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Every Friday is Quotable Friday on the book club blog, where we highlight a notable passage from a book with a Chicago connection. This week's quotable is from The Sea Fairies by L. Frank Baum:
"Why hasn't anybody seen a mermaid and lived?" asked Trot again.
"'Cause mermaids is fairies, an' ain't meant to be seen by us mortal folk," replied Cap'n Bill.
"But if anyone happens to see 'em, what then, Cap'n?"
"Then," he answered, slowly wagging his head, "the mermaids give 'em a smile an' a wink, an' they dive into the water an' gets drownded."
"S'pose they knew how to swim, Cap'n Bill?"
"That don't make any diff'rence, Trot. The mermaids live deep down, an' the poor mortals never come up again."
- Alice Maggio
Here are just a few sample discussion questions for our upcoming meeting to talk about The Grass Dancer by Susan Power.
1. Why is the book titled The Grass Dancer? Who is the true grass dancer in this book?
2. What role does Pumpkin play in Harley's life?
3. How does Margaret Many Wounds' idea of walking on the moon differ from NASA's?
4. Is Anna/Mercury Thunder a villain or a heroine?
5. Susan Power dedicates the book to her grandmothers, who gave her the "keys to two cities." How do the characters in the novel live between these two cities—one Native American and the other white?
6. What role does the modern world play in the novel?
7. How does Power's choice of using multiple points of view affect the story?
8. Why does Power tell this story in the order she does? How does the reverse chronological order influence the story?
9. A lot of this novel deals with memory. What happens when we forget the past?
10. Is The Grass Dancer a work of "magic realism"? Why or why not?
Remember our May meeting is this Monday, May 19 at The Book Cellar, starting at 7:30pm. Hope to see you there.
- Alice Maggio |
News Thu May 15 2008
Author L. Frank Baum was born today, May 15, in 1856. We will be reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz this summer for our August meeting. For fun, check out the fabulous digitized collection of "Oziana" from the University of Minnesota Libraries.
- Alice Maggio |
Events Mon May 12 2008
Chip Kidd, who has created some of the greatest book covers you've seen, among other graphic design projects, comes to Quimby's on Wednesday to talk about his new book The Learners. The novel is about a college graduate who lands his first job as a graphic designer at an ad agency that leads him to participate in an experiment in the Yale psychology department, forcing him to reexamine "his past, his soul, and the nature of human cruelty." Free at 7pm at 1854 W. North Ave. Call 773-342-0910 for more information.
- Veronica Bond |
Every Friday is Quotable Friday on the book club blog, where we highlight a notable passage from a book with a Chicago connection. This week's quotable is from The Chicago River: A Natural and Unnatural History by Libby Hill:
Humans ventured into the Chicagoland area approximately 12,000 years ago as the glacier receded and the climate became more inviting to plants and animals. Their successive cultures adapted to the changes in the landscape as the lakes ancestral to Lake Michigan varied in size.
If man or animal lived here before the Wisconsin glacial episode, all evidence was removed by the action of the ice. Huge animals came in as soon after the glaciers as the area was habitable for them. It is hard to imagine the immense woolly mammoth, a beast with long shaggy hair and huge curved tusks, grazing here in the meadow, while its smaller but still enormous reddish cousin, the mastodon, browsed on trees and in the grasslands, perhaps in the neighborhood of your own backyard. Both animals, relatives of the elephant, were probably common, and both were ideally suited to the cold climates that followed in the wake of the glaciers.
- Alice Maggio
News Tue May 06 2008
Round-up of recent reviews of books with a local angle:
• Both The Seattle Times and the Chicago Tribune review The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon. Seattle writes that Hemon "delivers a startling finish with a poignant twist," while the Trib calls him "a majestic talent."
• The Trib also reviews some recent mystery novels by local authors.
• Armageddon in Retrospect, a collection of previously unpublished work by Kurt Vonnegut, gets the review treatment in The New York Times Sunday Book Review.
- Alice Maggio |
News Mon May 05 2008
Local author Keir Graff, who is also a senior editor at Booklist Online, has a new short story in the May issue of Booklist. The publication, which has been around for more than 100 years, reviews new books, but this is the first time it has published a story. "Reading is My Business" is described by the author as "a hard-boiled metafiction about book reviewing—with a very local angle," and you can read the complete text online.
Find out more about the "story behind the story" at Graff's Booklist blog.
- Alice Maggio |
Events Mon May 05 2008
We've all the theories that it was Bacon or Marlowe that penned the great works we attribute to William Shakespeare, but what if it was really a woman? On Wednesday, Robin P. Williams will be at the Newberry Library to discuss her book, Sweet Swan of Avon, that addresses that very question. Through eight years of research, the book speculates on the possibility that it was Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, that wrote the sonnets and plays, thus developing the English language and publishing the first play in English written by a woman. Admission to the lecture is $9 and can be had by calling 312-255-3556. Doors open at 5:30pm and the lecture starts at 6:15pm at 60 W. Walton.
- Veronica Bond |
Every Friday is Quotable Friday on the book club blog, where we highlight a notable passage from a book with a Chicago connection. This week's quotable is from our current book club pick, The Grass Dancer by Susan Power:
Frank Pipe would never forget the sound of glass exploding in the dark room. Something had burst through the window behind him, and he was lucky for a hanging quilt, which stopped most of the spinning glass that flew through the air like shrapnel. In the sudden moonlight, Frank identified the creature as the largest coyote he had ever seen, tall as a pony. It lunged for one of the participants, and though hands stretched to hold him, the man was carried off like a bone, his head cracking against the window frame as the coyote leapt into the night with its victim. Leo Mitchell's body was found the next day at the foot of Angry Butte, punctured by incisors thick as pencils.
Herod said: "The spirits weren't satisfied with just identifying the person who did those terrible things. They wanted justice."
- Alice Maggio
News Thu May 01 2008
Yes, Free Comic Book Day is here again. Stop by participating stores this Saturday, May 3, to get your fee comic book. Use the official store locater to find a retailer near you.
But, there are two great reasons to make Chicago Comics your stop for Free Comic Book Day on Saturday: local comics artist Jeffrey Brown and former Disney animator Christian Slade will be in-store signing books and comics from noon to 4pm.
Chicago Comics is located at 3244 N. Clark St. Call them at 773-528-1983 or visit the website for more info.
- Alice Maggio |
Through a collection of interlocking stories, this magical debut novel combines written narrative with traditional storytelling techniques to weave a portrait of the North Dakota Sioux, where spirits from the past continue to exert powerful influence over the present.
Haven't asked this one in awhile: What books are on your nightstand right now?
Your thoughts? (3)