Comment from a member

Since this comment requires some thought before we meet, I'm entering it as a post so that all of us are sure to see it.

Food for thought:Since there are some "summer reads" I've been looking forward to, I won't be able to read those AND book club selections. I will probably not attend the next 2-3 months so that I can focus on some other things. If I'm not the only one wanting to take a break, I propose we do something that would take less personal time but still would be a meaningful book club meeting. We could have 1 month where people select 2-3 poems from their favorite poet(s) to share with the group, as well as a bit about the poet. Another meeting could be the same with essays. There are many wonderful books of essays and poetry out there that are often overlooked. And then there are the short stories, some by prominent authors, others unknown. How do these compare with their larger works?

Posting Comments to This Blog

Here's a tip to post a comment. Click on "Comments" under an earlier post, then click on "Anonymous" so that the username/password boxes for Google disappear. Please send comments, especially if you can't come to a meeting. We all want to hear your opinion! See you on the 21st at 5:30 for our discussion of Heat.

Heat by Bill Buford

Discussion Questions for June 21 at 5:30 PM. We will meet in the library's 2nd floor Paul Siegmund Room, 311 Scott Street. For information about the Beaufort Book Club, email fhays@bcgov.net or just come to the meeting!

1. Did Heat make you want to become a cook, or did it make you want to run far, far away from the kitchen?
2. Why do you think Buford included the story about Miguel, the cook who killed himself?
3. Which larger-than-life chef were you most intrigued by? Mario Batali, Marco Pierre White, or Dario Cecchini? In what ways are they alike, and how are they different?
4. Have you ever spent an intense period of time learning a new skill, the way Buford did in the Babbo kitchen and the Cecchini macelleria?
5. At one point, Buford is told that the heat of the kitchen means the chef's sweat flavors every meal. Do you think this was meant to be an interesting fact? A provocative metaphor? A slightly disgusting reality?
6. Rate Heat on a scale of 1-5.
   
   
   

Discussion Questions-Winter of Our Discontent

Questions for Discussion:

1. In what ways does Steinbeck show the reader that a new order is replacing the old in New Baytown.
2. As the story opens, is Ethan Hawley part of the new order or the old? Explain.
3. Critics have stated that Steinbeck is presenting a paradox: “[man] can simply become one of the ‘eaters’ who simply fulfill their needs and urges, or he can try to make a difference as a moral, conscious individual." How is Ethan tempted to abandon his values and morals?
4. How does he himself expand on those temptations? What are the results?
5. When Margie reads Ethan’s fortune, she gets a vision of a snake shedding its skin. What might the image of the snake signify?
6. How do the actions of Ethan’s son mirror Ethan’s decline?
7. What is Ethan’s reaction?
8. What prevents his suicide?
9. To Mr.Marullo, Ethan is the “light” because he has not taken a kickback from a salesman. Who does Ethan discover as his own symbol of light for the next generation?

April 19-Eat, Pray, Love Discussion

In the absence of Maura (We missed you!), I will touch on the highlights of our discussion.

• One of the questions for discussion from the publisher quoted author Gilbert as saying that American is"an entertainment-seeking nation, not necessarily a pleasure-seeking one." Our group agreed, noting how often we feel guilty for "doing nothing" when we should be enjoying a chance for solitude or an attempt to rest and reflect. Europeans, we decided, are much more able to just relax and enjoy when the opportunity presents itself.

• A member commented on the brilliant structure of the book: one chapter for each of the 108 beads on the japa mala, Indian prayer beads. We also decided that the order in which the author visited her countries was well chosen: Italy to eat too much, learn to relax, and gain weight; then India to the ashram where she ate vegetables and brown rice and scrubbed floors--surely an accidental weight-loss program!

• During her stay at the ashram, Gilbert decides to become silent. Her goal is to become"The Quiet Girl." At that point she is assigned the job of Key Hostess, a job where the assignment is to greet new guests and be "social and bubbly and smiling all the time." She must talk! The universe has a sense of humor, and a sense of a person's true personality.

• Another discussion ranged around the author's quest for a word that describes her. She had been told that cities have a defining word: "Rome's word is SEX" for example. She finally decided to choose "Anteavasin" for herself. The word means "one who lives at the border." She sees herself as one who has left her normal life to become a seeker after wisdom, but one who has not yet arrived. The club decided that her word was really one on which she focused in Italy: Attraversiamo. It means "Let's cross over." The two words seem related in meaning.
  

Upcoming Titles for the Beaufort Book Club

June 21st-Heat by Bill Buford (The library system has 6 copies total. It is also in paperback for under $12, at least on Amazon.)
July 19th-Digging to America by Anne Tyler (The library system owns 7 copies. It is in paperback on Amazon for just over $10.)
Happy Reading!

Don't Forget Our Meeting!

Remember, our club meets tomorrow night (Thursday, April 19) at 5:30 in the 2nd floor meeting room. Bring a snack or drink to share, maybe a friend (!), and come ready to enjoy discussing Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. If you have a chance, go to her website at www.elizabethgilbert.com/faq.htm to read more about the trips behind her book. There you will also see pictures of the people about whom she writes: Dario and Giovanni (yes, too cute), Wayan & Tutti, and others. I'll bring a print-out to the meeting. See you there!

The Book Club by Maura

The Beaufort Book Club met on March 15^th to discuss The Book Club, by Mary Alice Munroe. In this novel, Mary Alice Monroe weaves a story of relationships and friendships that are forged through a meeting of the Book Club. Eve, Doris, Annie, Gabby and Midge undergo difficult times. Their friendships provide support and solace and deepen their relationships.

The book is predictable at first but as the story progresses, the reader is led through the intertwining of lives.. Two of the characters, Eve and Doris live parallel lives. Gabby, a nurse is the most truthful and must support her family when her husband loses his job. Midge, an artist, struggles with her own problems when her mother decides to move closer to her. Annie’s behavior causes a split in the friendships but helps the women grasp what is really important in life.

Change is difficult and in the end the women realize they can and must take control of their lives. The strength and support of the their friendships helps the Book Club members emerge as stronger women.

The next meeting of the Beaufort Book Club is April 19^th at 5:30p.m. The book for discussion is:

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Changes-We are Evolving

You may have noticed that the club name keeps changing! First we decided to drop "boadacious" as it seemed to relate to Queen Boadicea and exclude the males in our club. Next to go was "bookies." Not sure why on that one, although I'm sure my 76-year-old mother is relieved that her daughter is not associated with anything that could be construed as gambling! (We don't, by the way, unless you count hazarding an opinion as risky.) Anyway, we are now the Beaufort Book Club.
Another change: While we are still reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert for April 19, the May 17 selection has changed to The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck. Beaufort Branch has one copy, Hilton Head Branch has 3 copies, and Bluffton has one regular print and one large print copy.
Books being considered for later meetings are:
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (summer)
The Bridge by Doug Marlette
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Atonement by Ian McEwen
One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
The Bastard of Istanbulby Elif Shafak
anything by John Irving
Give this some thought and make your preferences known. Happy Reading!

Discussion Questions: Eat, Pray, Love

These questions are courtesy of the publisher of Eat, Pray, Love.

Discussion Questions From the Publisher
1. Gilbert writes that "the appreciation of pleasure can be the anchor of humanity," making the argument that America is "an entertainment-seeking nation, not necessarily a pleasure-seeking one." Is this a fair assessment?

2. After imagining a petition to God for divorce, an exhausted Gilbert answers her phone to news that her husband has finally signed. During a moment of quietude before a Roman fountain, she opens her Louise Glück collection to a verse about a fountain, one reminiscent of the Balinese medicine man's drawing. After struggling to master a 182-verse daily prayer, she succeeds by focusing on her nephew, who suddenly is free from nightmares. Do these incidents of fortuitous timing signal fate? Cosmic unity? Coincidence?

3. Gilbert hashes out internal debates in a notebook, a place where she can argue with her inner demons and remind herself about the constancy of self-love. When an inner monologue becomes a literal conversation between a divided self, is this a sign of last resort or of self-reliance?

4. When Gilbert finally returns to Bali and seeks out the medicine man who foretold her return to study with him, he doesn't recognize her. Despite her despair, she persists in her attempts to spark his memory, eventually succeeding. How much of the success of Gilbert's journey do you attribute to persistence?

5. Prayer and meditation are both things that can be learned and, importantly, improved. In India, Gilbert learns a stoic, ascetic meditation technique. In Bali, she learns an approach based on smiling. Do you think the two can be synergistic? Or is Ketut Liyer right when he describes them as "same-same"?

6. Gender roles come up repeatedly in Eat, Pray, Love, be it macho Italian men eating cream puffs after a home team's soccer loss, or a young Indian's disdain for the marriage she will be expected to embark upon at age eighteen, or the Balinese healer's sly approach to male impotence in a society where women are assumed responsible for their childlessness. How relevant is Gilbert's gender?

7. In what ways is spiritual success similar to other forms of success? How is it different? Can they be so fundamentally different that they're not comparable?

8. Do you think people are more open to new experiences when they travel? And why?

9. Abstinence in Italy seems extreme, but necessary, for a woman who has repeatedly moved from one man's arms to another's. After all, it's only after Gilbert has found herself that she can share herself fully in love. What does this say about her earlier relationships?

10. Gilbert mentions her ease at making friends, regardless of where she is. At one point at the ashram, she realizes that she is too sociable and decides to embark on a period of silence, to become the Quiet Girl in the Back of the Temple. It is just after making this decision that she is assigned the role of ashram key hostess. What does this say about honing one's nature rather than trying to escape it? Do you think perceived faults can be transformed into strengths rather than merely repressed?

10. Sitting in an outdoor café in Rome, Gilbert's friend declares that every city-and every person-has a word. Rome's is "sex," the Vatican's "power"; Gilbert declares New York's to be "achieve," but only later stumbles upon her own word, antevasin, Sanskrit for "one who lives at the border." What is your word? Is it possible to choose a word that retains its truth for a lifetime?