Book For August is The Inheritance of Loss

The book for our August book club is The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. This is the 2007 Booker Man Award Winner. As we were discussing last Tuesday night, the book is dense with description, and a little bit slower reading. It is probably not something you want to save until the last minute to go out and buy, thinking you can knock it out in a weekend. (I don't even think Erica could read this one that fast.) The August meeting will be August 28 at 7:30.

We also went ahead and made our pick for September: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Start thinking about some other books you would like to be reading and we can plan a couple of more months ahead next time we meet. Remember, both fiction and non-fiction are fair game in this group.

Happy reading and see you soon. ~ Jen

Peace Like a River Brought Forth Piece of a Chocolate Cake

Thanks to everyone who came to book club on Tuesday - it was good to see so many people there! And thanks to Erica who brought the Zucchini Chocolate Cake. As promised, here is the recipe:

Zucchini Chocolate Cake
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups shredded zucchini
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate baking chips
1 cup salad oil
4 large eggs

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in zucchini, and chocolate chips. In a small bowl, beat oil and eggs; add to dry mixture and mix well.Spread batter in an oiled 9 by13 inch baking dish or pan.

Bake in a 325° oven until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. (recipe from Erica's friend Judy Perez)

It sure was a nice treat for such delightful conversation. ~ Jen

Book Club meets Tuesday to Discuss Peace Like a River

With the summer rolling along, I want to remind everyone that we will be meeting next Tuesday, July 31 to discuss Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger. If you haven't picked it up yet, I think you will find there is still time. It's a real quick read and a very enjoyable story. Leif Enger is a reporter and producer for Minnesota Public Radio - his writing style is relaxed, spiritual, and just a tinge on the folksy side. It's a nice summer read.
I thought for a change I would include a reading/discussion guide for the book. Take a look over the questions - it may get you thinking of ideas you would want to discuss about the book. I will bring copies of the guide, but I don't intend to go question by question, structured like school. Maybe it will be good for discussion starters:

Reading Guide - Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

1. As the novel begins—indeed, as the very life of this novel's narrator begins—a miracle happens. Describe it. How does it happen? Who accomplishes it? Begin your discussion of this book by recounting the major and minor miracles that occur throughout. What role do they play in Peace Like a River?

2. Born with a severe case of asthma, Reuben Land, our young hero and narrator, must often struggle to bring air into his lungs. Throughout the book, Reuben is preoccupied with his own breathing, and the act of breathing functions in this story as a metaphor for life itself. How does Reuben cope with his ailment, and how is his character influenced by it? Provide instances where breathing takes on special meaning in the narrative.

3. Consider the details of the double homicide committed by Davy, Reuben's older brother. Does Reuben see Davy as a murderer, or as one who acted in self-defense? Does he want Davy brought to justice, or does he think justice has already been served? What about the other main characters: how do they feel? And what about you, the reader? How was your impression of Davy—and of this novel—influenced by his actions? Discuss how the novel explores the idea of loyalty.

4. Peace Like a River is set mainly in rural Minnesota and the Badlands of North Dakota during the early 1960s. Like early American pioneers, or perhaps like mythic heroes, the Lands set out to rescue one of their own amidst the beauty and cruelty of the natural world. How does the Land family contend with this raw, uncivilized, and sometimes brutal landscape? Identify events or circumstances in which the novel's setting contributes to its elemental or mythic quality.

5. Swede, Reuben's imaginative, prolific, and precocious younger sister, creates an epic poem about a cowboy named Sunny Sundown. Talk about Sunny's ongoing saga as an ironic commentary on Reuben's larger narrative. What are the parallels?

6. Besides the Sunny Sundown text, several other outlaw tales, literary allusions, biblical legends, and historical asides are offered—by Swede or by Reuben himself. Identify a few of these stories-within-the-story, explaining how each enriches or influences the main narrative.

7. Discuss the character of Jeremiah Land, Reuben's father—and the center of his moral compass. What are Jeremiah's strengths, as a person and a parent? Does he have any weaknesses? Why did his wife leave him, all those years ago? And why does he "heal" the grotesque employer who fires him (p. 80)? Explain how the novel's dual themes of familial love and ardent faith are met in this character.

8. Both during Davy's trial and after his escape from prison, we encounter a variety of public viewpoints on what Reuben's brother has done. Such viewpoints, usually presented as personal letters or newspaper editorials, are always steadfast yet often contradictory. What does Reuben seem to realize about the so-called "court of public opinion," in light of these viewpoints?

9. Prayer is described in many ways, and on many occasions, in Peace Like a River. Reading this book, did you discover anything about the activity of, reasons for, or consequences of prayer? What larger points—about religion and human nature, say—might the author be making with his varied depictions of people at prayer? For instance, when remembering a prayer he said that included blessings for even his enemies, Reuben comments thus regarding Jape Waltzer: "Later I would wish I'd spent more time on him particularly" (p. 285). Why does Reuben feel this way? What power does he recognize in his own prayers? Discuss the impact prayer has on Reuben, and how it transforms him.

10. Recovering from a near-fatal asthmatic collapse, Reuben muses: "The infirm wait always, and know it" (p. 290). Given Reuben's physical condition, and given what we know about his ancestry and the story at hand, what is Reuben "waiting" for? How is his waiting resolved? Can this analogy be applied to any of the other characters?

11. The final miracle in Peace Like a River occurs, of course, when Jeremiah surrenders his life for Reuben. But why, at an earlier point in the story, does Reuben observe, "Since arriving at [Roxanna's] house, we'd had no miracles whatever" (p. 257). Discuss the truth and falsehood of this remark. How might Roxanna herself be seen as a miracle?

12. What does the character of Roxanna bring to the Land family? What does she provide that the Lands had lacked before her arrival? Over the course of the novel, Reuben's attitude and his physical descriptions of Roxanna change. In what ways does it change, do you think Roxanna’s attitudes toward the Lands as a family and Jeremiah as a person undergo a similar metamorphosis?

13. In "Be Jubilant, My Feet," the next-to-last chapter, Reuben and Jeremiah enter a world beyond this one. "Here in the orchard," our hero recalls, "I had a glimmer of origin: Adam, I thought" (p. 301). Where exactly are Reuben and his father? What happens to them? How have these crucial events been foreshadowed, and how are they new or unprecedented?

14. Much of this novel concerns the inner life of childhood: imagination, storytelling, chores, play, and school life. Discuss the author's portrayal of childhood. Do the children depicted here seem realistic? Why or why not?

15. Remembering his own childhood, author Leif Enger recently noted: "I grew up squinting from the backseat at gently rolling hills and true flatlands, where you could top a rise and see a tractor raising dust three miles away. So much world and sky is visible, it's hard to put much stock in your own influence." Does this type of relationship between the individual and the natural world appear in Peace Like a River? If so, where? Identify key passages or scenes where the characters seem inferior to the landscape, or even at the mercy of it.

16. Finishing his story, Reuben notes: "You should know that Jape Waltzer proved as uncatchable as Swede's own Valdez" (p. 309). What do the characters of Jape and Valdez represent in this novel? Conclude your discussion by comparing and contrasting Peace Like a River with the traditional morality play—the symbolic drama (dating back to medieval times) based on the eternal struggle between Good and Evil.

Study Guide Source: http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides3/peace_like_a_river1.asp

Book for July 31 - Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

Thanks to everyone who joined in a spirited discussion of presidential assassinations last month.

This month's book, Peace Like a River shifts gears to a winding narrative:

From Booklist

What readers will appreciate first in Enger's marvelous novel is the language. His limpid sentences are composed with the clarity and richness for which poets strive. It takes longer to get caught up in the story, but gradually, as the complex narrative unwinds, readers will find themselves immersed in an exceptionally heartfelt and moving tale about the resilience of family relationships, told in retrospect through the prism of memory. "We all hold history differently inside us," says narrator Reuben, who was an adolescent in Minnesota in the 1960s, when his brother, Davy, shot and killed two young men who were harassing the family. Rueben's father--in Rueben's estimation fully capable of performing miracles even though the outside world believed him to be lost in the clouds--packs Reuben and his sister up and follows the trail Davy has left in his flight from the law. Their journey comprises the action in the novel, but this is not really a book about adventures on the road. Rather, it is a story of relationships in which the exploration of character takes precedence over incident. Enger's profound understanding of human nature stands behind his compelling prose.

- Brad Hooper Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition

* Also Promised: The book that we will be reading is August is The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. More about this later.

For now, enjoy Peace like a River. Happy Reading! - Jen

We Meet Next Tuesday at 7:30

Okay - after talking to Erica, it seems as though I am the only one who has been thoroughly confused about what we are reading when. I am glad blogging has gotten me back on track. After a very long wait for some of you, we will finally be discussing Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell on Tuesday June 26 at 7:30. As always, we will be meeting at church. I hope you all have enjoyed/ are enjoying this book as much as I am.

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to participate in the Hunger Walk. Though the number of walkers for LMC was very low, we raised enough money to feed a family of three breakfast, lunch, and dinner for an entire year. Everytime I figure out my budget and go to the grocery store, I keep thinking about the book Nickle and Dimed. With rising food and energy costs for everyone I was happy to get up very early (for me) on a Saturday morning and walk a few miles to raise some money and help others out. Who knows, it might be the clerk at the grocery store I am helping to feed.

Here is a little video (my new toy) I shot at the Hunger Walk. I thought it would be fun to share with you all.



I'll see you all on Tuesday - Jen

Hey, Look, Jen Can Blog Again

After a very long absence, and some mix-ups, I am back blogging again. My wrist is back in shape and book club is back in line - and we are reading Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell for June 26.

If you haven't picked it up yet, it is a fun, quirky little read - perfect for summer.

Have you ever played that game - if you could invite 3 people, living or dead to a dinner party, who would you invite? I was always able to come up with my first 2 very easily: Eleanor Roosevelt (my personal hero), Terry Gross (the host of NPR Fresh Air). And then I would stall. I couldn't think of a 3rd who I would really wan't to have a conversation with. I think that has now all changed. I think Sarah Vowell would be the dinner party 4th. I think I would enjoy talking about obscur historical events and possible parallel current events with her.

Happy reading, and I can't wait to talk about Assassination Vacation with all of you.