Discussion questions for My Sister's Keeper

Kelly & I thought it might be helpful to have some discussion questions in mind when we review the books we read. I found these on Jodi Picoult's website. We don't have to answer all of them. I've ordered copies of the book for me and Kelly so hopefully we will start reading this weekend or early next week. When do you want to discuss Aunt Annette?

• Reread the prologue to My Sister's Keeper. Who is the speaker? Is it the same person you thought it was the first time you read it?
• What is the metaphorical relevance of Brian's profession as a fire chief?
• Why is Jesse's behavior so aberrant, while until now, Anna has been so compliant?
• What might be a possible reason for Brian's fascination with astronomy?
• On page 98, Kate is being admitted to the hospital in very serious condition. She mouths to Jesse, "tell Anna," but is unable to finish. What do you think she was trying to say?
• On page 122, Julia says, "Even if the law says that no one is responsible for anyone else, helping someone who needs it is the right thing to do." Who understood better how to "help" Kate, Sara or Anna?
• Did Anna do the right thing, honoring Kate's wishes?
• Do you feel it was unfair of Kate to ask Anna to refuse to donate a kidney, even though this seemed to be the only way for her to avoid the lifesaving transplant?
• On page 142, Brian says that when rescuing someone from a fire, that "the safety of the rescuer is of a higher priority than the safety of the victim. Always." How does this apply to his role in his own family?
• On page 144, Brian says, "Like anything that's been confined, fire has a natural instinct to escape." How does this truth apply to Kate? to Brian himself?
• On page 149, Brian is talking to Julia about astronomy and says, "Dark matter has a gravitational effect on other objects. You can't see it, you can't feel it, but you can watch something being pulled in its direction." How is this symbolic of Kate's illness?
• For what reason(s) did Brian offer Anna a place to stay at the firehouse while the legal proceedings were underway?
• How does Anna's decision to pursue medical emancipation parallel Campbell's decision to end his relationship with Julia after his accident?
• Do you agree with Brian's decision not to turn Jesse in to the authorities for setting the fires?
• Do you feel that it's ethical to conceive a child that meets specific genetic requirements?
• If not, do you believe that there should be specific exceptions, such as the purpose of saving another person's life, or is this just a "slippery slope?"

I think its my turn

Is it my turn to pick a book? I'd like to recommend "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. It's been sitting on my bedside table since before Christmas when my best friend Peg gave it to me. I've read several Picoult books and generally have liked them...thought I'd try another. Is that okay with you guys?

Keri's take on The Wedding Officer

I enjoyed this book a lot, especially the love story and beautiful descriptions of Italy and the food. The war part got a little bit tiresome at times, but there were enough interesting bits to keep me going through it. I agree with the Kelly that it did seem to wrap up quickly at the end and Livia seemed to abruptly become a communist and able to fight.

The food descriptions were mouth-watering even when I knew it was food I would never want to try in real life. But some of the other foods were so simple and sounded so delicious that I must try them...especially I want to try fettuccine al limone. I also liked what Livia says about how "in Italy we don't cook dishes, we cook ingredients...First, we decide what looks good, and then we buy the other things we need to go with it."

I agree with what Aunt Annette mentioned about how Italians saw the war and their "liberators". One quote that stuck out for me was "...it was clear that liberation was going to be no better, and in many ways far worse, than occupation by the Germans...Now Italy was a battleground in which neither side was Italian, and for both sides, the needs of the civilian population came a poor second to the importance of winning the war."

As for Livia's decision to basically sell herself to Alberto in order to get needed medicine for her father...I could see why she chose to do it. I don't think it was her fault that her father was burned, and I don't think that she had to do what she did. But I can see why she felt that she must do it...but she knew it wasn't right, she knew that it changed her, and ultimately she chose a fate that many would see as worse by going to Germany with the prostitutes instead of marrying him. I don't think I would have made the same choices she made...but how can I really know what I would do if I was in her same circumstances?

Back on a happier note, I also enjoyed how James began to see how different life could be from the one he had always known...and began to fall in love with the food, culture, people and scenery of Italy.

• "...this new dish was something else, teasing his appetite awake again, and the intensity of its flavors bringing to life taste buds he had never even knew existed."
• "...James felt a pang of affection for the place; so unpredictable, so maddening, yet capable of springing surprises like putting a sleeping girl on your motorbike in the middle of the night, and in the middle of a war to boot."
• "It must be wonderful, he thought, to love a place as much as she clearly loved it here. Nowhere that he had ever lived has inspired such affection in him. For him, home was simply where you went when you weren't away at school."
• "A person can't choose where he's born. But he can choose where he spends his life, and I want to spend mine here."

Additionally, since it doesn't fit in anywhere else really...I liked what Livia said to James just before they fight the Germans after he asks her to marry him. "If you're going to marry me, James...you're going to have to get a lot less attached to sense." :)

Kelly Takes on the Wedding Officer

So this is my favorite book we've read as a group so far! Like Aunt Annette mentioned, the three levels of the storyline were all intriguing - the food, the love story and the war story. I think I liked the love story best, but mostly because of how much it was about food. The conversations that were about food and sex were very clever. I love that James wanted to learn to cook so he could be near Livia. I love how she mistakenly thought he was gay because of his interest in cooking. I love how their relationship developed and how it survived even the toughest situations.

The war story was a harder read. I tend to like happy stories, not too much drama, not too much horror. I think the one quote that summarizes it to me is when the major says:

"Really, Gould. I think you're failing to focus on the big picture."
"It's only when one focuses on the small picture," James said, "that the full horror of this scheme becomes apparent."

Aunt Annette's thoughts on the subject of liberation were spot on. I also think the part where Livia ends up with the communists was far less believable, how quickly she was gung-ho, etc. The last part of the book seemed less planned/thought out. The ends were tied up neatly in the story of the annual meal, though, so I'm a happy camper.

I would have written earlier and more on the subject, but I just got the book yesterday and I wanted to make sure we didn't get too far behind waiting on me! :o)

Annette's Take on The Wedding Officer

I liked The Wedding Officer on several different levels: the food, the love story, and the war story. First, I thought the novel was very thought provoking on the issue of what being “liberators” meant. Who were they liberating? How did soldiers treat the people who they were supposedly liberating? We saw kind soldiers and morally bankrupt soldiers. We saw women who prostituted themselves out of desperation, hunger, and fear. And we saw a few women who knew where a buck could be made and frankly embraced the concept of “being a whore”. We saw military policies which were well intentioned but could never succeed in their goals. And we saw horrific military policies (in particular the sending of prostitues to the german brothels) that were completely abhorrent to me. They were treating those women as chattel, objects, military weapons. Where was the humanity in liberating the Italians from the horrors of the Nazis???? I didn’t see them drafting US women as soldiers given them syphilis and sending them behind the lines. They essentially enslaved these womens as weapons. Not our finest hour.

I thought the book really got across the dehumanizing effects of war, occupation, liberation, etc. I think it was even more difficult to take because the first part of the book had the wonderful images of food and love and sexual attraction. These parts of the books celebrated the human condition whether they were british, Italian, or American.

The description of the trench warfare was very vivid and nightmarish. I could almost hear the mortars. The section when Livia ends up with the communist, I thought was necessary but a little contrived…it wasn’t as fleshed out as the rest. Although it did do the job as to why communism, at that moment, appealed so much to the Italians. The Nazis had walked all over them, Mussolini had failed them (initially), the Allies mistreated them (intentionally or unintentionally) and even nature seemed to have turned against them with the eruption of Vesuvius. The “tidiness” and “fairness” that communism supposedly offered must have seem like manna from heaven.

And finally I loved the exploration of food and love and sex. I loved the conversation they would have about food when it was really about intimacy and sex. Very clever. I loved that this stiff lipped british soldiers weaned on gray gravy, overcooked meat, and vegetables like mush could come to appreciate and savor REAL cooking.

I plan to make that simple pasta sauce when I get home from So Cal.

Then there is Alberto and what Livia decided to do with him in order to save his father? What do you think you would have done in that case? Where you father was dying and you felt you were to blame?

What other moral dilemmas did you see that made you think…what would I do? What could I do? What would I do differently?

My favorites for 2008

The Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer
~ Great series of 4 books which many of my friends also devoured and they are definitely on my re-read list.

The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver
~ I found this book amazing and absolutely needed to share it with someone so I asked my friend Amanda to read it and we still need to talk about it.

Queen of the Road: The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 miles, 200 Shoes, 2 Cats, 1 Poodle, a Husband, and a Bus with a Will of its Own by Doreen Orion
~ Great book, great stories, great recipes...but even greater is how amazing the queenly author is. She really connects with her fans and I've enjoyed that quite a lot.

The Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series by Louise Rennison
~ Though this series of nine books is for young adults I hysterically laughed out loud multiple times (ask Josh :)) while reading each book and would love to own them so I can re-read them again and again. The titles alone made me laugh outloud and inspired me to read them.

Peculiar Treasures and On a Whim by Robin Jones Gunn
~ As always, I love anything and everything written by this author and I particularly love that she has continued on my favorite characters through this Katie Weldon series. Looking forward to more over the next few years.

My Life in France by Julia Child
~ This was an amazing book which told me so much more about Julia Child's life than I had ever realized. She had a very full life with so many adventures and neat experiences. I loved it and would highly recommend it to anyone who likes autobiographies or books about food culture.

All the President's Pastries by Roland Mesnier
~ This was a really fascinating book about the former pastry chef at the White House for over 20 years. Great pictures, neat stories and several recipes are included.

The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones
~ Though this was fiction, it really read like a non-fiction story. I found it fascinating and very enjoyable to read. Beautiful descriptions and a neat love story too.

Around the World in 80 Dinners by Bill Jamison
~ Intriguing idea for an anniversary trip by the author and his wife. Though sometimes slow, I liked how descriptive they were about the foods and travel and quite enjoyed the book.

Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account by Miklos Nyiszli
~ Not a fun book to read, but important and a different perspective from many books written about the Holocaust as the author was a prisoner whose medical skills saved him from death, though at what cost?

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
~ This was a very large book, but it never felt tiresome to read. Intriguing story and interesting characters made for a great novel which I enjoyed reading and discussing with Aunt Annette.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
~ Interesting non-fiction about a family's decision to eat locally and organically for one year growing most of the food themselves or obtaining it from a short distance from their farm. It really made the idea of growing vegetables sound good and I specifically enjoyed the short essays written by their teenage daughter which included recipes.

My favorites for 2008

Here is my list of my favorite books that I read in 2008 (just a few more than the target number of 10). What are yours?

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Anne Shaffer

The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family: Duong Van Mai Elliott

Queenof the Road : The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 miles, 200 Shoes, 2 Cats, 1 Poodle, a Husband, and a Bus with a Will of its Own by Doreen Orion

The Glass Castle: A Memoir, by Jeannette Walls

Jacob's Ladder: A Story of Virginia During the War by Donald McCaig

China, Inc: How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World, by Ted C. Fishman

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Darcy's Story by Janet Aylmer

Catfish and Mandala: A Two Wheeled Voyage through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam by Andrew X. Pham

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl

Roar of the Heavens: Surviving Hurricane Camille, Stefan Bechtel

Cross Creek, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Dragonfly in Amber, Diana Gabaldon.

Empire Falls by Richard Russo