November 2010 Selection

Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett 

This was going to be the next selection, but as of October 21, 2010 the book club is now defunct.

October 2010 Selection

I know why the caged bird sings, by Maya Angelou

This is an autobiographical novel.  Angelou was challenged by a friend and her editor to write a biography that was also literature.  The book chronicles her experience from ages three to seventeen in Arkansas.  Maya and her brother Bailey are abandoned by their parents and are raised by their grandparents.  Even though "Momma" is relatively wealthy - she owns a general store- the family is still subjected to extreme racism.
When Maya is eight her father reappears and takes the children with him, only to drop them off at their mothers.  At this point Maya is raped by her mother's new boyfriend.
After struggling with many difficulties the novel ends ends with seventeen year old Maya giving birth.  This book is the first in a series of six books.

September 2010 Selection

We were the Mulvaneys, by Joyce Carol Oates

The Mulvaney family is the envy of their farming community in upstate New York.  Parents Corinne and Michael have four children, Marianne, Michael, Patrick and Judd. 
The harmonious family life comes to a crashing halt the day Marianne is raped by the son of a local business man, who is also a friend of Michael Sr.  Marianne refuses to press charges against her attacker - an act her father simply cannot understand.  In fact, Michael is so appalled by Marianne's decision that he finds himself unable to look at his his daughter the same way, and so sends her to live with a distant relative. 
The family as a whole collapses when Michael's drinking forces him to lose his business and declare bankruptcy.  The farm is lost, the parents divorce and the family members scatter to the winds, until many years later they reunite to deal with their past.

August 2010 Selection

A Jest Of God, by Margaret Laurence 

Rachel Cameron lives in a small town in Manitoba in the mid 60's and is trapped by convention, her family and the times.    Rachel works as a teacher and lives with a domineering mother.  In her job she follows the rules while inwardly rebelling at the narrow confines allowed her for personal expression while doing her job.  At home Rachel's mother uses guilt to control her daughter.  When Rachel meets a young man and has a brief relationship, culminating in a suspected pregnancy, she is forced to re-evaluate her life.
On top of all these constraints is Rachel's own character, which feels compelled to evaluate every action she does, and always clamps down on any behaviour that might demonstrate a lack of control on her part.
The heroine Laurence has created here is not a likable one, but making her so makes the reader become even more aware of the rigidity of circumstance which were so stifling to women in the 1960's. 

Learn more about the book here.

Request a copy at FVRL.

July 2010 Selection

A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines 

The woeful tale of racial oppression of black people in 1940's United States.  Grant Wiggins has escaped the plantation by going to school and getting an education.  Simple Jefferson, on the other hand, does not have the opportunity, and so lives a life very close to that of his slave ancestors.  One day Jefferson is in the wrong place at the wrong time and witnesses the murder of a white person for which he is ultimately wrongfully convicted.  While on death row Grant is pressured to visit Jefferson.  The time they spend together shows Grant that Jefferson is actually a freer man than he is, because he is ultimately able to throw off the shackles of oppression and meet his end with his head held high.  This is a freedom that will always elude Grant.
The author drew heavily on his own life experience, as he was born on a plantation but managed to escape through school.

Lean more about the book here.

Request a copy at FVRL.

June 2010 Selection

Fugitive Pieces, by Anne Michaels

Two parts divide this book.  In the first part Michaels tells the story of Jakob Beer who survives the holocaust by hiding in a wall.  He is subsequently rescued by Greek Anthropologist Athos, who takes him to Greece, where a whole new life begins for Jakob.  Jakob's life is haunted by his sister Bella's disappearance. All his actions subsequently are ruled by sisters' absence. 
Part 2 is narrated by Ben, a Canadian Professor who is a big fan of Jakob's poetry. 
The book is as much poetry as it is a work of fiction.  Michaels won several awards for the book.

Learn more about the book here

Request a copy at FVRL

May 2010 Selection

Marrying Mozart, by Stephanie Cowell.

Before Mozart settled down with Constanze Weber he actually courted her older sister, Aloysia. The novel chornicles Mozart's involvement with the Weber family. Besides Constanze and Aloysia there was also Josefa and Sophie. All four sisters had an impact on Mozart, albeit in ways as varied as their personalities.   While the novel is really about the Weber sisters, the reader is also shown the young Mozart who was in a time of transition when he was courting, as he was no longer the famed child prodigy and as an adult had not yet been able to make his way as an adult composer of Operas.


Learn more about the book here

Request a copy at FVRL