Before We Were Innocent, by Ella Berman

 

Characters

Joni Le Bon (Bonnier) Willa Bailey – fiancée Zoey – cheating with her   Elizabeth “Bess” Winter Steven – brother, Nova wife 5oulm8s – dating site, investigates and settles complaints   Evangelene “Ev” Aetos Stavros and Freya – parents Theo – brother, wife Sophia Home is Tinos – Greek Island

Minor Characters

Detectives Frost and Jenkins – investigating Willa’s disappearance   Zack, Bardo and Robbie – Theo’s friends the summer of Ev’s death   Lucien Miller – Willa’s lover, arrested

 

1.      Why did Joni make up the story about her being with Bess and Ev when Ev died when the truth left her totally beyond suspicion?  In 2018 Steven told Bess, “It makes zero sense why Joni would tell you to lie.  She placed you both at the scene of the crime when you weren’t there.  That makes no sense” (page 324).

2.      In 2018, Bess tells Steven “It was my fault Evangeline fell…I decided not to mention the path down to the beach that turned out to be hauntingly easy to traverse” (page 323).  Was it her fault?

3.      Discuss Joni’s and Bess’ reaction when they got home from Greece.  Joni used the experience to launch her entire career and Bess withdrew from society. 

4.      When Joni’s book was published, did the conversation with Bess and the dedication change or add to your idea of Joni?  She told Bess, “The book’s about the choices we make every day, often without realizing it” (page 271).

5.      Why do you think Joni planned for the book release to be on the 10-year anniversary of Ev’s death?

 6.      Why do you think Joni did what she did?  On page 335 Bess thought, “All this time I blamed myself for what happened when Joni could have put me out of my misery be telling me one single truth – it wasn’t my fault.”   Later Bess realized, “Only now I understand more.  I understand why she’s dedicated her entire life’s work to helping people like me…it was because of what she did to me on that beach in Mykonos.  For not only pulling me down with her but making me feel grateful for the privilege” (pages 335-336).

7.      What do you think happened to Joni in the end?

8.      How do you think Bess moved on after Joni’s disappearance?   Did she continue to isolate herself from the world or rejoin it?

Great Circle, by Maggie Shipstead

 

Characters
Marian Graves	Hadley Baxter
Addison Graves – father, ship captain, abandoned ship and saved twins Annabel – wife, drowned Jamie – twin, brother, artist Wallace – Addison’s brother, raised twins Berit - housekeeper   Caleb Kamaka – school friend Joey – son   Sarah Fahey – girl Jamie met in Seattle Adelaide Scott – daughter, sculptress, met Marian as a child, Jamie’s biological daughter   The Flying Brayfogles -Felix and Trixie   Trout Marx – pilot, teacher   Barclay Macqueen – bootlegger, owns plane, husband, eventually jailed Sadler – chauffer Katie - daughter   1934 – Marian to Atlanta – aka Jane Smith, abortion, paid to fly   WWII: Jamie – artist for Navy Marian – pilot for Air Transport Auxiliary in Britain Riat Bloom – pilot, Marian’s love interest   New Zealand – last 46 years of life: Becomes Martin Wallace, then Alice Root Visited by Caleb   The Sea, the Sky, the Birds Between: The Lost Logbook of Marian Graves – published by Matilda Feiffer – found 1958	Parents plane crashed into Lake Superior Mitch – uncle, raised Hadley   Roles: Katie McGee in “The Big-Time Life of Katie McGee” as a child and teen Marian Graces – “Peregrine”   Eddie Bloom – navigator on movie   Siobhan – agent   Oliver – living with Hadley, left after scandal Alexei Young – agent   Wings of Peregrine: A Novel – by Carol Feiffer Redwood Feiffer – wants to produce movie   Movie “Peregrine” Sir Hugo – agent, brought movie idea to Hadley Bart Olofsson - director
Others
Lloyd Feiffer – L & O Ship Lines, Addison saved his life as a child Matilda – funded Marian’s flight, 1948 bought publishing company, Sons – Henry, Clifford, Robert, Leander (died, age 6), George
Real aviators mentioned in novel – Jimmy Doolittle, Commander Richard Byrd, Amy Johnson, Elenor Smith, Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post, Amy Johnson and Jim Malison, Bill Lancaster

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from hardback edition.

1.      Did the inclusion of real aviators in the novel add to your understanding of Marian Graves and her desire for flight?

2.      Did the parts about the advances in flight add to you reading?  Did they help you understand Marian’s adventuress personality?  Would you have been as daring as Marian and the early pilots?

3.      As you were reading the two stories, which did you enjoy the most.   Did your reading experience change at any time throughout the novel?

4.      Did you like the organization of the book with Hadley interspersed with Marion but not on a regular basis?

5.      Why do you think Marion married Macqueen?  When he sent her Trout Marx and the plane, she thought it was a bargain and he thought it was a gift.  Was it really just a gift in his view?

6.      How and why did the Feiffer’s get involved with Marian’s story and publish her book? 

7.      There were multiple characters beyond those listed in the chart, such as the Ayukawa family and daughter Sally who ran away from an arranged marriage after Jamie painted her portrait.  How important were they to the story?  Did you have trouble keeping everyone straight?

 

 

 

8.      There were several times when the author had the characters muse about the meaning of life and other issues.   Some examples are page 500 when Adelaide said to Hadley, “It’s impossible to fully explain yourself while you are alive…” and “Art is distortion but a form of distortion that has the possibility of offering clarification…”  Also on pages 264-265, when Redwood asked Hadley where they were, she answered, “The Angels” and described it in a very long paragraph starting with “It’s wind chimes and helicopters…gongs, oms and whale songs…”  What did you think about these sections?

9.      A lot of reviewers thought this book could have been much shorter. If you agree, what would you have eliminated?

10. When you read the section early in the novel about Sitting-in-the-Water-Grizzly, what did you think?  How did this fit into the novel?

11. At the end of the book, who came to Joey’s porch on page 571?

12. Did you like the ending?   Why do you think Marian decided to disappear?

Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus

 

Characters
Elizabeth Zott (raped by advisor at UCLA) Calvin Evans – deceased Madeline - daughter Six-Thirty – dog   Zott family: Father – in jail, killed three people during a “miracle” Mother – in Brazil, no contact Brother – raised Elizabeth, suicide   Evans family: Avery Parker – biological mother, was told he died Adopted parents – killed in train wreck Aunt – killed in car crash   Harriet Sloan – neighbor and babysitter Husband – abusive   Mrs. Mudford – teacher   Amanda Pine – school with Madeline, Walter’s daughter   Franklin Roth – reporter for “Life”, article about Elizabeth rewritten   Reverand Wakely – pen pal with Calvin	Hastings Research Institute
	Calvin   Elizabeth   Miss Frisk – in Personnel, eventually the head (raped by advisor in school)   Donatti – head of lab, stole Elizabeth’s work and published under his name   Boryweitz – Elizabeth’s lab mate, co-authored with Donatti
	Supper at Six
	Phil Lebensmal – head of station   Walter Pine – director of show   Rosa -make-up   Seymour Browne – security   Mrs. George Ellis – audience, “Marjorie”

 

For Discussion:

1.      Would you have watched Supper at Six?

2.      Did or do you watch afternoon TV?  What were or are your favorite shows?

3.      Why do you think rowing was such an important part of the novel?

4.      Discuss the characters, including Six-Thirty.  They all were important to the story line.  What did they add?  Who did you particularly connect with?

5.      Why did station director, Lebensmal, suppress the popularity of the show?  Did you like what finally happened to him?

6.      Do you remember a time when women were known by their husband’s name?

7.      Mrs. Mudford assigned students to research and draw their family tree.  Do you think this would be assigned today?

8.      Did you understand why Elizabeth and Calvin never married?  Do you think they would have married if they knew about Madeline?

9.      Elizabeth blamed herself for Calvin’s death.  Did you understand her reasoning?

10. What were your favorite parts of the novel?

11. Why has this book been so popular?  How do you think different generations of women will read and understand the book?

The First Ladies, by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

 

Eleanor Roosevelt	Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune
Franklin Delano Roosevelt – husband Children – Anna, Elliott, James “Brud”, John, Franklin Jr. (died as infant), Franklin Jr.   Sara Delano Roosevelt – mother-in-law	Albert Sr. – son Albert Jr. - grandson
Personal and Professional Life	Professional Life
Todhunter School for Girls – owner and teacher   Val-Kill Industries – reproduction and carpentry training   Val-Kill Cottage   Marion Dickerson and Nan Cook – friends, live at Val-Kill   Lorena Hickok “Hick”   Earl – Secret Service Agent   Newspaper column – “My Day”	Bethune-Cookman College – president   National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs – president   National Council of Negro Women, 1936   McLeod Hospital   Bethune Beach   Bethune Funeral Home - 1936 – run by Albert Sr.   National Youth Administration, Division of Negro Affairs – director, 1936   Walter White – NAACP executive secretary, could pass for white   Column in Pittsburgh Courier – “From Day to Day”
FDR
Lucy Mercer – affair with FDR   Lucy Mercer – Eleanor’s social secretary, affair with FDR   Missy LeHand – secretary   Louis Howe – friend and advisor, died 1936   Steve Woodburn – replaced Howe, worked against Eleanor (fictional – see page 373)

 

 

 

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from hardback edition.

1.       At the very beginning of the book, Mary was at a dress shop and a woman introduces herself to Mary as “Mrs. Wallace” but calls Mary by her first name.   Mrs. Wallace has no idea why this offends Mary and is insulted when Mary points this out.   Did this give you an idea of the difficulties and lack of respect Mary faced in general?

2.       Were you surprised at all of the unspoken rules about behavior between whites and blacks?  For example, they couldn’t touch (page 244) or eat together in public.  

3.       Have you ever heard of Mary Bethune before this book?  If not, why do you think that was the case? 

4.       In February 1935 there was an art exhibit, An Art Commentary of Lynching, in New York City.  Why did the artwork move people so much when mere words might not have?

5.       At one point, Eleanor Roosevelt told Walter White at the art exhibit, that “Inaction in the face of racism is acquiescence to it” (page 190).   Are there other areas where the same can be said – that doing nothing is the same as approval?

6.       Did this book give you any new insights into Eleanor?  Did you know Eleanor’s mother was so critical and demeaning to her growing up?  How did this form her as an adult?

7.       Franklin’s infidelity is common knowledge.  Did you know about Eleanor and Hick and the idea of a “Boston marriage?”

8.       When Mary attended the Gridiron Widow’s dinner, Eleanor said to her, “I hope you won’t be uncomfortable as the only Negro in the room” (page 258).  In fact, the room was full of Negro servers, but Eleanor had never paid attention to them.  Was this her fault or a commentary on the times?  Were there any other incidents that stuck out to you as you were reading?

9.       The two authors invented a lot of the information in the novel, which is billed as Historical Fiction.  They explained their thinking in the Historical Note at the end.   What did you think about their inventions?

10.   Do you think this story could just have effectively been written by a single white author?

11.   The blurb on the front of the book said that the book will “expand your perspective.”  Did it do so?

The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown

 

Rantz family	Coaches
Joe Rantz Harry – father Nellie – mother, deceased Fred – brother, married Thelma LaFollette   Thula La Follette – stepmother Step siblings – Harry, Mike, Rose, Polly   Joyce Simdars - wife	University of Washington: Tom Bolles – freshman coach Al Ulbrickson – head coach   George Pocock – built racing shells   University of California: Ky Ebright
Crew of the Husky Clipper	Germany
Bob Moch – coxswain Don Hume – seat #8 – stroke position Joe Rantz – seat #7 George “Shorty” Hunt – seat #6 – always told Joe “I got your back.” Jim “Stub” McMillan – seat #5 John White Jr. – seat #4 – worked with Joe at Grand Coulee Dam Gordon Adam – seat #3 Chuck Day – seat #2 – worked with Joe at Grand Coulee Dam Roger Morris – seat #1 - bow	Adolph Hitler Dr.  Joseph Goebbels – minister of public enlightenment and propaganda   Werner March – architect   Leni Riefenstale – actress, produced movies for propaganda

 

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 2014 paperback edition.

1.       Why didn’t Joe’s father, Harry, intercede more in his behalf with Thula?  Given the time period, do you think this was unusual treatment of Joe by a second wife?

2.       Could you see Thula’s point of view?  She was a very talented violinist.  How might her life have been different today?

3.       How did Joe’s experiences growing up help or hinder him in the boat?  In life?

4.       All of the boys on the Olympic team were extremely successful later in life.  Was this partly due to their experiences in the boat?

5.       Did you learn anything new or gain any new insights about Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich?  Several times the author wrote about young German boys and what would happen to them.  He wrote that the innocent young boys in Triumph of the Will would “someday pull sobbing children from their mother’s arms and herd them into gas chambers” (page 144).  Also, when describing the bell tower at the stadium, he wrote that in the final days of the Third Reich, “some of those German boys – those who cried or refused to shoot or tried to surrender – would be lined up against these limestone slabs by their officers and shot” (page 208).

6.       Were you surprised about the length Hitler, with the help of Riefenstale, went to present a false picture to the world about the situation in Germany?   Was there any way America and other nations could have known what really was happening?

7.       Did you like the way the author switched among the story of the team, coaching strategies, and Hitler and the Third Reich?

8.       How did you feel reading Ulbrickson’s opening remarks to the team at the start of the season in 1935?  He told them “Somewhere among them…was the greatest crew that Washington had ever seen…Nine of them…were going to be on the podium in Berlin in 1936” (page 150).  Did you understand how this inspired the boys trying out for the teams?

9.       Were there life lessons to be learned from the art of rowing?  Some of the things the author wrote are:

a.       “Like so much in life, crew was partly about confidence, partly about knowing your own heart” (page 106).

b.       When working with Pocock, Joe thought, “the deliberate application of strength, the careful coordination of mine and muscle, the sudden unfolding of mystery and beauty” (page 127)

c.       When explaining to Joyce why he did not get angry, Joe said, “It takes energy to get angry…I can’t waste my energy like that and expect to get ahead” (page 134).

d.       George Pocock, in the quote at the top of page 149, said “One of the first admonitions of a good rowing coach is “pull your own weight” …There is certainly a social implication here.”

e.       Bobby Moch told his daughter, “It doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down, what matters is how many times you get up” (page 233).

10.   We read this book during the 2024 summer Olympics in Paris.  Did reading it make you more interested in the Olympics?

11.   If you did not play sports in school, did this book give you an understanding or appreciation of team sports?  If you did play sports, was the author’s description of what happens on a team accurate or idealistic?

Henry, Himself, by Stewart O'Nan

 

Characters

Henry Maxwell Emily – wife Margaret – daughter ·       Jeff – husband ·       Sarah and Justin - children Kenny – son ·       Lisa – wife ·       Ella and Sam - children   Arlene – Henry’s sister   Sloan – Henry’s girlfriend before Emily   Rufus – Emily’s dog Rufus – was Henry’s dog   Chautauqua – family’s summer cabin

Pittsburgh references – partial list

The Tin Angel, Mt. Washington – page 22 Pirates – page 52 Iron City beer – page 52 Highland Park, McKees Rocks, fish fry – page 53 Homewood – page 58 Parkway, Churchill – page 65 Murrysville – page 66 Phipps Conservatory – page 77 Jyggle – page 233

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 2019 paperback edition.

1.       How well did the author describe Henry’s personality?  He was an engineer, and as an engineer “he had a respect for the practical that extended to every facet of living, and was happiest when he saw an opportunity to fix a problem” (page 86).  Did this add to your understanding of his character?

2.       Regarding Emily, how well did the author explain her personality?  She “knew everything about their neighbors, and everyone at the club” (page 23).  But also, she had been locked in her bedroom as a child by her mother.

3.       What did you think about the relationship between Kenny’s wife Lisa and Henry and Emily?  Should Lisa have made more of an effort to fit in?   Did things seem to change when Emily was taking care of Margaret at Thanksgiving and Lisa helped with the dinner preparations?  Why did things seem different?

4.       Henry had been in the war.  On Decoration Day, he thought, “He had no use for parades or speeches or moments of silence.  He didn’t need a special occasion to recall the dead” (page 111).  And, “As much as he sometimes wished he could, he would never forget any of it.  He tried” (page 111).  Do you understand his thoughts?   Did this give you any insight into our veterans today?

5.       One of the reasons Henry liked golf was because “On the course he concentrated on the next shot and let go of his worries” (page 69).  Do you have any activities that occupy you mind and give you a break from the everyday concerns?

6.       Henry and Emily’s church was having a rummage sale and Henry wanted to donate some of the following to the sale while Emily did not: a ceramic chip and dip shaped like a sombrero, a plastic lighthouse cookie jar, plastic pitchers, a mahogany smoked salmon platter shaped like a salmon, and (my favorite) an old meat grinder used to make ham salad (pages 153 – 154).  Do you have any of these or the others listed in the book?

7.       Emily donated four bunches of glass grapes that had been in Henry’s family. While Henry was upset, Emily said that no one wanted them in the family.  Were you surprised that no one bought them at the sale and that Henry brought them home and hid them?   Do you have anything you would have trouble giving away?

8.       Did all of the Pittsburgh references add to your enjoyment of the book?  How do you think a person who did not know Pittsburgh would read the book?  Does it make a difference to you if the setting of a story is familiar to you?

9.       This was basically a story about ordinary people – there was no overriding large event.  How well did the author describe the characters?  Did the author get and retain your interest throughout the novel?

 

A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson

 

Hikers and others on the trail	History
Bill Bryson – started March 9, 1996 Stephen Katz   First part of trip – walked 500 miles and 1,250,000 steps   Total miles for Bryson – 870 miles, 39.5% of trail   Mary Ellen   Donna and Darren   Bob – wanted to “talk equipment”   Chicken John – always getting lost   Emma “Grandma” Gatewood – twice walked trail in late 60s, most famous thru hiker   Woodrow Murphy – walking fat man	1921 – Benton MacKaye – initial idea Charles Harris Whitaker – published idea   1925 – Appalachian Train Conference founded   1930 – Myron Avery – organized construction of trail   1948 – Earl V. Shaffer – first person to hike the trail from end to end, average 17 miles per day   1968 – National Trail System Act - under Stewart Udall, secretary of the interior,
Facts
2100+ miles, Georgia to Maine Five months and 5 million steps to walk entire trail Maintained by volunteers 10% of those who start actually finish Thru-hikers and section-hikers

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the First Anchor Books Edition, January 2007.

1.       Would you have put up with Katz?  At least at the beginning, Bryson was always either waiting for him or going back to find him. 

2.       Discuss Katz and Bryson’s friendship.  It seemed they really did not know each other that well and Katz did not have to be there.  On the other hand, Bryson wrote in chapter 4 that, “We seemed to be looking out for each other.  It was very nice.  I can put it no other way” (page 71).

3.       Katz’s view of the hike was much different from Bryson’s.  To Katz, “hiking was a tiring, dirty, pointless slog between distantly spaced comfort zones” (page 123).  Why didn’t he quit?

 

 

4.       Have you ever been in a very dense woods with no one else around?  On the one hand, Bryson wrote that “woods are spooky” (page 62) and “you are jumpier than Don Knotts with pistol drawn” (page 63).  He also wrote, “the woods are great providers of solitude, and I encountered long periods of perfect aloneness” (page 71).   How do you think you would feel alone in a dense forest?

5.       The author was very critical of both the National Park Service and the Forest Service.  Of the National Park Service, he wrote that it “has something of a tradition of making things extinct” (page 131) and it has a “more casual approach to endangering wildlife: neglect” (page 132).  Of the Forest Service, he said that what it mostly does is “build roads…for private timber companies” (page 66).  Were you surprised by these thoughts?

6.       Two hundred thirty miles of the AT are in Pennsylvania.  Our state did not get a very pleasant review in the book!  Did you know about all of the anthracite coal and oil in our state?  Did you think Pennsylvania received a fair assessment?

7.       When he and Katz were in Gatlinburg, he saw a four-foot-tall map of the trail and realized they had only covered two inches.  At that point they realized there were not going to make it to Maine.  They both found this fact liberating – “If we couldn’t walk the whole trail, we also didn’t have to...We could enjoy ourselves.” (page 150).  Did you understand why they were not disappointed but found it a positive realization?  Have you ever experienced giving up a goal only to find it a positive thing? 

8.       Did you like the mix of personal experiences on the hike with U. S. history and geography of the trail?  For example, the author wrote about Harper’s Ferry and Stonewall Jackson in chapter 13.

9.       Given that this book was written in 1998, Bryson reported that “every twenty minutes on the Appalachian Trail, Katz and I walked farther than the average American walks in a week” (page 183).  Do you think this is still true today?

10.   At the end of the novel, Bryson listed what he had gained from the venture.  Besides personal accomplishments (slept under the stars, for example), he said, “I understand now, in a way I never did before, the colossal scale of the world…I discovered an America that millions of people scarcely know exists” (page 393).  Did he convey these revelations well during the novel?   Did you gain any of that understanding through reading his account?

11.   Would you take on such a project or goal?