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Questions provided by publishers or composed by Rebecca Vnuk

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells:

A witty novel about the bonds between mothers, daughters, and life-long friends.

Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes:

A literary and intellectual account of life in rural Italy filled with sensual and simple pleasures.

Larry's Party by Carol Shields:

A meticulous coming-of-(middle) age story Pulitzer -Prize winner Shields.

Old Books, Rare Friends: Two Literary Sleuths and Their Shared Passion by Leona Rostenberg and Madeline Stern:

Rostenberg and Stern had the persistance and talent to convert their passion for old books into distinguished careers.

Into the Forest by Jean Hegland:

Two sisters struggle on their own in a remote house in the California forests after the collapse of the modern world.

Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World by David Denby:

Denby revisits the "classics" of literature and shares his insights on education and writing in an engaging look at how literature is taught today.

American Pastoral by Philip Roth:

A story of a father and daughter, and an elegy for the century's promises of prosperity, order, and domestic bliss.

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt:

Award-winning and popularly acclaimed memoir of a young man growing up in Ireland under arduous conditions.

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
by Rebecca Wells

A sensitive, spell-binding, wonderfully irreverent look at life in small-town Louisiana from the 30s on up as seen through the eyes of the "Ya-Ya's" - a gang of smart, vivacious, poignant and unforgettable women. A celebration of the bonds between women - mothers, daughters, and life-long friends.

Discussion Topics

This book has several themes: reconciliation, religion, friendship, family bonds. Discuss the relevance of each and key episodes in the story relating to each.

Wells is an actress and a playwright. Discuss how this affects her writing style.

For in-depth discussion questions, see the official web site at Ga-Ga for Ya-Yas.

Under The Tuscan Sun: At Home In Italy
by Frances Mayes

In this memoir of her buying, renovating, and living in a villa in the rural Tuscan region of Italy, Mayes reveals the sensual pleasures she found in living such a different life. Cooking, gardening, tiling and painting are never chores, but skills to be learned, arts to be practiced, and above all to be enjoyed. Mayes brings a literary and intellectual mind to bear on the experience, adding depth to this account of her enticing rural idyll.

Discussion Topics

Frances Mayes is a reknowned poet. Discuss how this is reflected in the language she uses and the way she describes things.

The book is part memoir, part travelogue, part project description. Did you find strengths and/or weaknesses on the whole, or within those types of styles?

What sections (recipes, people/culture, description of restoration) did you enjoy the most? What did you feel you could have skipped over?

Check out the official website for Under the Tuscan Sun.

Larry's Party
by Carol Shields

Larry's Party is the biography of a "common man" - Larry Weller, whom we follow through 20 years of his life, from 1977 to 1997 as he copes with society's changing vision of who a man should be. Tracing the development of his life, Shields crawls into Larry's skin with real perception. Following Larry from his tech school classes in floral design, Shields takes us through his marriages, divorces, relationships with parents and friends in a chapter-by-chapter journey based on one subject at a time.

Disussion Questions

Every chapter seems to have been written to stand on its own. We meet the characters over and over again and are told things we already know. What was your reaction to the episodic nature of the story?

What is the significance of the maze theme?

Is Larry just an "ordinary" man?

Does Larry make decisions about his life, or do things just happen to him?

In the beginning of the novel, Larry throws away a perfectly good tweed coat that he has taken by mistake. What does this tell you about his character?

Shields has said that she is "interested in the notion of biography". Usually we think of biographies as being written about famous people, people who have made a difference in the world. This book is the (fictional) biography of someone who is not famous, who has no real impact on anything. What is Shields trying to accomplish with this?

Old Books, Rare Friends: Two Literary Sleuths and Their Shared Passion
by Leona Rostenberg and Madeleine Stern

A joint memoir by two of America's most prominent rare book dealers. Historical, entertaining, and full of interesting information on the rare book trade, this is a fascinating look at the lives of two women daring to break into the business world in a time when such an act was rare and subject to disapproval.

Discussion Questions

Discuss what you may have learned about the rare book trade.

This book has many elements: historical, feminist, biographical, the business of books, and more. What dimension of the book appealed to you most?

Rostenberg and Stern became businesswomen in a time when women did not normally choose such an option. Discuss their choices.

The book introduces the term "Finger-SpitzengefŸhl", basically defined as the instinct to know a good book when you see it. Do you think that Rostenberg and Stern's luck in finding book treasures has to do with instinct? Basic knowledge? Research? Or do you suspect pure luck?

Leona Rostenberg was originally denied her doctoral degree. What impact did this have on her life and her career?

Into the Forest
by Jean Hegeland

Imagine what your life would be like if the resources you depend on every day - food, electricity, the comfort of friends - gradually disappeared. Into the Forest is a moving story, set in the not-too-distant future, following two sisters who are struggling to survive all alone. The world as we know it has crumbled away due to war and disease, and the girls are left in the remote California redwood forests after their parents die.

For in-depth discussion questions, see the web site provided by the publisher at Random House Book Group Corner.

Read an interview with the author and link to reviews at Printed Matter Online Magazine.

Great Books:My Adventures With Homer, Rousseau, Woolf, and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World
by David Denby

Should we return to teaching the "classics", or are these books simply leftovers from the "Dead White Males" school of thought? Denby returned to Columbia University at age 48 and revisited these durable works, sharing his insights on education and writing in an engaging, enthusiastic way.

For discussion, our group decided to read the following selected chapters: Introduction--Homer I--Interlude One--Plato I--Homer II--Interlude Two--Plato II--Interlude Three--Interlude Four --The Old Testament and The New Testament --Interlude Five--Examination and Winter Break --Dante-- Interlude Six--Shakespeare-- Austen--Nietzsche--Interlude Seven--Woolf--Epilogue

Questions for discussion can be found at Amazon.com Reading Guides: Great Books: My Adventures.... This can also be found at the publisher's site, at Simon and Schuster Publishers

American Pastoral
by Philip Roth

Seymour "Swede" Levov comes of age just after World War II, in a thriving and triumphant America. A legendary high school athlete, inheritor of his father's glove factory, owner of an 18th-century house in the heart of WASP country, devoted husband of a beautiful and intelligent wife, and father of a charming daughter, the Swede appears to have fulfilled the ambitions of generations of his struggling family. But his carefully constructed life begins to collapse as he and America face the challenges of the turbulent 1960s, and he sees his adored daughter turn into a rebellious adolescent and a revolutionary terrorist.

Questions for discussion provided by the publisher can be found at: Vintage Books Reading Group Center.

Angela's Ashes
by Frank McCourt

The bestselling and Pulitzer-Prize winning memoir of a young man growing up poor in Ireland. McCourt shines as a gifted and moving storyteller, giving this hardscrabble story true beauty and movement.

Questions for discussion provided by the publisher can be found at: SimonSays.com Reading Guides.

www.webrary.org/RS/TOL99.html
First published on the Web: 1/27/1999
Last updated: 8/31/2001