” Programs, here! You can’t tell the players without a program!”

Just like the avid baseball fan, readers of Back When We Were Grown Ups would  appreciate a program or even a score card to keep track of the sheer number of characters strolling in and out of Anne Tyler’s 15th book.

First off, the jovial Joe Davitch married Tina and begat three daughters:

1. Bridget (Biddy)
2. Patricia (Patch)
3. Elinor (NoNo)

As the novel opens, we meet Rebecca (Beck) Davitch, 53, a dimpled grandmotherly type whose loose style of dress resembles that of a bag lady.

Widowed at 25, this proprietress of a 19th century Baltimore row house/party rental, inherited a ready-made family when Tina abandoned Joe and their three children for a career as a New York night club singer.

The eldest Davitch daughter, a  part-time nutritionist who dreams of being a gourmet chef, habitually refuses to taste her own concoctions for the Open Arms clientele. With her fiance’ dead of an asthma attack, the newly pregnant Biddy, 20, moved in with his gay brother.

Together, she and Troy have parented Dixon, the black-haired, brown-eyed heart throb who waits tables and aspires to attend John Hopkins.

The middle daughter, a gym teacher with a sharp freckled face and chopped black hair, looks and acts 14.  She and husband, Jeep, the big-footed runner have produced three children of their own.

1. Danny, a natural athlete
2. Emmy, the long-legged pixie
3. Meredith, an exact replica of Patch

When the youngest, tiniest and prettiest stepdaughter marries corporate lawyer, Barry Sanborn, she becomes the mother of Peter, 12, whom Tyler describes as a puny runt of a boy.

Before Joe’s untimely death at 38 in a freak car accident, he and Rebecca produced a fourth daughter, Minerva aka Min Foo.

Her children include:

1. Joey, 8, the product of her union with Drake, a 60-year-old college professor who has since moved to a Greek Island.
2. Lateesha, 4, the offspring of her African-American husband, LaVon, an aspiring musician who teaches fourth grade.
3. Baby Abdul, the son of her present husband, cardiologist Hakim Abdulazim.

Is your head spinning yet?  Then add in Poppy (Paul Davitch) Joe’s almost 100-year-old uncle of the white bushy mustache and college degree who lives with Rebecca.

Plus, there’s Zeb, Joe’s younger brother, a gangling, bespectacled pediatrician who may or may not be a love interest for Beck. After all, they call each other every night before going to bed, alone.

Feeling that life had passed her by, Beck reconnects with her college sweetheart, Will Allenby, head of the physics department of a local university.  But Rebecca’s futile attempts to rekindle their bygone romance fails and she rejects him for a second time. (How could anyone eat chili seven days a week for dinner?)

In the end, the matriarch of the Davitch family accepts her role as the go-to person, the problem solver and moves forward from that point.

Readers of Back When We Were Grownups will discover a  well-crafted character study of a large dysfunctional family.  The plot meanders along, rises to the celebration of Poppy’s 100th birthday and flat lines after that.  Nothing of great importance happens, and for that reason, some may rate Tyler’s novel as boring.

However, others describe her work as a superb chronicle of ordinary life, the tiny daily events which fill our waking hours. Beck Davitch is as familiar as our next-door neighbor or best friend.

One reviewer thought that the opening line:

“Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.”

hinted at great life-changing events that never found their way into the novel’s narrative.

A complete listing of Tyler’s novels can be found here.

Discussion Questions for Back When We Were Grownups can be found at this link.

There’s:

Danny Lynch, the fair-haired real estate developer who cheats on his wife with, at least, two mistresses;

Ria, Danny’s unsuspecting wife of fourteen years and mother of Annie and Brian;

Rosemary Ryan, a chic businesswoman who just happens to be Ria’s best friend and one of Danny’s long-time paramours;

Bernadette Dunne, the placid 22-year-old music teacher carrying Danny’s third child;

Marilyn Vine, a well-to-do New Englander, grieving the loss of her teenage son in a motorcycle accident;

Greg Vine, a university professor puzzled by his wife’s sudden unexplainable trip to Ireland.

Add in:  a recovering alcoholic (Colm Barry) launching a restaurant in the neighborhood, the tension-filled Brennan household where Gertie funds her husband’s chronic drinking out of self defense and the seer, Mrs. Connor, with her obscure picture of the future.

While not one of Binchy’s best, Tara Road was Oprah’s Book Club Selection in September 1999 and a 2005 film with Andie MacDowell as Marilyn and Olivia Williams as Ria.

The following discussion questions will lead your bookclubbers through the massive, 502 page tome.

1. What insights into Danny Lynch’s character did the author furnish early on in the novel?  Did these characteristics remain true as the plot progresses?
2. How can you explain the non-supportive reactions of Hilary and Nora when Ria announced her upcoming marriage?
3. After following Bernadette and her mother to the grocery, Ria tells the traffic warden, “I was just thinking about men and women and how they want different things.”  What did Ria want out of life?  Danny?  What about yourself?  Your husband?
4. Compare and contrast life in American with life in Ireland taking into consideration the difference in attitudes, prejudices and education.
5. On page 107, Binchy wrote, “If you couldn’t have a streamlined figure, flawless makeup and exquisite clothes, then having a perfect room was a substitute.”  Agree?  Disagree?
6. As Ria and Marilyn prepare  for the two-month visit, each tries to view her own home objectively.  What did Ria see?  Marilyn?  What do you see when you look around your own home?  What would you change?
7. Discuss Binchy’s portrayal of relationships in Tara Road.  Does she find most relationships to be dysfunctional?  Agree?  Disagree?
8. Tara Road is primarily a novel about women.  Who did you like?  Dislike?  Admire? Detest? Feel sorry for?
9. Marilyn thinks that, “The only way to cope with tragedy and grief was to refuse to permit it to be articulated and acknowledged.  Deny its existence and you had some hope of survival”.  What methods have you used in the past to deal with grief or tragedy in your life? Other family members?  Friends?  Which were the most successful?
10. Some reviewers criticize the novel for being too long and filled with extraneous characters and plot steps.  Suppose you had to edit the novel to make it more readable, what would you cut from its pages?
11. Did the setting play a large role in the novel?  Could the action have taken place anywhere at anytime?  If so, how would the plot have changed?
12. In your opinion, why did Binchy spend more time developing Ria’s character and situation in life?  Is Ria more important to the novel that Marilyn?

More information regarding Tara Road can be found in the April 24 post, Choosing the Right Book.

The Last Camel Died at Noon is book number 6 out of a long list of 17 Amelia Peabody mysteries set in and around 19th century England and Egypt.

This novel and the 16 other by Elizabeth Peters are not usual book club fare and questions may be hard to find.   Here are some to get your group talking.

1. One of the negatives of a first-person narrator is that he/she describes everyone else in the novel but themselves.  How would you describe this female Indiana Jones?
2. Discuss the Emerson-Peabody partnership in marriage and the study of archaeology.  Where does 10-year-old Ramses fit into the partnership?
3. Countless references are made to fairy tales, legends and imaginary characters such as Robin Hood and Beauty and the Beast, not to mention the  Victorian adventure stories of E. Rider Haggard.  What do you think was the author’s purpose?
4. “Emerson likes to think that he is the master of his fate and the lord of all he surveys.”  Does the author’s characterization of the male figure in the late 19th century still prove true in the modern world?
5. Discuss the distinct roles of the male and female as seen in 19th century England.  Egypt.  The civilization inside the Holy Mountain.
6. At first, the Emersons see Kemit as nothing more than just another hired worker.  What subtle clues does Elizabeth Peters employ to give the reader a completely different impression of this mysterious character.
7. “People make fun of the British for maintaining formal standards in the wild.”  Which of the affectations did you think were necessary?  Which were absurd? Which could have proven detrimental to the family’s well being?
8. At first Emerson refused to be part of a rescue mission for the missing  Willoughby Forth and his young bride.  What chain of events changed the Egyptologist’s mind?
9. During the ceremony in the Great Temple, Chapter 15, Peabody observed: “For the first time I realized fully the power of superstition and knew that the religion I had studied with scholarly detachment had been, and was, a living breathing force.  These people believed.  They would accept the decision of the god and defend his chosen one.”   Explain how one person’s religion can be an outsider’s superstition and vice versa.
10. What keeps the Holy Mountain from being a Utopia or perfect world in the desert?
11. The Last Camel Died at Noon could be categorized as a mystery, a romance or an adventure story.  Choose one of the three classifications and defend your choice.

The Pickles are members of a multi-generational group of farm wives who meet weekly to quilt, chat and ‘improve their minds’.

In her second novel, The Persian Pickle Club, Sandra Dallas has created female characters that most have met time and again.  First, there’s the timid older lady (Ella Crook) along with the overbearing and bossy woman (Septima Judd).  Next, comes the inexperienced, newly married, young girl (Queenie Bean and Rita Ritter) and lastly, the average woman who just tries to get along with everyone else (Ada June Zinn and Sabra Ritter).

(Since some bookclubbers found it difficult to differentiate between these characters and the rest of the Persian Pickle Club, too, a list appears below.)

• Sabra: the jolly matriarch of the Ritter family. She happily accepts her role as: farmer’s wife and mother of grown children, Tom and Agnes T.

• Agnes: knobby figure, no lips and little slit eyes, characterize the unmarried daughter of Sabra and Howard. Setting her career plans aside, this 25-year-old reluctantly works the family farm in her brother’s absence.

• Rita: recent addition to the Ritter clan by her marriage to Tom. This 23-year-old scrap of a girl comes straight from Denver.  Rita’s buttery curls, huge eyes, and ambition to be  journalist immediately set her apart from the other Pickles.

• Septima Judd: the unofficial leader and richest member of the club drives a yellow Packard. A formidable matron with thick glasses and a chin full of warts, Mrs. Judd is known for her loyalty and blustery manner.

• Queenie Bean: the narrator and youngest member of the Persian Pickle Club. As the talkative wife of Grover, she pictures herself as small framed (bigger than Rita’s 5 foot, 100 pounds) with a straight brown bob.

• Opaline Dux:  quiet except when blurting out odd remarks. Characterized by her sweaty hands and long white hair, Opaline has been known to talk to her chickens both inside the house and out.

• Ada June Zinn: almost  40. Her specialty dessert, bread pudding,  always receives compliments from the Pickles, her six children and husband, Buck.

• Ceres Root: The only living founding member of the group suffers from arthritic hands which makes quilting difficult.

• Ella Crook: accepting of the hardship of farming with no electricity. At 60 plus years of age, she is the best quilter of the group. Described as small and wispy, Ella’s sweet disposition and frequent blushes, make her a favorite with all of the Pickles.

• Nettie Burgett: looks older than her 50 years, with her gray hair and even grayer skin.  Her worries include a gambling husband, Tyrone; a promiscuous daughter, Velma; and a goiter always carefully covered with a scarf.

• Forest Ann Finding: a widow crowned by a halo of hair the color of maize.  Pretty and slender, she appears younger than Nettie, her sister-in-law. Could it be the man who stops by at 5 p.m. daily that keeps Forest Ann looking  so young?

Narrator Queenie Bean, holds the two-part story together.

Part 1 introduces the setting: 1930s, drought-ridden Harveyville, Kansas, and the characters (listed above) all struggling to make a living during the depression years. Funny thing though, none of the Pickles nor their immediate families seem to be going hungry or lack gasoline to power their cars.   In fact, the Beans (especially Grover) have been known to feed and house any drifters who might happen by their property.

Part 2 includes the murder mystery that some reviewers found “far-fetched and totally unnecessary”. When the bones of Ben Crook are found in the far-north field, Rita sees her chance to get off the farm and back to the big city. Eager to help her friend, Queenie happily chauffeurs the fledgling reporter around the countryside collecting information for her big ‘scoop’.

Returning from an errand of mercy at the Burgett farm late one evening,  the two young women are terrorized by a roving tramp intent on ‘having a little fun’. From that point on, the youngest Pickle hooks the screen door and stays close to home leaving Rita to pursue the story of Ben Crook’s murder alone.

After having read through “some dirty old record books” and “asking questions of people who didn’t want to talk about Ben Crook”, Rita ends up with more confessions that she can handle – one from every member of the Persian Pickle Club.

Who really did kill Ben Crook?  Read the book and find out.

Information about other books by Sandra Dallas can be found at:  www.sandradallas.com.

For discussion questions go to:  www.search.barnesand noble.com/Persian-Pickle-Club/Sandra-Dallas/e/9780312147013/?itm=1 Be sure to click the tab for features.

At the moment, Wish You Well (see April 15 post) stands out as one of two exceptions to the norm.  The Christmas Train (2002) is the other.

In answer to his father’s dying request, Pulitzer prize winning journalist, Tom Langdon, agrees to a leisurely 3,000 mile train ride across the U. S. during the Christmas season.

Preposterous, you might say!!  Not so when the reader discovers that a branch of the Langdon family tree supports the illustrious Olivia, wife of Samuel Clemens.

Clemens, the prolific scribe better known as Mark Twain, completed the same journey researching all the way, but failed in his attempt to produce a printable account.

To complicate matters, an unfortunate security-screening incident at LaGuardia has grounded the globe-trotting Langdon, for the next two years

Finishing the transcontinental journey and subsequent article will not only fulfill his father’s wish but also enable Tom to meet up with his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Leila, for a Christmas ski trip.

On the two-leg trip – Washington D.C. to Chicago and then on to Los Angeles- Langdon runs into a trainload of wacky passengers, energetic railroad employees and surprise, surprise, a former lover.

Coincidentally, screen writer Ellie Carter is also compiling background information for a possible film dealing with trains.

But the sudden appearance of girlfriend, Lelia Gibson, thwarts Tom’s plan to reignite his dormant love affair and pop the question.

But thrill writer, Baldacci, can’t resist spicing up a so-so plot with a little adventure.  And that shot of adrenalin comes in the form of a catastrophic weather pattern producing a twin avalanche trapping both the train and its passengers in the Colorado mountains.

The experienced reader can easily predict the happy ending without too much difficulty, but who really cares.  What’s wrong with a Christmas miracle anyway?

Reviewers preferred The Christmas Train for a December read over John Grisham’s Skipping Christmas. This blogger tends to agree.

A complete listing of Baldacci’s novels can be found at: www.davidbaldacci.com.

Book club discussion questions for The Christmas Train follow below:

1. The tease line at the end of chapters 2, 17, 22, 26, 27 28:  Influenced me to turn the page?  Annoyed me?  Was an unnecessary gimmick for a talented writer?

2. For years, Tom blamed Eleanor for walking out on him; while she, in turn, cast doubt on his ability to grow up.  Is Tom at fault for the breakup?  Eleanor?  Both?

3. Does the novel’s surprise ending cheapen the reconciliation of Tom and Ellie?  Why or why not?

4. Max Powers boasted of his reputation as a great director.  Which of the novel’s events were coincidental and which were orchestrated by Max and/or his assistant, Kristobal?

5. Discuss the techniques used by the author to foreshadow the catastrophic avalanche.

6. While boarding the train, Tom visualized the movie classic North by Northwest with Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint.  How did Langdon’s rail experience differ from the one portrayed by famed director Alfred  Hitchcock?

7. With which of  Baldacci’s memorable characters would you like to spend more time?  Which would you like to avoid entirely?  Why?

8.  Discuss the role played by Paul Kelly, the make-believe priest and accomplished thief.

9. Point out the  similarities and differences between main character, Tom Langdon, and the celebrated Mark Twain.

10. After reading The Christmas Train, would you opt for the rails instead of the sky for your next vacation transportation?  Why or Why not?

11. Baldacci levels some strong criticism at the federal government and the future of  railroad travel.  Agree?  Disagree?

Both the church and subdivision book clubs have chosen The Christmas Train for holiday reading.

“Not a fun read!”

“The characters were stereotypes!”

“The plot was nonexistent!”

Not every book club selection is a page turner.  You can’t please everybody so let the criticism bounce off and encourage members to vent their complaints during the discussion segment of the meeting.

Here’s a few guidelines to keep in mind as the moderator/leader gently steers the book club members toward their next selection.

• Don’t choose a book based on a movie expecting that what you’ll see and read will be the same.

Under the Tuscan Sun is a perfect example.  When the reader cracks open the novel expecting to find a beautiful divorcee finding romance while renovating a Tuscan villa, she’s in for a big surprise.  This would-be novel, could better be classified as a memoir or journal, which Frances Mayes used to record the process of reinventing a falling down house. In between projects, Mayes and her boyfriend explore the land and food of the region.

Evidently Mayes’ descriptions of  Italy are sadly lacking.  According to one reviewer, a real Italiano, about “half the quotations she made are simply ridiculous-out of context and full of spelling and grammatical errors”.  The book is also criticized  by the same reviewer for its non-existent plot and Disney-like characters.  If you’re looking for an accurate picture of  the country and its people, he recommends Italian Neighbors and An Italian Education by resident, Tim Parks.

But if your  group leans toward a low-key read that allows them to, “smell the food and hear the quiet of the countryside,” then Under the Tuscan Sun is just right.  Recipes are also included!

• Don’t veto a book based solely on length.

An excellent read, Outlander, book one in a series of seven, weighs in at 850 pages.  The reader who jumps in will find plenty of action episodes, spiced with fulfilling sex, coupled with vibrant scenes from life and disturbing pictures of death.  With WWII ended, a combat nurse and her husband travel to Britain to get reacquainted.  There she steps through an ancient stone circle, Craig na Dun and Claire Beauchamp Randall is sucked back into Scotland in the war-torn year of 1743.

Circumstances force  Claire to marry James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser, a Scotsman five years her junior, and the story explodes off the page from that point onward.  While Outlander is not a light-hearted read, the “epic-style adventure with a truly satisfying romance” more than makes up for the Braveheart-style violence.  Other books in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon include:  Dragonfly in Amber (1992), Voyager (1994), Drums in Autumn (1997), The Fiery Cross (2001), A Breathe of Snow and Ashes (2005), An Echo in the Bone (9/2009).  Take care to read them in order for the continuing saga of Claire, Frank and Jamie throughout  Scotland, France, the West Indies and America.

• Don’t judge a book by the title.

One Thousand White Women is a prime example.  This historical novel masquerades as the nonfiction diary of Mary Dodd, one of the women who volunteered to marry into the Cheyenne nation in 1854.  Having been shut away in an insane asylum  for bearing her lover’s child out of wedlock, Dodd leaps at the chance to gain her freedom.

Author, Jim Fergus, uses this great social experiment in integration to depict the life in the so-called civilized cities, as well as frontier towns, forts and Indian camps.  Along with the other women who had fled prisons, poorhouses and mental institutions, the reader feels the bitterly cold winters, smells the wood smoke of an open fire as well as the sharp scent of gunpowder as the native Americans struggle for their existence in the western territories.  A must read!

• Don’t choose a book based on the author’s name alone.

Maeve Binchy’s writing career spans 25 years or more and has produced 15 novels, 5 books of short stories, one play, one novella plus two nonfiction works.  At 502 pages, Tara Road (1998) drew major criticism, from the church book club, for the weak female characters portrayed as heroines.

The novel’s story revolves around two women:  Ria Lynch and her American counterpart.  Shattered by the break up of her marriage to real estate developer, Danny, the Irish woman agrees to a two-month house trade.  Also coping with a shaky marriage, torn apart by the loss of her son, Marilyn Vine, consents to leave her suburban Connecticut home for Tara Road.

Most bookclubbers found fault with Ria’s  desperate struggle to save her fractured relationship with  her philandering husband.  After discarding the possibility of having another baby to recement the marriage, Ria clings to Danny, begging him to come back.

While not a bad read, bookclubbers expressed their disgust with Binchy’s female cliches:  the interfering mother, obnoxious teenager, domestic victim, man-stealing witch and penny-pinching shrew.  Binchy’s theme, common to some of her other works – men are liars and cheats who will break your heart – can also be found in Tara Road.

• Don’t pick a novel based on the author’s successful songwriting career.

In A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffett, the reader meets cowboy Tully Mars and his horse, Mr. Twain, who flee bounty hunters only to end up on a boat enroute to the Caribbean.  There, a nearly 102-year-old lady, Cleopatra Highbourne, enlists Tully’s help in restoring a 150-year-old lighthouse to its former glory.

At that point, the search begins for a rare bulls-eye lens and the book meanders this way and that for 462 pages.  If a plot line exists, it’s buried amongst the boats, island scenery and crazy characters.  At one point someone writes a 50-page letter which finds its way into the book’s narrative, too.

While some of the individual episodes can be slightly humorous, the reader has to hack away at the novel’s underbrush to find them. If your group appreciates a tightly crafted story,  then hoist anchor and sail away from A Salty Piece of Land.

What are some of your dont’s?

Most of his best sellers fall into the thriller category with Arab terrorists, nuclear threats and Washington D. C. misfits. (The Camel Club, 2006)

Early in his writing career, this attorney turned author gave readers an inside look at the appeal process of the Supreme Court through the eyes of convicted murderer Rufus Harms. (The Simple Truth, 1998)

A 2001 release, Last Man Standing follows an FBI point man’s desperate search for answers after his entire Hostage Rescue Team was gunned down around him in a blind alley.  Not exactly a book club choice either!

But sandwiched between the CIA villains, Secret Service agents and serial killers is Wish You Well, a homespun tale of love across four generations  and, in particular, 1940′s life in the Appalachian mountains of Virginia.

In the opening chapter, a fatal automobile accident forces the family of  a critically acclaimed novelist to leave their New York home  and retreat to the Cardinal family cabin back in the hills.

Awakened at 5 a.m. by their great grandmother also named Louisa Mae Cardinal, Lou, aged 12 and Oz, 7,  soon learn to milk the cows, slop the hogs, feed chickens, drop hay and gather eggs before walking two miles to school every day.

A Virginia resident himself, Baldacci created adventures and hardships familiar to his maternal grandmother, Cora Rose, who spent 60 years in the higher elevations. Even the author’s mother, the youngest of ten children, spent the first 17 years of her life in the same rocky peaks.

Faulting herself for her father’s  death and  mother’s catatonic state, the blond, blue-eyed Lou can not subscribe to her grandmother’s notion that, “Some say believing a person gets better is half the battle”. But younger brother, Oz, never loses faith: talking to Amanda several times each day, brushing her hair and even sleeping in her bedroom on more than one occasion.

Every Baldacci novel must have a villain and moonshiner George Davis is one of the best. An awful man, Davis, “works his children like mules and treats his mules better’n his children,” according to long-time neighbor and adversary, Louisa Mae Cardinal.

Running a close second in evil practices are the executives of The Southern Valley Coal and Gas Company who keep mum about the discovery of natural gas in the Cardinal’s coal mine.  This secret, which pits neighbor against neighbor for a sizable check, will also result in the death of red-haired Jimmy Skinner a.k.a. Diamond – another blow to Lou’s already fragile psyche.

The setting mixes in the glowing beauty of a 100-foot waterfall with the opportune scream of a sleek black panther and a moss encrusted, haunted well to push the reader to the edge of his/her seat in  anticipation of what will happen next .

Add in a four-chapter long Southern trial reminiscent of  the one described in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and you’ve got a real page turner.  As in both cases, “The legal system had had its day the only thing absent was justice”.

(Sadly to say, Cotton Longfellow did not possess the expertise of Atticus Finch by his own admission, “I’m not a particularly good lawyer, but I get by”.

Critics found Baldacci’s earlier works written strictly for action, with little character development or setting.  That is not the case with Wish You Well, 2000, number six in his list of 19 books produced in 13 years.  Maybe it’s the author’s  strong family connection to the high Virginia hills or possibly his skill at creating suspense that draws the reader on page after page.

Whatever the reason:  Wish You Well is a well plotted, compelling, action-packed novel – a great choice for any book club discussion.  Questions can be found at www.readinggroupguides.com.

Created by African-born, Alexander McCall Smith, Mma Precious Ramotswe first appeared in print in 1999 and lately, in a 2007 film. Presently, McCall Smith’s series of eleven books, to date, have become the subject of a Sunday evening series on HBO.     (See post #5)

But what makes the protagonist such an admired and admirable individual?

Firstly, the detective is comfortable with who she is, a traditionally built African lady, size 22.  Fond of reading interior design magazines in bed, Mma Ramotswe scorns those “terrible, stick-like figures” featured in their advertisements.

Exuding confidence in her detective  abilities, Precious ignores the disparaging remark uttered by one of three ultra-thin passersby, “How can an elephant go under cover?” and crosses the street with a purposeful step.   (This quote is taken from the movie.)

Secondly, the lady detective is appreciated because of her innate intelligence. “Qualities of curiosity and awareness were nurtured in her mind at an early age.”  Divorced and childless, her cousin taught Precious to count at the age of four.  Reciting car registration numbers and playing Kim’s game honed the child’s memory and observation skills to a sharp edge.

Answering her lawyer’s question: “Can women be detectives?” the female sleuth promptly replied, “Women are the ones who know what’s going on.   Women notice things that men do not”.

Readers also find Mma Ramotswe praiseworthy for her finely determined sense of right and wrong learned in five years of Sunday School.  Disliking Mr. Paliwalar Patel’s archaically rigid method of child rearing, the lady detective commented, “There comes a time when they must have their own lives.  We have to let go”.

Grudgingly, Mr.  Patel agrees to her modern ideas after Precious proved that 16-year-old Nandira  invented her boyfriend Jack, “just to bring a bit of freedom into her life”.

Lastly, Mma Ramotswe’s great love for  the land of Botswana, its people and her desire to do good in the time God has given her deserves commendation.

Learning that Solomon Moretsi has been using the money extorted from three  insurance companies  to support his parents, sick sister and her children, Precious vows not to alert the police.  Promising no more lost fingers, Moretsi commented, “You are a good Christian lady.  God is going to make it very easy for you in heaven.”

(The dialogue between Moretsi and Precious takes place under a tree  as the camera finds disabled and orphaned African children playing happily. Their carefree songs, exuberant dancing and pantomimes  featured at the film’s end are reminiscent of  the African Children’s  Choir concert last year at our church – an event not to be missed.)

This undeniable love for her fellow man drives the  lady detective  to snatch an 11-year-old boy from the clutches of a Witch Doctor and return him safely to the waiting arms of his father.

But even Shakespeare’s  greatest characters were flawed and so is Mma Precious Ramotswe.  As a first time book clubber pointed out, the love affair and  marriage to Note Mokoti seemed to be  inconsistent with the resourcefulness and intelligence of the book’s leading lady.

While speaking of past mistakes, Mma Ramotswe explained her actions thusly:  “Everybody is head strong at the age of 20.  We simply cannot see however much we think we can”.

And yet the reader/viewer finds Mma Ramotswe some 15 years later, an independent business woman with a strong belief in God, love for her country and fellow man with many many more mysteries to solve.

If you are in need of the services of a lady detective,  be sure to give Mma Precious Ramotswe a call.

]]> http://www.bookclubcompanion.com/character-sketch/a-unanimous-decision/feed 0 http://www.bookclubcompanion.com/questions/as-promised-more-founding-mothers http://www.bookclubcompanion.com/questions/as-promised-more-founding-mothers#comments Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:01:55 +0000 Linda http://bookclubcompanion.wordpress.com/?p=102 The textbook account of early American history could not have been written without the names of George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Adams and many others.

But after reading Founding Mothers, you’ll have to agree that room should be cleared in those same books for the deeds and accomplishments of their wives: Martha, Deborah and Abigail. For without their support, encouragement and resourcefulness, these great men would certainly have floundered.

As Washington wrote, “Not would I rob the fairer sex of their share in the glory of a revolution so honorable to human nature, for indeed, I think you ladies are in the number of the best patriots America can boast.”

Don’t think of Founding Mothers as a boring book of history. Instead, consider it an intimate peek into the lives of some of our greatest Americans.

Discussion questions for Founding Mothers can be found at: www.readinggroupguides.com.

The subdivision book club used the following questions for its discussion last month.

• Discuss the role of women in colonial America. Did you discover anything surprising? Unjust? Ridiculous?
• History regards Benjamin Franklin as a great inventor and statesman. Taking that into consideration, how would you rate him as a husband and father?
• Explain how the Revolutionary War made is possible for the female sex to move beyond the traditional ‘woman’s place’.
• Discuss how the pamphleteer, Mercy Otis Warren, and other female political writers of the day were able to ‘have it all’.
• What do the following statements tell us about the personal life of John and Abigail Adams?

‘You women don’t need power, you already have all the real power.’
‘Behind every great man there’s a great woman.’

• What events prompted General Cornwallis to say that if he destroyed all of the men in America, he’d still have the women with which to contend?
• Contrast the prim and proper Martha Washington we see in portraits to the real woman as described by Cokie Roberts in Founding Mothers.
• How did the British occupation of the southern colonies alter the lives of women living there?
• How did Peggy Shippen help her husband, Benedict Arnold, advance the British cause in the colonies? After he was arrested, how did she escape detention?
• Who suffered the most during the peace process–the statesmen: Adams, Jefferson, Franklin or their wives?
• In 1809, Chief Justice John Marshall replied to Gouverneur Morris’ inquiry by saying that Virginia opinion was divided on Nancy’s (Randolph) guilt or innocence. Where do you stand on the greatest scandal in 18th century America?

Did Nancy bear an illegitimate child?
Did she murder her brother-in-law, Richard?
Was she the mistress of slave, Billy Ellis?
Was she a prostitute? A vampire?

• Martha Washington changed her title of First Lady to Chief State Prisoner. Would modern day First Ladies agree? Explain.

Were it not for such confessions, garnered from the letters of 18th century female Americans, little would be remembered about the prominent role   women played in the birth of our country.

Founding Mothers, authored by Cokie Roberts, a senior analyst for NPR News, contributes greatly to the historical picture of women.

Even though the system of coverture suspended  legal existence of the married woman, the constantly pregnant colonial matron oftentimes ran the family business or farm while nursing and tending the illnesses of her family and neighbors.

“Men handled relations with England,” Roberts quipped, “while the women handled pretty much everything else.”

While her inventor husband spent many years of their married life abroad, Deborah Franklin helped run the postal system, invested in real estate, managed the finances, cared for relatives and saved the family home from an angry mob.

Whether out of frustration or fatigue, the 60-year-old Mrs. Franklin ceased writing to her absentee husband who was finally forced to return home in December 1774 when the valiant lady died.

With the approach of the Revolutionary War, written material by women became a source of inspiration and information.  The first shots rang out at Lexington and Concord, just two weeks after the publication of Mercy Otis Warren’s pamphlet, The Group, advocating freedom from England.

Eavesdropping on British soldiers quartered in her home, Lydia Darragh recorded troop activities  and cleverly hid her coded messages behind the large buttons on the coat she messengered to her son serving under  General Washington.

In her Sentiments of an American Lady,  British born Esther Reed urged that the money saved by wearing simpler clothing and less elegantly dressed hair be donated to the Pennsylvania troops.  This collection, ‘the offering of the ladies,’  raised  $300,000 in just a few days and soon spread to  nearby states.

Criticism of Founding Mothers centers around the organization of facts presented not the researched material itself. Writing in chronological order, the author jumps back, as much as 10 years or more, each time a new character is introduced.

Paragraph length, was also another area of complaint with one paragraph being over a page long. In agreement, long paragraphs do make for slow reading.

Choosing the next month’s reading material can sometimes bring a clash of suggestions.  Thankfully,  larger library systems have begun to supply a recommended reading list.  This list includes any book with multiple copies available for circulation.

Once a title is agreed upon, a simple phone call secures enough copies of your choice for any given month including a synopsis, reviews, author’s biography and discussion questions nicely  housed in a canvas bag. However, popular titles must sometimes be reserved months in advance.

For those book clubbers  not in metropolitan areas,  it’s a trip to  the local library, bookstore or amazon.com.

For the most part, novels with clearly defined, dominant characters seem to produce a more rousing discussion.  Nonfiction titles such as Eat, Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert’s search  for everything across Italy, India and Indonesia; Under the Tuscan Sun, the step-by-step renovation of a Tuscan villa by Frances Mayes and Jeanette Walls‘ memoir, The Glass Castle were not big hits.

A suggested read by our local history buff, Founding Mothers was a first experience with actual events in a historical context.  But with such celebrated characters as Abigail and John Adams, Martha and George Washington, Benedict Arnold and his wife, Peggy Shippen, everyone had ideas and opinions to share.  Because the detailed narrative is jam packed with information, most  of those in attendance referred to notes taken while reading the selection.

Discussion questions for Founding Mothers will follow in the next post.