2014 books read
Thursday November 26th 2014, 6:30 pm (ish) start at Kerry's house.
"A rich, commodious novel whose narrative power is matched only by its generosity of vision."--The New York Times
In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs--yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.
Paperback, First Vintage International Edition, 348 pages
Published October 5th 2003 by Vintage International (first published 1985)
original title: El amor en los tiempos del cólera
ISBN: 140003468X (ISBN13: 9781400034680)
Louise - 9.5, Simon - 9.5, Kathleen - 8.5, Kerry - 8
Tuesday October 7th 2014, 6:30 pm (ish) start at Louise''s house.
Paul Bäumer enlisted with his classmates in the German army of World War I. Youthful, enthusiastic, they become soldiers. But despite what they have learned, they break into pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches. And as horrible war plods on year after year, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the principles of hate that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against each other --- if only he can come out of the war alive.
"The world has a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. He is a craftsman of unquestionably first rank, a man who can bend language to his will. Whether he writes of men or of inanimate nature, his touch is sensitive, firm, and sure."
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
Mass Market Paperback, 296 pages
Published March 12th 1987 by Ballantine (first published November 1928)
original title: Im Westen Nichts Neues
ISBN: 0449213943 (ISBN13: 9780449213940)
Louise - 8, Simon - 8, Kathleen - 8.5, Kerry - 8
Wednesday July 30th 2014, 6:30 pm (ish) start at Kerry's house.
Milo mopes in black ink sketches, until he assembles a tollbooth and drives through. He jumps to the island of Conclusions. But brothers King Azaz of Dictionopolis and the Mathemagician of Digitopolis war over words and numbers. Joined by ticking watchdog Tock and adult-size Humbug, Milo rescues the Princesses of Rhyme and Reason, and learns to enjoy life.
Paperback, 256 pages
Published 1996 by Random House Bullseye Books (first published 1961)
ISBN 0394820371 (ISBN13: 9780394820378)
Louise - 8, Simon - 4, Kathleen - 7.7, Kerry - 7
Wednesday June 11th 2014, 6:30 pm (ish) start at Louise's house.
by Susan Cain Discussion questions
At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They're the ones who prefer listening to speaking, reading to partying; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over brainstorming in teams. Although they're often labeled "quiet," it's to introverts like Gandhi, Einstein and Rosa Parks that we owe many of the great contributions to society. Passionately argued, impressively researched, and filled with stories of real people, Quiet shows how dramatically we undervalue introverts, and how much we lose in doing so. This extraordinary book has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how introverts see themselves.
Paperback, 333 pages
Published January 1st 2012 by Penguin Putnam
original title Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking
ISBN 0670916765 (ISBN13: 9780670916764)
Louise - 3, Simon - 6.5, Kathleen - 7, Kerry - 7, Che - 9
Wednesday April 30th 2013, 6:30 pm start at Simon's house.
The Constant Gardener (La constance du jardinier #2) Discussion questions
The Constant Gardener is a magnificent exploration of the new world order by one of the most compelling and elegant storytellers of our time. The novel opens in northern Kenya with the gruesome murder of Tessa Quayle--young, beautiful, and dearly beloved to husband Justin. When Justin sets out on a personal odyssey to uncover the mystery of her death, what he finds could make him not only a suspect among his own colleagues, but a target for Tessa's killers as well.
A master chronicler of the betrayals of ordinary people caught in political conflict, John le Carre portrays the dark side of unbridled capitalism as only he can. In The Constant Gardener he tells a compelling, complex story of a man elevated through tragedy as Justin Quayle--amateur gardener, aging widower, and ineffectual bureaucrat--discovers his own natural resources and the extraordinary courage of the woman he barely had time to love.
Paperback, 496 pages
Published August 26th 2005 by Scribner (first published 2000)
ISBN 139780743287203
Louise - 7, Simon - 6.5, Kathleen - 6, Kerry - 5
Wednesday March 12th 2013, 6:30 pm (ish) start at Kathleen's house.
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
by Oliver Sacks
What goes on in human beings when they make or listen to music? What is it about music, what gives it such peculiar power over us, power delectable and beneficent for the most part, but also capable of uncontrollable and sometimes destructive force? Music has no concepts, it lacks images; it has no power of representation, it has no relation to the world. And yet it is evident in all of us–we tap our feet, we keep time, hum, sing, conduct music, mirror the melodic contours and feelings of what we hear in our movements and expressions.
In this book, Oliver Sacks explores the power music wields over us–a power that sometimes we control and at other times don’t. He explores, in his inimitable fashion, how it can provide access to otherwise unreachable emotional states, how it can revivify neurological avenues that have been frozen, evoke memories of earlier, lost events or states or bring those with neurological disorders back to a time when the world was much richer.
This is a book that explores, like no other, the myriad dimensions of our experience of and with music.
Hardcover, 400 pages
Published October 16th 2007 by Knopf Canada (first published 2007)
ISBN:0676979785 (ISBN13: 9780676979787)
Louise - 8, Simon - 8, Kathleen - 7, Kerry - 6
Wednesday January 29th 2013, 6:30 pm (ish) start at Kerry's house.
Boy: Tales of Childhood (Roald Dahl Autobiography #1)
by Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake (Illustrator)
In Boy, Roald Dahl recounts his days as a child growing up in England. From his years as a prankster at boarding school to his envious position as a chocolate tester for Cadbury's, Roald Dahl's boyhood was as full of excitement and the unexpected as are his world-famous, best-selling books. Packed with anecdotes -- some funny, some painful, all interesting -- this is a book that's sure to please.
Paperback, 176 pages
Published April 5th 2001 by Puffin Books (first published 1984)
ISBN 0141311401 (ISBN13: 9780141311401)
edition language English
Danny the Champion of the World
by Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake (Illustrator)
Danny’s life seems perfect: his home is a gypsy caravan, he’s the youngest car mechanic around, and his best friend is his dad, who never runs out of wonderful stories to tell. And when Danny discovers his father’s secret, he’s off on the adventure of a lifetime. Here’s Roald Dahl’s famous story about a 9-year-old boy, his dad, and a daring and hilarious pheasant-snatching expedition. Just as important, it’s the story of the love between a boy and his father who, in Danny’s own words, is “the most marvelous and exciting father a boy ever had.”
Hardcover, 224 pages
Published February 12th 2002 by Knopf Books for Young Readers (first published 1975)
ISBN 0375814256 (ISBN13: 9780375814259)
edition language English
Louise - 10, Simon - 9.5, Kathleen - 10, Kerry - 9.5