Ms. Benson's Beetle - discussion

 

1. How does Margery and Enid's relationship change throughout the novel? How do their opinions of each other evolve? 
2. Enid and Margery talk a lot about the idea of 'vocation'. What do you think vocation means?
3. What did the golden beetle represent for Margery?
4. What was your reaction when Margery stole the boots? What do you think that decision represents throughout the course of the novel?
5. Discuss the relationship between Enid and her husband, Percy.
6. What did you think was in the red valise? Were you surprised when you found out what it was?
7. Ending the novel with the introduction of a new character is a bold move, but the short chapter tells us a lot about Margery's later life. Do you think Freya will make it to New Caledonia? What was it about Margery's story that inspired her?

Blessed are the Cheesemakers- discussion questions

 1. The author hails from New Zealand, but she has spent time in Ireland, and she has made that land the location of her fiction. What does the Irish setting contribute to this novel? In other words, are there events or people that are unlikely to have occurred somewhere else?

 

2. Before the female protagonist, Abbey, leaves her marriage, the author says: "It wasn't a bad life, but she wasn't entirely sure it was her life. She clung to her love of Martin like a drowning man to an inflatable life raft....She wasn't herself, Martin was right about that. But then who the hell was she? She didn't belong in this paradise, but she didn't belong anywhere else, either. She was nobody. Nowhere." (p. 42) It seems that Abbey feels lost. What has she done to lose herself? How can she find herself? How typical do you feel this situation is for married women?

 

3. Both main characters Abbey and Kit have had failed marriages. What was wrong with their relationships? In your opinion, when should you fight to save a marriage or when should you walk away from it? Will Abbey and Kit's marriage to each other endure, do you think? Why or why not?

 

4. One of the oldest themes in fiction is to have someone who is dead or thought to be dead return. Why do you suppose that idea is so appealing? Who returns in this book? What are the consequences of those returns?

 

5. A related theme in this book is that of change or transformation. Who or what changes? Does change always involve loss?

 

6. The book has been compared to Joanne Harris' Chocolat. Besides the focus on a food, both novels have a "whiff" of magic. In fact, magic abounds in this book, from "the magic of coincidence" (185) to the magic of cheese-induced attraction. What does magic, by its very nature, do? Is magic real or just fiction?

 

7. One reviewer of this novel compared it to the old TV show Green Acres. The author says one of her first books, written as a child, was based on Anne of Green Gables. Does this book have anything in common with either of those "green" works?

 

8. The book begins "You can't hurry cheese. It happens in its own time and if that bothers you, you can just feck off." (1). What else in life can't you hurry? What is the purpose of the opening quotations for each chapter?

 

9. Much of this book has to do with finding a place to belong. What is the secret of belonging? Is family or heritage part of belonging? Can you create your own family or are you stuck with the one you were given at birth?

 

10. Although often disguised by humor, symbolism looms large in this story. In other words, what does the cheese represent? What is the connection between the setting and Pregnasaurs? What are some other symbols?

 

11. What do you make of the Pregnasaurs? Why are they in the story at all?

 

12. Corrie and Fee are aging. What "issues" has facing death brought up for them? Do you believe these are universal concerns?

 

13. The book has a happy ending. Is that only possible in fiction? Can real life have happy endings or are there only happy beginnings?

 

14. Do you think this book, underneath the humor, is saying today's mass culture is not a fulfilling way to live? What is the author critical about, in particular, and what does she suggest might be a better alternative for the direction of today's world?

Discussion Questions for The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

 

Discussion Questions for The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

1) Do you think The Handmaid’s Tale needed a sequel? Were your questions answered by the end of the novel, or do you have even more?

2) Did The Testaments change your perception of Aunt Lydia? Why or why not?

3) Even though Gilead seems to allude to having a lot of the same technology as the rest of the world, unbabies, deaths during childbirth, and other fatal/serious ailments seem to be the norm there. Why do you think this is?

4) When Nicole and Agnes are travelling to Canada, Nicole says “Just because people are related to you doesn’t mean you love them.” Agnes replies “Love is like a discipline, like prayer.” How have the girls’ upbringings developed their perception of what love is?

5) Why do you think Atwood called the novel The Testaments?

6) Of all the groups of women in Gilead, who do you think has the most “freedom”?

7) Men are not portrayed very favorably in The Testaments. Are there any male characters who have redeeming features? Is it possible to be a man in Gilead and NOT be a bad person?

8) The novel has multiple narrators. How does this format help you to understand the story in different ways? How effective did you find the narration to be?

The Mirror and the Light- discussion questions

 BOOKCLUB QUESTIONS 

• Thomas Cromwell is now in his fi fties, ‘the same small quick eyes, the same thickset imperturbable body; the same schedules.’ But to what extent is he a different man to the one we know from Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies? How has his character developed? 

• Discuss Hilary Mantel’s use of the present tense in The Mirror & the Light. She allows us to follow her characters in real time as they make decisions the consequences of which they cannot be sure. Does this change how we think of history? 

• What echoes are there in The Mirror & the Light of contemporary politics and Britain’s relationship with Europe? To what extent is Thomas Cromwell a thoroughly European character? MRG.indd 15 RG.indd 15 24/02/2020 11:05 4/02/2020 11:05 The Mirror & The Light 16 

• ‘The burden of kingship,’ Henry says, ‘no man can imagine it. All my life, to be a prince: to be observed to be a prince; all eyes to be set on me; to be an exemplar of virtue … to unmake myself as a man in order to make myself as a king.’ What picture does Hilary Mantel paint of Henry VIII, as a man and as a king? Consider the trajectory of his relationship with Thomas Cromwell. 

• Consider Cromwell as a father and as a son. And the paternal relationships he develops. 

• The Mirror & the Light’s cast of characters includes those who have died in the course of the previous two novels. Consider the role of ghosts in the novel. 

• Discuss the relationship of men and women. Do the female characters have power? How familiar are the gender inequalities to the world we live in now? 

• From the descriptions of Henry’s leg wound, to the river Thames which fl ows through the story, The Mirror & the Light is carefully and vividly drawn. Consider the use of texture and physicality in the novel. How successfully does Hilary Mantel paint a picture of 1540s London? 

• Is Thomas Cromwell’s downfall inevitable? When and how does he become conscious of the fate that awaits him? How does Cromwell react to his own de

Questions for David and Goliath Discussion

  Questions for David and Goliath Discussion 

1.  What anecdotes from your own life might you reference as support or challenge of “Part I: The Advantage of Disadvantages?” Consider specifically the chapter titled “Teresa DeBrito: ‘My largest class was twenty-nine kids. Oh, it was fun’” and your own experiences with class size. 
2.  Chapter Three (“Caroline Sachs: ‘If I’d gone to the University of Maryland, I’d still be in science’”) is particularly relevant as you explore your college options (and is one that you might enjoy revisiting via YouTube, as Malcolm Gladwell presents it as a TED talk). What considerations does this chapter raise for you? What questions might you want to ask of students and college admissions officers when you visit and tour schools? 
3. Drawing on your own life experience or from your study of history, what illustrations might you offer in support or challenge of “the theory of desirable difficulty” as presented in “Part II: The Theory of Desirable Difficulty”? 
4.  What, for you, is the take-away from “Part III: The Limits of Power”? 
5.  Malcolm Gladwell has been both praised and criticized for his use of anecdote in his social science observations. Which anecdotes resonate with you, and why? Which anecdotes do you find less convincing, and why?

Questions for The Great Believers

 Questions: The Great Believers

1. Yale’s group of friends is very close. In a sense, they are his “chosen family.” How is this explored in the book? Do you have a “chosen family,” and if so, what brings you all together?

2. How has the culture changed regarding LGBTQ+ voices and stories since the 1980s?

3. Chicago is such a powerful presence in this novel that it is almost a character in itself. Have you ever been to or lived in a place that exerted a strong influence on you?

4. Nora, the elderly woman donating the 1920s pieces, seems completely removed from the rest of Yale’s life, yet her story contains elements that can be compared and contrasted with Yale’s. What similarities between his and her life are there? How has her past affected the present?

5. Fiona has suffered many losses in her life. How do you think that affected her as a mother? What are the ways in which trauma and loss are passed down through generations?

6. Do you empathize more with Fiona or Claire?

7. Do you see any parallels between the state of healthcare during the 1980s and now?

8. What has been your knowledge of—or experience with, if any—AIDS or those affected by the disease?

9. Has reading this novel changed any ideas you have previously had about the subject?

White Fragility - discussion questions

 White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

 

RECOMMENDED DISCUSSION PRINCIPLES
Keep the following principles in mind.

1. A strong opinion is not the same as informed knowledge.

2. There is a difference between agreement and understanding. When discussing complex social and institutional dynamics such as racism, consider whether "I don’t agree" may actually mean "I don’t understand."

3. We have a deep interest in denying the forms of oppression that benefit us. 

4. Racism goes beyond individual intentions to collective group patterns.

5. We don’t have to be aware of racism in order for it to exist.

6. Our racial position (whether we identify as white, a person of color, or multiracial) will greatly affect our ability to see racism. For example, if we swim against the "current" of racial privilege, it’s often easier to recognize, while it’s harder to recognize if we swim with the current.

7. Putting our effort into protecting rather than expanding our current worldview prevents our intellectual and emotional growth.

 

Discussion Questions for White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

 

1. Was there a moment when you recognized yourself in one of the chapters?
2. What was your reaction, if any, when you read some issues raised by Black people such as being asked why they are in a certain neighborhood, or being accused of shop lifting and followed when in a store, or feeling frightened when they see a police car behind them on the road? Have you ever had those same feelings?
3. Have you heard white people try to change the subject by saying things like “all lives matter” in order not to feel uncomfortable in a discussion about race?
4. In what ways do you experience white supremacy in your life experience?
5. Have you ever witnessed “white women’s tears”?