Life After Life Discussion Questions

From Kate Atkinson's website, here is a link to a pdf with the discussion questions: Click here for Life After Life questions

the Language of Flowers, book club questions

Source:  http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/features/vanessa_diffenbaugh/book-clubs/

Discussion Questions for THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS

Author Q&A

1. What potential do Elizabeth, Renata, and Grant see in Victoria that she has a hard time seeing in herself?
2. While Victoria has been hungry and malnourished often in her life, food ends up meaning more than just nourishment to her.  Why?
3. Victoria and Elizabeth both struggle with the idea of being part of a family.  What does it mean to you to be part of a family?  What defines family?
4. Why do you think Elizabeth waits so long before trying to patch things up with her long-lost sister Catherine?  What is the impetus for her to do so?
5. The first week after her daughter’s birth goes surprisingly well for Victoria.  What is it that makes Victoria feel unable to care for her child after the week ends?  And what is it that allows her to ultimately rejoin her family?
6. One of the major themes in The Language of Flowers is forgiveness and second chances – do you think Victoria deserves one after the things she did (both as a child and as an adult)?  What about Catherine?  And Elizabeth?
7. What did you think of the structure of the book – the alternating chapters of past and present?  In what ways did the two storylines parallel each other, and how did they diverge?
8. The novel touches on many different themes (love, family, forgiveness, second chances). Which do you think is the most important?  And what did you think was ultimately the lesson?
9. At the end of the novel, Victoria learns that moss grows without roots.  What does this mean, and why is it such a revelation for her?
10. Based on your reading of the novel, what are your impressions of the foster care system in America?  What could be improved?
11. Knowing what you now know about the language of the flowers, to whom would you send a bouquet and what would you want it to say?

the Language of Flowers, Vanessa Diffenbaugh

A 3 minute video of the author talking about her novel:  click here to see video on YouTube

and some reviews . . . .

SF Gate (San Francisco): " In the end, she offers a cautionary tale about what happens to kids who've grown without families, one that strives to be honest but still hopeful. Children like Victoria may be able to survive on their own, but in order to do better than that - to thrive - they need support. But it's never too late to learn how to love."

New York Times :"At first blush it sounds like something Dickens might have come up with, had Dickens been deeply interested in flower arranging"

the Globe & Mail:  "In this absorbing and delicately wrought debut novel, Diffenbaugh heeds the creative-writing maxim: Write what you know. She has been a foster mother and has taught art and writing in low-income communities. This experience is discernible in The Language of Flowers. The idea that an angry young girl such as Victoria would actually be interested in flowers and their meanings seems implausible on one level, and yet Diffenbaugh uses to good effect the belief that evergreen hope lies nascent within most damaged kids."

Kate Greenaway's Language of Flowers, 1884
the author's inspiration for the novel

A Short Review of Sweet Tooth

From The Guardian: A satisfying spy novel with a literary twist provides both surprises and sly references to McEwan's early work   http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jun/02/sweet-tooth-ian-mcewan-review

February 2014 book ~ Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan ~ discussion Qs

DISCUSSION GUIDE: “SWEET TOOTH”

by KILA

McEwan chooses to employ a female protagonist. Consider your thoughts and feelings about her character. Are you sympathetic to Serena?

Is Sweet Tooth truly a spy novel? How does it fulfill or defy your expectations of this genre? How does espionage become a metaphor for the deeper concerns of the novel?

Why do you think the author chose to set the novel in the England of the 1970s, during the lingering Cold War? What contemporary or otherwise timeless themes is McEwan able to treat by adopting this political-historical backdrop?

Pierre speaks to MI5 of “the hazardous terrain where politics and literature meet”. Talk about Operation Sweet Tooth. What is the nature of its participation in “the softest, sweetest part of the Cold War, the only truly interesting part- the war of ideas”?

Serena’s voraciousness as a reader of novels is what got her recruited to a secret mission for MI5. What kind of a reader is Serena? What about reading is McEwan exploring through her character?

Excerpts of Haley’s stories are peppered throughout the novel. What impact do these stories have on the reader? Do they mirror- or otherwise contradict- the major themes of Sweet Tooth?

McEwan confirms that Sweet Tooth contains autobiographical elements. What does he reveal through the character of Tom Haley about being a writer and the process of writing itself?

How did the final chapter of Sweet Tooth affect you? How did it wrap up the book’s overall  messages and themes?

from:  http://onereadingwoman.wordpress.com/2013/07/21/discussion-guide-sweet-tooth/

Light Between Oceans ~ Review

THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS
By M. L. Stedman
345 pages. Scribner. $25.

Tom is the lighthouse keeper on a tiny chunk of rock, nearly 100 miles off the Australian coast. Population: Tom and his wife, Isabel. The year is 1926. She’s grieving over a recent stillbirth that followed two miscarriages when they discover a healthy newborn who’s just washed up on shore in a boat; other things onboard include a woman’s sweater and a dead body the couple presume to be the father. While Isabel sees the hand of God at work, readers might notice instead the creak of plot gear. But just past this debut novel’s initial clunkiness lies an all-too-believable snarl of human emotion. Because, of course, they keep the baby. And, of course, the child’s mother is not dead. Ms. Stedman builds a solid case for all sides — or, at least, makes everyone’s motives understandable. She does occasionally dip into the melodrama pot; Isabel at one point screams, “Don’t take my baby away!” It’s a moving tale, regardless. Prepare to weep. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/26/books/new-books-by-m-l-stedman-yvvette-edwards-and-more.html?_r=0 

The Light Between Oceans’ is an absorbing, mesmerizing indie choice 

Independent booksellers love to promote new authors when they deliver a good story. And M.L. Stedman has written just the kind of book that we love to start a buzz about.

Stedman, born and raised in Australia, has indeed delivered a good story, full of great character development and suspense. Many independent booksellers across the country feel the same way and have voiced their support for the book, causing Indiebound to pick “The Light Between Oceans” as its No. 1 choice for August. Indiebound is a program developed by the American Booksellers Association to promote independent businesses of all kinds.

They produce a nice pamphlet every month with the newest book picks from indies across the nation. You can pick up those pamphlets at our store. We have a round table in the middle of the store that always sports the latest indiebound choices. You can also go to to www.indiebound.org to see the current list, read interesting book news and even become a part of the indiebound community.

“The Light Between Oceans” is the touching story of a young man, certainly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder before post-traumatic stress disorder had a name. Tom has been on the Western Front and has been forever changed by the experience. When he returns to Australia, he takes a job as a lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, a very remote island off the western coast. He finds himself particularly suited to the isolated life there. He enjoys the daily record keeping and maintenance of equipment that gives his life structure while giving him a sense of fulfillment in knowing he is doing his job so that others will stay safe.

The only people Tom ever sees are the men who bring supplies once per season and those friends he visits every other year when he has shore leave. When he meets a spirited young woman, Isabel, on one of those leaves, he soon marries her and takes her to Janus. She is a delightful companion and lover, thriving on making a home for them. She roams about naming all the coves and crannys, dreaming of the day when children’s voices would be heard on the island.

Though she yearns for a child, she suffers the trauma of two miscarriages and a stillbirth over several years with no one but Tom there to help her. The experiences she has cause a different kind of PTSD for her. Grandually, both Tom and Isabel become somewhat desperate people, growing sad and distant from each other. When a “miracle” finally occurs and a child comes into their lives, they must justify Lucy’s existence, bury some secrets and face the consequences, which are very far-reaching.

• “The Light Between Oceans” by M.L. Stedman will be published in August by Scribner. It retails for $25.

• Susan Richmond owns Inklings Bookshop. She and other Inklings staffers review books in this space each month.

http://www.yakimaherald.com/photosandvideos/latestphotos/102413-8/indiebound-book-oceans-tom-booksellers-independent-stedman-august-australia-become 

 

Light Between Oceans ~ Readers' Guide

Discussion Questions
1. Discuss the novel’s title, The Light Between Oceans. Why do you think the author selected this title? What do you visualize when you hear or read The Light Between Oceans?

2. The novel is rich with detailed descriptions of the ocean, the sky, and the wild landscape of Janus Rock. Is there a particular passage or scene that stood out to you? What role does the natural world play in Tom and Isabel’s life?

3. “The isolation spins its mysterious cocoon, focusing the mind on one place, one time, one rhythm—the turning of the light. The island knows no other human voices, no other footprints. On the Offshore Lights you can live any story you want to tell yourself, and no one will say you’re wrong: not the seagulls, not the prisms, not the wind.” (page 110) Discuss the impact of living in seclusion on both Tom and Isabel. Why do you think each of them is drawn to live on Janus Rock? Do you think, in the moments when we are unobserved, we are different people?

4. When Isabel tries to get Tom to open up about his family, he responds: “I’ll tell you if you really want. It’s just I’d rather not. Sometimes it’s good to leave the past in the past.”(pages 44-45) Do you think it is possible to leave the past in the past? What do you think of Tom’s opinion that it’s a “pity” that we’re a product of our family’s past? What does this tell you about his character? Discuss the impact of family history on Tom, Isabel, Hannah, and Frank.

5. Tom is haunted by what he witnessed—and what he did—during his enlistment in World War I. The narrator reflects that he’s not “one of the men whose legs trailed by a hank of sinews, or whose guts cascaded from their casing like slithering eels….But he’s scarred all the same, having to live in the same skin as the man who did the things that needed to be done back then.” (page 10) How do you think Tom’s experiences as a soldier impact his decisions throughout the novel? What other outside elements, like the war, influences the narrative?

6. Janus Rock is named for Janus, the Roman God of doorways, “always looking both ways, torn between two ways of seeing things.” (page 65) How does this knowledge impact your reading of The Light Between Oceans? Who is “torn between two ways of seeing things”?

7. Discuss the theme of opposites in The Light Between Oceans—darkness and light; safety and danger; land and water; truth and lies. How do these opposing forces shape your reading?

8. When Isabel brings Tom the map of Janus, complete with new names for all the locations on the island, Tom has an interesting reaction: “Janus did not belong to him: he belonged to it, like he’d heard the natives thought of the land. His job was just to take care of it.” (page 62) Discuss the difference in Tom’s point of view compared to Isabel’s. Does this difference in opinion foreshadow future events? How does it relate to their conflicting opinions of what to do with Lucy?

9. Did you sense that the silver rattle might turn out to play a pivotal role in the story?

10. Tom believes that rules are vital, that they are what keep a man from becoming a savage. Do you agree with him?

11. Which characters won your sympathy and why? Did this change over the course of the novel? Did your notion of what was best or right shift in the course of your reading?

12. Tom and Isabel’s deception impacts the lives of everyone around them. What did you think of the other characters’ reactions when they discover the truth about Lucy? Consider Hannah, Gwen, Septimus, Isabel’s parents, Ralph, Bluey.

13. Discuss Hannah’s reunion with Grace. Do you think she had fair expectations? Did you agree with Dr. Sumpton’s advice to Hannah about completely cutting Lucy off from Isabel and Tom?

14. M.L. Stedman makes it clear that there is no one perfect answer to the question of who should raise Grace/Lucy. She seems to undermine all notions of absolutes. It is clear that she will not dismiss all Germans as evil either. There is Hannah’s husband, ripe for persecution, and yet he is utterly innocent. Discuss the places in the novel where easy certainty turns out to be wrong.

15. Were you surprised by Isabel’s final decision to admit her role in the choice to keep Lucy—freeing Tom, but losing her child forever? Why or why not? What would you have done?

16. What did you think of the conclusion of the novel? What emotions did you feel at the story’s end? Did it turn out as you expected? Were you satisfied?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

source: http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/8859-light-between-oceans-stedman?start=3