Showing posts with label nonfiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nonfiction. Show all posts

Saturday, January 27, 2018

Fly Me to the Moon

We kicked off the new year by looking to the past with the nonfiction book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly. Book discussion group members enjoyed some light refreshments, including some candy glass representing the glass ceiling the women of Hidden Figures bumped against and helped to shatter.

Here are additional resources for those wishing to learn more.

Author Bios & Interviews 


Book Reviews 



Discussion Questions  


Historical Background


 Movie Tie-In
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Saturday, September 23, 2017

Contemplating Immortality

To kick off our fall reading, book discussion group members met at the library to discuss The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. This nonfiction text raised many questions about bioethics and the group had a lively discussion about the implications. Members also enjoyed a rice pudding, like Henrietta Lacks used to make for her family. Below are additional resources for those wishing to learn more about the book.

Author Bios & Interviews


 Book Reviews


 Discussion Questions


 Movie Tie-In


 Miscellany
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Friday, July 21, 2017

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

For the month of July, SRPL book discussion members read the memoir The Rainbow Comes and Goes by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt. The book covers correspondence between the mother-and-son authors, in which they discuss important events that affected their lives and careers over the years.

Members had a lively discussion and enjoyed a rainbow-layered cake. Below are resources for those wishing to learn more about the book.

Author Interviews

Book Reviews

Discussion Questions
Gloria Vanderbilt: Oh hell, please don’t label me a hopeless optimist. We all have moments when we die a little, or a lot. But stay calm. Take a look at yourself in the mirror. No crying, please. These moments can be the beginning of a rebirth, another chance to reinvent yourself. “The rainbow comes and goes,” Wordsworth wrote, and boy, was he right.

Miscellany
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Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Searching for a Lost City

In April, the South River Book Discussion Group members met to talk about the nonfiction book The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston and to partake in a traditional Honduran treat of baked bananas (with coconut). Below are resources for those wishing to learn more about the intriguing expedition and discovery detailed in the book.

"One might say that modern  Honduran history began in 1873, when Jules Verne introduced Americans to the banana in his novel Around the World in 80 Days, where he praised it as being 'as healthy as bread and as succulent as cream.'" - The Lost City of the Monkey God

Author Bios & Interviews



Book Reviews



Discussion Questions



Miscellany



Further Reading

These are books mentioned by Preston throughout the text, containing additional historical context.
  • Annals of the Cakchiquels by Francisco Hernandez Arana Xajila
  • The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel (http://www.mayaweb.nl/mayaweb/chilam.pdf)
  • The Cost of Conquest: Indian Decline in Honduras Under Spanish Rule by Linda Newson
  • The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King by Rich Cohen
  • Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
  • The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
  • Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan by John Lloyd Stephens
  • Jungleland: A Mysterious Lost City, a WWII Spy, and a True Story of Deadly Adventure by Christopher S. Stewart
  • Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice by Mark Plotkin
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Wednesday, March 22, 2017

The (Un)Luck of the Irish

For the month of March, book club members gathered to discuss the book Angela's Ashes. Beforehand, we watched the movie of the same name together. At the meeting, we were able to compare and contrast the two. Members also enjoyed an Irish bread pudding and tea as we discussed the book and movie as well as an "Irish potatoes" confection. Below are further resources for those interested in learning more about this book and the world depicted in it.


“We race around the playground and the twins laugh and make goo-goo sounds till they get hungry and start to cry. There are two bottles in the pram filled with water and sugar and that keeps them quiet for a while till they’re hungry again and they cry so hard I don’t know what to do because they’re so small and I wish I could give them all kinds of food so that they’d laugh and make the baby sounds. They love the mushy food Mam makes in a pot, bread mashed up in milk and water and sugar. Mam calls it bread and goody.” - Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

Author Bios & Interviews


Book Reviews


 Discussion Questions


 Movie Tie-In

Irish History
Bits of Irish history are discussed throughout the book, especially by Malachy Sr. Below are links to some more information about names, groups, events, etc. mentioned.

“Dad is out looking for a job again and sometimes he comes home with the smell of whiskey, singing all the songs about suffering Ireland. Mam gets angry and says Ireland can kiss her arse. He says that’s nice language to be using in front of the children and she says never mind the language, food on the table is what she wants, not suffering Ireland. She says it was a sad day Prohibition ended because Dad gets the drink going around to saloons offering to sweep out the bars and lift barrels for a whiskey or a beer.”  - Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt


Irish Geography
McCourt vividly describes many places in his neighborhood growing up. More details on some of these locales can be found in the links below.

Limerick:
Outside of Limerick:

Irish Vocabulary & Expressions
  • boreen - narrow country road
  • brawn - meat from a pig's or calf's head that is cooked and pressed in a pot with jelly
  • cock o' the walk - someone who acts more important than others in a group
  • gansey - a seaman's knitted woollen sweater
  • omadhaun - fool, someone who is out of their senses, simpleton
  • poltroon - an utter coward
  • quiff - a piece of hair, especially on a man, brushed upward and backward from the forehead
  • wigs on the green - a fight, brawl or fracas, or to a difference of opinion that could lead to fisticuffs

“The master, Mr. Benson, said the government was going to give us the free lunch so we wouldn’t have to be going home in the freezing weather. He led us down to a cold room in the dungeons of Leamy’s School where the charwoman, Nellie Ahearn, was handing out the half pint of milk and the raisin bun. The milk was frozen in the bottles and we had to melt it between our thighs. The boys joked and said the bottles would freeze our things off and the master roared, Any more of that talk and I’ll warm the bottles on the back of yeer heads. We all searched our raisin buns for a raisin but Nellie said they must have forgotten to put them in and she’d inquire from the man who delivered. We searched again every day till at last I found a raisin in my bun and held it up.” - Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

Literature & Poetry
In many respects, Frank is an autodidact who learns by the bits of reading he manages to snatch here and there. Listed below are some of the authors, books, and poems he notes in his memoir.

Miscellany

Further Reading

Books by Frank McCourt:
  • Angela's Ashes: A Memoir
  • 'Tis: A Memoir
  • chapter in Yeats Is Dead! A Mystery by 15 Irish Writers
  • Teacher Man: A Memoir
  • Angela and the Baby Jesus (adult & children's editions)
  • A Couple of Blaguards (with Malachy McCourt)
Books by Malachy McCourt (Jr.):
  • Voices of Ireland: Classic Writings of a Rich and Rare Land
  • Singing My Him Song 
  • A Monk Swimming: A Memoir 
  • Danny Boy: The Legend of the Beloved Irish Ballad 
  • The Claddagh Ring: Ireland's Cherished Symbol Of Friendship, Loyalty And Love 
  • Bush Lies in State 
  • Harold Be Thy Name: Lighthearted Daily Reflections for People in Recovery
  • Through Irish Eyes: A Visual Companion to Angela McCourt's Ireland 
  • History of Ireland 
  • Essay in The Face in the Mirror: Writers Reflect on Their Dreams of Youth and the Reality of Age
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