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Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden:

The much-touted fictional biography of a celebrated geisha.

A Woman in Amber by Agate Nesaule:

Memoir of a woman who fled war-ravaged Latvia as a child. A moving look at what it is like to leave your life behind and grow up in a new country.

Rose's Garden by Carrie Brown:

A man grieves for his dead wife, who may have sent an angel to watch over him.

October Sky: A Memoir (Also published as Rocket Boys) by Homer Hickam:

The son of a rural miner in a poor town, Hickam grew up to be a NASA engineer and his memoir of the bumpy ride toward a gold medal at the National Science Fair 1960 is rich in humor and warmth.

The Reader by Bernard Schlink:

A tale of love, reading, and shame in postwar Germany.

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester:

In the late 19th century, many disinguished men contributed to the making of the OED - and one of the most prolific turned out to be a patient at a criminal lunatic asylum.

The Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman:

When her Jewish family is discouraged from staying at a "Gentiles-only" resort, a young woman decides to take matters into her own hands in this funny exploration of the power of pride.

High Tide in Tucson: Essays from Now or Never by Barbara Kingsolver:

From acclaimed novelist Kingsolver, twenty-five essays exploring the themes of family, community, and the natural world.

Memoirs of a Geisha
by Arthur Golden

The fictional "true confessions" of one of Japan's most celebrated geisha. The strikingly pretty child of an impoverished fishing family, Sayuri is taken to faraway Kyoto and sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Through her eyes, we are given a backstage view of the ancient and secretive geisha district, Gion, and of the lives of the women who learn and practice the rigorous arts of the geisha. A treasure of a book, an unparalleled look at a strange and mysterious world which has now almost vanished.

Discussion

Discussion questions provided by the publisher are available at Random House Reading Group Guides - Memoirs of a Geisha.

A Woman in Amber: Healing the Trauma of War and Exile
by Agate Nesaule

This moving memoir follows a woman's childhood in camps after her beloved Latvia is taken over during World War II. She then learns that America was not the glittering land of riches and paradise she dreamed it would be. Nesaule spent many years denying her emotions and the horrors of war, and was finally able to heal herself by writing about her experiences and her memories.

Discussion Questions

Nesaule speaks of "inventing the truth". What does she mean by this? Wouldn't you agree that most memoirs are inventions of truth? How is a story always skewed by the teller's experiences?

Discuss guilt and ritual as presented in her life.

How can stories change the human heart, as Ingeborge says?

Discuss the style of this memoir. It is not linear - instead, we read about her memories as she recalls them, not as they happened in time. How is this effective? Do you find it to be true of the way the memory works?

Discuss Agate's relationship with her family. Why is her mother a more prominent figure in her life and emotions than her father?

What scenes in the book stood out to you?

How do Agate's childhood feelings about herself color the choices she makes as an adult? Discuss her marriage to Joe in relation to this.

Rose's Garden
by Carrie Brown

Conrad and Rose married young and lived happily right up to the time of Rose's death more than fifty years later. Now at 75, Conrad finds himself alone, rejecting offers of consolation, neglecting Rose's garden for the four months since her death. It's in that garden that a ghostly apparition confronts the grieving widower one night. Is it Rose?

Discussion

Discussion questions provided by the publisher are available at Random House Reading Group Guides - Rose's Garden.

October Sky
by Homer Hickam

October Sky is "a uniquely American memoir"--a powerful, luminous story of coming of age at the dawn of the 1960s. NASA engineer Homer Hickam paints a warm, vivid portrait of the harsh West Virginia mining town of his youth, evoking a time of innocence and promise.

Themes for Discussion

Life in a small town

Growing up poor - having dreams and aspirations that may not match your situation

Father/son relationships

Life in a mining community

Resolution and reconciliation

Did you enjoy the authors's writing style?

The Reader
by Bernhard Schlink

The Readeris a short tale of a young German man, Michael, who is drawn into an affair with an older woman, Hanna, amidst the backdrop of post-war Germany. The book then takes us years later as Michael is studying law and discovers that Hanna is on trial for Nazi war crimes.

Discussion

Discussion questions provided by the publisher are available at Random House Reading Group Guides/Vintage Books - The Reader.

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
by Simon Winchester

Discussion Questions

The book's title lists its main characters: Professor Murray, Dr. Minor, and the Oxford English Dictionary. Is there a hero?

The title of each chapter is accompanied by the definition of a word that tells the reader what the chapter is about. Does this method enhance or detract from the author's tale?

The author frequently used alliteration and metaphor. How effective were phrases like: "Éaround which winter winds whip bitterly" (p. 6); "sad little stream seeped" (p. 6); and "marching blindfolded through molasses "(p. 109).

Winchester employs all the senses in his description of Lambeth Marsh (p.7): "vileÉswampy gyre of pathwaysÉmiserable rows of ill-lit housesÉsickly smell of yeast and hopsÉ" and later, in his descriptions of Ceylon (p.44) and Broadmoor (p.117-118). Do his multi-dimensional descriptions apply to other subjects?

Elephants appear frequently in this book; in both the text and as a definition (p. 81, 90, 94, 96, 101, 217.) What is the purpose? Is the use of elephants a metaphor for the size of the OED? An example of the evolution of a word?

How was the OED linked to the development of English as a global language?

What is madness? (p. 157) Murray and Minor were both described as meticulous and obsessed. Where does "meticulous" end and "obsession" begin?

A comparison is made between the confinement of being in prison and being committed to scholarship (p. 157). Murray and Minor were both prisoners in some ways, or, as Winchester wrote, "Éstrange symmetry of the two men's settings - pinioned as each was among great stacks of books." (p.177) How did their shared love of lexicology become a source of freedom or release?

A key element of the book is irony. What would have happened had Dr. Minor been treated with modern-day medications?

How are forgiveness and redemption handled in the book? One example of redemption is Minor's work on the OED. An example of forgiveness is Eliza Merrett, widow of the man Minor shot, who publicly forgave him and visited him at Broadmoor. Mrs. Merrett brought books to him and he and his stepmother gave her money (p. 194). Yet, Winchester wrote that she "never really recovered from the shock of what had happened: Before long, she had taken to drink and when she died it was of liver failure." (p. 225)

The Inn at Lake Devine
by Elinor Lipman

Discussion Questions

1. What fascinates Natalie most about the offensive note from Mrs. Berry is its "marriage of good manners and anti-Semitism" [p. 4]. Does Natalie show, later in the novel, what truly having "good manners" might mean?

2. The Inn at Lake Devine might be called a "revenge comedy." Does the ending have a fitting comic closure?

3. What role does food play in this novel? How do the significance and style of dining differ among social groups at Lake Devine and at the Halseeyon? Does food have more meaning for the Jews in the Catskills than it does for the WASPs in New England? What does the desire to be a chef reveal about Natalie's character?

4. Why do you suppose Elinor Lipman has chosen to leave out any details of Natalie's college years, including her experience of dating and sex?

5. This novel is based upon the reality of intermarriage and assimilation in American life, issues that are especially painful among the more observant Jewish communities. Lipman expertly draws the difference between the habits of Natalie's Reform family and those of her Orthodox friend Linette Feldman. Is it easier to feel good about the pairing of Natalie and Kris than that of Linette and Nelson? Do you feel that love rightly triumphs over religion in this novel?

High Tide In Tucson
by Barbara Kingsolver

Discussion Questions adapted from HarperCollins Reader's Guide

1. How would you define the main theme of each essay? Why do you think she ascribes such importance to these themes and issues?

2. Several of the essays address issues at the forefront of social and political debate today (for example: children in American culture, the environment, politics and art, and models of the family). What side of the debate does she take in relation to each, and what arguments and evidence does she present in support of her positions? Do you agree or disagree with her arguments?

3. In "In Case You Ever Want to Go Home Again," Kingsolver writes, "From living in a town that listened in on party lines, I learned both the price and value of community." What are the prices and the values of community as revealed in this and other essays? Does your own experience corroborate, add to, or contradict these prices and values?

4. Do you agree with Kingsolver's contentions, in "How Mr. Dewey Decimal Saved My Life," that we live in a culture "that undervalues education . . ., undervalues breadth of experience . . ., downright discourages critical thinking . . ., and distrusts foreign ideas"?

5. Do you agree with Kingsolver's statements in "Somebody's Baby" that "the way we treat children - all of them, not just our own, and especially those in great need - defines the shape of the world we'll wake up in tomorrow"? Are her statements about children relevant to recent reported events involving children in need or in trouble?

6. Why does Kingsolver ascribe so much importance to ethnic and cultural diversity and differences? What does she mean when she writes, "I want my child to be so completely familiar with differences that she'll ignore difference per se and really see what she's looking at"?

7. What are the lessons learned by traveling to such sites as the Canary Islands, Benin, Hawaii's Haleakala crater, and other distant and different landscapes? How do Kingsolver's responses to these places compare with your own responses to distant places visited or lived in?

www.webrary.org/RS/TOL2000.html
First published on the Web: 1/3/2000
Last updated: 3/18/2004