Books We Want to Read Before We Die

We're starting a new section -- a running list of books we want to read. We could also call this a 'mental note,' acknowledging a weakness for remembering and a growing dependence on writing things down. Let this be our collective place to store all those scraps of random wishes. To start, I propose . . .

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. It's been out for a few years. The author died in Auschwitz and her daugther published the manuscript she left behind. Read more about it here ~ suggested by Slow Reader.

Additional suggestions will be listed in alphabetical order by title or grouped by when they were mentioned at a discussion meeting:

The Blue Star: A Novel by Tony Earley - a sequel to Jim the Boy the inaugural selection of Captive Thoughts Book Club ~ suggested by Wordsmith.

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. A gently comic picture of life in an English country town in the mid-nineteenth century...Rich with humor and filled with vividly memorable characters...Cranford is a portrait of kindness, compassion, and hope ~ suggested by Page Turner.

Girl Meets God: A Memoir by Lauren F. Winner. “A charming, humorous, and sometimes abrasive recollection of a religious coming-of-age . . . a compelling journey from Judaism to Christianity.” —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ~ suggested by Page Turner.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer. A story told through letters, this novel tells the story of how the inhabitants of the Isle of Guernsey made the most of life under German occupation in WWII ~ suggested by Page Turner.

In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden. Set in Britain, this novel tells the story of the life of nuns in a Benedictine Abbey ~ suggested by Page Turner.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. Fascinating and surprisingly humorous book about dead bodies - what you never knew! ~ suggested by Curious Reader.

The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon. It asks what if, as Franklin Roosevelt proposed on the eve of World War II, a temporary Jewish settlement had been established on the Alaska panhandle? ~ suggested by Slow Reader.

Okay, we're open for business. Add your suggestions for either book club or personal reading by leaving a comment on this post or e-mailing us. (Those from the Club who've actually written down our suggestions during meetings are begged to collect them all here. Hint, hint.)
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Book suggestions from November 2008 meeting:

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert - after a nasty divorce, the author records her year in search of self, exploring Italy, India, and Indonesia (it's no coincidence that they all begin with "I").

The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls - "I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a dumpster."

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton - taking its name from Ecclesiastes 7:4, this literary classic describes the fall of Lily Bart in turn-of-the-century New York and exposes the failures of the Gilded Age.

Lilith by George MacDonald - Lilith, along with Phantastes, is the fantasy that changed the thinking of C.S. Lewis and influenced him toward Christianity.

The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton - intellectually challenging, worth discussing. Also any of the Father Brown mysteries.

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot - another example of why classics are enduring, this early 19th century novel is rich in character development and moral consequence.

The Once and Future King by T.H. White - based on Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur, this is a must-read for any Arthurian enthusiast.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant - told by Dinah, daughter of the biblical patriarch Jacob, this book delves into the lives and intrigues of women in ancient Mesopotamia.

Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji-li Jiang - an autobiolgraphy of the author's teenage years during China's cultural revolution. Done! We can check this one off.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy - Hardy, in beautiful if somewhat fatalistic prose, describes the desperate conflict between the classes of 19th century England epitomized in the life of a young woman trying to frame her own destiny.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith - this novel about a girl coming of age in turn-of-the-century Brooklyn was considered alarming by the genteel society of the 1940's but endures as a story of humor and pathos.
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Wordsmith added in December '08:

The 19th Wife: A Novel by David Ebershoff. From The New Yorker: "Ebershoff demonstrates abundant virtuosity, as he convincingly inhabits the voices of both a nineteenth-century Mormon wife and a contemporary gay youth excommunicated from the church, while also managing to say something about the mysterious power of faith."

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Jotted on a napkin during book club meeting 8/20/09:

The Book Thief, by Zusak

Woman in White, by Wilky Collins

A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving

Life of Pi, by Yann Martel - discussion questions

Home, by Marilynn Robinson

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver

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Added by Slow Reader 8/29/09:

Dancing to the Precipice, a biography by Caroline Moorehead based on the memoir of Lucie-Henriette Dillon, lady in waiting to Marie Antoinette. "Lucie survived the French Revolution and three periods of exile in Switerland, America, and England. She served as ambassadress to Holland under Louis XVI and to Brussels under Napolean. She lived to see the restoration of three French kings and, as if all this wasn't enough, the workers' revolt of 1848 that ended so bloodily." As a USA Today review sums up, "a remarkable life by any standard." At 480 pages, it's doubtful this would be a good book club selection, but it sounds like one worthy of aspiration.

Gilead

I was reminded of Gilead (by Marilynne Robinson) today when someone requested prayer for a man with a heart condition. It occured to me that the book is really all about the condition of another old heart. The old pastor's physical heart is wearing out, and he spends the book examining the state of his spiritual and emotional "heart."

He (sitting here, I can't remember the main character's name) is full of love for his wife, his friend, his son . . . but he's conflicted about how he feels toward his namesake. Has he ever really loved him? Has he forgiven him for his callowness -- a lack of feeling? He can't help but feel affection for this boy/man, but it competes with an intense sense of justice.

He's living with the possibility of his heart giving out at any moment. But it's no different than anyone else's reality. We're all a heartbeat away.

One can't help but think of the old hymn, There is a Balm in Gilead, and the line "that soothes the sin sick soul." I regret that we didn't talk about the significance of biblical references to Gilead during our discussion. Anyone want to chime in?

Year I in Review: November ~ THE POISONWOOD BIBLE by Barbara Kingsolver

For our second selection, we read a longer, more challenging novel, The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel (P.S.) by Barbara Kingsolver. This novel tells the story of the Price family, a fundamentalist, but somewhat eclectic Southern Baptist family from Georgia who go to the Belgium Congo in the late 1950's with high hopes of converting the natives while maintaining their American traditions, from fashion, to gardening, to birthday cake. But cake mixes prove worthless, seeds fail to grow, fashion is futile, and the natives carry on with their "heathen" ways in spite of the fervent preaching of Nathan Price. In fact, Nathan Price's only lasting impact seems to be in the tragedies that befall his family, a wife and four daughters, who narrate the story. Even after the family is separated after yet another tragic incident, the impact of Africa continues to shape the lives of these women, as their stories unfold over the next 30 years.

We used the questions found on the author's website as a springboard for our discussion, which could have lasted well beyond the two alotted hours. Our discussion spanned such wide topics as missionary naivete, government conspiracies, misguided and misapplied faith, male/female roles and stereotypes, parental influences, and literary structure. Some readers felt that Nathan Price was slighted by not having a voice; do the exclusively feminine voices make it a feminist novel? The picture of Africa was vivid and compelling, moving us to compassion for a people and country who seem to be pawns in an international political and economical game. Overall, we found the novel to be both humorous and tragic, informative and cautionary, and one that we would recommend to others for a thought-provoking read.

Our members recorded the following comments and critiques:

"Eye-opening and thought provoking."

"Much to think about. Well written. Surprising voice. Worth reading again. I give it 4 1/2 stars."

"Excellent character development and interesting variety of perspectives. Broading view of world culture and politics."

"A great exposure to another time and culture."

"An amazing read! The characters were so vivid and challenging, especially the cultural and political aspects."

Year I in Review: October ~ JIM THE BOY: A NOVEL by Tony Earley

Captive Thoughts Book Club began in October 2007 by reading Jim the Boy : A Novel by Tony Earley. We thoroughly enjoyed this coming of age story with its vivid descriptions of small town life and family relationships. Here are some comments from our members:

"Enjoyed it immensely! Great language, sweet story. I give it five stars!"

"Beautiful, descriptive prose and nice character development."

"A wonderful description of childhood and growing up and great word pictures! I loved its simplicity and depth."

Note: Comments from the first year may be quite brief, since we are compiling these notes many months after our discussions.