Discussion of Michael Connelly's Scarecrow

These are the questions we used from www.michaelconnelly.com
The Scarecrow Reading Guide

SPOILER WARNING! This guide does address the entire book. Do not read it if you have not read the book.

1. Jack McEvoy had been flying high for a while, after The Poet case. He wrote a bestselling book about that story, was featured on TV shows, and was hired at a premier newspaper. However, at the start of The Scarecrow, 12 years after The Poet, he is divorced and seemed to be at the end of his career as a journalist. Did you like Jack as a protagonist? Could you relate to him or to his career issues?

2. The layoffs at the Los Angeles Times in this novel are a fictional example of what is really happening in the newspaper industry today. Why are so many newspapers shutting down or going bankrupt? What is the future of the news industry? And what will our communities miss if local daily newspapers are gone?

3. Jack McEvoy and Rachel Walling reunited in The Scarecrow and appeared to be in a good relationship at the end. Michael Connelly has also written Rachel in an on-and-off again relationship with LAPD Detective Harry Bosch. Who do you think is a better fit for Rachel, Jack or Harry? Or neither?

4. Rachel seemed lost when she was forced out of the FBI. Can you imagine Rachel in another line of work? Do you think she can ever really have job security with the FBI or will she always be one mistake away from being fired?

5. Wesley Carver, the Scarecrow, was obviously a very smart man who was very dangerous. Do you think, if his childhood had been different, he would have leaded a healthier, saner life? Or do you think some people are just simply born bad?

6. Carver seemed to have found a home on the Internet, indulging in his twisted sexual fantasies, finding others who shared his tendencies, laying traps, and finding victims. He was able to get information about his victims very easily. Think about Angela Cook and how much information he gathered about her just by visiting a few web pages. Is this book a cautionary tale about our use of the Internet?

7. Did you catch any of the references to the The Wizard of Oz throughout the book?

March Meeting-Digital Fortress

Stuart had some great questions for our discussion Thursday evening. You might want to consider them too.
Discuss national security and an individual's right to privacy. Under what circumstances does the government have the right to intercept private conversations? Where do you draw the line?


We all have right to keep secrets," he [Tankado] said. "Someday I'll see to it we can." (Chpt. 6, p. 33) Why did Tankado create Digital Fortress? What were his intentions? Was he right or wrong? How so?

What does Strathmore want to do with Digital Fortress? What are his intentions? Is he right or wrong? How so?

Discuss Tankado's early childhood. What effect did the events of his past have on his life? What makes Tankado's life ironic?

What does Susan think of Commander Trevor Strathmore? What does she think of Greg Hale? Do Susan's opinions cloud her judgment? In what way?

What is the significance of the ring? What does the inscription mean? Explain in detail.

What is the pass code? Who figures out the pass code, and how do they figure it out? What is the connection between the pass code and Tankado?

In addition to the above, we were intrigued by the line of 16 numbers on a blank page at the end of every copy of the novel, no matter what edition each of us used. It looked like a code. It was. Can you read the message?

Digital Fortress

If you do not yet have a copy of Digital Fortress for our book club meeting on March 18, you can find one at Beaufort Branch on the paperback rack. It will not be listed in the catalog. Stuart has also made his personal copy available. Of course, he will need it back before the meeting as he is our presenter!

Food of a Younger Land

Thursday evening Brenda lead us in a discussion of Food of a Younger Land, a book that Mark Kurlansky created from newly discovered submissions to a 1930s WPA project called America Eats. Brenda told us that the project was never published.
We learned a great deal about WPA projects from Brenda's research. For instance, at the time of the WPA, government support for the arts was a brand new concept.

Several members of the group brought regional dishes to share. Brenda, who is from Virginia, brought Brunswick stew. Cathy brought a corn dish often served in her native Iowa. Micki brought a local dish called Shrimp Bog, while Judy brought my childhood favorite, Snickerdoodles!

No, we haven't become a cooking club, but we were treated to some very fine food as part of our discussion of what people ate before the advent of the Interstate and fast food. I think we found that regional fare has survived in our homes, if not in restaurants.

A Note on our February Book

As our book next week focuses on food of an earlier generation, I would like to add, please be thinking of some of the foodways or regional cookery that you grew up with, or that perhaps you miss, if it is not readily available here. And what you find strange or wonderful or strange AND wonderful about Southern foodways. We’ll go around the room and savor each other’s stories, and get to know each other better. Thanks!

p.s. I’m bringing Brunswick stew from a recipe of my native Virginia.

Brendagael Beasley~Forrest, MA, MSLS

Blog Reader Request

Someone in cyberspace wanted to see pictures of the Beaufort Book Club. The only one saved on my computer is from our Christmas gathering. So, folks, here we are!

Please understand that the composition of our group changes from meeting to meeting. We are a book club that is freely open to the public, so people attend if they are interested in the subject of the book under discussion.

Food of a Younger Land

I hope you are enjoying our February selection. It has already created lively discussion as readers have dropped by the library! Remember that our meeting is Thursday, January 18 in the Children's Program Room.

I have been asked if attendees can bring a sample of a favorite recipe from the book. Of course, but please don't feel that you must bring something.

Meeting with Carolyn MacCullough

Seventeen of us met on Thursday with author Carolyn MacCullough, her husband, her darling baby girl and of course her mother and father who are regular attendees of the book club. For the aspiring authors in the group, Carolyn had a great deal of information:

Should you have an agent? Yes.

Is it hard to have a new editor for the second novel in your series? Probably, yes. She has not worked with the new editor yet, but the former editor has moved away.

Did she go into writing intending to write for the teen reader? No, but her "picture books" had too much text to fit into the category, so she adjusted.

Is she allowed to pick her cover art? Not really, but her editor let her give a lot of input into the one for Once a Witch. Actually, the large, chain bookstores dictate cover art, placing larger orders for those books whose covers they approve!

Carolyn gave us some insight into how her last book came to be. Imagine looking at a carved gargoyle and thinking "what if...."

Carolyn is an entertaining and articulate speaker. We were all so pleased to have her with us! Keep up with Carolyn and her books at http://www.carolynmaccullough.com/.

I hope you have all found a copy of Foods of a Younger Land, our selection for February 18. It's an interesting look at regional foods in the thirties when the WPA paid authors to investigate what people ate in this country. I read a few recipes that had survived into my own childhood passed along from my grandmother to my mother!

Review of Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough

Join the Beaufort Book Club and the Teen Book Club to meet the author on Thursday, January 21 at 5:30 in the Children's Program Room.
It is a great honor for an author to be reviewed in Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and the former publication Kirkus Reviews. See below.
Review of Once a Witch.
“[MacCullough] has created an enormously sympathetic character in Tamsin, whose itchy relationship with her family will resonate with teens struggling to define themselves. Characters, setting, conflict—all develop nicely to create a light urban fantasy that goes down easy and will have readers asking for its sequel.”—Kirkus Reviews

“With the glut of contemporary romantic supernatural tales, this will be popular, but the action, drama, and great potential for compelling sequels set it apart from the crowd.”—Booklist

"MacCullough's writing is evocative without distracting from her story; readers will identify with Tam's desire to create a space away from parental expectations and take comfort that even extraordinary families make mistakes."--Publishers Weekly

January Meeting

I hope you have found a copy of Once a Witch by Caroly MacCullough.

It is a teen novel, but still very interesting as an adult read. If not, the library system has four copies of the book. If you would like to own one, Baystreet Trading Company was ordering copies when I checked.

The author is still planning to speak to the combined adult and teen book clubs on January 21 at 5:30 PM in the Children's Program Room at the Beaufort Branch Library, 311 Scott Street in Beaufort, SC. Even if you haven't read the book by that time, please come and learn about the writing process.

Carolyn's next novel, Always a Witch is in the works! Have read the first one, I'm looking forward to the the sequel.

Happy New Year!

Fran