Wednesday discussion at Jackie's splendid table

Inferno - discussion questions

 

Discussion questions:

 

1.      Before reading Dan Brown's thriller, how familiar, if at all, were you with the The Divine Comedy and its "Inferno" Cantica? Have you come away with a better understanding of the work? What are the ways in which the author uses Dante's great classic as a framework for his thriller?

2.      Robert Langdon and Sienna Brooks race to save the world from a crazed scientist who plans to unleash his solution to the world's overpopulation. To what extent, if any, do you (secretly) agree with the Bertrand Zobrist in his desire, if not his methods, to control overpopulation?

3.      How do you feel about this statement by Brooks:

                                                              i.      As a species, humans were like the rabbits that were introduced on certain Pacific islands and allowed to reproduce unchecked to the point that they decimated their ecosystem and finally went extinct.

4.      To what extent is overpopulation a real-life global problem? You might do a bit of research on overpopulation and look at some of the countervailing predictions, suggesting that the global population will actually begin to collapse after 2050.

5.      Talk about the real possibility of a worldwide epidemic. How plausible is the threat as portrayed Brown's book?

6.      Talk about Transhumanism. What is it, and does it pose a boon—or a threat—to the future of humanity?

a.       At the end of the book WHO Director Elizabeth Sinskey says, "We’re on the verge of new technologies that we can’t yet even imagine.” Those technologies come with dangers but also with hope.

b.      Sienna Brooks adds this about Transhumanism...

                                                              i.      One of its fundamental tenets is that we as humans have a moral obligation to participate in our evolutionary process...to use our technologies to advance the species, to create better humans—healthier, stronger, with higher-functioning brains. Everything will soon be possible.

c.       She then says...

                                                              i.      If we don’t embrace [these tools], then we are as undeserving of life as the caveman who freezes to death because he’s afraid to start a fire.

d.      What do you think?

7.      Have you traveled to any of the three sites of the novel: Florence, Venice, or Istanbul? If so, how accurate is Brown's depiction of these cities? If you haven't been to Italy or Turkey, does the author bring the cities to life? Are they places you would like to visit?

8.      Is this book a page-turner? Did you find yourself unable to put it down? If so, what makes it enthralling? If you didn't find Inferno an engaging read, what put you off the book?

9.       Brown uses a 4-part pattern for the episodes in his book: 1) Langdon is presented with a clue he must interpret, 2) he has a "eureka" moment, 3) he is pursued by villains who make a sudden appearance, and 4) he escapes after a hair-raising chase. Try going through the book to identify the pattern in various episodes.

10.  What about the book's ending? Do you find it predictable ... surprising ... shocking ... frightening ... satisfying?

11.  Have you read other Dan Brown thrillers? If so, how does this compare?

 

And while searching online, I stumbled across this little tidbit: The Funniest, Meanest Reviews of Dan Brown’s ‘Inferno’

 http://flavorwire.com/391380/the-funniest-meanest-reviews-of-dan-browns-inferno/

 

 

See you on Wednesday,

Jackie

We had a great discussion about "Team of Rivals"

Here are some pictures

Pigeon Pie Mystery - book review

Indian Princess Alexandrina (nota bene, born in London) is suddenly left without any money due to death of her father, the Maharaja of Brindor.   Alexandrina, also known as Mink, is forced to make a new life for herself and her loyal servant Pooki.  Queen Victoria grants her a grace-and-favor home in Hampton Court Palace which, as the local legend reveals, is haunted by many famous ghosts (Catherine Howard and Jan Seymour). Mink spends her first weeks trying to establish herself in the new environment.  Very quickly she makes friends with three women: Lady Beatrice Fisher (dove devotee and owner of “exuberant” hats), Lady Mortfort Bebb and Countless Bessington (a widow with an addiction to ferns). They invite her to the annual Eastern residents’ picnic, during which Pooki is asked to prepare pigeon pies. During the picnic General Bagshot takes more than 3 helpings of pigeon pie and later dies.  The autopsy reveals that general was poised by arsenic and Pooki's pigeon pies are suspected as the source of poisoning. Mink does not believe that her loyal servant and friend is the murderer and she decides to solve General mysterious death. After several days of poking into private lives of the residents she discovers that many secrets and motives for committing this crime.  There are at least three persons who had more than one reason to kill the “good’ General:

Lady Bagshot (conveniently traveling to Egypt during her husband passing), American gentleman, Cornelius B. Pilgrim, or young maid, Alice Cockle. 

But was the General Bagshot murdered, did he really die from eating the pigeon pie?

 

We all agreed that this book is full of wonderful characters embedded in rich history and culture of the British empire in the years of the 19^th century. 

We specially like the ending of this book when we found out that Mink placed advertisement in the local newspaper “H.H. Princess Alexandrina, Private Detective.  All inquires to Hampton Court Palace.” This ending opens vast opportunities for new adventures of clever Princess and her dedicated servant Pooki. 

We would highly recommend this book to anyone likes novels about Victorian England enjoys good mystery.  This is a great summer reads.

We are looking forward to the next book by Julia Stuart.

Pigeon Pie Mystery discussion

Pigeon Pie Mystery - discussion questions

1. Is Pigeon Pie Mystery a proper murder mystery? Why? or Why not?
2. A Washington Times book review descibes the book as 'enchanting'. Do you agree?
3. What do you think of faithful servant Pooki? Is her relationship with Mink believeable or not?
4. Who is your favorite character?
5. Who is your least favorite character?
6. And who is the most unexpected character?
7. What do you think of the world of the Hampton Court?
8. How are grace-and-favor residents of the appartments at Hampton Court different from everybody else?
9. Do you think that Mink and Dr. Henderson are meant for each other?
10. Who is the ultimate villain in the book?

“The Casual vacancy” review by Dorota Ponikiewska

I don’t know what we were expecting from reading J. K. Rowling’s book “The Casual Vacancy.”

Most readers love the Harry Potter series, can read them over and over and never tire of them.

Maybe it was our mistake, because we were hoping to find in “The Casual vacancy” some magic (even casual or accidental).

But the author warns the readers: this is an adult fiction about small town politics, social manipulations, poverty, narcotics, deviant sexual behaviors, and other obscurity of ordinary life.

Still, we were hoping for one drop of fairy-tale.

Then came the analogy: what about if Thomas Harris (best known for writing “Hannibal”) wrote a love story.  Would we want to read it?  Of course! But even his book was the most beautiful love story ever written, we would anticipate seeing at least one gruesome scene in which the groom-to-be devours bride-to-be.

O well….

What is the premise of “The Casual Vacancy”?  There is no conflict in this book, there is no main storyline. There are just group of ordinary people from the small town.  The story starts out with a bunch of characters and setups. We were bombarded with characters, their descriptions, and stories of their past. It is very difficult to keep up with these people and even if we reread some pages (to remember who is who), next chapter moved to a totally different setup with totally new characters. After fifty pages or so, we are totally confused, and the only reason why we are still reading is the belief that there was a purpose for all this miss-mash. The switching between characters even within a single chapter or page disallow Rowling to create one or more memorable characters.She introduces a new person, writes one or two paragraphs about it and moves to the next person. There are not actual protagonists (to love) or antagonists (to hate). Characters in this book, use each other without any regrets or morals, there are scenes after scenes of physical abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness, profanity, and rape. 

So, what we liked in this book?

We liked last 50 pages (it is too bad that the author took such a long and painstaking route to get there), and the heartbreaking and painful ending. Even if the ending left us wondering about certain unsolved events.

We liked her writing style: the third person insightful point of view, her wonderful way with words, and the brilliance of her depiction of scenes and dialogs.

Overall, we would recommend “The Casual Vacancy” to any potential reader, but try not to set your expectations too high….