The Secrets We Kept, by Lara Prescott

 

East

West

Olga Vsevolodovna Ivinskaya (Olya) – incarcerated 3 years, after that became Pasternak’s business emissary Ira – daughter Mitya – son Mother   Boris Pasternak (Borya) 1958 – Awarded the Nobel Prize, forced to turn it down 1989 – Re-awarded Nobel Prize Zinaida - wife   Lubyanka: Anatoli Sergeyevich Semionov – Olga’s guard   Giangiacomo Feltrinelli – Italian publisher Sergio D’Angelo – Italian literary agent

Irina Drozdova Mother – seamstress Father – arrested, died in Gulag   The Typists: Betty – former OSS Virginia – former OSS Gail Carter – engineering degree, black Kathy Norma Kelly – married Teddy, wrote spy novel   Soviet Russian Division (SR): ·       Walter Anderson – oversaw typing pool, former OSS ·       Frank Wisner -founded agency’s clandestine ops, ·       Sally Forrester – “The Swallow,” became Lenore Miller in 1958 after dismissed from SR ·       Teddy Helms – trainer, went to England to get book in original Russian ·       Henry Rennet – ruined Sally’s reputation, Sally had him killed

 

For Discussion:

Note: Page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.       The author wrote that many people involved in intelligence came to work at the Agency after they retired from the field because, for one reason, they missed “the power that came from being a keeper of secrets” (page 59).   Can you understand this?  How do you feel when you are entrusted with a secret?

 

2.       Discuss the character of Irina.  Why did she have trouble fitting into the typing pool?  Irina wondered if her “feeling of being a constant outsider, of being more comfortable alone” was picked up by the group (page 117).

 

3.       The author wrote that “the politics of friendship are tricky at every age” (page 117).  What did the author mean by this?  How did she support this statement through the various characters in the novel?

 

4.       Were you surprised that Irina liked her new role as a carrier as much as she did?  She thought that “For the first time in my life, I felt as if I had a greater purpose, not just a job” (page 116).   Why did this work suit her?  Could you do that type of work?

 

5.       What did you think about the subplot of the relationship between Sally and Irina?  Did it add to the novel?  Did you like the ending?

 

6.       Discuss the character of Henry:

a.       In Chapter 15, why did Henry attack Sally?  Did the people in the Agency really not care about her?

b.       Who were the people at Sara’s Dry Cleaning in Washington, DC?  What happened to Henry after Sally gave them his name?

c.       Was he really a double agent?

 

7.       Did the Italian publisher fully understand how the publishing of Doctor Zhivago put Pasternak in danger?  Was it his duty to publish the novel?

 

8.       Discuss the novel, Doctor Zhivago:

a.       When Sally finally read the book in 1958, she thought that it was not a weapon, but a love story (page 302). 

b.       The Agency thought is was a weapon.  They valued it because of the “critiques of the October Revolution and its so-called subversive nature” (page 131).

c.       What do you think after reading The Secrets We Kept?

 

9.       Discuss the power of books in general:

a.       The Agency saw “books as weapons” and thought that “literature could change the course of history” (page 130).  Do you agree?

b.       Have you read any books you thought could have changed the world?  That changed you?

 

10.   Would you be willing to smuggle a banned book into America like the Russians did after the World’s Fair?

 

11.   How did you like the organization of the book?  Did it take you a while to determine that chapters were narrated by different people?  Did you like the way the author crossed our previous identities and added new ones?

 

12.   Did this book influence you to want to read Dr. Zhivago? 

Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult

 

Characters
Alex Cormier – superior court judge Josie – daughter   Matt Roystson – Josie’s boyfriend   Lacy Houghton – midwife Peter – alleged shooter Lewis – husband, economics of happiness Joey – first son, deceased   Derek Markowitz – Peter’s only friend   Patrick Ducharme – policeman Tara Frost – goddaughter Nina – friend, Tara’s mother   Dr. Guenther Frankenstein – medical examiner   Jordan McAfee – Peter’s attorney Selena – wife, investigator Sam – baby Thomas – son by first marriage, in college   Dr. Erwin Peabody – psychology professor   Dr. King Wah – forensic psychiatrist, battered woman syndrome   Diana Leven - prosecutor	Victims
	Deceased: Matt Royston - only one shot twice Mr. McCabe – math teacher Courtney Ignatio Maddie Shaw Whit Obermeyer Topher McPhee Grace Murtaugh Kaitlyn Harvey Unnamed black student Unnamed white student   19 students wounded

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the paperback edition.

1.       What were your thoughts on the dilemma faced by parents of a child who had done something terrible?  Did the author portray the reactions of Peter’s family so that you were able to sympathize with them? Is it possible to love child and hate what they did?

2.       Do you think there was anything they could or should have done differently when raising Peter?  Would anything have made a difference?

3.       Peter felt that his mother had not understood him for 17 years (page 125).  If he had felt more loved and accepted by his parents, would it have made a difference in the outcome of the story?

4.       What effect did Peter’s older brother, Joey, and his place in the family have on Peter?  Joey was killed by a drunk driver, but it also was mentioned on page 286 that he had been doing drugs.

5.       Peter told Jordan that Joey was the one who started the bullying.  When Jordan asked if Joey had stood up for Peter when he was being bullied, Peter replied, “Are you kidding?  Joey was the one to start it” (page 186).  Why would Joey do that?

6.       Most people also wanted to blame Peter’s parents for what Peter did.  Did they deserve any of the blame?  Could they have prevented what happened?

7.       What did you think about Lewis Houghton taking flowers to the graves of the victims instead of visiting Peter in jail?

8.       After Peter was arrested, a pregnant woman refused to have Lacy be her midwife. Did you understand her hesitancy?  Would you have wanted Lacy as your midwife after her son was arrested?

9.       Alex was raised by her father after her mother died when she was five.  Her father, who was also a judge, “never held her on his lap, never kissed her good night, never told her he loved her” (page 169).  How did this influence Alex’s parenting?   Was there any way she could have better connected with Josie?

10.   Discuss being popular.  Josie questioned Matt about why he tortured the less popular kids, and he replied “if there isn’t a them, there can’t be an us” (page 219).  Josie reflected, “You did what you had to, to cement your place in the pecking order.  And the best way to stay on top was to step on someone else to get there” (page 219).

11.   Were you surprised that Alex ended up with Patrick when he was the one who figured out that Josie shot Matt?  Do you think Josie would have confessed if Patrick had not figured it out? 

12.   Why do you think Josie shot him? 

13.   What did you think about the school’s reaction to bullying?  When Selena interviewed the principal, he said “We’re completely on top of it” and “if the administration intervenes, it makes it worse for the kid who’s being bullied” (page 271).  When asked on the witness stand to read what teachers were supposed to about bulling as written in the school’s two-page bully policy, Coach Spears could find not specific instructions about what to do (page 380).  What do you think schools can do about this problem?

14.   Discuss Lewis’ research into happiness.   It seems his findings evolved as the story progressed:

a.       To improve your reality, lower your expectations (page 28)

b.       Happiness equals reality divided by expectation (page 129)

c.       Expectation divided by reality equals hope (page 131)

How do these findings relate to the characters in the novel?  Who was happy?

 

15.   How well did the author portray the various feelings and emotions of the characters?  Did reading this book lead you to think about anything differently?  Did you gain any insights that you had not thought about before?

The Paris Library, by Janet Skeslien Charles

 

Characters/People
Paris 1939 – 1944	Froid, Montana 1983 – 1988
Odile Souchet Remy – twin brother Papa Maman – Hortense   Eugenie – affair with Papa, nurse for Maman   Paul – policeman working with Papa   Aunt Cora – abandoned by Maman and sent home Uncle Lionel – divorced to marry mistress   American Library – staff: Miss Dorothy Reeder – Directress of Library, American Mrs. Turnbull – cataloger Boris Netchaeff – head librarian, Franco-Russian Mademoiselle Frikart – secretary, French-Swiss Miss Wedd – bookkeeper, British, arrested and sent to camp in France Peter Oustinoff – shelver, American Helen Fickweiler – reference librarian, American Muriel Joubert “Bitsi” – children’s librarian   Library Patrons: Mr. Pryce-Jones – retired English diplomat Countess Clara de Chambrun – trustee, author, Directress after Reeder Professor Cohen Geoffrey du Nerciat – journalist Margaret – English, daughter Christina   Felix – Nazi soldier dating Margaret   Dr. Hermann Fuchs – library director in charge of “intellectual activity”	Odile Gustafson Buck – husband, deceased Marc – son, killed in Vietnam   Lily Dad Mother -Brenda, died   Mary Louise – Lily’s friend Tiffany Ivers – mean girl in school   Robby   Eleanor Carlson – affair with father, second wife after Brenda died Sons with father – Joe and Benjy   Grandma Pearl – Eleanor’s mother

 

 

 

 

For Discussion

NOTES:               Underlined names are those of real people. 

Page numbers are from hardback edition.

 

1.       For most of the novel, there were two separate stories with the connection being Odile in both.  In the part set earlier in Paris, many of the characters were real people.  Was it important to you to know who was real and who was not?

a.       What did you think of Odile’s family, particularly the way her father treated Remy and the way her mother abandoned her sister, Aunt Cora, and sent her away after her husband divorced her?

b.       One of Odile’s jobs at the library was to write the newsletter and one of her most popular columns was to interview people and ask them what type of reader they are.    What do the books you love say about you?

c.       When she was asked why the library was sending books to the troops, she replied, “Because no other thing possesses that mystical faculty to make people see with other people’s eyes.  The Library is a bridge of books between cultures” (page 118).    Did this book, or any other, help you understand people better?  How?

d.       When Odile sent books to Remy, he told her he liked that she had written her thoughts in the margins, “How clever to write your impressions in the margins!” (page 123).  What are your thoughts about writing in the books you own?

e.       Discuss Margaret and the way her story unfolded.  Her romance with Felix started around a book.   Was she at fault for befriending him?  Was what happened to her Odile’s fault?

f.        Did Paul and Odile’s father have a choice about arresting Jewish people such as Professor Cohen?  Could you understand their reasons, especially Odile’s father who was trying to take care of his family?

g.       Was it human nature for some of the liberated Parisians to attack the women who had consorted with the Nazis?   Were they any better than the Nazis?

2.       Regarding the more current sections of the book set in Montana from 1983 -1988, what were your thoughts about those characters?  As you were reading, why did you think these sections were included in the book?  Were they necessary?

a.       After she came home from the hospital in 1984 and they were talking about her father, her mother, Brenda, told Lily, “People are awkward, they don’t always know what to do or say.  Don’t hold it against them.  You never know what’s in their hearts.”  How does this statement apply to the characters in the story?

b.       Were you surprised Lily and Mary Louise went into Odile’s house and snooped around after they got in trouble for snooping in Angel’s room? 

c.       When Lily found the letters Odile had taken from her father’s office during the war, she asked Odile if she had written them.  Odile was so hurt by this that she did not see Lily or her family for months.   Could you understand her strong reaction?

3.       One parallel in the novel was the two mistresses, both who were involved in the lives of the families.  In Paris in 1940, Eugenie nursed Hortense back to health. How was she able to show such tenderness toward her at the same time she was having an affair with her husband?

4.       In the same vein, in 1986, Eleanor married Lily’s father and constantly compared herself negatively to Brenda.  Why did the father see what was happening and intervene?  Why do you think she was so obsessed with Brenda?

5.       When you read chapter 44 about how Eleanor had nothing of her own in the house, did you think differently about her behavior?

6.       Why was everyone slipping their foot over someone else’s as a sign of affection.   For example, in Montana when Odile was going to visit her friend in Chicago and was saying goodbye, Lily slid her foot over hers (top of page 260).  Have you ever heard of this before?

7.       Discuss your reading experience.   Did you like the way the story went back and forth in time?  When you finished the book, what did you think about the most? 

The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett

 

Characters
Mallard	Desiree		Stella
Decuir – founding family, 1848   Adele Decuir Vignes -mother Leon - father, killed by white men	Sam Winston – husband, abusive Jude – daughter (see below)   Early Jones – hunted missing people   Lou’s Egg House		Blake Sanders – husband Kennedy – daughter (see below)   Reginald and Loretta Walker – black family moved into Palace Estates Cindy - daughter
Jude Winston		Kennedy Sanders
Reese Carter - boyfriend   Barry – Reese’s friend, high school teacher and drag queen		Franz – boyfriend   Played Charity Harris in soap opera, Pacific Cove   Became successful real estate agent

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.       The twins witnessed their father being killed and then were forced to leave school to work after 10^th grade?  How did these two events change their lives?  Was it fair of their mother to insist they leave school?  Did she have a choice?   Would Stella have changed her race if she had been able to finish school and go to college?

2.       Were you surprised that Stella spoke up at the Home Owner’s Association meeting against the Walkers moving in?  Why then did she almost become friends with Loretta?

3.       What motivated Stella to get her GED and then go on to college and eventually teach?   How hard do you think it was for Blake to suddenly have a wife different than from what he expected?

4.       How do you think he would have reacted if he had found out Stella was technically considered to be an African American?

5.       Do you think the fact that Blake had a black doll, Jimbo, when he was young that his dad destroyed one day would have made a difference in how he would react to the news?

6.       Why do you think Jude felt compelled to tell Kennedy about her heritage?  Why couldn’t she just leave it alone?

7.       In her thirties, Kennedy began to feel that “Her whole life, in fact, had been a gift of good fortune – she had been given whiteness” and “a bounty of gifts she hadn’t deserved” (page 299).   Could you understand why she felt this way?

8.       Did you gain any insight into acting?  Kennedy realized that “she became new each time she stepped under the lights” (page 246).   Her drama teacher told her, “True acting meant becoming invisible so that only the character shone through” (page 267).  Have you seen any movies or plays where you felt the actors ceased to exist as their own self?

9.       Leaving seems to be one of the themes in the book.  For example, both girls left Mallard, Stella permanently; Kennedy left for a year and traveled; Early’s parents left him when he was young.  How did leaving, returning or staying affect the characters’ lives?

10.   In an interview, Brit Bennett said that one of the questions in the novel is what makes us who we are?  Do we define ourselves or do others define us?

11.   In the interview she asked what race really is.   Does it require participation of others to confirm what we think or how we identify ourselves?

12.   How hard is it to redefine yourself, for example to start to think about yourself as someone who exercises as opposed to a couch potato?   How hard do you think it was for Stella to redefine herself?

13.   Did you like the organization of the book, bouncing back and forth between 1968 and 1978 and then beyond?

First Ladies: The Ever-changing Role from Martha Washington to Melania Trump, Fifth Edition, by Betty Boyd Caroli

 My book group read various biographies of the First Ladies.  The discussion was great!  This is the chart of all the First Ladies from the above book.

President and beginning of term	First Lady
George Washington 1789	Martha – involved in President’s work
John Adams 1797	Abigail – involved in President’s work
Thomas Jefferson 1801	Widower – Dolly Madison took over First Lady duties
James Madison 1809	Dolly Madison
James Monroe 1817	Elizabeth – reduced social obligation of First Ladies
John Quincy Adams 1825	Louisa
Andrew Jackson 1829	Widower – niece fulfilled duties
Martin Van Buren 1837	Widower
William Henry Harrison 1841	Anna – sick, young relative stood in for her
John Tyler 1841	Letitia – sick – daughter-in-law Priscilla Cooper Tyler filled in Julia – second wife, instituted “Hail to the Chief”
James Polk 1845	Sarah – very involved, no children, delegated household duties
Zachery Taylor 1849	Margaret – sick, younger stand-in
Millard Fillmore 1850	Abigail – sick, daughter Mary Abigail stood-in, started White House library
Franklin Pierce 1853	Jane – sick, younger relative stood-in
James Buchanan 1857	Bachelor, niece Harriet Lane acted as hostess
Abraham Lincoln 1861	Mary Todd – considered unbalanced, lost two sons, given different circumstances may have had a better influence
Andrew Johnson 1865	Eliza – invisible but influential, daughter Martha Patterson hostess
Ulysses S. Grant 1869	Julia – first “star” family, First Lady becoming more well known
Rutherford B. Hayes 1877	Lucy – first college graduate from a woman’s academy
James Garfield 1881	Lucretia – first to participate in husband’s public memorial service
Chester Arthur 1881	Mary McElroy – sister acted as hostess
Grover Cleveland 1886	Sister Rose Cleveland acted as hostess Married Frances Folsom, 27 years younger than Cleveland
Benjamin Harrison 1889	Caroline Scott Harrison
Grover Cleveland 1893	Frances
William McKinley 1896	Ida Saxton McKinley – became ill through grief, epilepsy
Theodore Roosevelt 1901	Edith Carow Roosevelt Controlled press access to family Hired her own secretary Renovated White House and made separate family area Hired caterers to prepare banquets instead of cooking herself Started White House portrait gallery
William H. Taft 1909	Helen Herron Taft – Stroke two months into term Controlled Taft’s career, kept him off Supreme Court until after presidency Planted cherry trees from Japan First to publish memoirs
Woodrow Wilson 1913	Ellen Axson Wilson – artist, sacrificed career for Wilson, worked to clear slums, housing bill named in her honor, died 1914 Edith Bolling Galt – second wife, very independent, claimed American Indian ancestry, controlled access to Wilson after his stroke
Warren Harding 1920	Florence King Harding – musical training
Calvin Collidge 1923	Grace Goodhue Collidge – first to attend co-educational university, first to prepare for a career of her own
Herbert Hoover 1928	Lou Henry Hoover – Geology degree from co-educational college Public activist, worked with deaf students More outgoing that husband Hoover gave strict rules about what she could do
Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933	Eleanor – during Great Depression Planned to continue teaching and running two businesses: school in NYC and furniture manufacturing in Hyde Park Wrote magazine articles and “My Day” newspaper column Radio broadcasts Donated all money earned Held press conferences Traveled for FDR Promoted aviation
Harry Truman 1945	Elizabeth Virginia “Bess” Truman – cancelled press conferences, very close marriage
Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953	Mamie Doud Eisenhower Thought wife’s role secondary and supportive “Mamie bangs” and “Mamie pink” General poor health Laid foundation for increased staffing for First Lady
John F. Kennedy – 1961	Jacqueline “Jackie” Bouvier Restored White House and authentic furnishings and artwork Avoided traditional luncheons and teas Took extended vacations on her own Maintained own individually
Lyndon B. Johnson 1963	Claudia Alta Taylor “Lady Bird” 1941-2 ran Congressional office while LBJ served in military Substituted often for Jackie while LBJ Vice President Memoir – “A White House Diary” Main project – environment and beautification
Richard Nixon 1969	Pat Nixon Did not settle on one project but made two contributions: 1.) made the White House more accessible and 2.) restored authentic antiques to the state rooms Her early vivacious personality was much different as first lady – uncomfortable speaking to large crowds but at ease and pleasant in private Did not like politics, no input into Nixon’s career Most widely traveled First Lady
Gerald Ford 1974	Betty Ford Known for candor and honesty Worked for Equal Rights Amendment and to have women appointed to important jobs in government Promoted arts and dance
Jimmy Carter 1977	Rosalynn Carter Three areas of interest; mental health, ERA, help aging population and promote volunteerism First to testify before Congress since Eleanor Roosevelt Judged to be more successful than Jimmy Expanded First Lady’s role
Ronald Reagan 1981	Nancy Davis Reagan Thought her career was to see to the well-being of her husband Initially unpopular – a public relations problem for the White House In 1982 tried to rehabilitate image Changed approach to job and became more involved in government 1985 held First Ladies Conference regarding drug abuse
George Bush 1989	Barbara Bush Oldest First Lady – age 63 in 1989 Opposite of Nancy’s emphasis on appearance Project – literacy Also worked to dispel prejudice towards AIDS patients Wrote Millie’s book, as Dictated to Barbara Bush – all proceeds to the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy
Bill Clinton 1993	Hillary Rodham Clinton Office in West Wing, next to Oval Office Bill named her head of the Task Force on Health Care Reform First to testify before a Grand Jury - regarding Whitewater  Ran for New York Senate seat and won while still serving as First Lady Record advance for autobiography - $8 million
George W. Bush 2001	Laura Platform – literacy Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries Started National Book Festival Spoke about women’s rights in other countries Hired first female Chief of Staff in White House
Barack Obama 2009	Michelle Projects – reduce children’s obesity and help military families
Donald Trump 2017	Melania First naturalized citizen to serve as First Lady Did not immediately move to White House after inauguration Project – Be Best focusing on opioid abuse and social media (be kinder and more responsible)
Joe Biden	Dr. Jill First to maintain a full time job outside the White House