<p>Can we lean towards something shorter?</p>
<p>Ignatius - congratulations to the soon -to -be “mother of the bride” !!! When you say large wedding how many are expected? Early April, late April? Perhaps our next selection will be a welcome break from wedding planning craziness? </p>
<p>Yeeks, Swamplandia sent you “shuddering” from our enclave! Glad it’s off the list.</p>
<p>Plantmom, I haven’t had time to listen to the NPR link above about Sylvia Plath yet, but intend to get to it.</p>
<p>Sylvan, glad you skated in, slipped into your seat. Feel honored that Mary chastised you, she just missed you. </p>
<p>Mary13, thank you for nice words above, and Ignatius, for the record, I missed Sarah’s Key, as noted by our astute leader.</p>
<p>This online book discussion has been most enriching experience, never more so than this last discussion. Its been a crash course, for me, in 19th century British Lit and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I spent many hours doing background reading.
Thank you for selecting this one Mary13. </p>
<p>Sorry, I don’t have any any personal experience with any of the suggestions, and can’t help narrow the list.
I’m in for whatever is chosen. I get many ideas from the suggested reading list-
so carry on.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Anything to prevent you from sliding into your desk chair just before the dismissal bell rings. I’ll put page numbers after the selections to help those leaning one way or another.</p>
<p>Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck, 192 pp</p>
<p>Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner, 335 pp</p>
<p>The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro, 368 pp</p>
<p>The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin, 448 pp</p>
<p>The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich, 304 pp </p>
<p>A Passage to India by E.M. Forster, 336 pp</p>
<p>The World As We Know It by Joseph Monninger, 320 pp</p>
<p>A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, 624 pp</p>
<p>The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann, 432 pp</p>
<p>My ranking:</p>
<ol>
<li>Visitation, (based on length, apparent quality).</li>
<li>Passage to India, based on loving it. And it’s not a difficult read.</li>
<li>Crossing to Safety or The Orchardist – they just sound good.</li>
</ol>
<p>A Fine Balance is long; the tenderhearted might be distressed by certain story elements. Note that it is an engaging read, and was an Oprah selection.</p>
<p>The Painted Drum would be in my top three, but it’s not on Kindle.</p>
<p>I think Crossing to Safety would be my top choice. Not sure if I’m ready for another Nazi - WW2 - house - architect venture yet :)</p>
<p>Thank you for the wedding best wishes.</p>
<p>SJCM: We’re planning on about 250 guests celebrating with us in the latter part of April. </p>
<p>I do plan to pay attention to the book choice and either join you or lurk.</p>
<p>Although A Fine Balance looks great, the length takes it out of the running (for this April, not necessarily for always).</p>
<p>Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck, 192 pp</p>
<p>Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner, 335 pp</p>
<p>The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro, 368 pp</p>
<p>The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin, 448 pp</p>
<p>The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich, 304 pp </p>
<p>A Passage to India by E.M. Forster, 336 pp</p>
<p>The World As We Know It by Joseph Monninger, 320 pp</p>
<p>The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann, 432 pp</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>NJTM, The Painted Drum is available for the Kindle for $7.99, in case you want to update your preference list.</p>
<p>[The</a> Painted Drum (P.S.): Louise Erdrich: Amazon.com: Kindle Store](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/The-Painted-Drum-P-S-ebook/dp/B000FCKCV0/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1360904660&sr=1-1]The”>http://www.amazon.com/The-Painted-Drum-P-S-ebook/dp/B000FCKCV0/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1360904660&sr=1-1)</p>
<p>Oh, good. Sorry about that. I don’t even have a Kindle, so I guess I really didn’t know what I was talking about.</p>
<ol>
<li>A Passage to India. </li>
<li>The Painted Drum.</li>
<li>Crossing to Safety or The Orchardist.</li>
</ol>
<p>At least two people don’t like the idea of Visitation. However, I’m going to read it one of these days and I’ll let you know what I think. I’d like to give the book a chance. It’s not poor Jenny Erpenbeck’s fault that Simon Mawer wrote something lousy that might cause people to steer clear of her work. :)</p>
<p>^ Thanks for thinking of us Kindle users. When I first started using the Kindle, it was about a 50-50 split between that and “real” books, but now I’m much more tied to the Kindle. I think it’s a combination of the adjustable font, the portability, and the search tool. With the Kindle, though, I really miss the ability to thumb through the book.</p>
<p>For book club, my ideal situation is to have a physical copy on hand as well as the Kindle version. That’s not too hard to arrange because I can check both real books and Kindle books out of my local library. </p>
<p>I’ll remove Visitation from the master list for this round, but please let us know what you think of it. You scouted The Cat’s Table and Cloud Atlas for us, so if you come back from Visitation and say, “Let’s do it,” then I’m in.</p>
<p>Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner, 335 pp</p>
<p>The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro, 368 pp</p>
<p>The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin, 448 pp</p>
<p>The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich, 304 pp </p>
<p>A Passage to India by E.M. Forster, 336 pp</p>
<p>The World As We Know It by Joseph Monninger, 320 pp</p>
<p>The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann, 432 pp</p>
<p>I’m checking in to look at the choices for the next book. I have been out of town and wasn’t able to keep up with the Possession discussion. What I have read looks amazing. You guys always have impressive, intelligent, and insightful comments. I learn a lot from all of you. Thanks.</p>
<p>My top 3 books are - </p>
<ol>
<li>Crossing to Safety</li>
<li>The World As We Know It</li>
<li>The Orchardist</li>
</ol>
<p>We seem to be through with the discussion, so this weekend I plan to watch Possession. During the midst of discussion, I searched out the DVD Love Among the Ruins. Robert Browning wrote *Love Among the Ruins<a href=“seen%20years%20ago%20on%20TV”>/I</a>. I vaguely remember the movie ends with poetry by Elizabeth Barrett Browning also, so it seems an appropriate end to the discussion and it stars Katharine Hepburn and Laurence Olivier, so I can’t go wrong, can I? I finally found it as part of a British Cinema Collection on Amazon - four movies for a low, low price. Anyway, I’m content … well, almost content … I also found </p>
<p>[Possession</a> | Folio Illustrated Book](<a href=“http://www.foliosociety.com/book/PSS/possession]Possession”>http://www.foliosociety.com/book/PSS/possession)</p>
<p>I love beautiful books. Should I or should I not?</p>
<p>I could, of course, get either</p>
<p>[The</a> Song of Roland | Folio Illustrated Book](<a href=“http://www.foliosociety.com/bookcat/9328/SOR/song-of-roland]The”>http://www.foliosociety.com/bookcat/9328/SOR/song-of-roland)</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>[Goblin</a> Market and Selected Poems | Folio Illustrated Book](<a href=“http://www.foliosociety.com/bookcat/9328/GBM/goblin-market-and-selected-poems]Goblin”>http://www.foliosociety.com/bookcat/9328/GBM/goblin-market-and-selected-poems)</p>
<p>Actually, I probably will buy Possession since possessing it 
would be a good thing.</p>
<p>^ Beautiful! If you drop a few hints to the happy couple, maybe you’ll end up with all three :).
[Best</a> Mother-of-the-Bride Gift Ideas | Overstock.com](<a href=“Bed Bath & Beyond | The Best Deals Online: Furniture, Bedding, Rugs, Kitchen Essentials & Moree”>Bed Bath & Beyond | The Best Deals Online: Furniture, Bedding, Rugs, Kitchen Essentials & Moree)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Please come back and add comments of your own! </p>
<p>Everyone (no matter how often or how seldom they comment) should feel free to rank choices for April.</p>
<p>I am happy to read whatever the group decides. (I am not this easy in real life.)</p>
<p>^Me too. Though I may just look at the discussion and kick myself for not reading the book which I have done for most of the past discussions!</p>
<p>Ignatius, those books are lovely and what perfect idea from Mary that they would be such a nice “thank you” gift from your daughter for planning a wedding for 250 ! ! Exciting. </p>
<p>Movie suggestion with the “selkie” theme is ** Ondine **. (I watched this via Netflix, and thoroughly enjoyed looking at Colin Farrell )
I watched it after reading the famed selkie myth written by Friedrich de ** la Motte ** Fouque
Byatt used many of the motiffs and symbols in that story for her book.</p>
<p>Here is the link to it.
[Undine</a>, by Friedrich de La Motte Fouque](<a href=“http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2825/2825-h/2825-h.htm]Undine”>Undine, by Friedrich de La Motte Fouque)</p>
<p>Mary I’m interested in the top three books you’d like to read, and then I’ll weigh in.
Also, Mary, I’d be most interested to read your view of Possession after this second reading. I hope to read this book again, although not too soon, and suspect it will be a much more rewarding experience the second time around, once the mysteries are known, and if I can remember all of the background research I’ve completed. </p>
<p>Yes, welcome ALL latecomers, please do share your thoughts. BU&BC and PATheaterMom I wondered where you were!</p>
<p>I hope Editorial Eyes continues her read along, but for some reason she hasn’t updated her blog for weeks.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The first time I read Possession, it had more of a page-turner quality to it because I wanted to know what happened. To quote Randolph Ash, “I cannot bear not to know the end of a tale.” However, there is no question that I was not as close a reader back then as I have learned to be with all of you, so I missed a great deal of the nuance. </p>
<p>The second time around was a richer read, not only because of our discussion, but also because knowing the end of the tale made me alert to certain developments of plot and character that slipped by me the first time. The many years between my first and second readings meant that the story still retained its freshness because I had forgotten so many of the details. An aging brain has its benefits :).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Let me start by saying that there is not a single book on that list of seven that I wouldn’t be happy to read. So I can’t exactly “rank” in that respect.</p>
<p>As I look over our past selections, however, I notice that of the last seven books, only two have been new releases. The other five ranged from a few years old to a century or so. The advantage of a new release is that it will often appeal to more people (CC posters came out of the woodwork for The Help, if I recall correctly), and it is also fun to “boldly go where no man has gone before” in terms of analyzing the text. 11/22/63 would be a good example of that. The disadvantage of a new release is that it is “untested.” It’s a risk that might lead us to …a Glass House at which we want to throw stones :).</p>
<p>If I were to choose my #1 safe choice on that list, it would be A Passage to India. How could we go wrong with E.M. Forster? It would no doubt be a worthwhile read and an enlightening discussion. If I were to choose my #1 risky choice, it would be The Stockholm Octavo. New release, very few reviews, and a plot that sounds just offbeat enough to generate an interesting discussion.</p>
<p>So what’s it going to be? Safe or risky? (flips coin) I’m going with risk!! “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing –“</p>
<p>1) The Stockholm Octavo</p>
<p>2) A Passage to India</p>
<p>3) Everything Else</p>
<p>By the way, did anyone (besides ignatius) open up a copy of The Orchardist? I browsed and the lack of quotation marks made me a little light-headed. I don’t mean that there were dashes instead of quotation marks, ala Alan Paton or Cormac McCarthy. There’s nothing. Check out the “search inside this book”: [The</a> Orchardist: A Novel (P.S.): Amanda Coplin: 9780062188519: Amazon.com: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Orchardist-Novel-P-S-Amanda-Coplin/dp/0062188518/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360984215&sr=1-1&keywords=the+orchardist+by+amanda+coplin]The”>http://www.amazon.com/Orchardist-Novel-P-S-Amanda-Coplin/dp/0062188518/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360984215&sr=1-1&keywords=the+orchardist+by+amanda+coplin)</p>
<p>ignatius, I gather you got used to that quickly?</p>
<p>Oh dear, no quotation marks. Can I tell you how cross I got at Wolf Hall for not telling me who was talking. Or how irritating Ragtime was? I am not a fan of playing around with standard punctuation.</p>
<p>Thanks for those of you who were thinking of me! I am good with any of the choices - anything I was leaning against has already been removed.</p>
<p>You guys are terrific at discussing books. I confess mostly I have been reading the posts and nodding (and laughing), because I have had little to add. </p>
<p>Thank you to Mary for her tremendous leadership. And congrats to ignatius!</p>
<p>^^^ Thanks for the congrats.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I guess because I don’t remember the lack of quotation marks. I do remember liking the book.</p>
<p>Mary: I agree with your thoughts re choosing a newer book this time. Some of the fun of the book club is pulling in a book that no one has read. I am always grateful too to go back and pick up a book that I missed along the way - Possession, for example. The mix of new with sometimes not is fun. For what it’s worth, if I picked choices this go-round, I’d go with yours exactly and for the same reasons.</p>