Is it a good group read or not?

You are quite correct, Abby, in stating that not every book is a good one for a book group to read. I love westerns and mysteries and, with a few exceptions, they just don't lend themselves to discussion. They are what they are. The good guy shoots the bad guy and gets the rancher's daughter. The butler did it. I think a group book should have a strong theme (not necessarily controversial), some interesting characters, and a great setting. The author should be trying to make a point about something! Non-fiction books, unless they somehow fit those criteria (or the subject matter is something the group is interested in), often don't work.

There are a multitude of books out there that fit the bill, and more and more have book group discussion guides in the back of them...which makes me laugh! (Now that you've read my book, here's how my publisher thinks you should discuss it...) That's one reason that Oprah's picks are often chosen...they almost always deal with an emotional or icky/bizarre/unpleasant situation, or memorable characters that everyone can identify with...by the way, I've gotten so I can hardly stand most of the contemporary fiction being written for that reason. I don't want all the pathos and drama anymore!

I also think some of the burden falls on the members of the group. I think that was the main problem with my last group. A couple members just didn't really want to read...they came because of the social connections. Which was ok most of the time because we all need that at some point. I think a member should be reading the book knowing that discussion is going to take place. Take notes (either on paper or in the book itself). Write down questions. Share favorite passages. If you disliked the book, make it known. My group always loved to hear why a person disliked the book and that almost always made for more good discussion (like the time I went off on Mr. Rochester and Jane's most dysfunctional relationship...). Too often the members don't really discuss the book. They dance around it and say that they liked it or disliked it but don't analyze or explain why. And, like any relationship, a good group takes time to develop. And when the group reaches that point, they must be careful who they allow to join (or how many people they have).

Even with Twilight (which I have yet to read) the discussion could be about why a BYU student, presumably a Mormon, would choose to write about vampires. I think that's an intriguing question in itself...one which could take off on many tangents. When we read The Da Vinci Code we talked very little about the plot, because that's all it is...plot. We talked about all the historical religious stuff that may or may not have been true. Because we had a couple of non-LDS people in the group, that was an intense discussion. I wouldn't (and didn't) have chosen that book for a group read. I have been surprised at what has worked and what has not. And each group is different because of the the members' personalities.

The Good Earth (Buck) and Follow the River (Thom) elicited the most interesting discussions in my CA group. Two other good ones were Peace Like a River and The Life of Pi. Most classics work too, because they almost always have strong themes and characters.

I like our blog approach a lot because it frees us from the discussion element in many ways. By reading our own choices, we also eliminate the feelings of resentment that can sometimes build up in a book group...i.e. feeling like "this book is a waste of my time, but I have to read it anyway." Which then can create nonproductive guilt in some people...like me.

I'm having a great time coming up with the parameters of our monthly read. Using said parameters, you ladies can then stretch yourselves according to the seasons/desires/busyness in your life. I think it's working well. The main point is to read and learn and broaden our horizons and show those we interact with on a daily basis that there is merit to the act of reading.

On a side note...I couldn't sleep last night and so I listend to a podcast (I love my birthday Ipod) of NPR's Fresh Air broadcast. Being interviewed was none other than Oliver Sacks, who is the author of Musicophilia (my selection for October). It was fun to hear an interview before I started the book. Sacks has a slight speech impediment...he says his r's like Elmer Fudd...Music and the Bwain. Somewhat amusing at 2 in the morning...

Happy reading!

The Good Earth

Wow, I finished my September read (yesterday) and it was amazingly insightful for me. I understand so much more now about how life in China was before the revolution. At the same time, I almost can't understand it, because I don't get how those women could go on being "slaves" all the time! I think I would just explode!! I really really like the way Pearl S. Buck writes! I found myself phrasing my thoughts throughout the day as she would write. A lot of her phrases reminded me of the scriptural and older language patterns. Thus, henceforth, even "it came to pass," shall, etc. I liked also the "Well, and" used so often at the beginning of sentences. And "Now here's a thing." Also, I liked how matter-of-fact she was. If I were writing about those things, I would have a hard time not inserting more opinions into it, I think. I have to confess that I feel very sad for O'lan--and still do!! I actually thought she might end up feeling loved by the end, and that she might feel lovable. But it's so complicated, isn't it . . . all around her thought of her as a slave and she as a human being with needs was ignored in so many ways. Pat and I were talking the other day about Johnny Lingo, for some reason, and Pat said that he found it hard to believe that Mohanna, from Johnny Lingo, would change quickly and automatically into a very different person immediately after being paid for with 8 cows. The movie sort of depicts the change as very fast. I guess he's right--she would have had a lot of emotional baggage, probably!! I also have to say that I was very very mad when Wang Lung took the pearls from O'lan. I put my book down for a moment and groaned! Interestingly, I was reading some of the Isaiah chapters while reading The Good Earth, and I made a lot of comparisons. The chapter in 2 Nephi that talks about the women with their rings and nose jewels and all that made me think of the harlots in the Great House, etc. And the rich getting too rich and the poor getting too poor made me think about the pride and humility cycles we all go through. I also think farming is very cool! And I think I have a new appreciation for the earth. I still think about the book a lot. I am grateful I could read it and read it with some of you. I had wanted to read it since Mom recommended it to me years ago. I am still sad for O'lan, though!! Liz

Great minds...

...think alike...or it must be the genetics! I, too, have chosen Musicophilia as my October read. I was so excited to see that Sacks had a new book coming out. We will just have to read quickly in late October! I ordered my copy through Amazon.

After weeding my books once in Lancaster, then packing them up, then unloading them and still not finding enough room on my existing bookshelves, reality hit me hard. I have way too many unread books and too few hours left in my life to read them. What a depressing thought that was...and then to turn another year older! Sadness.

Ivan and I now have a deal. When I have read ten books and discarded them (unless I really want to keep one) I can then purchase a new book. I asked Ivan and Bill to help me out so that I can keep things under control. They let me cheat with the Sacks book in that I was halfway through my tenth book and the new book doesn't actually arrive until mid-October! Maybe by then I will have read another ten?

Mim, I enjoyed your report on The Good Earth. I had no idea that Buck had a retarded child or that she had adopted other children. That adds quite a bit to the story and her characterization. It really is true that we write what we know. I think every author, whether they intend to or not, reveals themselves in their work. Did you find it different reading it as a mature married woman versus reading it in high school? Did you ever read The Inn of the Sixth Happiness...also an Asian setting? I guess I can ask you these things next week, huh!

FYI: Grandpa is reading outloud to Grandma every day...David McCullough's Truman. They are loving it and are almost three-quarters through. Even now, they continue to set a great example of learning and loving!

Happy reading!

The Good Earth, Mobius Strips, and Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain

I've searched long and unsuccessfully for the criteria for the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel won by The Good Earth, but can't find anything substantial about that prize or the William Dean Howells Medal that Pearl Buck also won for it. Oh well, at least I learned that the old Novel prize (around till 1948) was pretty prestigious, especially for a woman. I learned more about Pearl Buck than about the prizes, and she was awesome. I knew she had a profoundly retarded daughter (this explains much of her characterization of Wang Lung and his "poor fool" daughter). The daughter, Carol, would've been 10-15 when the book was written. But I'd forgotten the great extent of Mrs. Buck's humanitarian work for the retarded, for children (she adopted nine other children after Carol came), and for Asian-American relations.

While I'm here in Asia I'm often reminded how different the Asian outlook can be. So I loved The Good Earth for reflecting such a different view of self (although Chinese, not Japanese) while still depicting the people as real human beings like you and me. A couple of reviews criticized Mrs. Buck for giving Wang Lung some "enlightened ideas" that he might not have had as a Chinese peasant in the early 1900s, but I disagree. I think he was still pretty dense about a lot of things! But she made him loveable. I'm really keen, right now, on understanding and loving people who are totally different from me.

I also read Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone this month. You all know how many awards it's won and I don't need to tell you I feel the awards are justified. It was a fun light read and I think I'll read the others (having listened to the first four books on tape before 2003). Not sure though. I'm in a weird season (menopause?).

My choices aren't typical anyway, are they?! For example, I'm excited about a book I just found called The Mobius Strip: Dr. August Mobius's Marvelous Band in Mathematics, Games, Literature, Art, Technology, and Cosmology (2006). Some of it is really quite beyond me and I probably won't read it all, but there's cool stuff in it like a picture of an oak stair railing that's a Mobius strip (so your hand ends underneath the rail when it started out on top) and a maze on a Mobius. (My apologies, Beccy, for leaving out the umlaut in "Mobius.")

None of you will be surprised by my October choice, then. I could've read a lot of things in our Music category but I Google-searched music with science terms, just for kicks, and quickly found Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, by Oliver Sacks. Rae, I loved Sacks's Uncle Tungsten so much when you gave it to me, so I'm hoping this one is just as readable and fun. This one doesn't even come out till October 16th and then has to be shipped to my APO, so I'll be late with my October read. That's okay with me, though, because I'll be pretty busy the first two weeks of the month visiting several of you!! Love, Mim/Mom

Bookish Thots

In re security...I think its perfectly fine to block a personal blog. I read a set amount of blogs each morning and sometimes I wonder about the personal details they give out. On the other hand, I read some that just give opinions without revealing much. I don't know that our book blog reveals anything we wouldn't want any stranger to know. I do like the fact that only certain individuals can make comments or post things. That, in itself, is a security. Abby, you are great to keep us technologically savvy. Let's just be careful.

Liz...I didn't want to say anything re A Thousand Acres when you picked it as your book. I didn't want to prejudice you in any way. I'm glad, though, that you ultimately chose not to read it. I kept thinking of your little ones and wanted to tell you to skip it...but figured you had the smarts to make that decision on your own!

I read it years ago in conjunction with King Lear, which it is supposed to be a modern retelling of. [How's that for a bad sentence?] I wouldn't recommend it for any other reason. It's quite a dark and depressing story. Not uplifting at all. An Oprah book :) Something I have had to learn over the years is that even some books that are very well written are not worth our time.

What I find really intriguing is that The Good Earth, which so many of you have chosen to read, addresses some very adult issues. But I found that book uplifting and unforgettable. It just shows ta goya that an author can take on dysfunctional topics without making the reading oppressive or distasteful.

Happy reading!

The March

by E. L. Doctorow will be my September choice. It is set during the end of the Civil War when General Sherman marches through the South destroying much of the existing infrastructure. Doctorow won several awards and I will have to investigate them to see if I think he merits the honors.

Mim...I loved The Good Earth. I read it just a few years ago and it has stayed with me. I can't think of very many books that have impacted me emotionally like it did. I even dreamt about it and woke up mad at Ivan once. Poor guy...he had no idea what he had supposedly done!

Abby...great look. Keep it up. Hope I did the indexing correctly.

Rae...great photo. It will be interesting to read about some of the various book awards that are out there.

Happy reading!

From Mim/Mom: Sisterhood of the Panting Readers

Hello, Sisterhood of the Panting Readers! My September book is The Good Earth. I read it when Beccy was a baby so the story will be "new" for me. Actually it made a deep impression on me in 7th grade, and two impressions stayed with me: I began to learn what women have suffered in other cultures and times, compared to enlightened LDS women of our day, and I began to understand the oppressive nature of communism. Why do I want to go back to the book? And why am I not reading about Japan instead of China? Because I like Pearl Buck's narrative style and her insights into human nature (a favorite topic for me--what makes people tick), and I don't know of anything good she's written about Japan except The Hidden Flower, which didn't appeal when I looked it over. Does anyone know if it's good? Has she written more about Japan? It'll be fun to learn about the Pulitzer Prize (that's what The Good Earth won for her). I intend to look it up so I can judge, as I read, whether I'd have given Mrs. Buck that award.

Abby, I love the changes in our blog. As far as the colors and readability are concerned, you certainly wouldn't be asking for my opinion. It's all you birthday people who are getting older, needing boldface black-and-white large print. Who else could you be wondering about? Mim/Mom