Seattle Reads - Seattle Public Library

Seattle Reads
A Reading Group Toolbox for
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
Presented by the Washington Center for the Book
at The Seattle Public Library
Toolbox Contents
About the Author
2
A Conversation with Dinaw Mengestu
3
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
Discussion Questions
8
Recommended Reading
10
Book Club How-Tos 16
Seattle Reads
20
© Yegizaw • www.yeggystudio.com • Collection of Shaka Hatcher
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
by Dinaw Mengestu
A Conversation with Dinaw Mengestu
How much of your own story and your family’s story is in this novel? How did
S
eventeen years ago, Sepha Stephanos fled the Ethiopian Revolution after witnessing
you learn about your family’s experience?
soldiers beat his father to the point of certain death, selling off his parents’ jewelry to
The novel is definitely a blend of fact and fiction. The parts of the narrative that are
pay for passage to the United States. Now he finds himself running a small corner grocery
true were told to me over the course of many years, sometimes by accident, sometimes
store in a poor African-American neighborhood in Washington, D.C.
deliberately. As is often the case with fiction, a certain factual detail becomes the
Sepha’s only companions are two fellow African immigrants – Joseph, from the
starting point from which the rest of the narrative takes off. My uncle, for example, was
Congo, and Kenneth, from Kenya – who share his feelings of frustration with and bitter
a lawyer in Addis, and he was arrested and died during the government’s Red Terror
nostalgia for their home continent. He realizes that his life has turned out completely
campaign. The details of his death, however, are entirely unknown to me or anyone else
different and far more isolated from the one he had imagined for himself years ago.
in my family. Similarly, another uncle who was a teenager at the time did flee Ethiopia
Soon Sepha’s neighborhood begins to change. Hope comes in the form of new
for Sudan during the Revolution, and while we’ve discussed his journey, it’s always in
neighbors – Judith and Naomi, a white woman and her biracial daughter – who become
relatively vague and general terms, and that’s partly where the fiction element comes. It
his friends and remind him of what having a family is like for the first time in years. But
allows you to create the details that can bring a story to life.
when the neighborhood’s newfound calm is disturbed by a series of racial incidents,
Sepha may lose everything all over again.
Why do you think that the lives of African immigrants in the United States have
Told in a haunting and powerful first-person narration that casts the streets of
been so little explored in fiction until now?
Washington, D.C., and Addis Ababa through Sepha’s eyes, The Beautiful Things That
There have clearly been dozens of wonderful novels written by Africans about Africa. The
Heaven Bears is a deeply affecting and unforgettable debut novel about what it means to
African diaspora experience in America, however, is still in its early stages, especially
lose a family and a country – and what it takes to create a new home.
with Ethiopia. My generation is the first to grow up in America, to know it well enough
Riverhead Books, Penguin Group (U.S.A.) Inc.
to write about it from “inside” the culture, so to speak, and I imagine as the years go on,
there will be plenty of other similar narratives.
About the Author
D
inaw Mengestu was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1978. He immigrated to
the United States in 1980 with his mother and sister, joining his father, who had
fled Ethiopia during the Red Terror two years before. Mengestu is a graduate of
Georgetown University and of Columbia University’s M.F.A. program in fiction. He has
been the recipient of a fellowship in fiction from the New York Foundation for the Arts, a
5 Under 35 Award from the National Book Foundation, and a Lannan Literary Fellowship.
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (published in the UK under the title,
Children of the Revolution) won the Guardian Unlimited’s First Book Award. It was named
a New York Times Notable Book of 2007 and was a Los Angeles Times bestseller.
He has reported stories for Harper’s and Jane magazine, profiling a young
woman who was kidnapped and forced to become a soldier in the brutal war in
Uganda. He has also written for Rolling Stone on the tragedy in Darfur. Mengestu is
working on a new novel.
Although your book is written from the point of view of an African immigrant
from Ethiopia, it is also in a sense an African-American novel, set in a primarily
black neighborhood in Washington, D.C. Can immigrants from Africa offer a
new perspective on race relations in the United States?
I wouldn’t say that this is an African novel, or African-American novel. To me, it’s a novel
about America, with all of its competing and sometimes conflicting identities. Of course,
growing up black and African in America has shaped my writing and experiences in
more ways than I could possibly state, and yet I have to argue for the singularity of my
opinion and perspective on this, which is to say I grew up and continue to live in different
communities, some predominantly white, some predominantly African-American or
African. Personally, for me, if there is a new perspective on race relations that comes
from being an African immigrant it stems from this sense of never wholly identifying with
one category.
More specifically, can you talk about some of the different ways that African-
Judith, the white woman in the novel, is a professor of American history, and
Americans and African immigrants experience American society? What is the
one of her favorite quotations is from Tocqueville’s Democracy in America:
relationship between the two communities like?
“Among democratic nations new families are constantly springing up, others
Obviously there is no simple or short answer to that question. If anything though, I would
are constantly falling away, and all that remain change their condition; the
have to say it’s easy for people not to understand just how removed and disempowered
woof of time in every instant broken and the track of generations effaced.”
many minority communities, particularly African immigrants and African-Americans,
Does this quotation still describe the essential dynamic of American society, for
feel from the country’s power structures, political, social, and economic. As for the
immigrants and native-born citizens alike?
relationship between the two communities, like any two closely intertwined communities
My interest with Tocqueville comes in large part from how accurate I think many of his
there is a give and take, with ample room for misunderstanding and disappointment.
observations about America still are. Tocqueville, while at times highly critical of America
In DC, for example, many within the African-American community were angered at a
and its democratic spirit, nonetheless respected the country’s inherent dynamic nature.
proposal to rename a part of the historically black U street corridor “Little Ethiopia.” That
Families, language, all of these are in a constant state of flux and evolution, which is
anger, of course, is entirely understandable, and in its simplest form, comes out of the
a part of the great American myth—and I don’t use that term pejoratively—that each
question, whose experience in America matters more?
individual has the ability to change their circumstances, better their lives, and make
themselves an entirely new man or woman. Of course that ties in directly with one of the
Sepha Stephanos, your narrator and main character, has a very tentative
more common criticisms about America, which is its lack of regard for history.
romantic relationship with a white woman who moves in next door. Are the
barriers to their relationship primarily personal, racial, economic, or some
Do you think there’s something new about the latest wave of American
inextricable combination of all those?
immigrants over the past few decades? Are their experiences in some ways
In Sepha’s case, the barriers are very much a mix of all these factors, but perhaps most
fundamentally different from the experiences of the European immigrants of
important to the novel is that mix of race and economics. I wanted to show how together
the early twentieth century, for example?
the two can create vast, seemingly inseparable gulfs between people. Recently much
Obviously America’s ethnic make up is rapidly changing. The Hispanic community has
more attention has been paid to the growing class and economic divide within America,
become the largest minority community in the country, while at the same time there have
and that divide, when coupled with race, magnifies the tensions even more.
been an ever-increasing number of African immigrants. Undoubtedly their experiences
are going to be different, while at the same time, they will also be marked by some of the
The neighborhood in which you set your story is Logan Circle, which is rapidly
same burdens ranging from discrimination to low-paying jobs.
being gentrified. More bluntly, prosperous white people are moving in and
bringing economic pressures to bear on the poor black people who already live
What do you think your novel has to say to all Americans, regardless of ethnic
there. Can this sort of change ever go well?
or racial background, about national identity?
Gentrification is one of those words in constant circulation these days, not only in DC but
I don’t know if novels are supposed to say anything. I think they exist to complicate and
also in New York and I’m sure many other cities throughout the country. When it means
expand upon our understanding of the world and it is up to the reader to create their own
mass displacement, the type of which is happening throughout DC and New York, where
personal meaning out of the narrative.
entire communities are being turned over, then no, I don’t think these changes ever really
go well. At the same time, however, there has to be room for economic revitalization and
rebuilding, the type that allows for a community to rebuild its own resources—schools,
homes, businesses—while allowing for new growth.
Is it ever possible for an immigrant to overcome the sense of being stuck
Another work of literature that figures significantly in the novel is The Brothers
between two worlds that Sepha feels? How is it done? What is the price that
Karamazov, which Sepha reads to Naomi, Judith’s bright young daughter. Are
must be paid?
there thematic parallels between that work and your own?
I’m sure many immigrants can and do overcome that sense, although I can’t say I
The Brothers Karamazov was one of those novels that once read, never leave you, but I
personally know any. I was born in Ethiopia but I’ve grown up entirely in the United
can’t say I chose it out of any obvious thematic parallels. I’m not even sure I would ever
States and yet I’ve held on deliberately, at times fiercely, to a country that I hadn’t seen
want to think of the novel in terms of thematic resonance. Alyosha’s speech that Sepha
in twenty-five years. Many other immigrants I’m sure have a much stronger sense of
commits to memory at the end of the novel does tie in with a lesson that Sepha wants to
the country they left behind and so perhaps for them it has less to do with being stuck
pass onto Naomi, and of course himself, namely that we all seek some form of salvation
between two worlds as it does with moving between two different realities. In Sepha’s
from who we are and what we’ve become and that it’s possible to find that salvation in a
case, Ethiopia has been physically left behind and he lives with that absence and refuses
memory of who we once were.
to let it go because nostalgia and memory are all he has.
Sepha and his only friends, two fellow African immigrants named Ken and
Your title is taken from Dante’s Inferno. Can you recite that passage and explain
Joseph, regularly play a sarcastic game together. One of them names an
how it is related to your story?
obscure African dictator, and the others have to name his country and the date
The passage comes from the last few lines of the Inferno, just as Dante is preparing to
of the coup that put him power. Why are they so bitter and hopeless about their
leave Hell. “Through a round aperture I saw appear, some of the beautiful things that
home continent?
Heaven bears, where we came forth and once more saw the stars.” I read the Commedia
I don’t actually think of them as being hopeless. Bitter, yes, but if anything it’s a bitterness
as an undergraduate, and then read parts of Robert Pinsky’s translation years ago. The
born out of love. If they did not love and mourn for their home countries, and for the
last lines always stuck with me, as many wonderful lines in poetry often do. In this
continent as a whole, they would never spend so much time mocking and eulogizing
particular case it was the idea of beauty that struck me most. It’s an idea central to the
Africa. They are all realists, to one degree or another, and what they will not do is
novel, and it’s a word repeated throughout the narrative. Dante still has not made it to
romanticize any of the continent’s failures, most notably those of its leaders.
heaven yet, and won’t until passing through purgatory, and so there is an ambiguity
to the language. The beautiful things are not named or described, and won’t be until
Dante finally reaches heaven. And yet of course he can see a hint of what that beauty
is. He knows it’s there even if he has not attained it. Joseph, one of the novel’s central
characters, latches on to that idea of a visible but not yet attained heaven as a metaphor
for his understanding of Africa.
You recently wrote a major piece about the crisis in Darfur for Rolling Stone.
What’s your own view about Africa’s future?
I still see more hope and potential in Africa than I do despair, and I say that after having
seen it at its very worst. Part of why I went to Darfur and now northern Uganda is
because like many Africans, I was tired of seeing the continent’s conflicts described as
“hell,” or “hellish.” Yes, there is more misery and suffering than any one person should
Although your novel does not take place in a single day, Sepha goes on a
ever have to bear, but even in the case of Darfur, that is not the entire story. Underlying
crucial day-long journey through the streets of Washington that inevitably calls
that misery and violence are remarkable people who continue to endure and survive
to mind Leopold Bloom’s journey in Ulysses. Was that a correspondence you
despite their corrupt leaders.
were consciously seeking to evoke?
I wasn’t thinking of Ulysses explicitly while writing this novel, although of course I was
aware of Bloom’s one-day journey through Dublin. The novel that probably proved the
most influential in imagining Sepha’s trip through Washington DC was Saul Bellow’s
Herzog. I’m sure even subconsciously the letters that Sepha reads were an echo of the
letters that Herzog is constantly writing in his head as he wanders through New York and
When and how did you decide to become a writer?
I don’t think most writers ever decide to write. For me, it was something that I did
because I had to. It’s been my way of managing and making sense of the world I live in.
Reprinted with permission from Riverhead Books.
his own past.
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
Discussion Questions
1. Sepha Stephanos meets regularly with his friends Kenneth and Joseph. What brings
and keeps these three together? What dominates their conversations?
2. How do these men view Africa and America, their new home? How do their stories
speak to the larger experience of immigrants in America?
3. How does Sepha’s life change once he meets Judith and Naomi?
4. How does the gentrification of Logan’s Circle affect Sepha’s business and his
personal life?
5. Sepha enters his uncle Berhane’s apartment and opens a lockbox containing letters
and money. What is the intention of his visit and what does he discover there?
6. How does the memory of his father and the way he died affect the man that Sepha
has become?
7. When Joseph sees the brick that was thrown at the front of Sepha’s store, he holds
it aloft and says, “There’s a great metaphor in this.” What do you think of this and
other metaphors in the book?
8. Sepha comments, “We were always more comfortable with the world’s tragedies
than our own.” What can we, as readers, learn from the suffering and hardship we
encounter in Mengestu’s book?
9. What is the significance of the works of literature, such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The
Brothers Karamazov, Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, V.S. Naipaul’s A
Bend in the River, and the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, mentioned in the book?
10. How do you read the book’s ending? What do you think will happen to Sepha, his
store, and the neighborhood?
11. The British title of this book is Children of the Revolution (from a 1972 song by T.
Rex), whereas the American title comes from a line in Dante’s Inferno. How does
each title change your perspective on the book? Which do you prefer and why?
Recommended Reading
Naipaul, V. S. A Bend in the River (1979)
An Indian merchant who sells pencils, pots and other supplies at the edge of a central
Fiction
African jungle finds himself caught between traditional and modern worlds in a newly
Cohen, Gabriel. Boombox (2007)
independent country.
A Brooklyn neighborhood in the throes of gentrification sets the scene for intercultural
and cross-class conflict when Jamel Wilson, a teen father and high school dropout, gets
Phillips, Caryl. A Distant Shore (2003)
a powerful new boombox.
Solomon, a refugee from war-torn Africa, now a security guard in a north England
community, befriends divorced and retired Dorothy, who lives there. Local prejudices
Danticat, Edwidge. The Dew Breaker (2004)
intervene, reinforcing their alienation.
A torturer and his victims have fled Haiti to start anew in America, but an unbroken web
of past deeds still links them all, stretched into strange and unpredictable patterns of
Russo, Richard. Bridge of Sighs (2007)
terror and redemption.
At 60, Louis “Lucy” Lynch reflects on his life in a blue-collar New York town where his
father ran the corner shop in this stirring, epic story about our complex relationships to
Dubus, Andre. House of Sand and Fog (1999)
family, memory, and place.
Two legitimate owners of a modest home vie for right of ownership: one an exiled
Iranian, the other a recovering addict. Interfering law enforcement exacerbates the
escalating tragedy with horrific consequences.
Edugyan, Esi. The Second Life of Samuel Tyne (2004)
Facing middle age and a mind-numbing job, Samuel moves his family from Calgary to
a historically all-black Canadian town that he hopes will be like his childhood village in
Ghana, only to encounter hardship.
Memoirs
Asgedom, Mawi. Of Beetles & Angels: A Boy’s Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to
Harvard (2002)
Asgedom powerfully depicts his family’s flight from Ethiopia’s civil war in 1980, the three
years they spent in a Sudanese refugee camp, and their relocation to the U.S., where
they faced – and overcame – numerous challenges.
Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng (2006)
In this fictionalized memoir based on the real-life story of a Sudanese Lost Boy,
Valentino Achak Deng recounts his harrowing and inspiring tale of survival in refugee
camps and as an immigrant in America.
Danticat, Edwidge. Brother I’m Dying (2007)
Combining exceptionally well-crafted prose and gifted storytelling, Danticat shares her
family’s intricate tale of loss and survival as they emigrated from Haiti to the U.S.
Greene, Melissa Fay. There Is No Me Without You: One Woman’s Odyssey to Rescue Her
McCall, Nathan. Them (2007)
Barlowe Reed watches the tension unfold as wealthy white people move into his
African-American neighborhood – and even right next door – in Atlanta’s Old Fourth
Ward where he had hoped to buy his first home.
Mullins, Meg. The Rug Merchant (2006)
Iranian immigrant Ushman Khan, who sells exquisite rugs in New York City, suffers
disappointment when his wife back home leaves him and Khan seeks to alleviate his
isolation in an affair with a Barnard student.
10
Country’s Children (2006)
A stunning picture of the terrible toll AIDS has taken in Ethiopia, along with the touching
and inspiring story of one heroic woman’s efforts to save the lives of children orphaned
by the epidemic.
Haile, Rebecca G. Held at a Distance: My Rediscovery of Ethiopia (2007)
The author’s family was forced to flee Ethiopia for the U.S. in 1976 when she was 11
years old. Twenty-five years later, she returns to her homeland, and discovers daily
struggles amidst rich traditions.
11
Houze, David. Twilight People: One Man’s Journey to Find His Roots (2006)
Zephaniah, Benjamin. Refugee Boy (2004)
Learning of three sisters left behind when his parents fled South African apartheid,
Fourteen-year-old Alem Kelo seeks refuge in London after his Ethiopian father and
Houze embarks on a profound journey through his own past in the poor American
Eritrean mother decide Alem will live more safely there than in his war-torn African
South, towards his lost family and home.
homeland.
Mezlekia, Nega. Notes from the Hyena’s Belly: An Ethiopian Boyhood (2001)
The vivid myths and tales of his youth in the culturally diverse city of Jijiga become all
Books for Children
too real when revolution breaks out, and the night’s marauding hyenas are usurped by
Ahmed, Said Salah. The Lion’s Share: A Somali Folktale (2007)
monsters in human shape.
Told in English and Somali, the tale of a group of hungry animals that must decide how
to divide their prey. Will they each get a fair share?
Recommended for Preschool to Grade 3
Books for Teens
Cooney, Caroline B. Diamonds in the Shadow (2007)
Bulion, Leslie. Fatuma’s New Cloth (2002)
The Finches, an upper-middle-class Connecticut family, decide to sponsor the Amabos,
Fatuma helps her mother with the marketing in her East African village and receives lots
a Sierra Leone family fleeing civil war. While everyone is adjusting, the Finch children
of advice from local merchants on how to select a kanga cloth to wear.
discover a dangerous secret that may destroy them all.
Recommended for Preschool to Grade 3
Kerr, M. E. Someone Like Summer (2007)
Day, Nancy Raines. The Lion’s Whiskers: An Ethiopian Folktale (1995)
A white American teen girl and an illegal immigrant teen boy from Colombia infuriate
As a woman slowly earns the trust of a lion, she learns the way to gain the love of her
their families in this contemporary Romeo and Juliet-type love story.
reluctant new stepson.
Recommended for Grades K-3
Kurtz, Jane. Memories of Sun: Stories of Africa and America (2004)
Twelve stories and three poems explore connections between Africa and America
Hoffman, Mary. The Color of Home (2002)
through the lives of contemporary teenagers on both continents. Teens search for
Hassan misses his home in Somalia. On his first day of school in America, Hassan paints
themselves amid the complexities of culture, religion, war and family ties.
two pictures – one of his life in Somalia, and another that communicates his hope for a
bright future in his new home.
Laird, Elizabeth. The Garbage King (2003)
Recommended for Grades K-3
Mamo and Dani live on the streets of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where everyday survival is
Janisch, Heinz. The Fire: An Ethiopian Folk Tale (2002)
a struggle.
A slave is promised freedom if he can spend a night alone, naked, on a snow-covered
Levitin, Sonia. Dream Freedom (2000)
mountain. By watching the flames of a fire on a nearby mountain, the slave survives the
When a fifth-grade class in Denver learned that slavery still existed in Sudan in 1997,
night, and is freed.
they raised money in hopes of freeing the enslaved. Their campaign inspired this novel,
Recommended for Grades K-3
which alternates between Denver and Sudan.
Kessler, Cristina. The Best Beekeeper of Lalibela: A Tale from Africa (2006)
Naidoo, Beverley. The Other Side of Truth (2000)
The beekeepers of Lalibela have always been men, but Almaz vows that one day her
Two Nigerian children hastily leave their own country when their mother is assassinated
honey will be the best in all of Ethiopia.
as a result of their father’s outspoken political opinions. They find themselves alone in
Recommended for Grades K-3
London, eventually fighting to save their father’s life.
12
13
Kurtz, Jane. Faraway Home (2000)
Desta’s father is returning to his homeland for a visit. To help his daughter understand
why he is going, he shares his memories of growing up in Ethiopia.
Recommended Reading from Seattle University:
An Ethiopia Bibliography
Abraham, Kinfe. Ethiopia: From Bullets to the Ballot Box: The Bumpy Road to Democracy
Recommended for Grades K-3
and the Political Economy of Transition. (Red Sea Press, 1994)
Kurtz, Jane. The Storyteller’s Beads (1998)
Adejumobi, Saheed A. The History of Ethiopia. (Greenwood Press, 2007)
Though they have been taught to hate each other, Sahay, a Christian orphan, and Rahel,
Araia, Ghelawdewos. Ethiopia: The Political Economy of Transition. (University Press of
a blind Jewish girl, discover they have much in common as Ethiopian refugees escaping
America, 1995)
to Sudan in the 1980s.
Casely Hayford, J.E. Ethiopia Unbound: Studies in Race Emancipation. (London, Cass, 1969)
Recommended for Grades 4-8
Donham, Donald L. Marxist Modern: An Ethnographic History of the Ethiopian Revolution
(University of California Press, 1999)
Kurtz, Jane. Trouble (1997)
In this traditional tale from Eritrea, trouble seems to follow Tekleh. His father makes a
board game to keep him occupied and tame his adventurous curiosity, but instead, it
causes a series of unexpected mishaps.
Greenfield, Richard. Ethiopia: A New Political History. (Frederick A. Praeger Publishers,
1965, pp. 93-4)
Hansberry, Leo. Pillars in Ethiopian History: The William Leo Hansberry Notebook. Vol. 1.
Joseph E. Harris, ed. (Howard University Press, 1974)
Recommended for Grades 4-8
Harris, Joseph E. African-American Reactions to War in Ethiopia, 1936-1941 (Louisiana
Laird, Elizabeth. When the World Began: Stories Collected in Ethiopia (2000)
Twenty tales and myths, collected from the traditional oral storytellers of Ethiopia, are
paired with a rich variety of illustrations by four artists.
Recommended for Grades K-3
State University Press, 1994)
Iyob, Ruth. The Eritrean Struggle for Independence: Domination, Resistance, Nationalism,
1941-1993 (Cambridge University Press, 2004)
Kebede, Messay. Survival and Modernization: Ethiopia’s Enigmatic Present: A Philosophical
Discourse (Red Sea Press, 1999)
Mohamed, Sultan. The Story of Coffee (2004)
This is a story of how coffee was discovered in Ethiopia and how people came to enjoy
it. Children will enjoy learning about Ethiopian coffee, traditions, and vocabulary, in this
Keller, Edmond J. and Donald Rothchild, eds. Afro-Marxist Regimes: Ideology and Public
Policy (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1987)
Lipsky, George A. Ethiopia: Its People, Its Society, Its Culture. (Hraf Press, 1962)
charming picture book.
Marcus, Harold G. A History of Ethiopia (University of California Press, 1994)
Recommended for Grades K-3
Markakis, John. Ethiopia: Anatomy of a Traditional Polity (Clarendon Press, 1974)
Ottaway, Marina, ed. The Political Economy of Ethiopia (Praeger, 1990)
Yohannes, Gebregeorgis. Silly Mammo: An Ethiopian Tale (2002)
Pankhurst, Helen. Gender, Development, and Identity: An Ethiopian Study (Zed Books, 1992)
Told in English and Amharic, the story of a foolish young man who can’t seem to arrive
Pankhurst, Richard. An Introduction to the Economic History of Ethiopia, From Early Times
home with his day’s wages without making a silly mistake, until the day he is given the
to 1800 (Lalibela House, 1961)
task of making a rich man’s daughter laugh.
Pankhurst, Richard. The Ethiopians (Blackwell Publishers, 1998)
Recommended for Grades K-4
Sorenson, John. Imagining Ethiopia: Struggles for History and Identity in the Horn of Africa
(Rutgers University Press, 1993)
Tibebu, Teshale. The Making of Modern Ethiopia: 1896-1974 (Red Sea Press, 1995)
Young, John. Peasant Revolution in Ethiopia: The Tigray People’s Liberation Front, 1975-1991
(Cambridge University Press, 1997)
Zewde, Bahru. A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855-1991. Second Edition
(James Currey, 2001)
14
15
Book Club How-Tos
Try the following types of books:
w Books with unclear endings.
I
deas for setting up a book discussion group from the Washington Center for the Book
For example, not everyone agrees about what actually happened in Tim O’Brien’s
at The Seattle Public Library
In the Lake of the Woods, James Buchan’s The Persian Bride, or Marilynne Robinson’s
Housekeeping.
Getting Started
w Books you can read together.
Before (or at) your first meeting, discuss:
You can discuss both books at the same meeting or in separate meetings. Examples:
w When, where, and how often will your book group will meet?
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi and Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov; Truth and
w How long will each meeting last?
Beauty by Ann Patchett and Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy; Persepolis and
w Will you serve refreshments?
Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi.
w What is the role of the leader, or will you even designate a leader?
w Books that raise many, many issues.
w Who develops the discussion questions?
Examples: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines,
w What types of books will you read and discuss: Fiction, memoirs, nonfiction, a
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner.
combination? Contemporary works, classics, both?
Not every member is going to like every book the group chooses. Everyone may read
Choosing Good Books for Discussion
the same book, but in fact, every member is reading a different book. Everyone brings
C
hoosing what books to read is one of the most important activities the group will
her own unique history, memories, background, and influences. Everyone is in a different
undertake. One of the best parts of belonging to a book discussion group is that
place in his life when he reads the book. All of these differences influence the reader’s
you will be introduced to authors and books you’re unfamiliar with, and books that fall
experience of a book and why she may like or dislike it.
outside your regular areas of interest.
See Recommended Books for Discussion: www.spl.org/pdfs/
Remind people that there can be a big difference between “a good read” and “a good
RecommendedBooksforDiscussion.pdf
book for a discussion.” (See next section.) It’s always a good idea to select your group’s
books well in advance (at least six months works well). You don’t want to have to spend
time at each meeting deciding what to read next.
What makes a particular book a good one for a discussion? Probably the most
important criteria are that the book be well written and that it explores basic human
truths.
Look for books with complex, three-dimensional characters who are forced to make
Reading a Book for Discussion
R
eading for a book discussion – whether you are the leader or simply a participant –
differs from reading purely for pleasure.
Ask yourself questions, read carefully, and imagine yourself in the story. Think about
the style and structure of the book. Does it have personal meaning for you?
difficult choices under difficult situations. Try to read with an open mind. Characters
don't have to be likable in order for you to identify and sympathize. Francine Prose, in
Reading Like a Writer (HarperCollins, 2006), writes “masterpieces survive in which all
that’s expected of us is that we be interested in the characters, engaged by their fates,
intrigued by their complexities, curious about what will happen to them next.”
Books that are heavily plot driven and spell out everything leave little to discuss.
Most mysteries, Westerns, romances and science fiction/fantasy fall in this category.
w Make notes and mark pages as you go. This may slow your reading, but saves
time searching for key passages later.
w Ask tough questions of yourself and the book. Look for questions that will lead
to in-depth conversations with your group.
w Analyze themes. What is the author trying to say in the book?
w Get to know the characters. Consider their faults and motives and what it
would be like to know them. Read portions aloud to get to know the voices of the
characters.
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Notice the book’s structure. Do the chapters begin with quotes? How many
people tell the story? Is the book written in flashbacks? Does the order make sense
to you?
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Sample Discussion Questions
Examine the book
Compare to other books and authors. Themes often run through an author’s
1. How does the title relate to the book?
works. Comparing one author’s work with another’s can help you solidify your
2. How believable are the characters? Which character do you identify with?
opinions and define qualities you may otherwise miss.
3. What makes the main character sympathetic, or unsympathetic?
4. Why do certain characters act the way they act? Do they have an ax to grind, a
political ideology, religious belief, or psychological disorder?
Leading the Discussion
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5. How does the author use certain words and phrases differently than we would
Have 10-15 open-ended questions that can’t be answered “yes” or “no.” Or ask each
group member to bring one discussion question. Readers will focus on different
aspects of the book, and everyone will gain new insights as a result.
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Let the discussion flow naturally.
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Remind the group that there are not necessarily any right answers to the questions
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did the author leave?
7. How is the book structured? Flashbacks? Many points of view? Why do you think the
author chose to write the book this way?
posed.
8. How does the way the book is arranged help or detract from the ideas it contains?
Push members beyond “I just didn’t like it” statements. What made the book
9. What types of symbolism do you find in this novel? What do these objects really
unappealing? The style? The pacing? The characters? Books that inspire strong
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normally use them? Does the author make up new words and, if so, why?
6. How believable and interesting are the plot and subplots? What loose ends, if any,
represent? How do characters react to and with these symbolic objects?
reactions, positive and negative, lead to some of the best discussions.
10. What themes recur throughout the book?
Balance the discussion between personal thoughts and responses to the book. It’s
11. How is the setting of the book important to the theme?
too easy to let a group drown in reminiscences. If that’s what the whole group wants
to do, that’s fine, but keep in mind that then it’s not a book discussion.
Draw conclusions
1. What is the great strength - or most noticeable weakness - of the book?
Learning More About an Author
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2. What did the author try to do in the book? Was he or she successful?
iscussion leaders may want to bring background information about the author and
book to a meeting. Some online resources are:
Think outside the book
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Books in Print
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Booklist Online
1. What is the author's worldview?
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Literature Resource Center
2. How does this book fit into or fight against a literary genre? Does this book typify a
regional (Southern, western) novel?
A Seattle Public Library card maybe required to access these online databases.
3. What, if any, broader social issues does the book address? Does the author take a
stance on, for example, anarchy versus capitalism? How is a particular culture or
subculture portrayed?
4. Where could the story go after the book ends? What is the future of these characters’
lives? What would our lives be like if we lived in this story?
5. How does this book compare to other books you've read? Would it make a good
movie? Is there a film adaptation of this book? What is brought out or played down
in the film version?
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Books for Book Groups
T
he Washington Center for the Book lends hundreds of copies of the featured book to
book discussion groups during the two months prior to the author’s visit. To request
Seattle Reads
books for your book group, contact:
T
he Washington Center for the Book at The Seattle Public Library invites everyone
to take part in “Seattle Reads,” a project designed to deepen an appreciation of and
engagement in literature through reading and discussion.
Each year the Washington Center for the Book hosts an author for a series of free
Washington Center for the Book at The Seattle Public Library
bookgroups@spl.org
206-615-1747
programs. Prior to the visit, the Center develops background material and study guides
For more information, contact:
and encourages book groups and individuals throughout the region to read and discuss
Washington Center for the Book at The Seattle Public Library
the featured book. The Seattle Public Library also hosts a series of programs, panel
discussions, film screenings, dramatic readings, and other events around the themes of
the featured work.
1000 Fourth Ave.
Seattle, WA 98104-1109
Chris Higashi, Program Manager
Featured Works
chris.higashi@spl.org
2007:
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (Mariner Books, 2003)
2006:
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon Books, 2003)
2005:
When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka (Anchor Books, 2002)
2004:
Seattle Reads Isabel Allende
My Invented Country (HarperCollins, 2003)
City of the Beasts (HarperCollins, 2002)
Paula (HarperCollins, 1995)
The Infinite Plan (HarperCollins, 1993)
The Stories of Eva Luna (Atheneum, 1991)
Eva Luna (Knopf, 1988)
The House of the Spirits (Knopf, 1985)
Note: The 2004 series featured seven titles from Allende’s body of work
2003:
A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee (Riverhead Books, 1999)
2002:
Wild Life by Molly Gloss (Mariner Books, 2001)
2001:
Fooling with Words: A Celebration of Poets and Their Craft by Bill Moyers
(Morrow, 1999)
1999:
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines (Vintage Books, 1994)
1998:
The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks (HarperCollins, 1991)
Reading Group Toolboxes
R
eading group toolboxes are designed to enhance a book group’s discussion of the
author’s work. Toolboxes are available at all Seattle Public Library locations as well
as at many local bookstores. Toolboxes are also available on The Seattle Public Library’s
web site: www.spl.org.
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206-386-4650
Contributors to this toolbox include Jennifer Baker, Hayden Bass, Jennifer Bisson,
Ann Dalton, Beth de la Fuente, Chris Higashi, Linda Johns, Jane Lopez-Santillana, Hannah
Parker, Misha Stone, and David Wright.
Generous grants from The Wallace Foundation have supported Seattle Reads since its
inception. Thanks to private gifts to The Seattle Public Library Foundation and a major grant from
the National Endowment for the Humanities, Seattle Reads is now an annual program series of the
Washington Center for the Book at The Seattle Public Library.
Seattle Reads is designed to foster reading and discussion of works by authors of diverse
cultures and ethnicities. The 2008 series is made possible with additional support from KUOW 94.9
Public Radio and Riverhead Books.
Photo © Mathieu Zazzo
Seattle Reads
Dinaw Mengestu