La's Orchestra Saved the World

La’s Orchestra Saves the World – Alexander McCall Smith – To be Discussed on Wed May 1, 2019 at Geneseo Punblic Library<p>

When Lavender, La to her friends, moves to the Suffolk countryside, it’s not just to escape the London Blitz but also to flee the wreckage of a disastrous marriage. But as she starts to become a part of the community, she detects a sense of isolation.  Her deep love of music and her desire to bring people together inspire her to start an orchestra.  Little did she know that through this orchestra she would not only give hope and courage to the people of the community, but also that she would meet a man, Feliks, a shy upright Pole, who would change her life forever.<p>

Discussion Questions:<p>

1. Who are the two brothers in the beginning of the novel? Why are they visiting La's former house in Suffolk? And why does Alexander McCall Smith commence the novel with them? Why does he purposely make their background vague?<p>

2. Why does La marry Richard? Are they compatible in any way? How does time and place influence their decision to get married? Do you think they would have gotten married if they were dating in 2009? At one point later in the novel, La says to Mrs. Agg, "People are the products of their time." What does this mean? Do you agree?<p>

3. In this novel, what are the differences, both obvious and subtle, between life in the city and life in the country in the days before and during World War II? Where would you have preferred to live?<p>

4. Why is Suffolk life so therapeutic for La when she's single again? Do you think she really likes gardening? How is a wartime garden different from a peacetime garden, according to La?<p>

5. There are many references in the novel to suffering in life and the power of music to heal and to provide hope and joy. What is it about music that gives it these properties --- and in this novel, particularly classical music? How is different music good for different things, according to the novel? Do you agree?<p>

6. How is music the antithesis of war?<p>

7. How does La's orchestra raise morale and provide a diversion and hope to those playing instruments as well as to the townspeople in the audience?<p>

8. What is the importance of Henry Madden in the novel? Why is he so stubborn and bitter? After being blamed by his wife for the death of his son, why does he, in the absence of any proof, accuse Feliks of being a thief?<p>

9. What do you think the author is saying about xenophobia --- the suspicion and hatred of foreigners and "others" --- especially during wartime? How do you think things have changed from the 1940s to the present?<p>

10. How did the war transform lives in this novel, turning some upside down in a negative way and others in a positive way?<p>

11. Do you think this is an antiwar novel or do you think it says that war is inevitable?<p>

12. Why does La betray Feliks although she acknowledges that she is in love with him? Do you think she was scared of her feelings for him and this exacerbated her suspicions?<p>

13. Why is La also suspicious of Lennie (who is different from most boys his age), and why does she accuse him to the police with no proof? Does the heightened atmosphere of war cause her to not trust anyone?<p>

14. Describe La's relationship with her Cambridge tutor, Dr. Price. Why is it so fraught with tension? Do you think if La hadn't married, she would have turned out more like Dr. Price?<p>

15. Why does the author, near the end of the book, suddenly switch from the third person to the first person, so that we suddenly hear the story in La's voice? How does this affect your reading of the novel?<p>

16. In the book, "people took pleasure where they could find it, and with gratitude." How are people able to do this, especially when things are in short supply?<p>

17. By the end of the novel, how does music bring love back into La's life?<p>

Women in Sunlight

Women in Sunlight by Frances Mayes – To Be Discussed on Wed April 3, 2019 at Geneseo Public Library<p>


She watches from her terrazza as the three American women carry their luggage into the stone villa down the hill. Who are they, and what brings them to this Tuscan village so far from home? An expat herself and with her own unfinished story, she can’t help but question: will they find what they came for?<p>

Kit Raine, an American writer living in Tuscany, is working on a biography of her close friend, a complex woman who continues to cast a shadow on Kit’s own life. Her work is waylaid by the arrival of three women—Julia, Camille, and Susan—all of whom have launched a recent and spontaneous friendship that will uproot them completely and redirect their lives. Susan, the most adventurous of the three, has enticed them to subvert expectations of staid retirement by taking a lease on a big, beautiful house in Tuscany. Though novices in a foreign culture, their renewed sense of adventure imbues each of them with a bright sense of bravery, a gusto for life, and a fierce determination to thrive. But how? With Kit’s friendship and guidance, the three friends launch themselves into Italian life, pursuing passions long-forgotten—and with drastic and unforeseeable results.<p>

Discussion Questions<p>
1. The ingredients, cooking, and eating of food are prominent features of Women in Sunlight. What did you take the descriptions of food to represent? For instance, what is the importance of hospitality and the sharing of meals, and do you see a connection between cooking and other forms of creativity?<p>
 
2. At Susan’s beach house, she and her two new friends, Camille and Julia, discuss the expectation that life should "simplify" with age. Resisting this, they move to Tuscany "where life does not simplify, it complicates" (p. 51). Do you think this vision of Italy is correct? In what ways do their lives become more complex? Does life, in fact, simplify in other ways?<p>
 
3. Susan references a theory that, in dreams, houses and their rooms represent the parts of one’s self. Do you think that the spaces the women occupy reflect the current states of their hearts and minds? How might Villa Assunta in Tuscany speak differently than their houses in America or the living units at Cornwallis Meadows?<p>
 
4. Consider the following passage: "Why, they wonder after family life ended, didn’t more people banish loneliness and live together? Things, they conclude. People can’t part with their stuff, their mother’s stuff, attics and basements full of stuff" (p. 91). How do the women deal with the emotional weight of their things and the history they carry? What might be the importance of learning to "let go" of material possessions?<p>
 
5. What were your first impressions of Susan, Camille, and Julia? What contrasting personality traits do they have, and how might they influence or inspire one another? How are they each stimulated and transformed by life in Italy?<p>
 
6. What is Margaret’s purpose in the narrative? How might her relationship with Kit compare to the friendships among the other women?<p>
 
7. As the women transition to life in Europe, what are the divergences from life in America? Did you notice any cultural gaps between the American women and the Italian locals?<p>

8. Why do you think Julia considers the women innocent when they first arrive in Tuscany? Is this a trait that inevitably comes with traveling to new places? In what moments could you see them lose aspects of this innocence?<p>
 
9. Julia channels her culinary passion and publishing experience into writing Learning Italian, which chronicles her journey of cooking the country’s food and learning its language. Could you read Women in Sunlight as, like Julia’s project becomes, a newcomer’s guide to life in Italy?<p>
 
10. Thinking back on her time in Boulder, Kit remarks that "[t]hough I loved the town, it was not my place in the universe." What, in your view, determines one’s place in the universe? Why is it that we are compelled to return to some places and not others?<p>
 
11. How might Women in Sunlight challenge definitions of "home," or of the family as a nuclear unit? Are we readers encouraged to be more flexible in our understandings of these concepts? Do you find the idea of communal living practiced in Women in Sunlight appealing?<p>
 
12. What did you make of Julia’s tenuous relationship with her daughter, Lizzie, and Wade, her estranged husband? How do you think you would react if placed in Julia’s position?<p>
 
13. As she reconnects with her artistic flair, how does Camille learn to grapple with grief and the death of her husband? What were your interpretations of her "paper doors"?<p>



April 3  Meeting - 

Our group had very mixed feelings about this book.  On paper the plot sounded good but the author included too many descriptions and characters. This made the story hard to read and follow.  We did not like her writing style.  We enjoyed the insights on life in small village in Tuscany and the food they were eating.  Our members liked that the 3 American lady characters met at a retirement home open house, became good friends quickly, and decided to share a rental home in Italy for a year. It was interesting that the Americans were so easily accepted by their Italian neighbors. It was a year of changes and adventures for everyone. This book generated much discussion.

News of the World

News of the World by Paulette Jiles – To be discussed on Wed, March 6, 2019 at Geneseo Public Library<p>

In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction from the author of Enemy Women that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust.<p>

In the wake of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers to paying audiences hungry for news of the world. An elderly widower who has lived through three wars and fought in two of them, the captain enjoys his rootless, solitary existence.<p>

In Wichita Falls, he is offered a $50 gold piece to deliver a young orphan to her relatives in San Antonio. Four years earlier, a band of Kiowa raiders killed Johanna’s parents and sister; sparing the little girl, they raised her as one of their own. Recently rescued by the U.S. army, the ten-year-old has once again been torn away from the only home she knows.<p>

Their 400-mile journey south through unsettled territory and unforgiving terrain proves difficult and at times dangerous. Johanna has forgotten the English language, tries to escape at every opportunity, throws away her shoes, and refuses to act “civilized.” Yet as the miles pass, the two lonely survivors tentatively begin to trust each other, forming a bond that marks the difference between life and death in this treacherous land.<p>

Arriving in San Antonio, the reunion is neither happy nor welcome. The captain must hand Johanna over to an aunt and uncle she does not remember—strangers who regard her as an unwanted burden. A respectable man, Captain Kidd is faced with a terrible choice: abandon the girl to her fate or become—in the eyes of the law—a kidnapper himself.<p>

Discussion Questions:<p>

1. What might the experience of coming to hear a news reader be like? Did the author’s choice of having a news-reading scene be our first moments of the book help you move into the world of the story?<p>

2. What was your initial impression of Captain Kidd? What details contributed to that impression?<p>

3. Several commentaries offer the observation that News of the World is deceptively simple. What might this mean? Is it a compliment, or is it a neutral observation? Do you agree?<p>

4. Which elements of a traditional Western are evident in News of the World?<p>

5. What do we learn of Kidd’s youth? How does this inform the story? Were you glad to know more about his past?<p>

6. From the first scene in which Johanna is introduced, we are treated to brief moments of her perceptions. How do these glimpses enhance the story? What do we learn?<p>

7. How would you characterize Johanna’s behavior? Is it believable?<p>

8. In what ways does Kidd try to help Johanna become ready for re-assimilation into her new life?

9. Conversely, what does Johanna teach Kidd?<p>

10. Jiles did a great deal of research on captives. Does it show? Does her work make this a better story in any way, or would it not have been much different to either make it up or leave in the background?<p>

11. From what we learn around the edges and from Johanna’s thoughts, would you say the Kiowa are depicted sympathetically?<p>

12. What were some of the memorable encounters along the journey?<p>

13. Describe the reunion between Johanna and her people. How does the Captain try to help? How is he treated?<p>

14. After he left her with family, was the Captain right to intervene?<p>

15. What was your reaction to the lives they created for themselves? Were you surprised? Satisfied?<p>

16. Was John Calley a good man? How would you describe him? What were the three circumstances in which they encountered him?<p>

17. What purpose did the talk Captain and Johanna have on her wedding day serve?<p>

18. Several of the characters, including Britt Johnson and Captain Kidd, are based on true historical figures. Is this surprising? Does this change your perception of them at all?<p>

19. Would you describe this as a realistic story?<p>

20. Where in the novel does the title appear? Does it have significance beyond the literal?<p.

Discussion Comments from March 6, 2019 meeting:<p>

This was an easy to read historical story set in 1870 Texas.  There were two main characters – Captain Kidd, a 70 year old man who was still working, and Johanna, a 10 year old white girl who has been held captive for 4 years by native Americans.   The Captain is a kind man who agrees to take Johanna 400 miles to southern Texas to live with relatives she can not remember.  The author describes how their relationship grows over time.  Johanna does not know any English so Captain teaches her language and white people customs so she will be accepted by white society later. They learn to work together as a team while fighting off people pursuing them.  Capt. Kidd was an educated man who fought in 3 wars.  Now he earns money by purchasing international newspapers and reading them to the public in each town he comes into.  We loved this book.  It generated great discussion.<p>