a nation”

b.       Page 354 – “War correspondents wrote to her that the soldiers had been allowed to bring only the most essential items onto the beaches – and for many that included thier lightweight paperbacks.”

c.       Pages 370 – 371 – “What Viv loves best, though, was the general consensus that books were not just books.  They were stories that helped the exhausted men overseas remember what they were fighting for – freedom of thought, American values, antifascist sentiment.”

Were there any other ideas you found interesting or important?

4.       In talking about the ASE project, Viv said, “I don’t think the author’s job is always to change the world.  I think sometimes it ‘s to make it more enjoyable” (page 336).  Can you think of any books that influenced your thought process or, on the other hand, provided pure enjoyment?

5.       When Hannah was speaking at the event in support of the ASE program, she said wonders “what the moment was that we lost Germany I knew…sometimes I think it was the moment right before the gasoline was poured on the books. The moment the most educated country in the world willingly, joyously, wholeheartedly turned away from knowledge” (page 362).   Do you agree?

6.       Speaking of history, she said “history is built on moments that feel insignificant” (page 363).  Can you think of any other examples of this?

7.       Does Dev’s smuggling hundreds of Jews out of Germany counterbalance her part in Adam’s betrayal?

8.       Discuss your reading experience.  Did this book make you think?  Was it enjoyable?