Book Chat Reading Guide
ACTS OF MUTINY by Derek Beaven
As a young boy on a sea journey to Australia in 1959, Ralph’s life is
caught up in those of the adults around him. Looking back many years
later, he is forced to come to terms with the momentous voyage and its
bitter outcomes, both for himself and his fellow passengers.
Questions for Discussion:
1. What sort of child is Ralph? How do you feel about his experiences
during the voyage?
2. Did you have any sympathy for Ralph’s mother?
3. What did you think about Ralph’s relationship with his father? What
sort of man was he?
4. How did you feel about Penny and Robert and their relationship?
5. What impressions did you get of the ship and its passengers? How
well do you think the author reflected the social behaviour of 1950s?
6. What were the other children on the boat like? How did they treat
Ralph?
7. Did you like the episodes on shore – what did they add to the story?
How well did the author write about the sea?
8. What did you think about the issue of nuclear testing, and warheads
on the ship? How did the different characters react to the situation on
board?
9. What happened in Australia?
ending to the story?
Did you think this was an effective
10. How did the events on board ship affect Ralph in later life? What
sort of adult was he?
About the Author:
Derek Beaven’s first novel Newton’s Niece was shortlisted for the Writers’
Guild Best Novel Prize and also won a Commonwealth Prize. Acts of
Mutiny (1998) was shortlisted for Guardian Fiction Prize and his latest
novel was on the long list for the Booker Prize in 2001. He lives in
Maidenhead, Berkshire.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
The Go-Between: L.P. Hartley
Future Home-makers of America: Laurie Graham
Still Here: Linda Grant
English Passsengers: Matthew Kneale
On the Beach: Neville Shute
Every man for Himself: Beryl Bainbridge
Also by Derek Bevan:
Newton’s Niece (1994)
If the Invader Comes (2001)
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
AFFINITY by Sarah Waters
September 1874: Recovering from an illness, Margaret Prior is
encouraged by a family friend to become a prison visitor. Entering the
dark and dismal world of Millbank Prison she encounters a number of
female prisoners whom she tries to help. In particular she is drawn to
Selina Dawes, a disgraced spiritualist in prison for fraud, whose
personality and ideas are to have a devastating effect on Margaret.
Questions for Discussion:
1. What did you think of Selina’s opening diary section of the book? Did
it encourage you to read on?
2. How did you feel about Margaret’s “illness” and treatment by her
family? What impressions did you get of her relationship with her
mother, brother and sister?
3. How did the novel portray life for Victorian women of different
classes?
4. What were your impressions of life in a Victorian prison? How
effective were the writer’s descriptions of Millbank and its inhabitants?
5. How did the characters of the different matrons vary? How did Sarah
Waters portray the relationship between wardress and prisoner?
6. What impressions did you get from reading the book about
spiritualism in the Victorian era?
7. What did you feel about Selina Dawes? Can you explain the power
she has over Margaret? How would you define their relationship?
8. What is the significance of Margaret’s relationship with Helen?
9. Did you enjoy the dual narrative in the novel? Were both stories
equally gripping? Did they complement each other?
10. Were you surprised by the twist in events at the conclusion of the
novel? How did you feel about Selina, Ruth, and Margaret in the
end?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Waters was born in Wales in 1966. She has a particular interest in
the Victorian novel and the 19th century, the setting for her three novels.
She has a PhD in Literature and has published articles on lesbian and
gay writing and cultural history. In 2000 Sarah Waters won both the
Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award and a Somerset
Maugham Award for her novel Affinity.
Suggestions for Further Reading
Fred and Edie: Jill Dawson
Lady’s maid: Margaret Forster
Little Dorrit: Charles Dickens
East Lynne: Mrs Henry Wood
The Woman in White: Wilkie Collins
Alias Grace: Margaret Atwood
The Weight of Water: Anita Shreve
Also by Sarah Waters
Tipping the Velvet
Fingersmith (2002)
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
AFTER YOU’D GONE by Maggie O'Farrell
A young woman named Alice Raikes boards a train to Scotland to visit
her family, only to return immediately after witnessing something
shocking. Within a few hours, Alice is in a coma – but what has caused
her “accident”? As Alice’s family gather at her bedside more is revealed
of her past life, love and family history.
Questions for Discussion:
1. Did you find the prologue of the novel intriguing? Were you gripped by
Alice’s predicament?
2. What did you think of the fractured narrative – jumping through time
and different voices? Was it interesting or did you find it hard to
understand at first?
3. What did you feel about Ann and Ben’s relationship?
4. How important were the lives of Ann and Elspeth in the novel?
5. What impressions did you get of Alice’s relationship with her sisters?
How similar/different were they to Alice?
6. What did you think about the way the writer conveyed Alice’s semiconscious state?
7. What were your thoughts about Alice’s relationship with John? How
well did the author write about sexual relationships in the novel?
8. How does Maggie O’Farrell portray family life? What issues does she
explore?
9. What did you think of the ending of the novel? Was it a fitting climax to
the story? Was the ending predictable in any way?
10.
Overall, did you find the book a moving one to read?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maggie O’Farrell was born in Northern Ireland in 1972 and grew up in
Wales and Scotland. She has worked as a journalist in Hong Kong and
as a Deputy Literary Editor for the Independent. She now writes
freelance, her articles appearing in a range of magazines and
newspapers. She lives in London. After You’d Gone is Maggie
O’Farrell’s first novel.
Suggestions for Further Reading
Twelve: Vanessa Jones
Lying: Wendy Perriam
Marrying the Mistress: Joanna Trollope
Saint Maybe: Ann Tyler
The Hidden Lives: A Family Memoir:Margaret Forster
The Pilot’s Wife: Anita Shreve
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
ALL POINTS NORTH by Simon Armitage
In this selection of short prose pieces and some poems, Simon Armitage
paints an amusing and wry picture of life north of the M62. While clearly
loving Yorkshire, the author finds plenty of eccentric behaviour, weird
characters and bizarre situations which keep the reader chuckling. The
poet’s fine use of language and references to popular culture as well as
northern stereotypes form a unique blend of autobiographical writing.
Questions for Discussion:
1. Do you have to be from Yorkshire, or northern England, to appreciate
Armitage’s picture of the north?
2. While largely prose,did you enjoy the mix of prose/sketches/poetry in
this book?
3. Which was your favourite section of the book?
4. Which parts made you laugh the most?
5. Were there any more moving/poignant episodes that you enjoyed?
6. Did the book affect your view of poets in general or Armitage in
particular?
7. Does the book confirm northern stereotypes or challenge them?
8. Did the book make you want to go to Yorkshire?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Simon Armitage was born in West Yorkshire in 1963. He has worked at
a variety of jobs including stacking shelves in a supermarket, operating a
lathe, and as a probation officer. He is now one of the best known poets
of his generation and also writes plays, song lyrics, and travel journalism.
He writes for radio and television and has presented poetry and travel
programmes for Radios 3 and 4. Needless to say, he lives in Yorkshire.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
Diaries : Alan Bennett
The Road to Wigan Pier :George Orwell:
South Riding: Winifred Holtby:
Room at the Top : John Braine:
North and South :Elizabeth Gaskell:
Collected Poems :Ted Hughes:
ALSO BY SIMON ARMITAGE
Kid (1992)
Book of Matches (1993):
The Dead Sea Poems (1993)
CloudCuckooLand (1997)
Killing Time (1999)
Mister Heracles :After Euripedes (2000)
Moon Country (travel/poetry) (1996)
Little Green Man (Fiction) (2001)
Bayeux Tapestry (drama) (2001)
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
BOOK CHAT Reading Guide
THE ANGEL ON THE ROOF by Russell Banks
A collection of short stories spanning thirty years of writing fiction, Russell
Banks explores the lives of Americans from New England to Florida and
the Caribbean. Most of his characters struggle with their daily existence
– he writes about the lonely, outsiders, losers in the American Dream –
but brings a sympathy, irony and poignancy to their experiences.
Questions for discussion:
1. Did you read all the stories in the collection, or browse through and
sample a few that took your fancy?
2. Which is your favourite story in this collection and why?
3. Does Russell Banks write equally well about men and women do you
think?
4. What view of America do you get from reading these stories?
5. Banks said in an interview: “The people I’m writing about are the ones
you normally don’t feel affection for when you see them in the street or
the shopping mall. I have an almost simple-minded affection for
them.”
What sort of characters does Banks portray?
6. How does Banks write about family relationships and marriage?
7. Did you find the stories moving, sad, funny, intriguing or what?
About the Author:
Russell Banks is the author of many novels and short stories. He has
been awarded the Jon Dos Passos Prize and the American Academy of
Arts and Letters Literature Award. He lives in a small town in upstate
New York.
Suggestions for Further Reading
This Boy’s Life:Tobias Wolff
A Multitude of Sins: Richard Ford
In Country: Bobby Ann Mason
Ballad of the Sad Café:Carson McCullers
Anton Checkhov’s short stories
Also by Russell Banks
Cloudsplitter
Rule of the Bone
The Sweet Hereafter
Affliction
Continenal Drift
Hamilton Stark
Family Life
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage
Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
ANITA AND ME by Meera Syal
Live every nine-year-old girl, Meena can’t wait to grow up and break
free from her parents, but as the daughter of the only Punjabi family in
the mining village of Tollington, her daily struggle for independence is
different from most. She longs for fish and chips, an English Christmas,
mini-skirts – but more than anything she wants to be with Anita.
Questions for Discussion:
1.
Did any bits of the novel make you laugh out loud? If so, which
parts?
2.
Which aspects of the story did you enjoy the most?
3.
What did you think of Meena’s and Anita’s friendship?
4.
Meera Syal describes her novel as “Twin Peaks meets
Crossroads”. What do you think?
5.
Were there any aspects of village life in Tollington that surprised
you?
6.
Who was the most memorable character in the novel?
7.
Were there things you wanted to know that the author didn’t tell
you?
8.
Could you identify with any of the characters? Did you recognise
the pains of growing up and trying to be with ‘in’ crowd?
9.
What did you think of the book cover? Is it attractive?
10.
What sort of reader would you recommend this book to?
About the Author:
Meera Syal is an actress, writer and novelist with
many TV, theatre and film credits. She wrote the
screenplays for the award-winning films Bhaji on the
Beach and My Sister Wife, in which she also starred.
She also writes for and stars in the BBC comedy
series Goodness Gracious Me. Meera Syal was
brought up in a small mining village outside
Wolverhampton, and now lives in east London with
her husband and daughter.
© HarperCollins
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist
Beryl Gilroy, Gather the Faces
Syed M Islam, The Mapmakers of Spitalfields
Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia
Salman Rushdie, The Moor’s Last Sigh
Flora Thompson, Lark Rise to Candleford
Sue Townsend, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 and ¾
Also by Meera Syal:
Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee (1999)
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
ARMADA by Brian Patten
A moving collection of poems by one of Britain’s most popular poets. This
best selling selection explores many aspects of human existence with
insight and sympathy through Patten’s powerful and evocative use of
language.
Questions for discussion:
1. Do you think the poem “Armada” works? Is the meaning of the word
“Armada”significant as the title of this collection or is it just the name of
a poem in the book?
2. Do you think “Ward Sixteen”, The Khardamu” and “ Sea Saw” are
poetry or prose?
3. Is there a particular poem, or are there lines from one of the poems,
that impress you more than any other(s)?
4. The poem “Poetry Lesson” asks a question. What do you think?
5. Are some of the poems too personal to the author, or do they appeal
to a wider audience?
6. Did you think the collection was too heavily weighted with depressing
poems or is there hope too?
7. What did you think of the section headings? Did the poems in each
section reflect “Armada”, “Between Harbours” and “Inessential
Things”?
8. If you have never read Brian Patten’s work before, would you read
another poetry collection by him now?
9. What differences are there for the reader between reading a poem and
a story? Or are they similar in some ways?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brian Patten was born in Liverpool in 1946 and was brought up by his
mother and grandparents. His first published poetry collection was in
1967 and that summer his work appeared in Penguin Modern Poets
No.10: The Mersey Sound along with fellow Liverpudlians Adrian Henri
and Roger McGough. This volume has sold over nearly half a million
copies and brought poetry to a new audience. Within two years Brian
Patten was making a living as a full-time writer and performance poet. He
has also written stories and plays, including work for Radio 4. He has
produced many collections of poetry for both adults and children and is
still hugely popular with audiences of all ages.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
You might like to try the work of the following poets:
Roger McGough
Adrian Henri
Wendy Cope
Carol Ann Duffy
Grace Nichols
Liz Lochead
Les Patterson
Martin Newell
Ian Hamilton
Also by Brian Patten:
Some of the early collections by Brian Patten are now not available in
original volumes. However, most of these poems have been reprinted in
Love Poems (1981)
Grinning Jack (1990)
Also available:
Storm Damage
For Children:
Gargling With Jelly
The Magic Bicycle
Impossible Parents
The Utter Nutters
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
AUSTERLITZ by W.G. Sebald
As a child, Austerlitz was sent from Nazi Europe on the kindertransport and adopted by an English couple who erase all trace of his
origins. Years later he begins to piece together the past he has been
avoiding for a lifetime. A haunting literary novel which tells a mesmerising
story and explores themes of life in post war Europe.
Questions for discussion:
1. What did you feel about the narrator’s relationship with Austerlitz and
their meetings? Was the narrator affected by Austerlitz?
2. What sort of childhood did Austerlitz have in Wales? Did any
particular episodes affect you? What did you think about his adoptive
parents?
3. What were his school days like? Were any incidents here important
do you think?
4. Did you like the way the author used buildings, architecture,
descriptions of places during the novel? Why was Austerlitz fascinated
by architecture do you think?
5. What happens to Austerlitz at Liverpool Street Station and why is this
incident so significant?
6. How did you feel when Austerlitz finally reaches Prague and begins to
trace his family?
7. What impressions did you get of his real parents? What was
Austerlitz’s reaction to discovering their true identities?
8. What was the purpose and effect of the photographs and illustrations
in the novel? What did you think of them?
9. This is a novel without chapters – why, and does it matter?
10.As well as telling one man’s story, the book also deals with many
subjects and themes, particularly the effects of war and life in post war
Europe, the importance of childhood experiences, fear and loss of
identity. Did you enjoy these aspects of the novel?
About the Author:
W. G. Sebald was born in Germany in 1944. After studying German
language and literature at university, he came to England and worked as
a lecturer at the University of Manchester from 1966. From 1970 he was
settled permanently in this country and pursued an academic career
becoming Professor of European Literature at the University of East
Anglia. Sebald also began to write novels and poetry. His novel The
Emigrants won a number of international prizes, including the Berlin
Literature Prize, and the Heinrich Boll Prize. W.G.Sebald was killed in a
car crash in 2001.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Fugitive Pieces : Anne Michaels
Schindler’s Ark: Thomas Keneally
The Good Soldier Schweik: Jaroslav Hasek
Ulysses: James Joyce
Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language: Eva Hoffman
The Nazi Officer’s Wife:How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust:
Edith Hahn Beer
The Girl in the Red Coat: Roma Ligocka
Also by W. G. Sebald:
After Nature (prose poem)
The Rings of Saturn
Vertigo
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
BAD BLOOD by Lorna Sage
Lorna Sage’s fascinating and intimate autobiography analyses three
generations of family history – her grandparents strange life in the
vicarage where Lorna lived as a child with her mother; her own parents
married life in a brand new council house after her father’s return from the
war; and Lorna’s adolescent relationship with Vic. Throughout the book
runs the thread of Lorna’s pursuit of knowledge and love of reading
fostered by her grandfather. Lorna’s story provides a detailed and vivid
account of rural life in 1940’s and 50’s, while also charting the changing
roles and aspirations of women at that time.
1. What is the significance of the title of this book? How does it relate to
Lorna’s story?
2. What were your impression of Lorna’s grandfather and his
behaviour/attitudes? In what ways did he influence Lorna?
2 Did you have any sympathy for her grandmother?
3 What was life like in the vicarage? Did you find any aspects of Lorna’s
upbringing surprising?
4 How well does Lorna Sage capture rural life in 1940’s and 50’s? Did
any incidents in particular interest/amuse/upset you?
5 What did you feel about Lorna leaving the vicarage? How did the
move to a new council house affect Lorna and her parents?
6 What is the importance of education in the book? What impressions
do you get from Lorna’s experiences at school and university?
7 How did the book reflect social attitudes at the time? In what ways did
the women in Lorna’s family accept/change/challenge the roles of
daughter/wife/mother?
8 Were you surprised in any way by Lorna’s relationship with Vic and its
consequences? How effectively does Lorna Sage write about sexual
relationships?
9 What did you think of the diary and Lorna’s analysis of its contents?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lorna Sage was born in 1943. Educated at Whitchurch High School and
Durham University, she continued her academic career at Birmingham
University where she gained an MA. Lorna then took up a post as
lecturer in at University of East Anglia, eventually becoming Professor of
English Literature in 1994. Lorna Sage was a distinguished critic and
academic, publishing books on Doris Lessing, Angela Carter and other
post-war women novelists. She was joint editor of The Cambridge Guide
to Women’s Writing in English. Bad Blood won the Whitbread biography
prize in 2000. Lorna Sage was married twice, and died in January 2001.
Suggestions for Further Reading
My Brilliant Career: Miles Franklin
Peppered Moth: Margaret Drabble
Memory Box: Margaret Forster
The Garden Party and other Short Stories: Katherine Mansfield
Father and Son: Edmund Gosse
A Room of One’s Own: Virginia Woolf
Also by Lorna Sage
Flesh and the Mirror: Essays on the Art of Angela Carter (Editor)
Doris Lessing (Contemporary writers series)
Women in the House of Fiction: Post-war Women Novelists
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
BEING DEAD by Jim Crace
Joseph and Celice are found one Tuesday afternoon on a remote
seashore. Two bodies on a wind swept beach – naked, murdered in the
dunes. With scientific precision, Jim Crace explores in intricate detail the
lives of the married couple, their shocking end and physical decay. How
did this event take place and what will be its effect?
Questions for Discussion:
1. What did you think of the title of the novel?
2. How did you feel about the opening of the story? Did you like the way
part of the story unfolds backwards through time?
3. What did you think of the alternate narratives – one dealing with
Joseph and Celice’s past, and one with their bodies on the beach?
Did you find them equally absorbing?
4. What were your impressions of the couple and their married life
together?
5. How did you feel about Syl and her relationship with her parents?
6. What impact do the deaths of Joseph and Celice have on their
daughter?
7. How did you react to the physical decay of the two bodies? What
issues was Crace exploring in these descriptions? Did you find them
shocking in any way?
8. Did you enjoy the cyclical feel of the novel, with the couple returning to
Baltimore Bay? What was significant about this setting?
9. Did the novel raise any issues to do with life and death do you think?
10. How did Joseph and Celice’s work as natural scientists relate to the
novel as a whole?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jim Crace lives in Birmingham with his wife and two children. He is the
author of seven novels and has been awarded many prizes for his books
including the Whitbread First Novel Prize, the E.M. Forster Award, the
Guardian Fiction Prize and the GAP international Prize for Literature.
Quarantine, his fifth novel, won the 1997 Whitbread Novel Award and was
shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
Suggestions for Further Reading
Time’s Arrow: Martin Amis
Hawksmoor: Peter Ackroyd
The Last Resort: Alison Lurie
Naturalist: E.O.Wilson
Morvern Callar: Alan Warner
Also by Jim Crace
Continent
The Gift of Stones
Arcadia
Signals of Distress (1994)
Quarantine (1977)
The Devil’s Larder (2000)
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
BEL CANTO by Ann Patchett
Latin terrorists storm an international gathering hosted by an
underprivileged country to promote foreign interest, only to find that the
President (their intended target) has stayed at home to watch his
favourite soap opera. The ensuing siege throws an unlikely assortment
of hostages together – Roxane Coss international opera star; Mr
Hosokawa, a Japanese businessman; Gen, his translator.
Nevertheless, transcending the situation and lack of common language,
two couples fall in love, their passion heightened by the danger of their
situation and expressed through the common language of music.
Questions for discussion:
1. What are your impressions of Roxane Coss? What effect does she
have on the other hostages?
2. What role does Father Arguedas play in the novel? Why does he
choose to stay in the mansion?
3. How did you feel about Gen and his relationship with Carmen?
4. What interests you about the love that develops between Mr.
Hosokawa and Roxane?
5. How did some of the other characters imprisoned in the house
change during the siege – for example, Thibault and his wife Edith?
6. What was the relationship like between the hostages and their
captors? Do you have any sympathy for the terrorists?
7. In what way does Ann Patchett explore the themes of language and
communication in this novel?
8. How did you feel when the hostages were able to go into the
garden? What happened out there?
9. Do you think the structure or content of the novel reflect a piece of
music, or an opera in anyway? What did you think of the title of the
book?
10.What did you think of the ending of the novel? Were you surprised
in any way?
About the Author:
Originally from Los Angeles, Ann Patchett moved to Nashville aged 6
and has lived there ever since. She has always loved reading and her
first story was published while she was still a student. Ann has now
written four novels, of which the third, The Magician’s Assistant became
a best seller and was short listed for the Orange Prize. In 2002, she
went on to win the Orange Prize with Bel Canto, which was also
awarded the PEN/Faulkner Prize. Ann Patchett also writes for
magazines such as New York Times Magazine, Chicago Tribune,
Boston Globe, GQ, Elle and Vogue.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
An Equal Music: Vikram Seth
The Collector: John Fowles
The Siege: Helen Dunmore
Also by Ann Patchett:
The Patron Saint of Liars
Taft
The Magician’s Assistant
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
BETWEEN EXTREMES by Brian Keenan and John McCarthy
During their incarceration as hostages in a Lebanese cell, John
McCarthy and Brian Keenan undertook an imagined journey across
the High Andes and Patagonia. Five years after their eventual
release, John and Brian made the dream reality and visited South
America. A thoughtful and humorous travelogue, this is also a
testament to an enduring and very special friendship
1. What were the reasons for Brian and John’s visit to Chile and
what were they hoping to discover do you think? What is the
nature of their journey?
2. The book’s narration is shared – how successful is this? Were
there differences in style and which narrator did you prefer?
3. How would you describe the relationship between John and
Brian? What does the book reveal about the nature of friendship?
4. What impressions did you get of Chile and its people from reading
this book?
5. How effectively did the writers describe the landscapes of South
America?
6. Did any particular episodes, experiences or characters strike you
as especially memorable?
7. What did you feel about Brian’s interest in the poetry of Pablo
Neruda? Did it add or distract anything to the narrative?
8. Did the book make you want to visit South America? Or, if you
have been there already, did it reflect your views of Chile?
9. If you have read John or Brian’s account of their captivity, how do
you think this book compares?
10. At the end of the book, what do you think was the effect on the
two writers of their journey? Do you feel this is a travel book, or an
autobiography or something else?
About the Authors
John McCarthy and Brian Keenan are best known for the four years
they spent as hostages in Beirut. Both wrote best-selling accounts of
their experiences after they were released. Brian has written fiction
as well as journalism, and is currently working on Belfast Memoir, due
to be published in September 2003. John has broadcast
programmes on TV and radio as well as continuing to write.
Also by Brian Keenan:
An Evil Cradling
Turlough
John McCarthy:
Some Other Rainbow (with Jill Morrel)
It Ain’t necessarily So (with Matthew Sturgis)
Suggestions for Further Reading:
In Patagonia: Bruce Chatwin
House of the Spirits: Isabel Allende
Pablo Neruda: Selected Poems
The Motorcycle Diaries: Che Guevara
Travels in a Thin Country: Sara Wheeler
One Hundred Years of Solitude: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts: Louis de Bernieres
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
BILLY by Pamela Stephenson
From the back streets of Glasgow, through a troubled childhood and
adolescence, this moving biography charts the progress of one of
Britain’s best loved and well known comedians. Written by his wife, the
book explores the impact of Billy’s abusive upbringing and his struggle
to overcome its legacy. Billy Connolly’s story is an extraordinary one –
but then he’s a pretty extraordinary man!
Questions for discussion:
1. What were your impressions of Billy’s childhood in Glasgow? What
were his family like?
2. How did Billy get on at school? How did his experiences here affect him in
later life do you think?
3. What was Billy’s early working life like in the shipyards?
4. How did his interest in music and folk singing begin to emerge?
5. Why do you think he became a comedian eventually, rather than a
singer?
6. What impressions did you get of Billy’s relationship with his wife and
children? What would he be like to live with?
7. Did the book convey Billy’s sense of humour very well?
8. How far do you think Billy has managed to escape the legacy of his
abusive childhood?
9. Did any episodes in the book shock or surprise you?
10. Do you think it is hard for a wife to write about her husband like
this, or vice versa? Do you think Pamela Stephenson is a good
biographer?
About the Author:
An Australian, born in New Zealand, Pamela Stephenson became well
known in the UK from her appearances in the comedy programme Not
the Nine O’Clock News and other TV and film roles. She has written
other non-fiction books and articles. Pamela now works as a clinical
psychologist in California, where she and Billy live with their children.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
The Road to Nab End:A Lancashire Childhood: William Woodruff
Once in a House on Fire: Andrea Ashworth
The Essential Spike Milligan: Eddie Izzard
My Life As Me: A Memoir: Barry Humphries
Also by Pamela Stephenson:
How to be a Complete Bitch
Parents for Safe Food: The Safe Food Handbook
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
BIRDMAN by Mo Hayder
The opening scene of this novel opens in Greenwich, south-east London
when DI Jack Caffery arrives at the scene of a brutal murder. Not one,
but five bodies of young women are gradually discovered on wasteland in
the shadow of the Millennium Dome. Jack has to face hostility from within
the force and echoes of his own past in tracking down a gruesome serial
killer.
Questions for discussion:
1. Mo Hayder;s first novel has been described as “a novel of frightening
and raw intensity”. Do you agree with this view?
2. If so, what particular episode(s) did you find especially frightening?
3. How did you think the death of Ewan affected the work of Jack
Caffery?
4. What did you feel about the relationship between Hartererld and Bliss?
5. Which of the two did you think of as the stronger character?
6. What did you think of the ending? Did the book affect you in any way?
7. Do you think that the graphic and abrupt style of writing affected your
reaction to the subject matter?
8. Why do you think people are interested in reading about gruesome
murders like these? Would you view the subject matter differently if it
was non-fiction?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Killing Me Softly: Nicci French
Resurrection Men: Ian Rankin (Jan 2002)
Borderline: Lyn Hightower
Tell No one: Harlan Coben
The Last Temptation: Val McDermind (Feb 2002)
Storm: Boris Starling
Also by Mo Hayder:
The Treatment
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
BOOK CHAT READING GUIDE
THE BIRTH OF VENUS by Sarah Dunant
Alessandra is not quite fifteen when her prosperous merchant father brings a
young painter back with him from Holland to adorn the walls of the new family
chapel. She is fascinated by his talents and envious of his abilities and
opportunities to paint to the glory of God. Soon her love of art and her lively
independence lead her into trouble, and she must make decisions about the
shape of her adult life.
Questions for Discussion:
1. What did you feel about the setting of the book? Were you transported
back to Renaissance Florence?
2. Which famous painter do you think Alessandra’s painter was meant to be?
3. Do you think Alessandra made the right choices? What might you have
done in her place?
4. How much have opportunities for women really changed since the fifteenth
century?
5. On a scale of 0 to 10, 0 being disgusting and 10 being beautiful, how
would you rate this book?
6. Is love or respect a better basis for a marriage?
7. Apart from Alessandra, which of the other characters really grabbed your
attention?
8. Some commentators have said that the painter is a rather shadowy figure
in this novel? Do you agree?
9. The publisher describes this book as a tale of art, passion, politics and
danger – how would you describe it?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Novelist, broadcaster and critic Sarah Dunant was born in 1950, and was
educated at Godolphin and Latymer School in Hammersmith, London, before
reading History at Newnham College, Cambridge. She worked as an actress
and began working as a producer for BBC Radio in 1974. A former presenter
of both Radio 4's 'Woman's Hour' and BBC Television's 'The Late Show' which
included, until 1997, the annual broadcast of the Booker Prize for Fiction
ceremony, she is the author of eight novels. She is the creator of private
investigator Hannah Wolfe, featured in Birth Marks, Fatlands (winner of a
CWA Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction) and Under My Skin. She is a patron
of the Orange Prize for Fiction and reviews for various newspapers and
magazines including The Times and The Observer, and is a regular presenter
of BBC Radio 3's 'Night Waves'. Two of her recent novels (Transgressions
and Mapping the Edge) are being adapted as films. Sarah Dunant lives in
London.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Rembrandt’s Whore: Sylvie Matton
Michaelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling: Ross King
Virgins of Venice: Mary Laven
Girl with a Pearl Earring: Tracy Chevalier
Tulip Fever: Deborah Moggach
Also by Sarah Dunant:
Exterminating Angels (1983)
Intensive Care (1986)
Snow Storms in a Hot Climate (1988)
Birth Marks (1991)
Fatlands (1993)
The War of the Words: The Political Correctness Debate (editor) (1995)
Under My Skin Hamish Hamilton (1995)
The Age of Anxiety (co-editor) (1996)
Transgressions (1997)
Mapping the Edge (1999)
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
BIRTHDAY LETTERS by Ted Hughes
With two exceptions, these poems, in the form of a narrative, are
addressed to Sylvia Plath, the American poet to whom Ted Hughes was
married. They were written over a period of 25 years, and examine
their love nd the intense psychological drama that led to Plath’s finest
poetry and to her death.
Questions for Discussion:
1.
Which is your favourite poem in the collection?
2.
What is your least favourite poem in the collection?
3.
What feelings did the poems arouse in you?
4.
What do the poems tell you of Ted Hughes’ feelings for Sylvia?
5.
What picture of Sylvia Plath do you gain from the poems?
6.
These poems have been described as “intimate and candid” – do
you agree? How would you describe them?
7.
This has been described as Hughes’ greatest book. What did you
think of it?
8.
Did reading this collection make you want to read Plath’s poetry?
9.
What did you think of Hughes’ use of language?
10.
What sort of reader would you recommend this poetry to?
About the Author:
Ted Hughes, OM, Poet Laureate, was born in August,
1930, at Mytholmroyd in the Yorkshire Pennines. In
1938 the family to the mining town of Mexborough,
where his parents ran a newsagent’s and
tobacconist’s shop. He started writing poetry for his
school friends at the age of 11. After two years’
national service, Hughes went to Cambridge in 1951.
Hughes met Sylvia Plath at Cambridge in February,
1956, and they married later that year. They travelled
extensively, both working on their poetry. They had
two children, but the marriage was in crisis, and after
a separation, Plath committed suicide in 1963.
Hughes’ second partner, Assia Wevill, also took her
own life, and that of their baby daughter, Shura, in
1969.
Hughes was by now recognised as a major poet. He
published many volumes of poetry, and received
dozens of awards, including the Forward Prize for
Poetry and the Whitbread Book of the Year in two
successive years. He died on 28 October 1998, aged
68, after a long and happy second marriage to Carol
Orchard.
His forceful poetry, with its dark images of animals
and nature changed the course of English poetry in
the 20th century. He also published many popular
children’s stories, including the modern classic, The
Iron Man.
He was honoured many times, particularly in his
appointment as Poet Laureate in 1984 and the award
of the Order of Merit in August 1998.
© Ulla Monton
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Thom Gunn, Selected Poems, 1950-1975
Sylvia Plath, Ariel
Also by Ted Hughes:
The Hawk in the Rain
Lupercal
Crow
Wolfwatching
Tales from Ovid
Moortown Diary
Season Songs
Elmet
The Complete Poems
The Oresteia
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
BITTERSWEET : Contemporary Black Women’s Poetry
(Ed. Karen McCarthy)
This recent collection of women’s poetry includes celebrated authors such
as Alice Walker, Grace Nichols, Jackie Kay and Maya Angelou, as well as
less well-known writers from around the world. The collection is themed,
so the reader can go on a journey from birth to old age and beyond – to
the realm of women’s ancestors and through different cultures. Whether
they are famous writers or relative newcomers, all the women in this
collection share a love of words and a passion for communication.
Questions for discussion:
1. Did you like the way this collection was themed under different
headings? How well did the poems in each section hang together?
2. Did you use the sections to guide you through the book, or did you dip
in, perhaps choosing poems at random or finding an author you
already knew?
3. The book reflects black women’s experiences from around the world.
Were there any common themes or issues that emerged in their poems?
4. What impression did you get from the poems of mother/daughter
relationships?
5. How did the different authors write about relationships between the
sexes?
6. How important do you think the cultural heritage of the writer is in this
collection? How do they explore their roots – perhaps in another
country – and ancestry?
7. What did you find interesting in the way the various poets used
language in this selection? Can you pick out any favourite examples?
8. Did you find one poet (or poem) particularly appealing? If so, which
one and why?
9. Did you find this collection of poetry challenging in any way? How did
it differ from poems you may have read before?
10. Overall, have you enjoyed the book and would you want to read
more by these poets?
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
BLACK DOG by Stephen Booth
When sexy teenager Laura Vernon disappears in the middle of a long, hot
summer, the local Peak District police force immediately swing into action.
In tackling the case, DC Ben Cooper finds himself confronting his own
personal tragedy, while his local knowledge and methods of investigation
are challenged by a ruthless outsider, DC Diane Fry.
Questions for Discussion:
1. Does the fact that the book is set in Derbyshire increase your
enjoyment? How well did the author capture the Peak District?
2. How did the fact that there isn't a central 'main' character affect your
reading of the book?
3. Which of the police characters won your support, Ben or Diane?
4. Did you feel sorry for the murder victim or did the description of her
alter your view of her?
5. Did you fine the victim's parents believable characters?
6. Did the relationship between the three old men remind you of any
similar trios?
7. What did you feel about Booth's portrayal of his female characters?
8. This atmospheric debut, Stephen Booth makes high summer in
Derbyshire as dark and terrifying as midwinter.” : Crime writer, Val
McDermid. What was your overall view of the novel and do you agree
with her?
About the Author
Stephen Booth is an award winning crime writer living in Retford,
Nottinghamshire. He has written three novels set in the Derbyshire Peak
District. Black Dog, the first novel in the series, won the Barry Award for
Best British Crime Novel 2000. His second novel was shortlisted for the
Macallan Gold Dagger, Britain’s top crime writers’ award, and was also
named “best crime fiction of 2001” by The Independent newspaper.
Stephen worked for many years as a journalist, and has always been an
avid reader. His books are popular in many countries, and he has a large
fan base in the USA. Stephen is also keen to meet readers and takes
part in many events in libraries and other venues around the country.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
If you enjoyed BLACK DOG you may also enjoy books by Peter
Robinson, Stuart Pawson and Hazel Bolt.
Also by Stephen Booth:
Dancing with the Virgins
Blood on the Tongue
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage
Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
BORDER CROSSING by Pat Barker
Tom Seymour is a psychologist whose marriage is breaking up, when a
previous client suddenly renews his acquaintance in a startling fashion.
When Tom last saw Danny Miller he’d been a boy - the perpetrator of a
terrible crime. Trying to make a new life in the community, the young
man, now called Ian, seeks help once more from Tom in order to come to
terms with his terrifying past. But can Danny really survive with his new
identity?
Questions for Discussion:
1. What did you feel about the character of Tom? Were you interested
him more as a person, or because of his role as child psychologist?
2. Was Tom better at helping his clients than himself?
3. What were your first impressions of Danny?
4. Did your view of him change as the novel progressed?
5. Did you have any sympathy for him despite what he’d done?
6. What effect did Danny’s appearance have on Tom’s life? And on the
other characters?
7. How did you react to the episodes in the boy’s childhood?
8. What questions is Barker raising about crime and punishment?
9. How did the media figure in the book?
10. Did reading the novel make you think differently about recent similar
cases in the press?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pat Barker is one of our best known and highly respected authors. Born
in Thornaby-on-Tees in 1943, she studied at LSE, and later taught
politics and history. Her Regeneration Trilogy about World War I assured
her a wide audience; the second volume The Eye in the Door was
awarded the Guardian Fiction Prize and the final volume The Ghost
Road won the Booker Prize. Her novels Regeneration and Union Street
(as Stanley and Iris) have been made into successful films. Pat Barker
lives in Durham.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Crime and Punishment: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Fred and Edie: Jill Dawson
The Turn of the Screw: Henry James
The Cement Garden: Ian McEwan
The Woman Who Walked into Doors: Roddy Doyle
Cries Unheard: Why Children Kill: The Story of Mary Bell: The: Gitta
Sereny
As If:A Crime, A Trial, A Question of Childhood: Blake Morrison
Also by Pat Barker:
The Regeneration Trilogy:
Regeneration (1991)
The Eye in the Door (1993)
The Ghost Road (1995)
Union Street (1982)
Blow Your House Down (1984)
Liza’s England (formerly The Century’s Daughter) (1986)
The Man Who Wasn’t There (1989)
Another World (1998)
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
17/05/07
Book Chat Reading Guide
A CHILD’S BOOK OF TRUE CRIME by Chloe Hooper
Kate Byrne is having an affair with the father of her most gifted pupil,
Lucien. Unnervingly, her lover’s wife has just published “Murder at Black
Swan Point” a true crime novel about the brutal slaying of a young
adultress. As Lucien begins to display signs of being affected by his
mother’s grisly work, Kate is drawn into an obsession with the facts behind
the notorious crime, and its re-telling as a children’s story in her own mind.
Questions for discussion:
1. What is the importance of the setting for the story?
2. How much sympathy do you have for Kate? Do you think she is going
mad?
3. How is Lucien affected by the behaviour of the adults around him? How
are children portrayed in comparison with the grownups?
4. How do you feel about the sections narrated by Australian animals and
their investigation into the crime?
5. Are you interested in the murder at Swan Point and who murdered Ellie
Siddell?
6. What is the effect of the inclusion of convict history in the novel?
7. What issues about crime and punishment does the novel raise?
8. One reviewer described the book as “hothouse erotic writing”. Do you
agree?
9. Does this unusual novel compare with any others you have read?
10.
Is the book a dark crime thriller or a comic satire or what?
17/05/07
About the Author:
Chloe Hooper was born in 1973 in Australia and educated at Melbourne
University and Columbia University, New York, where she studied creative
writing. A Child’s Book of True Crime is her first novel and was shortlisted
for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2002.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
A Crime in the Neighbourhood: Suzanne Berne
The Shark Net: Memories and Murder: Robert Drewe
The Riders: Tim Winton
The Cement Garden: Ian McEwan
The Way I found Her: Rose Tremain
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
CLARA by Janice Galloway
As a small and silent child Clara witnesses the life around her in her
father’s busy house in 19th century Leipzig. Music students, players and
composers come and go until one day, her mother, who is a singer,
leaves taking the baby with her. Clara slowly realises that she is to fulfil
her father’s destiny and become a great pianist herself. But what of her
own wishes and the desire for other human relationships, particularly with
the extraordinary young composer Robert Schuman?
Questions for discussion:
1. What did you think of the opening pages of the novel when Clara is a
little girl? Did you find the style unusual in any way? Were you
intrigued?
2. What did you feel about Herr Wieck and his relationship with his daughter?
3. How would you describe Clara as she is growing up? Is hers an ordinary
upbringing?
4. What did you think about life for young women in Clara’s time? What choices
did they have?
5. Did you have any thoughts about Clara and Robert’s romance? How does
the writer convey their extraordinary love affair and marriage?
6. What is married life like for Clara? How does her life change when she
becomes a mother?
7. What impressions did you get of the musicians, composers and
performers in the novel? What were their lives like?
8. How much sympathy did you have for Robert’s mental state? How did
Clara try and cope with his decline?
9. How does the writer try to convey music and its extraordinary power in
her novel?
10. Had you heard of Clara Schuman before reading this book? If not,
why might this be significant do you think?
About the Author:
Janice Galloway is the author of four novels and has won various awards
for her writing. These include the 1990 MIND/Allen Lane Book of the Year
Award for The Trick is to Keep Breathing and the 1994 McVitie’s Prize for
Foreign Parts. Clara was on the long list for the Booker Prize 2002.
Janice Galloway lives in Glasgow.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
The Last Master: Passion and Glory: A Fictional Biography of Ludwig Van
Beethoven : John Suchet
A Room of One’s Own: Virginia Woolf
Artemisia: Alexandra Lapierre
Lady’s Maid: Margaret Forster
Also by Janice Galloway:
The Trick is to Keep Breathing
Blood
Foreign Parts
Where You Find It
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
BOOK CHAT READING GUIDE
THE CLOUD SKETCHER by Richard Rayner
Growing up in rural Finland in 1901, young Esko is introduced to the
delights of architecture by his local priest, and so begins a lifelong
fascination with skyscrapers. Spanning two continents and three
decades, the story follows Esko as he grows up, falls in love and learns
his trade.
Questions for Discussion:
1. What did you feel about the character of Esko? Were you hooked by
his story?
2. What about Katerina? Could you sympathise with her?
3. What did you feel about the way Esko treated Anna?
4. Rayner writes "Architecture never lies. It invariably expresses both its
own era and the character of the men who build it". How did Esko's
skyscraper reflect his character? Take a building you particularly like,
and discuss how it reflects its era and what it might reveal about the
person who envisioned or designed it.
5. Esko is fascinated by what skyscrapers mean. Has their meaning
changed since the September 11th attack on the World Trade towers?
6. Would you describe Esko’s love for Katerina as an obsession? If so,
how does obsessive love differ from other types of love? Does
obsessive love have any positive characteristics along with its more
obvious destructive ones?
7. Esko is undoubtedly a genius – but with a tragic flaw. What is that
flaw? Can you think of other fictional or real people with a flawed
genius?
8. When Esko is designing Katerina's penthouse, he begins with a coffee
pot. Why? Do you agree that design - whether it is of a building or a
sofa - needs to reflect its environment or era, and that furnishings and
architecture and environment should be all of a piece?
9. It’s sometimes said that a book might appeal particularly to men or to
women. Do you think male or female readers would enjoy The Cloud
Sketcher more, or wouldn’t it make any difference?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard Rayner was born in Bradford, England, and now lives in Los
Angeles. His previous books include the memoir The Blue Suit, and the
novel L.A. Without a Map, which has been made into a movie staring
Johnny Depp, James LeGros, and Julie Delpy. He writes for The New
York Times, The New Yorker, Granta, Harper's Bazaar, and other
publications.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
The Fountainhead: Ayn Rand
Art Nouveau, 1890 – 1914: Paul Greenhalgh
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay: Michael Chabon
Also by Richard Rayner:
The Blue Suit
LA Without a Map
Murder Book
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
COLD MOUNTAIN by Charles Frazier
A soldier wounded in the Civil War, Inman turns his back on the
carnage of the battlefield and begins the arduous journey home to Cold
Mountain and to Ada, the woman he loves. As Inman attempts to make
his way across the mountains, Ada struggles to make a living from the
land her father left her. Neither knows if the other is still alive.
Questions for Discussion:
1.
What does Cold Mountain symbolise?
2.
Did you like the poetic chapter titles?
3.
How did you feel about the plight of each of the two main
characters, Inman and Ada?
4.
Did the story arouse any strong feelings in you? If so, what sort
of feelings? How did your feelings change as you read through
the novel?
5.
Was Monroe, overall, a good father to Ada?
6.
What sort of a read is it – slow, gentle, harrowing, roller-coaster?
7.
Was there any section you wish the author had spent more or
less time on?
8.
Did you like the cover/look of the book? Would you have chosen
to read it, and why (or why not)?
9.
How does Frazier characterise the natural world in this book?
10.
Why has Frazier chosen to portray the deserters as good? Do
you agree with him?
About the Author:
Charles Frazier lives in North Carolina with his wife
and daughter, where they raise horses. He has
taught at universities in North Carolina and Colorado,
and published short stories and travel books. Cold
Mountain is his first novel, which he spent five years
researching
.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
© Eric Rank
John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress
Homer, The Odyssey
Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind
C Vann Woodward, Mary Chestnut’s Civil War
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
CRITICAL INJURIES by Joan Barfoot
One hot summer’s afternoon in an ordinary American drugstore in a
small town, the lives of Isla and Roddy collide. Isla and her husband
Lyle are celebrating with special ice-cream; Roddy wants to rob the
store. Events take a violent turn with consequences for all involved. It
seems that the lives of Roddy and Isla are now connected and will
never be the same again.
Questions for discussion:
1. What did you think of the opening section when Isla is trying to piece
together what has happened? Was it a good start for a novel do you
think?
2. What were your first impressions of Roddy? Did you like the
alternating voices telling the story?
3. Did you have any sympathy for Roddy and what he had done as the
story progressed?
4. How does Isla cope with her predicament? What sort of character is
she?
5. How did you feel about Isla’s marriage to Lyle? How is it affected by
the accident?
6. What did you think about Isla’s children? Could you sympathise
with them? Did the shooting affect them in any way?
7. How did you react to the relationship between Alix and Roddy? Can
you explain it?
8. What is life like for Isla when she comes home?
9. What did you think of the ending of the novel? How did you feel
about the meeting between Roddy and Isla?
10. 10.Did you enjoy the mixture of tragedy and comedy in this
novel? What was your overall feeling about the book?
About the Author:
Canadian Joan Barfoot is the author of nine novels. Her books have
received international acclaim ever since Gaining Ground won the
Books in Canada Award for the best first novel of the year in 1980.
Dancing in the Dark was made into a successful and award winning film
of the same name. Critical Injuries was on the long list for the Man
Booker Prize in 2002. Joan Barfoot lives in London, Ontario.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Unless: Carol Shields
Earthly Possessions: Ann Tyler
Bel Canto: Ann Patchett
Also by Joan Barfoot:
Gaining Ground
Dancing in the Dark
Duet for Three
Family News
Plain Jane
Charlotte and Claudia Keeping in Touch
Some Things About Flying
Getting Over Edgar
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
CROW LAKE by Mary Lawson
Canadian writer Mary Lawson's debut novel is a beautifully crafted and shimmering
tale of love, death and redemption set in the eponymous Crow Lake, an isolated
rural community where time has stood still. Narrated by 26-year-old Kate Morrison,
we dive in and out of the troubled woman's childhood memories over the passage
of a year – when she was seven and her parents were killed in a motoring accident,
leaving Kate, her younger sister Bo and two older brothers Matt and Luke
orphaned.
1.
The novelist tells the story from the perspective of Kate Morrison as a child
and as an adult. Does this work?
2.
What do you think about the relationship between the children?
3.
How do Luke and Matt’s different personalities and attitudes influence the
story and consider each of the sacrifices they make?
4.
The author alludes to the Pye family’s troubles and only gradually tells their
story. How do you feel about this?
5.
Discuss the saying “the sins of the fathers are visited on the children”.
6.
What do you think of Daniel’s attitude to his parents and their relationship
with each other?
7.
Why didn’t Kate want to take Daniel to see her family at the farm?
8.
What do you think about Lily Stanovich’s part in the novel?
9.
How do you feel about Marie’s conversation with Kate before Simon’s party?
10.
The ponds have significance throughout the story. Is Crow Lake a good title
for the book?
About the Author:
Mary Lawson was born in Canada, but has lived in England for many years. Crow
Lake is her first novel.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
A Thousand Acres: Jane Smiley
The Children Who Lived In A Barn: Eleanor Graham
Saint Maybe: Anne Tyler
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
THE CONSTANT GARDENER by John Le Carre
Justin Quayle works in the British High Commission in Nairobi. At the
beginning of the book he learns that his wife Tessa has been killed. As
the details of what happened emerge he is drawn into the part of her
world he had deliberately kept out of. As he follows the trail that led to her
death he encounters the murky world of international pharmaceuticals.
Justin grows in strength and purpose as all those around him are shown
to be compromised. This story of corruption is tense and rings more
frighteningly true than any cold war spy story.
Questions for discussion:
1. Have you read any of John Le Carre's earlier books set in the world of
spies? How does this compare?
2. Did the book change your views of the pharmaceutical industry?
3. What did you think of Justin when you first encountered him? Did your
view of him change by the end of the book? If so, how did this
happen?
4. Is the world created in The Constant Gardener more or less realistic
than the world of George Smiley in John Le Carre's earlier work.
5. What was your first assumption about the death of Tessa. Did this
prove to be correct in any detail?
6. What do you think about the ending? If it was made into a film do you
think the ending would be changed?
7. Can you suggest a cast for any film version?
8. Do you think computer viruses are used as part of counter espionage
or industrial intrigue in an organised way? Do you think Justin and the
other characters should have been prepared for this to happen?
9. Why did John Le Carre choose The Constant Gardener as the title?
10. What do you think of the Lorbeer character? What is his role in the
end of the story, is he a reformed character?
About the Author:
John Le Carre was born in 1931. He became a best selling author in the
nineteen sixties with The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. Many of his
books have been filmed or made into TV series, such as BBC’s version of
Tinker Tailor, starring Alec Guiness
Also by John Le Carre:
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
The Tailor of Panama
Single and Single
And many more
Suggestions for Further Reading:
A Tale of Two Cities: Charles Dickens
Our Man in Havana and The Quiet American: Graham Greene
The Untouchable: John Banville
The Ipcress File: Len Deighton
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
THE CORRECTIONS by Jonathan Franzen
After nearly 50 years of marriage, Enid and Alfred Lambert have raised a
family and reached their retirement in the Mid-West town of St. Jude where
they have always lived. Now Alfred is succumbing to a serious and
debilitating illness, while Enid’s children are all faraway and busy living
their own lives. Gary, the eldest is struggling to maintain his high profile
manager’s job, Chip is losing a grip on his academic career, while the
baby, Denise has escaped her own failing marriage and appears to have
embarked on a new love affair. Desperate for something to look forward
to, Enid makes one last attempt to bring the whole family together for
Christmas – but will she succeed?
Questions for discussion:
1. Did you enjoy the way this novel was split into sections focussing on the
different family members/major events? Which was your favourite
section and why?
2. What issues about family life in late 20th century does the author raise?
3. How did the author portray American society in the novel?
4. Did you have any sympathy for Enid and/or Alfred?
5. How well did you think the author wrote about Alfred’s illness and
decline?
6. What did you think of Gary, Chip and Denise? Did they change in any
way during the novel and was this important?
7. Why is the novel called The Corrections do you think?
8. What did you think of the section One Last Christmas and the ending of
the novel?
9. Is this book a tragedy or a comedy or both?
10. Do you think this novel would make a good film?
About the Author:
Jonathan Franzen is an American writer who lives in New York City, He
has written both fiction and non-fiction for magazines such as The New
Yorker and Harper’s.
He was named as one of the best American
novelists under forty by Granta and The New Yorker. The Corrections, his
third novel, was a best seller in USA and an Oprah Winfrey Book Club
choice.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Moo: Jane Smiley
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant: Ann Tyler
Middle Age: Joyce Carol Oates
The Human Stain: Philip Roth
Also by Jonathan Franzen:
How To Be Alone (essays)
The Twenty-Seventh City
Strong Motion
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
DINNER FOR TWO by Mike Gayle
Dave and Izzy are married and both work in journalism. After Izzy’s
miscarriage, Dave finds it difficult to settle down without the promise of a
child which he feels would enrich their lives. Then, while acting as the
“love doctor” for a teenage magazine, Dave receives a letter that changes
everything.
Questions for discussion:
1. Do you think the relationships in this book are realistic?
2. How did you feel about the characters of Dave and Izzy and their
marriage?
3. How effective were the “love doctor” sections of the book? Did you
agree with the advice Dave gave to teenagers?
4. What were your thoughts about the way that Izzy comes to terms with
Dave’s relationship with Nicola and her mother?
5. Did you enjoy the style, humour and construction of the book?
6. What is the significance of the title Dinner for Two?
7. What did you think of the cover of this novel? Was it suitable for the
story?
8. Did you feel this novel would translate well into a film or TV series?
Which actors would you cast in the main roles?
9. To whom would you recommend this book?
10. One reviewer commented that Mike Gayle’s writing ...”will strike a
chord with both sexes”. Do you agree?
About the author:
Mike Gayle worked as an agony uncle for various magazines before
turning his hand to fiction. My Legendary Girlfriend was his best selling
first novel. Mike also works as a freelance journalist writing for
magazines including Sunday Times Style, Cosmopolitan, FHM.
Also by Mike Gayle:
My Legendary Girlfriend
Mr. Commitment
Turning Thirty
Suggestions for Further Reading:
One for My Baby : Tony Parsons
About a Boy: Nick Hornby
Inconceivable: Ben Elton
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason:: Helen Fielding
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
DIRT MUSIC by Tim Winton
Georgie Jutland is a mess. At forty she finds herself stranded in White
point with a fisherman she doesn’t love and two kids whose dead mother
she can never replace. Then a dangerous new element enters her life,
Luther Fox, the local poacher; jinx; outcast. So begins an unlikely alliance
and a journey through the wild landscape of Western Australia.
Questions for Discussion:
1. How do you feel about Georgie, and her relationship with Jim, at the
start of the novel?
2. What were your first impressions of White Point and small town life?
3. What sort of character is Luther? How has he been affected by his
past?
4. What interests you in the relationship between Georgie and Luther?
5. How important is the landscape of Western Australia in this book?
6. What is the significance of the “Dirt Music” of the title?
7. One review described this novel as a ”tale of three characters’ perilous
journey into the Australian wilderness in efforts to escape and atone for
their pasts.” Do you agree with this view?
8. Dirt Music was shortlisted for Man Booker Prize in 2002. Do you think it
was a good choice for a major prize shortlist?
9. Do you think Dirt Music would make a good film?
10. Did reading the novel make you want to visit this part of Western
Australia or a similar wilderness?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tim Winton was born in Perth in 1960 and grew up on the coast of
Western Australia, where he continues to live. His novel The Riders was
nominated for the Booker Prize in 1995, and he has won numerous awards
for his fifteen books, which include novels, short stories, non-fiction and
books for children. Other prize-winning works include An Open Swimmer,
which won the Australian /Vogel Award for Best First Novel, and
Cloudstreet,, which has also been adapted for the stage.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
The Sharknet: Memories and Murder: Robert Drewe
Quarantine: Jim Crace
The Mosquito Coast: Paul Theroux
Rabbit Proof Fence: Doris Pilkington
Also by Tim Winton
The Riders
Scission – short stories
Minimum of Two
An Open Swimmer
That Eye, That Sky
In the Winter Dark
Shallows
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
DISGRACE by J M Coetzee
A divorced, middle-aged English professor finds himself increasingly
unable to resist affairs with his female students. When discovered by
the college authorities he is expected to apologise to save his job, but
instead he refuses and resigns, retiring to live with his daughter on her
remote farm.
Questions for Discussion:
1.
What do you think the “disgrace” of the title refers to?
2.
How much sympathy did you have for David?
3.
Did you feelings about David change through the novel?
4.
What did you feel about his relationship with his daughter?
5.
Which episodes in the book did you find most disturbing?
6.
How does Coetzee make you feel threatened? How does this
differ between the city and the country?
7.
What insights did this give you into the political situation in South
Africa?
8.
What did you think of the relationships in the book between
women and men?
9.
Who is a victim in this book?
10.
Is there any sense of hope for the future at the end of the book?
About the Author:
John Michael Coetzee was born in Cape Town,
South Africa, on February 9, 1940. He studied first
at Cape Town, and later earned a Ph.D. degree in
literature from the University of Texas at Austin. He
returned to South Africa and joined the faculty of the
University of Cape Town in 1972. He is the only
author to have won the Booker Prize twice.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
John Fowles, The Collector
Nadine Gordimer, July’s People
Linda Grant, When I Lived in Modern Times
Doris Lessing, The Grass is Singing
Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
Alan Paton, Cry, The Beloved Country
Also by J M Coetzee:
Dusklands (1974)
In the Heart of the Country: A Novel (1977)
Waiting for the Barbarians (1980)
Life and Times of Michael K. (1983)
Foe (1986)
Age of Iron (1990)
The Master of Petersburg (1994)
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
AN EQUAL MUSIC by Vikram Seth
Whilst a music student, Michael fell in love with Julia. He played the
violin, she the piano and together they were members of a trio/quartet
until Michael’s sudden departure from Vienna. Ten years later and still in
love with her, Michael meets Julia again in London. Circumstances have
changed, particularly for Julia, but nevertheless they are attracted to each
other once more. This is not only a love story, but an insight into music
and the power it holds. A passionate and compelling novel.
Questions for discussion:
1. Looking at the title and cover of this book, would you have any idea
what to expect inside? Is the title helpful?
2. How is the emotional intensity conveyed throughout the novel? Did
you find it too intense at times?
3. How did you feel about the technical details relating to the theory and
practice of music?
4. Were you always sympathetic towards Michael? Did your feelings
about him change during the course of the novel?
5.How credible did you find the scenes in which Michael was in the
company of Julia and her husband?
6. What were your feelings about Julia?
7. What types of love were explored in the novel?
8. How significant was the relationship between Michael and the other
three members of the string quartet? How were they portrayed?
9. What did you think of the ending of the novel? Does the book have
any shortcomings do you think?
10. Did the book arouse your interest in music? If you play an
instrument, or sing, how well did Seth convey the experience of practice
and performance?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vikram Seth was born in Calcutta in 1952. He left India to study at
Oxford, where he studied in philosophy, economics and politics. He has
written and translated six books of poetry, as well as novels, and was
trained in classical music. He lives in India and London.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
The English Patient: Michael Ondaatje
The End of the Affair: Graham Greene
Wuthering Heights : Emily Bronte
Birdsong: Sebastian Faulks
Hilary and Jackie: Hilary and Piers du Pre
Suggestions for listening:
J.S. Bach: English Suites, Partita No.3 in E major; The Art of Fugue
Beethoven: Piano Trio in C Minor, op.1, no3; Quartet no.14 for strings in
C sharp minor
Haydn: String Quartet in A Major, op.20, o.6
Mozart: Quartet no.14 in G major, K.387; Sonata in E minor for violin and
piano
Schubert: Quartet for Strings no.12 in C minor, D 703; Piano Quintet in A,
“The Trout”; String Quintet in C Major, D 956
Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending
Vivaldi: Manchester Sonatas
Also by Vikram Seth:
From Heaven Lake:Travels through Sinkiang and Tibet
The Golden Gate; a Novel in Verse
A Suitable Boy
Beastly Tales from Here and There
All You Who Sleep Tonight
Arion and the Dolphin (libretto)
Three Chinese Poets (translator/editor)
The Humble Administrator’s Garden
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
EASY PEASY by Lesley Glaister
When Zelda’s father dies, it brings up all sorts of memories from her
childhood. This novel leads you into a world of family secrets, guilt and
lies. Zelda struggles to come to terms with her family, her childhood
and her own ill deeds.
Questions for Discussion:
1.
How does Glaister build up the tension in the novel?
2.
What did you think of the way in which Glaister charts the actions
of a child? Is it believable?
3.
Do you think children are this cruel to one another?
4.
What feelings did the novel arouse in you?
5.
Did you like the way in which the novel twists back and forth
between past and present?
6.
Loss and absence are a recurring theme in Glaister’s work. How
are the various characters affected by the losses they have
suffered?
7.
What did you think of Vassily as an adult?
8.
Which character did you most sympathise with?
9.
Do you feel that you got to the bottom of what went on?
10.
What did you think of the ending?
About the Author:
Lesley Glaister lives in Sheffield and teaches writing
at Sheffield Hallam University. She was born in
Wellingborough in 1956. Brought up in Suffolk, she
dropped out of university to live a life of selfsufficiency in a caravan. When this failed to work out,
she moved to Sheffield, where she had three sons,
and started writing. She has won several awards for
© Gunnie Moberg
her
writing, including the Betty Trask, Somerset Maugham and Yorkshire
Author of the Year awards.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
Your Blue-Eyed Boy by Helen Dunmore
Also by Lesley Glaister:
Honour Thy Father (1989)
Trick or Treat (1991)
Digging to Australia (1992)
Limestone and Clay (1993)
Partial Eclipse (1994)
The Private Parts of Women (1996)
Easy Peasy (1997)
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
EMBERS by Sandor Marai
In a castle at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains, an old aristocrat waits
to greet the friend he has not seen for forty-one years. During the next
night they will talk about their lives – from their close friendship in their
youth, through a mysterious, traumatic quarrel leading to a mutual
estrangement.
An extraordinary story of love and friendship, pride and
betrayal.
Originally published in Budapest in 1942, this novel was
unknown to modern readers until it became an international best seller in
2001.
Questions for Discussion:
1. How much did you care about Konrad and the General as people?
Can we believe in them today?
2. The novel is an examination of male friendship. What impressions
did you get from the author about this issue? Would it have been a
different story if the characters were female?
3. How important are the sense of time and place in the novel? What
atmosphere does the author create?
4. Readers have reacted very differently to the poetic language in the
novel. What did you think of it?
5. Were you intrigued by the story – did you want to keep reading to
discover what had happened?
6. Does the fact that this is a work in translation affect your reading of it?
(For example, the literal translation of the title is The Candles are Burnt
Down.)
7. This book was not translated into English for many years, but since
translation, Embers is now an international best seller – can you
account for its success?
About the Author:
Sandor Marai was born in Kassa in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1900.
He was a leading Hungarian novelist during the 1930s when he
expressed his anti-fascist views. After surviving World War Two he was
driven out of Hungary by the communists in 1948 and fled first to Italy and
then USA. In 1989 Marai committed suicide in San Diego, before seeing
the restoration of democracy in Eastern Europe. He wrote more than 20
novels, but Embers is the first to be translated into English.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
The Transylvanian Trilogy:The Writing on the Wall (They were Counted;
They were Found Wanting; They Were Divided): Miklos Banfy
In Search of Lost Time : Marcel Proust
Death in Venice: Thomas Mann
Love in the Time of Cholera:Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Dark Room: Raachel Seiffert
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
EXODUS by Julie Bertagna
It is 2009 and 15-year-old Mara's home on the island of Wing is gradually
disappearing as Arctic ice floes melt. Mara persuades her family and
others to leave the island and so, packed into tiny boats, a terrifying
journey begins to a city that rises into the sky, built on the drowned
remains of the ancient city of Glasgow. Even here, there is no safety as
they become asylum-seekers in a world torn between high-tech wizardry
and primitive injustice. To save her people, Mara must find a way into the
city.
Questions for discussion:
1.
How did you feel as you read about Mara's desire to leave the island
of Wing?
2.
Do you think there are any current parallels to this story?
3.
What messages do you think the author might be trying to convey?
4.
What do you think about the old city of Glasgow?
5.
Have there been any incidents in our history which add power to this
particular story?
6.
How did you feel when you came to the end of the book?
7.
This is a book for teenage readers, but is it a good read for adults?
8.
Do you think it would make a good film?
About the Author:
Julie Bertagna grew up in Scotland and studied at Glasgow University,
before working as a teacher, editor and freelance journalist. She now
writes full-time and lives with her family in Glasgow.
After the success of Julie’s first novel, she was awarded a Scottish Arts
Council Bursary and her second book Soundtrack won the Scottish Art’s
Council Book Award. Dolphin Boy was shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book
Awards and The Ice Cream Machine is being developed for television.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
The Drowned World : J. G. Ballard
The Ice People: Maggie Gee
The Wind Singer (The Wind on Fire Trilogy): William Nicholson
Virtual Light: William Gibson
Also by Julie Bertagna:
The Spark Gap
Soundtrack
Dolphin Boy
The Ice Cream Machine
The Opposite of Chocolate
Bungee Hero
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
FAMILY MATTERS by Rohinton Mistry
The family in question is that of Nariman Vakeel, an elderly, retired English
teacher living in Bombay with his stepchildren Jal and Coomy. Unable to
cope with the old man’s increasing frailty, they are relieved when he moves
to the tiny flat of his natural daughter Roxana and her family. The novel
explores both the literal claustrophobia of their cramped living conditions
and the ensuing tensions, as well as the metaphorical claustrophobia of
family ties and emotions.
Questions for discussion:
1. What impressions do you get of Nariman’s marriage? How does it
compare with his relationship with Lucy?
2. How do you feel about Nariman? Did your views change during the
course of the book?
3. What part do memory and family history play in the novel?
4. What do you think of Jal and Coomy and their behaviour towards their
stepfather?
5. How much sympathy do you have for Roxana and Yezad?
6. What do the other characters, such as Mr Kapur, Edul Munshi and
Daisy Ichhaporia add to the novel?
7. Compare the two apartments where most of the events take place –
“Chateau Felicity” and “Pleasant Villas” – are these names significant?
Is the idea of “space” important in the novel?
8. What picture of life in Bombay does the author portray?
9. Although the novel is set in India, what themes are relevant to family life
in this country?
10. Despite their efforts, many of the characters’ attempts to alter the
course of their lives come to grief. How do you feel about this?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rohinton Mistry was born in Bombay, but has lived in Canada since 1975.
He has won many literary prizes, including the Commonwealth Writers
Prize for Best Book for his first novel, Such a Long Journey, which was
also made into an acclaimed film in 1998. A Fine Balance was short listed
for the Booker Prize as well as being awarded the Los Angeles Times
Book Prize and Irish Times International Fiction Prize. His most recent
novel, Family Matters was short listed for Man Booker Prize in 2002.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
A Suitable Boy: Vikram Seth
Death of Vishnu: Manil Suri
Anna Karenina: Leo Tolstoy
A House for Mr.Biswas: V.S. Naipaul
Death of Vishnu: Manil Suri
Also by Rohinton Mistry
Tales from Firosha Baag (short stories)
Such a Long Journey
A Fine Balance
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
FASTING FEASTING: Anita Desai
From the heart of a close-knit Indian household to the cool centre of an
American family, this novel examines relationships through food – feasts,
starvation and self denial. Uma, Aruna and Arun are three middle class
Indian siblings whose three different lives reveal the conflicts of 20th
century family values, culture and behaviour in different continents.
Questions for Discussion:
1. How are Uma, Aruna and Arun brought up? What are their parents like?
2. What did you think about Aruna’s choice of traditional marriage?
3. How much sympathy do you have for Uma?
4. What picture do you get of family life in modern India?
5. Is there a contrast with family life in America, or are there similalities?
6. What sort of people are the Pattons?
7. Why is food so significant in the book? What about the title?
8. Do you think the women have a harder time than the men in this novel?
9. Do you like the use of two self contained narratives in the novel?
10.What did you think about the ending of the novel?
About the author:
Born and brought up in India, Anita Desai is the critically acclaimed author
of many novels for children and adults, as well as writing short stories.
Three of her novels have been short listed for the Man Booker Prize:
Fasting Feasting, In Custody and Clear Light of Day. She is a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature in London and of the American Academy of
Arts and Letters in New York and Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge.
She teaches creative writing at M.I.T. in America. Her novel In Custody
was successfully filmed by Merchant Ivory Productions.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Toast: Nigel Slater
The Devil’s Larder: Jim Crace
Family Matters:: Rohinton Mistry
The Namesake: Jhumpa Lahiri
The Unknown Errors of Our Lives: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
An Experiment in Love: Hilary Mantel
Also by Anita Desai:
Journey to Ithica
In Custody
Fire on the Mountain
Games at Twilight
Baumgartner Bombay
Diamond Dust (Short stories)
Cultural & Community
Services Department:
Libraries & Heritage
Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
FOLLOWING THE WRONG GOD HOME by Catherine Lim
On the way to her wedding to the son of a wealthy Singaporean family,
Yin Ling sees a dead baby - a bad omen. Her marriage is necessary for it
will give her money to pay for her mother's cancer treatment, but it means
denying her dreams, until the day an American professor awakens them
again.
Questions for discussion:
1. Did this novel grip you from the start?
2. Is there more to the novel than the age old love story formula?
3. How many of the characters are following the wrong god home?
4. Who did you most (and least) empathise with in the book?
5. Do you feel you learned much about Asian culture?
6. Has this type of novel been repeated too often?
7. Did you find the end of the story satisfying?
About the author:
Catherine Lim is currently working on her next novel,The Song of the
Silver Frond, due to be published in September 2003, and based on the
life of her own grandmother.
Also by Catherine Lim:
The Bondmaid
Little Ironies
The Teardrop Story Woman
Suggestions for Further Reading:
The Bonesetter’s Daughter: Amy Tan
Watching the Tree: Adeline Yen Mah
The Seal Wife: Kathryn Harrison
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: Dai Sijie
Bound Feet and Western Dress:Pang-Mei Natasha Chang
Waiting: Ha Jin
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
FRUIT OF THE LEMON by Andrea Levy
Faith Jackson fixes herself up with a great job and the perfect flat share.
Neither are that perfect. Furious when her parents retire to Jamaica,
she makes her own journey there. Here she is enfolded in her Aunt
Coral's endless talk of ancestors, stretching back to Cuba, Panama,
Harlem and Scotland.
Questions for Discussion:
1.
Why did Andrea Levy call her book Fruit of the Lemon?
2.
What did you feel about Faith Jackson? Did you enjoy her
journey?
3.
What impressions did you get of Faith's family?
4.
Why do you think Faith decided to go to Jamaica?
5.
How did you feel about Aunt Coral?
6.
How was life different in Jamaica from London?
7.
Which ancestor's story did you enjoy most?
8.
What was the effect of the growing family tree?
9.
Did the novel make you think about families and their ways of
telling their own history?
10.
How did you feel at the end of the novel?
About the Author:
Born in England to Jamaican parents, she is the author of three novels
and in 1997 was a judge for the Orange Prize for Fiction. She now lives
and works in Haringey, London.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Bernardine Evaristo, Lara
Margaret Forster, The Memory Box
Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia
Grace Nichols, The Fat Black Woman's Poems
Zadie Smith, White Teeth
Anita Syal, Life Isn't All Ha, Ha, Hee, Hee
Also by Andrea Levy:
Never Far From Nowhere
Every Light in the House Burnin'
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE by Amanda Foreman
Georgiana Spencer was one of the most flamboyant women of the 18th
century. She was, in turn, a compulsive gambler, political operator,
drug addict, adulteress and darling of the common people. The book
charts the rise and fall of Georgiana as a woman of fashion and
influence, arguing that her role in Whig politics has been vastly underrated, and examines the strange relationship between Georgiana, the
Duke and Lady Elizabeth Foster, Georgiana’s closest friend and the
Duke’s mistress.
Questions for Discussion:
1.
What do you think makes this a prize-winning biography?
2.
What elements of Georgiana’s life aroused the most sympathy in
you?
3.
What is your impression of the Duke of Devonshire?
4.
What sort of mother was Lady Spencer?
5.
What sort of mother was Georgiana?
6.
Why do you think Georgiana valued her friendship with Lady
Elizabeth Foster so much?
7.
What do you think about the lives of aristocratic women at this
time?
8.
Does the book tell you all you want to know, or were you left
wanting more?
9.
Were you surprised at the parallels with our own society (eating
disorders, addictions, hounding by the press, etc.)?
10.
What is the most striking thing about this story, to you?
About the Author:
Amanda Foreman was born in London in 1968. Her
father, Carl Foreman, was a Hollywood screenwriter
(High Noon, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Guns of
Navarone) and she spent most of her childhood in
LA. After a spectacularly unpromising school career,
Amanda went to Sarah Lawrence College in New
York. While there, she fell in love with history. After
© HarperCollins
a short spell at Columbia University, she moved to Lady Margaret Hall,
Oxford in 1991. In 1993 she was awarded the Henrietta Jex-Blake
senior scholarship.
Amanda’s first published piece of writing was an article in the New York
Times in 1991, which was a protest against the rise of political
correctness in American universities. She has raised funds on behalf of
Index of Censorship, the magazine for free speech, since 1992. She is
currently Foreign Editor of The Week, and a regular contributor to The
Daily Express, Observer and The Independent.
Amanda is addicted to Star Trek – all generations of them – as well as a
complete devotee of Babylon 5. When not researching her next book,
which is an examination of the lives of British people caught up in the
American Civil War, she is surfing the Net with other Sci-Fi fanatics.
She lives in London.
Her first book, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, won the 1998
Whitbread Biography Award.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Georgina Battiscombe, The Spencers of Althorp
Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire, The House: A Portrait of Chatsworth
Daniel Defoe, A Tour Through England and Wales
John W Derry, Charles, Earl Grey
James Lees-Milne, The Bachelor Duke
Andrew Morton, Diana
Hugh Stokes, The Devonshire House Circle
Stella Tillyard, Aristocrats
Amanda Vickery, The Gentleman’s Daughter
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
GOOD WIVES? MARY, FANNY, JENNIE AND ME, 1845 – 2001 by Margaret
Forster
This book explores the idea of the ‘good wife’ through the marriages of Mary
Moffatt, wife of the explorer and missionary David Livingstone; Fanny Stevenson,
wife of the writer Robert Louis Stevenson; and Jennie Lee, wife of the politician
Aneurin Bevan, as well as a politician in her own right, alongside her own marriage.
Questions for discussion:
1.
The question this book seeks to ask is “what makes a good wife?”. Do you
think this question is adequately answered?
2.
Did you feel pity for Mary Livingstone, or could she have acted differently,
particularly in her relationship with her children?
3.
To what extent do you empathise with any of the wives?
4.
Would it be a good idea for a male author to write Good Husbands?
5.
What do you see as the future for marriage?
6.
Who do think this book is aimed at?
About the Author:
Biographer and novelist Margaret Forster was born in Carlisle on 25th May 1938.
She was educated at Somerville College, Oxford, where she read History. She has
been a teacher, a journalist, a novelist and a biographer. She now lives in London
and the Lake District with her husband, writer and broadcaster Hunter Davies.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
The World’s Wife: Carol Ann Duffy
Things My Mother Never Told Me: Blake Morrison
Circle of Sisters: Judith Flanders
Wives and Daughters: Elizabeth Gaskell
Daughters of Britannia: Katie Hickman
Bad Blood: Lorna Sage
Other books by Margaret Forster:
Significant Sisters: The Grassroots of Active Feminism
Precious Lives
Rich Desserts and Captain’s Tin
Hidden Lives
The Memory Box
The Battle for Christabel
Have the Men Had Enough?
Mother, Can You Hear Me?
Lady’s Maid
Shadow Baby
Diary of an Ordinary Woman
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
HEADLONG by Michael Frayn
When art historian Martin Clay stumbles across a lost Bruegel in the house
of one of his country neighbours he is faced with a dilemma. Should he
reveal to the owner that he is sitting on a fortune, or keep it secret and
save the painting for the nation, while incidentally making a name (and a
fortune) for himself along the way? Frayn’s satire charts Martin’s
obsessive and every more complicated plot to bamboozle his neighbours,
while exploring the history of painting and the shady world of art dealers
and the consequences of greed.
1.
How realistic do you think Martin’s character is?
2.
What did you think of the relationships between Martin and Kate and
Martin and Laura?
3.
What impressions did you get from the novel of the art world?
4.
Were you able empathise with any of the characters or were they
caricatures?
5.
Did you find the plot far-fetched or were you gripped by it?
6.
Did the novel’s descriptions of the paintings by Bruegel interest you?
Were you inspired to go and look at some of the pictures Frayn
writes about?
7.
What did you think about the ending of the novel?
8.
Did you enjoy the humour in this novel?
About the Author:
Michael Frayn is the author of many novels and has been shortlisted for
the Booker Prize. He has also written plays, including the box-office hits
Copenhagen and Noises Off and translated the works of Chekhov.
Also by Michael Frayn:
Spies
Towards the End of Morning
A Landing on the Sun
The Trick of It
Celia’s Secret
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Rembrandt’s Whore:Sylvie Matton
Girl with a Pearl Earring: Tracy Chevalier
Utz: Bruce Chatwin
Paradise Postponed: John Mortimer
Small World: David Lodge
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
HELIGOLAND by Shena Mackay
The Nautilus is a strange building shaped like a chambered shell of the
sea creature of the same name. Once a flourishing intellectual and artistic
centre, it now houses an odd selection of characters - Francis Campion an
ageing poet, Celeste who helped design the Nautilus with her husband,
and Gus Crabb, dealer in bric-a-brac. Rowena Snow seeks shelter in the
Nautilus and is gradually drawn into the strange world of the inhabitants
which helps her resolve her own search for Utopia and peace.
Questions for discussion:
1. Did you enjoy the opening of the novel and were you drawn into the
story?
2. How has Rowena’s past shaped her character?
3. What are your first impressions of the Nautilus and its inhabitants?
4. Which of these inhabitants – Gus, Celeste or Francis – interest you
most?
5. How do you feel about Rowena’s role in the Nautilus community?
6. In what ways could the Nautilus be considered a refuge of some sort?
7. Did you find the novel amusing in any way?
8. What is the significance of the title of Heligoland ?
9. How do you feel about the ending of the novel?
10.
Do you think Rowena changed in any way during the story?
About the Author:
Shena Mackay is the author of two novellas, nine novels and four
collections of short stories. The Orchard on Fire was shortlisted for the
Booker Prize in 1996 and Heligoland was shortlisted for the Orange Prize
in 2003.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
The Seven Sisters: Margaret Drabble
The Girls of Slender Means: Muriel Spark
Mary Swann: Carol Shields
Tricks of the Light: Alison Fell
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont: Elizabeth Taylor
Also by Shena Mackay:
The Orchard on Fire
The World’s Smallest Unicorn (short stories)
An Advent Calendar
Such Devoted Sisters
The Artist’s Widow
Dreams of Dead Women’s Handbags (short stories)
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
HIGH SOCIETY by Ben Elton
The war on drugs has been lost. The simple fact is that the whole world is
rapidly becoming one vast criminal network. From pop stars and royal
princes to crack whores and street kids, from the Groucho Club toilets to
the poppy fields of Afghanistan, we are all partners in crime. A hilarious,
heartbreaking satire about Britain today and its endemic culture of drugs
and law breaking.
Questions for discussion:
1. Which are your favourite characters in this novel? Are the characters
believable, or do they only work as caricatures?
2. Did you like the way the novel is written in different sections/settings
covering a wide cross section of society?
3. What did you think of the portrayal of the media in the novel?
4. Did you find any episodes particularly funny or shocking?
5. One reviewer said the novel is a “cautionary tale about Britain today” –
do you agree?
6. What comments does Elton make about society in contemporary
Britain?
7. Does Elton have sympathy for any of his characters do you think?
8. What serious points is Elton making in this book? Do you agree with his
criticisms of the current legislation on drugs and the problems it
causes?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ben Elton has been an influential performer and writer for over 20 years.
Initially famous for his live stand-up comedy work, later broadcast in
programmes such as Saturday Live and The Man from Auntie , he has
written many TV series including The Young Ones, Blackadder and The
Thin Blue Line. He is the author of eight novels including Dead Famous, a
satire on TV’s Big Brother, three West End plays and several musicals.
Ben Elton lives in London with his wife Sophie and their three children.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
Junk: Melvin Burgess
The Ecstasy Club: Douglas Rushkoff
The Doors of Perception: Aldous Huxley
Also by Ben Elton
Stark
Gridlock
This Other Eden
Popcorn
Blast from the Past
Inconceivable
Dead Famous
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
HOLES by Louis Sachar
Stanley Yelnat’s family has a history of bad luck going back generations,
so he is not surprised when a miscarriage of justice sends him to Camp
Greenlake Detention Centre, a place for bad boys, where his daily labour
is to dig a hole and report what is inside. When Stanley leaves the
horrors of camp to search for his friend Zero, an epic survival adventure
begins on their journey towards Big Thumb Mountain and salvation.
Questions for discussion:
1. Were you surprised when Stanley was wrongly accused of committing
a crime?
2. Did you feel that the punishment fitted the crime?
3. What was life like at the detention centre?
4. How well did you identify with the different characters at the camp?
Who did you have sympathy for and why?
5. At which point in the story did you suspect that the wardens had an
ulterior motive for getting the boys to dig holes?
6. How did you feel about Stanley going after his friend Zero?
7. What did you think of the ending of the story?
8. What is the significance of the title of this book?
9. This book was written for teenagers but would you recommend it as a
good read for adults?
10.One reviewer described this book as a “homage to family and
friendship”. Do you agree and how does the author tackle these themes.
About the Author:
Louis Sachar was born in New York in 1954. He worked in various jobs,
studied economics at university and went on to law school, until the
publication of his first book Sideways Stories from Wayside School
compelled him to become a full time writer in early 1980s. Louis has
published many books for children in USA. Holes was his first book to be
published in UK and has won several awards including the Newbery and
National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. He now lives in
Austin Texas.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Pobby and Dingan: Ben Rice
Raspberries on the Yangtze: Karen Wallace
The Chocolate War: Robert Cormier
Dead Gorgeous: Malorie Blackman
Also by Louis Sachar:
Camp Greenlake
There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom
Dogs Don’t Tell Jokes
Sideways Stories from Wayside School
The Boy Who Lost His Face
Sixth Grade Secrets
Why Pick on Me
Someday Angeline
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
HOMESTEAD by Rosina Lippi
Different women of the isolated community of Rosenau, in Austria, tell
their stories of village life over a time span of 1909 to 1977. Each
woman’s inner personality reveals traits with which we can identify, even
though their way of life is far removed from our own. In such a tiny,
insular world every episode has a ripple effect on someone else. The
story begins when a postcard arrives at the general store and the
balanced order of life is upset. Other events in later years continue to
unbalkance this equilibrium. This deceptively easy read leaves you
wanting more.
Questions for discussion:
1. How did you feel about the encroachment of the outside world on
Rosenau?
2. Did you find all the characters equally convincing?
3. Is such an insular community a dream or a nightmare to you? What
are its benefits and downfalls?
4. Did your view of Marie change as she gets older?
5. What are the attitudes of the male characters in the book? How did
you feel about them?
6. How does the author keep your attention from beginning to end of this
book?
7. How did Rosenau and its inhabitants change over the time span of the
novel?
8. How are the villagers affected by two world wars?
9. Rosina Lippi based her book around true stories told to her by women
in Austria. She has written that “some of those stories put their hooks
into me and eventually I felt a need to pass them along.” Did you feel
she was equally successful in gripping the reader in Homestead?
10. How useful did you find the family trees and glossary? Do you like
additional information like this attached to a novel?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rosina Lippi was born and raised in Chicago. She studied linguistics and
has a Ph.D. from Princeton University. She lived and worked for four
years in Vorarlberg, a remote Western province in Austria, teaching and
studying the local dialects. She is the author of numerous academic
texts on linguistics and has taught linguistics and creative writing at
university. She also publishes historical novels, about Scottish
immigrants in North America in 18thC, under the name of Sara Donati.
Rosina Lippi now writes full time. She lives in north west of USA with her
husband, daughter and three cats. Homestead was awarded the
PEN/Hemingway Award.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Hannah’s Daughters :Marianne Fredrikson
Girl with a Pearl Earring:Tracy Chevalier
Blackberry Wine: Joanne Harris
Heidi: Johanna Spyri
Charlotte Gray: Sebastian Faulks
Christabel: Christabel Bielenberg
Lark Rise to Candleford: Flora Thompson
Also by Rosina Lippi:
Writing as Sara Donati:
Into the Wilderness
Dawn on a Distant Shore
Lake in the Clouds (July 2002)
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
HOTEL WORLD by Ali Smith
Narrated by the ghost of Sara, 19 years old and recently dead, this
unusual novel is set in the bland world of a modern hotel. Five different
voices weave through the book adding a new perspective to the events of
one night. With dazzling use of language, by turns funny, moving,
confusing and alarming, this exceptional novel explores themes of life,
love and death and anonymity of modern living.
Questions for discussion:
1. What did you think of the unusual opening of the novel and the fact
that it was told by a ghost? Did you want to read on?
2. What did you feel about Sara? What impressions did you get of her
family and home life?
3. Did you like the mixture of five women’s voices in the novel? Which
section did you enjoy the most and why?
4. Did you sympathise with any of the characters in the novel?
5. One of the sections has no punctuation. Did you find this effective,
irritating or difficult to read?
6. Were any parts of the novel weaker than others? Did some of the
women convince you more than others?
7. Was Ali Smith making any comments about modern living and
particularly women’s lives in this novel? What issues does she raise?
8. Ali Smith also writes short stories – is this a novel or a series of linked
stories?
9. What were your feelings about the way the author tackles issues like
death and illness?
10. Writing in The Independent, author Polly Sampson said Hotel World
was her favourite book of 2001 and Kate Atkinson has described it as
“beautifully written… and fascinating reading”. How far do you agree
with these views?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ali Smith was born in Inverness in 1962 and studied at Aberdeen
University before she moved to Cambridge as a post-graduate student.
Abandoning a Ph.D., she began writing plays and after working as a
lecturer, turned her hand to short stories. Free Love, her first collection
of stories, was published in 1995, and was awarded the Scotland on
Sunday/Macallan Prize and the Saltire First Book Award. This was
followed by a novel based on her experiences of moving from North to
South, and a second collection of stories. Hotel World was short listed
for both the Orange Prize and Booker Prize in 2001. Ali Smith now lives
in Cambridge.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Hotel du Lac: Anita Brookner
Hotel Honolulu: Paul Theroux
Precious Lives: Margaret Forster
True Tales of American Life: Paul Auster
Also by Ali Smith:
Free Love
Like
Other Stories and Other Stories
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
THE HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG by Andre Dubus III
Behrani, a former Iranian Air Force officer, works as a road cleaner while
striving to rebuild his family fortunes in America; Kathy is trying to give
up alcohol and sort out her life. When she fails to open letters from the
tax office, the house she has inherited is sold at auction. The purchaser
is Behrani and so begins a series of events from which neither character
can escape.
Questions for discussion:
1. What impressions did you get of life in America for immigrants from the
opening chapters of the novel?
2. What did you feel about Behrani and his pursuit of the American
Dream? Did you sympathise with his problems?
3. What was life like for Behrani’s family? What sort of marriage did he
have? What was life like for his son?
4. How much sympathy did you have for Kathy?
5. What did you think about the relationship between Kathy and Les?
6. Did you like the way the novel was told in contrasting voices of Kathy
and Behrani?
7. What did you think of the ending of the novel? Were you surprised by
any of the events that happened?
8. Do you think this novel is a tragedy?
9. What view of America do you get from this book?
10. James Lee Burke in his review described House of Sand and Fog
as “one of the best American novels I’ve ever read.” Do you agree?
About the Author:
Andre Dubus III is the author of two previous books and lives in
Newburyport, Massachusetts. House of Sand and Fog is his second
novel and was nominated for a National Book Award.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
View from the Bridge: Arthur Miller
Jasmine: Bharati Mukherjee
Homage: Julian Rathbone
Cannery Row: John Steinbeck
Day of the Locust: Nathaniel West
The Little Friend: Donna Tartt
Also by Andre Dubus III:
Bluesman
The Cage Keeper and Other Stories
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
IF NOBODY SPEAKS OF REMARKABLE THINGS: Jon McGregor
Debut novel by Nottingham author Jon McGregor takes place over a single
day and deals with the lives of the inhabitants of an ordinary street. Going
about their everyday business, the neighbours’ routines are shattered by a
terrible event, recalled and reassessed by one of them three years later.
Questions for discussion:
1. What do you think of the opening of the novel – did it capture your
imagination?
2. Do you like the way Jon McGregor writes?
3. Which characters in the street did you enjoy reading about the most?
4. What did you think about the interwoven narratives in the novel? Did
you prefer a particular voice or story?
5. One critic wrote that “Jon McGregor explores the small dramas played
out on our streets and in our houses that make the seemingly prosaic
extraordinary.” Do you agree with this view?
6. How do you feel about the young woman looking back and the effect of
that day three years earlier?
7. How are we made aware of the approaching tragedy?
8. Some reviewers have compared McGregor’s style to that of a film
maker – do you think that’s a good comparison?
9. What did you think of the ending of the novel?
10. The book was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2002 – do you
think it should have made it on to the short list?
About the author:
Jon McGregor was born in Bermuda in 1976, where his father was posted
as a curate, later moving to Norfolk. He started writing while still a student
at Bradford University, mostly short stories and poetry, and after
graduation earned a living at a series of part time jobs in restaurants,
bakeries, and postrooms. As well as being published in Granta magazine,
his first novel If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things was published in
2002 to great critical acclaim. As well as appearing on the long list for that
year’s Man Booker Prize, in 2003 the novel also won the Betty Trask Prize
and the Somerset Maugham Award, and was shortlisted for the Best First
Book section of the Commonwealth Prize. Jon lives in Nottingham with his
wife Alice and is currently working on a second novel.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Dubliners: James Joyce
Mrs Dalloway: Virginia Woolf
The Hours: Michael Cunningham
Mr Phillips: John Lanchester
Death of Vishnu: Manil Suri
Hotel World: Ali Smith
Cultural & Community
Services Department:
Libraries & Heritage
Division
Cultural & Community
Services Department:
Libraries & Heritage
Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
INSTANCES OF THE NUMBER THREE by Salley Vickers
When Peter Hansome dies in a car crash, Bridget Hansome and
Frances Slater are suddenly left without a husband and a lover. The
two women begin to form an unlikely friendship. They realise that,
before they can start to rebuild their lives, they have to examine their
own thoughts and feelings, as well as attempt to solve the mysteries
surrounding Peter.
Questions for Discussion:
1. What were your impressions of Bridget and Peter’s married life?
2. What did you feel about the relationship between Bridget and
Frances?
3. What sort of person was Peter do you think?
4. Vickers uses many literary references eg. Shakespeare, especially
Hamlet, Dante and John Donne. Had you read any of these
authors before and do you think they added to the novel?
5. With the appearance of Peter’s ghost, Vickers seems to suggest
that there is little to hinder the passage between life and death. In
this modern scientific age, are we still able to believe this?
6. How important is Zahin, with or without his sister, in rousing the
power of the triangle?
7. What did you think of the ending of the novel? Was there any
sense of resolution for Bridget?
8. What is the significance of the title of this novel?
About the author:
Salley Vickers has worked as a lecturer in the fields of literature,
religion and psychology. She lives and works in London and Bath.
Her first novel Miss Garnet’s Angel was a best-seller and she is
currently writing a third novel as well as a book based on the Book of
Common Prayer.
Also by Salley Vickers:
Miss Garnet’s Angel
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Larry’s Party: Carol Shields
City of the Mind: Penelope Lively
Easy Peasy: Lesley Glaister
The Lost Children: Maggie Gee
The Pilot’s Wife: Anita Shreve
A Spell of Winter: Helen Dunmore
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
INTERPRETER OF MALADIES BY Jhumpa Lahiri
In her first collection of stories, Jhumpa Lahiri explores the lives of Indians
in times of change, temporarily in exile, or struggling to make a different
life in the New World. Set both in India and America, cultures and
traditions cause conflict and emotional confusion for her characters.
Whether writing about educated academics or stair sweepers, human
existence is illustrated with humour, insight and originality.
Questions for Discussion
1. Are these stories about America or India? What impressions did you
get of both countries from reading this book? What aspects of the two
cultures does the author explore?
2. How does Lahiri portray marriage in her stories?
3. What comments is the author making about the lives of Indians living
in America?
4. Several of the stories deal with relationships between adults and
children. (When Mr Pirzada came to Dine; Mrs. Sen’s etc) What issues
does Jhumpa Lahiri raise?
5. Do you think Lahiri has equally sympathy for the men and women in
her stories? What interests you about the relationships she portrays?
6. Many of the stories reveal the inner world of the characters. How
effectively does the author deal with the thoughts/desires/illusions of
her characters?
7. How well do the stories explore the theme of communication –
between characters, cultures, countries etc.?
8. How important is the title of this collection? In what ways are the
“maladies” apparent in each story?
9. A reviewer for Booklist wrote: “One of Lahiri’s gifts is the ability to use
different eyes and voices”. Do you agree with this view of the stories
in this collection?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jhumpa Lahiri was born to Bengali parents in London. She grew up in
Rhode Island, USA. Many of her stories have been published in journals
such as The New Yorker. Interpreter of Maladies is her first published
collection of stories and was awarded the Pullitzer Prize 2000 for Fiction.
The book also won the New Yorker Prize for best First Book and the
PEN/Hemingway Award. She now lives in New York.
Suggestions for Further Reading
Diamond Dust: Anita Desai (short stories)
Shadow Lines: Amitav Ghosh
Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard: Kiran Desai
The Ground Beneath Her Feet: Salman Rushdie
Arranged Marriage: Stories: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
The Unknown Errors of Our Lives:Stories: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Cinnamon Gardens: Shyam Selvadurai
East into Upper East: Plain Tales from New York and New Delhi: Ruth
Prawer Jhabvala
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
THE IDEA OF PERFECTION by Kate Grenville
The Idea of Perfection is a funny and touching romance between two people
who've given up on love. Set in the eccentric little backwater of Karakarook, New
South Wales, it tells the story of Douglas Cheeseman, a gawky engineer with jughandle ears, and Harley Savage, a woman altogether too big and too abrupt for
comfort. It is the Orange Prize winner for 2001.
Questions for Discussion:
1. What emotions did the story arouse in you?
2. Which characters did you particularly sympathise with?
3. Were there any characters who really irritated you?
4. Would you describe this as a comic book? Did you laugh out loud?
5. Were there any more moving/poignant episodes that you particularly enjoyed?
6. Did the book affect your view of Australia?
7. Readers have been rather divided about this book, some criticising it because
“nothing happens” and others loving the characters, detail and language. Which
side of the fence are you on?
8. Did you learn anything new about bridges or textiles?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kate Grenville was born in Sydney in 1950 and is one of Australia's best-known
writers. Two of her books have been made into successful feature films, and all
have been published to critical acclaim. Kate Grenville's experience as a teacher
of creative writing led to the publication of The Writing Book: A Workbook for
Fiction Writers, and she collaborated with Sue Woolfe on Making Stories: How Ten
Australian Novels Were Written.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
Happenstance: Carol Shields
Saint Maybe: Anne Tyler
Close Range: Annie Proulx
The Bone People: Keri Hulme
ALSO BY KATE GRENVILLE
Albion’s Story
Dark Places
Joan Makes History
Dreamhouse
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
KILLING DRAGONS: THE CONQUEST OF THE ALPS by Fergus Fleming
The story of a mountain-climbing obsession in the nineteenth century, and how the
great peaks of the Alps were conquered one by one, by a string of eccentric Alpine
adventurers.
1. Who was your favourite mountaineer and why?
2. Which story moved you most?
3. Which anecdote did you find most hilarious?
4. And which most tragic?
5. Was Fergus Fleming able to take you back into the nineteenth century, so that
you could understand the obsession with exploration and mountain-climbing?
6. What sort of person would you recommend this book to?
7. Did the book engage you straightaway, or was it slow to get into?
8. Was it what you expected from the cover and the blurb on the back?
About the Author:
Fergus Fleming was born in 1959 and studied at Oxford University and City
University, London. He trained as an accountant and a barrister and has worked
as a furniture maker. For six years he was a writer and editor at Time-Life Books.
He has been a freelance writer since 1991.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
How the English Made the Alps: Jim Ring
Dark Shadows Falling: Joe Simpson
Against the Wall: Simon Yates
Starlight and Storm: Gaston Rebuffat
Scrambles Amongst the Alps: Edward Whymper
Also by Fergus Fleming:
Barrow’s Boys
Ninety Degrees North: the Quest for the North Pole
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
THE LAST GIRL by Stephan Collishaw
In the dying days of the last century an elderly poet wanders the streets of
Lithuania’s capital, haunted by a terrible secret. For years he has been
unable to write, fearful of fanning the embers of his memories. In a
decaying tenement a washerwoman struggles with her present life and the
uncertain hope of a better future for her children. Slowly Steponas the
poet comes to terms with the rubble of both the city and his own past, and
reveals the truth of his betrayal.
Questions for Discussion:
1. What do you think of the opening of the novel – did it draw you in and
make you want to keep reading?
2. What are your feelings about Steponas as an old man in the early parts
of the novel?
3. What are your impressions of life in Vilnius at end of 20thC?
4. What interested you about Steponas’ relationship with Jolanta?
5. Did you enjoy the change of focus in part 2 and Svetlana’s story?
6. What picture did you get of life during the war in Lithuania? Did any of
the events surprise or shock you?
7. How would you describe Steponas’s feelings for Rachel?
8. How does the author deal with the subject of betrayal in the novel? How
did you feel when you learned the secret of Steponas’ past?
9. Did you like the ending of the novel?
10.
Would this book make a good film do you think?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Stephan Collishaw was born in 1968 and brought up in Nottingham.
He has worked as a teacher in this country, and also worked and lived in
Lithuania. He was awarded an East Midlands Arts Bursary for The Last
Girl which is his first novel, published to excellent reviews in March 2003.
“The story is really powerful. Collishaw has a great gift for showoing the
dailiness of terrible times”: Helen Dunmore.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING:
The Siege: Helen Dunmore
The Fall of Berlin 1945: Anthony Beevor
The Pianist: Wladyslaw Szpilman
The Dark Room: Rachel Seiffert
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve
When childhood sweethearts Tom Janes and Linda Fallon meet up at a
poets’ convention in Toronto, they haven’t seen each other for 26 years.
Shreve unravels their relationship backwards through time, via Nairobi in
1970s to Massachusetts and the 1960s of their first encounter.
Questions for discussion:
1. What did you feel about the technique which Shreve uses to tell Tom's
side of the story?
2. Did you empathise with Linda and Tom?
3. How sensitive did you feel Tom was?
4. How would you describe the tone of the book?
5. How did you feel this book compares with some of Shreve's earlier
novels?
6. What aspects of love and relationships does Shreve explore in her
novel?
7. “It haunts your memory long after the time it takes to read.” Do you
agree with this view of the novel?
About the Author:
Anita Shreve is an acclaimed novelist living in the United States. Her first
book was published in 1994, since when she has acquired a wide
readership and her novels have sold all over the world. Her next novel
The White Chandelier is due to be published in 2003.
Other Books by Anita Shreve:
The Weight of Water
Sea Glass
The Pilot’s Wife
Strange Fit of Passion
Resistance
Fortune’s Rocks
Eden Close
Where or When
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Distant Shores by Kristine Hannah
Perfect Timing by Brenda Jackson
Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie
Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
BOOK CHAT Reading Guide
LIFE OF PI by Yann Martel
16 year old Pi is adrift on a raft after a tragic shipwreck in which his family
and their travelling zoo have perished. For company, Pi at first has a
zebra, a hyena, an orang-utan and a tiger. Eventually there is only Pi and the tiger.
The story of Pi’s survival is a mixture of adventure,
ingenuity and an exploration of religion, faith and philosophy.
Questions for Discussion:
1. Do you usually read Prize winning novels? Are you surprised that this
novel won the Booker prize?
2. What questions does the novel raise about religion?
3. Did you enjoy the section of the novel about Pi’s life in India before his
adventures at sea began?
4. How does Martel characterise the animals?
5. How did you feel about the character of Pi?
6. Life of Pi has been described by one reviewer as “a book that defies
categorisation”. Do you agree with this description?
7. The blurb describes the book as "a triumph of storytelling". Which bits
of Pi's story do you believe?
8. If someone asked you to pick a particular part of the story to give them
an idea of the essence of the book, which bit would you choose?
9. "Probably no symbol in mathematics has evoked as much mystery,
romanticism, misconception and human interest as the number pi."
(William L. Schaaf, Nature and History of Pi). Why do you think Yann
Martel chose to call his character Pi?
11.
What did you think of the ending of the novel?
About the Author:
Yann Martel was born in Spain but has travelled and worked in many
countries including Alaska, India, Mexico, France, Costa Rica, Turkey and
Iran. He now lives in Montreal, Canada. He has published a previous
novel and a collection of short stories. As well as winning the Booker
Prize in 2002, Life of Pi was shortlisted for the Governor General Award
and the Commonwealth Writers Prize
Suggestions for Further Reading:
The Old Man and the Sea: Ernest Hemingway
Pincher Martin: William Golding
The Alchemist: Paul Coelho
The Snow Goose: Paul Gallico
The Brothers Karamazov: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Robinson Crusoe: Daniel Defoe
Also by Yann Martel:
Self
The Facts Behind Helsinki Roccamatios and other stories
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
LONGITUDE: THE TRUE STORY OF A LONE GENIUS WHO
SOLVED THE GREATEST SCIENTIFIC PROBLEM OF HIS TIME BY
Dava Sobel
The thorniest scientific problem of the 18th century was how to
determine longitude. Many thousands of lives had been lost at sea over
the centuries due to the inability to determine an east-west position.
This is the engrossing story of the clockmaker, John Harrison, who
solved the problem that Newton and Galileo had failed to conquer.
Questions for Discussion:
1.
What impression did you get of John Harrison from reading this
book?
2.
What obstacles did he have to overcome?
3.
How was the Board of Longitude portrayed?
4.
What picture of 18th century life did the book reveal?
5.
What part did Rupert Gould play in Sobel’s narrative?
6.
How successfully did Sobel bring to life the story of measuring
time?
7.
Did any particular incident stand out?
8.
Dava Sobel is a scientist – did she tell a good story?
9.
Can you think of any other inventors whose lives would make an
interesting story?
10.
Why do you think characters like Harrison are of interest to writers
and to readers?
About the Author:
Dava Sobel is an award-winning writer and former
New York Times science reporter who has
contributed articles to many magazines and scientific
journals and lectured at many prestigious institutions,
including The Royal Geographical Society and The
Smithsonian Institute. Dava Sobel lives in East
Hampton, New York. Longitude has won several
awards and has been turned into a television drama.
.
© Ken Robbins/Walker &
co
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Ross King, Brunelleschi’s Dome
Mark Kurlansky, Cod
Giles Milton, Nathaniel’s Nutmeg
Simon Singh, Fermat’s Last Theorem
Simon Winchester, The Surgeon of Crowthorne
Also by Dava Sobel:
Galileo’s Daughter
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
LOSING NELSON by Barry Unsworth
Charles Cleasby lives a lonely life, re-enacting scale model sea battles
from the Napoleonic Wars in his basement. At the same time he is
attempting a major biography of his hero Nelson, in which he is aided by
his typist, Miss Lily. But is Nelson really the heroic figure Charles
believes him to be? As Charles and Miss Lily delve deeper into history,
Charles’s fragile sense of reality begins to unravel.
1. What is the significance of the title of this book?
2. What were your first impressions of Charles and his views of Nelson?
3. What did you think of Miss Lily and what interested you about the
relationship between her and Charles?
4. Did you enjoy the historical information in the book, or were you more
involved with the modern day characters?
5. Why is Charles obsessed with Nelson?
6. What did you feel about Charles’ upbringing and childhood?
7. What were your impressions of the Nelson Club and its members?
8. How did you feel about Charles’ trip to Italy and the ending of the
novel?
9. What points was Unsworth raising about history and the nature of
heroes?
10. One reviewer said Losing Nelson had “moments of hilarity” and yet
was a “serious novel about obsession, disillusion and about faith and its
loss.” Do you agree with this view of the novel?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Barry Unsworth published his first novel The Partnership in 1966. Born
near Durham in 1930, he studied at Manchester University and has spent
some years teaching in Athens and Istanbul. He now lives in Italy. His
novels Pascali’s Island and Morality Play were shortlisted for the Booker
Prize in 1980 and 1995 respectively. In 1992 he won the Booker Prize
with Sacred Hunger. Barry Unsworth is currently visiting Professor at
John Moore’s University, Liverpool and he has taught at the Iowa Writers’
Workshop in USA.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
Misery: Stephen King
The Collector: John Fowles
Memoirs of Emma, Lady Hamilton,the friend of Lord Nelson, and the
Court of Naples
The Truth about Lorin Jones: Alison Lurie
The Biographer’s Tale: A.S. Byatt
Nelson: Roy Hattersley
The Underground Man: Mick Jackson
Also by Barry Unsworth
The Partnership (1966)
The Greeks have a Word for It (1967)
The Hide (1970)
Mooncranker’s Gift (1973)
Pascali’s Island (1980)
Stone Virgin (1985)
Sugar and Rum (1990)
The Rage of the Vulture (1991)
Sacred Hunger (1992)
Morality Play (1995)
After Hannibal (1996)
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division
Book Chat Reading Guide
LOVE THAT DOG by Sharon Creech
“Is it a diary? Is it poetry? Is it a novel?” One boy’s discovery of the
joys of poetry – both reading and writing it – and how he learns to live
with loss. A wonderful book for children of all ages.
Questions for discussion
1. What did you think of Jack at the start of the book?
2. What sort of person was Miss Stretchberry?
3. How did Jack relate to poetry initially and how did he change?
4. In what ways did poetry help Jack do you think?
5. What did the book say to you about poetry?
6. Which was your favourite poem/diary entry?
7. Did the book change your views of poetry in any way?
8. Is this book similar or different to other poetry books you have read?
9. Did the book introduce you to any new poets?
10.Would you recommend this book to another reader and why?
About the Author:
Sharon Creech was born in South Euclid, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland,
USA. While studying at university she became interested in story
telling and initially wrote two novels for adults while she was living in
England in early 1980s. Her first book for young people was Absolutely
Normal Chaos and since then she has written mostly for this age group.
She is the winner of the Newbery medal for her novel Walk Two Moons,
which was also shortlisted for the Smarties Book Prize. Another of her
books, Chasing Redbird, was shortlisted for the Whitbread Award. Love
That Dog was nominated for the Carnegie Award in 2002, and was
commended by the judging committee. Sharon Creech now lives with
her husband in New Jersey and has two grown up children.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Frenchtown Summer: Robert Cormier
Archy and Mehitabel: Don Marquis
Also by Sharon Creech:
Ruby Holler
A Fine,Fine School
The Wanderer
Fishing in the Air
Bloomability
Chasing Redbird
Pleasing the Ghost
Absolutely Normal Chaos
Walk Two Moons
Cultural & Community
Services Dept
Libraries & Heritage Division