<p>^Oh, I won’t, Mary. 
I promise.</p>
<p>When I really like a book, I reread it right before the discussion anyway.</p>
<p>Mary13, **,LOVE ** the movie version, and watched it again last year after reading the short story. Wonderful. </p>
<p>NJTheatermom, impressed you read some of the selections twice.</p>
<p>SJCM, I didn’t know she wrote Babette’s Feast. I’ve never read it, but I too loved the movie. </p>
<p>NJCM, I think its gorgeously written as well. I have the movie to watch again after I finish the book. It reminds me, with its sense of place (although different in tone), of Marjorie K Rawlings’ Cross Creek.</p>
<p>Ha, I never thought of that, PlantMom. There are indeed similarities between Out of Africa and Cross Creek.</p>
<p>As I recall, Out of Africa is more poignant, though. The Meryl Streep movie, as beautiful as it is, cannot even begin to suggest the complex mix of joy and sadness in Isak Dineson’s memoir.</p>
<p>I love good memoirs. After fiction, I think they are my second-favorite type of book.</p>
<p>I just started the thread for Things Fall Apart. I’ll try to remember to bump it up once or twice before June. The book is only 200 pages, so anyone who decides they’re interested could pick it up mid-May and still have plenty of time to read it before discussion.</p>
<p>I have to say, this week I’ve been reminded of The Orchardist. Somehow, the story of Michaelson and his brothel of sex slaves has an eerie semblance to Castro and his house of horrors.</p>
<p>I just read The Orchardist because of this thread and I want to thank you for the choice. I loved the book even though every page broke my heart. I listened to the audiobook and I could see the landscape and the characters as I listened. At first, I didn’t like the narrator, but grew to really appreciate his work.</p>
<p>The book club at a nearby public library which I’ve started going to the last 4 months read The Orchardist this month. We meet tomorrow on it. I discovered your thread discussing it by searching for people’s take on it and information so I could discover more before our meeting. I’ve enjoyed reading all your comments on it so much I’ve registered on here in hopes that I may join in on your future book discussions. Although I have no clue how to find them on this site. It isn’t complete clear on how to find this on here but I just joined and haven’t played around with it yet so maybe it’ll be easy to figure it out with a little time.
I hope you don’t mind me adding a few comments to this long done and over with thread since I am definitely late to the game. No one touched upon this so maybe it’s just me but I was wondering if anyone else questioned if Della had some mental issues or illness. I ask this because I thought there may have been one. I’ll site the things in the book that made me wonder this (mind you I don’t have the book with me while making this comment to check the pages or exact wording) There was the time when she came out of the Bed room to pick up Angeline who was a infant at the time who’d been on the sofa with Caroline and Talmadge. They than watched her carry the baby over to the stove/oven and open it up. They were concerned with what exactly she was doing almost to being alarmed over this act to not knowing exactly what she would have done since Jane came to the door and told Della to bring the baby to her. When she did they then shut the door. Another time was when Michelson and those other 2 guys come to orchard for the girls and one of them said something that implied they wanted nothing to do with Della (can’t think of what they said exactly) which made me wonder if there was something wrong with her that they would feel that way. When I get a chance I’ll find the exact quote I’m refering to which might shed a better light on what I was thinking there. There was several other times in the book that her mindset or thoughts when they were given just seemed off at times for me. Did anyone else pick up this mindset/thought or is just me reading more into than I should?</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>Mary13 organizes the book discussions but, just in case she misses your post, the discussions take place every other month. The next one starts October 1. Anyone can chime in at any time.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1541379-war-worlds-ender-s-game-october-cc-book-club-selection.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1541379-war-worlds-ender-s-game-october-cc-book-club-selection.html</a></p>
<p>I finished Ender’s Game yesterday and just started War of the Worlds. It looks to be a quick read. (We occasionally have “duets” that relate in some way. I’ve enjoyed them immensely because it’s encouraged me to revisit or visit some classics for the first time.)</p>
<p>We last discussed The Stockholm Octavo. Mary13 is good about listing all the books before we pick the next one, so just scroll down to post #183 on the link below to see the full list of books discussed.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1516433-stockholm-octavo-august-cc-book-club-selection-13.html?[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1516433-stockholm-octavo-august-cc-book-club-selection-13.html?</a></p>
<p>By the way, I’m in my library’s book club also but this one is a definite favorite.</p>
<p>Good points about Della … I agree with all.</p>
<p>Watch for the next discussion thread on Oct. 1 and welcome!</p>
<p>I always felt that Della had been permanently damaged by her horrific childhood.</p>
<p>^^^ </p>
<p>I too see Della’s early years as the reason behind Della’s mental issues. She never recovers from the abuse or the loss of her sister.</p>
<p>I think the men want Jane, more than they don’t want Della. I think that Jane makes herself a favorite in order to protect Della as best she can. Della does not seem to have Jane’s instincts for survival - though I realize Jane ultimately chooses not to survive. Still, it’s a conscious choice, unlike most of Della’s.</p>
<p>Hello, Shellenjoysbooks, welcome to the CC book club! (And thank you, ignatius – I did miss her post, as I have been immersed in our October selections.)</p>
<p>Shellenjoysbooks, I remember well the two scenes you describe. Della was definitely “off,” but I think , like mathmom, that it was due to the trauma she experienced. She had a deep bond with Jane that undoubtedly began in early childhood (when she was healthier and able to love), but after years of abuse, she was incapable of creating new, loving bonds with anyone else – not with Talmadge and not even with her own child.</p>
<p>It’s funny that this thread should be resurrected because I was thinking about The Orchardist after ignatius mentioned (on our other thread) that Tom Sherbourne from The Light Between Oceans reminded her of Talmadge. I had had the same thought about Tom – he could have been Talmadge 30 years earlier. Both are quiet, gentle men with a great capacity for love, and neither is able to properly help the troubled woman in his life.</p>