<p>As far as our current discussion goes, there was really only one more thing I had on my mind about The Orchardist: Della’s solitary confinement experience. It made me cringe. To think that someone who was already a victim of PTSD had to undergo a punishment that generally causes PTSD on its own – well, it’s no wonder she could never heal. </p>
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<p>Here is an interesting excerpt from another article on the subject (particularly disturbing as the column talks about how solitary confinement is still in use today):</p>
<p>**NJTM: **I understand. I hit the same wall with Cloud Atlas. I liked the book but had little to say when time came for discussion.</p>
<p>pyschmom: I read and really liked Sister by Rosamund Lupton. I noticed that she had a new(er) book Afterwards. I hope to pick it up at some point.</p>
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<p>Good point.</p>
<p>Mary: I also noticed the wrangler weaving his way in and out of the story. So many of the minor characters come across as good men and women, willing to do right by others: townsfolk who warn Talmadge about Michaelson searching for the girls - and keep any information they may have to themselves; the judge and his sister, nuns who nurse Della to health.</p>
<p>Some of the best discussions we have had have been about books that are classics. We haven’t chosen a classic in a while. But the question, as usual, is: which classic?</p>
<p>I was discussing The Orchardist with somebody who has not been part of this discussion, and she said the book put her in mind of “Southern Gothic” novels, to a degree.</p>
<p>The only Southern Gothic writers I have read are Faulkner and Harper Lee, and I must say that Coplin does not remind me of either of them.</p>
<p>I have never read Flannery O’Connor. What would people think of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter as a book club selection?</p>
<p>I think it’s a great idea, since it’s one of the books I’ve always thought I should read, but it was Carson McCullers who wrote The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Flannery O’Connor wrote *Wise Blood<a href=“which%20I%20haven’t%20read%20either”>/I</a>. Another possibility is Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.</p>
<p>I just saw NJTM’s post. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and also The Member of the Wedding are on my list of books I want to read. Rumor has it that both fall firmly into melancholy territory. Personally I don’t have a problem with it. Heck, I didn’t find The Orchardist melancholy, so I might not even notice. I do remember some discussion wanting the next book to be more upbeat though. </p>
<p>mathmom: Your suggestion of Their Eyes Were Watching God makes me laugh. It has to be one of my daughter’s most hated books from high school English. (Loved the teacher, hated the book.) She came home after taking the SAT, complaining that she just knew one of the reading passages came from something written Zora Neale Hurston and that taking the SAT should be enough without having to read another word written by NZH. (She did manage to overcome the issue.) I don’t think I’d have a problem reading this book, though I do know how it ends, courtesy of the aforementioned daughter. (Not an upbeat book either.)</p>
<p>I’ll limit myself to three suggestions and I took the opposite approach with recent publications. (Only three suggestions…but…but…I have so many books I’d like to read.)</p>
<p>The Stockholm Octavo We’ve had it on our list the last two times. I’d still like to read it. </p>
<p>Life After Life - Kate Atkinson Recently published (April 2)</p>
<p>I throw out Middlemarch. I know some of you have read it already. I have never read it and am told it’s a must read. It’s on my Kindle waiting for me. I’ll read it either way, but thought I would take a chance with the group.</p>
<p>I am happy to read whatever the group decides…it is all good! Thus far, my personal favs in our book club (well, the ones I’ve read ;)) are Cutting For Stone and * Cloud Atlas*. Who knows why? LOL.</p>
<p>Ignatius: I am most definitely going to read Sister…well one of these days!</p>
<p>ignatius, trust me, you would definitely notice the “melancholy” (to put it mildly) of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. If we choose that book, we might lose psychmom.</p>
<p>I would read Middlemarch. I read it in college, but I remember virtually nothing about it. I suspect I’d be a more attentive and appreciative reader now.</p>
<p>I read Middlemarch the summer before my senior year and loved it, but remember nothing. I tried to read it again when I was a young mother and just could not get into it, but I imagine I might have more patience again!</p>
<p>No worries, I can do melancholy, especially if there is a redeeming aspect! Cloud Atlas, with its predatory theme and journey through an apocalypse, inspired me to think about my particular drop in the ocean.</p>
<p>You guys do realize that Middlemarch is 900 pages - give or take 20 pages, depending on publisher. May is a busy month for many on CC, with graduations and/or our young adults heading home for the summer or heading elsewhere. How do your next few weeks look?</p>
<p>We might could use a few more - varied - suggestions. Easy for me to say, since I’m not the intrepid book club leader. I apologize Mary if I scattered your herd of cats just when you think maybe you’ve got us heading along in the same direction.</p>
<p>All that said, I’ll join in with whatever book gets picked. Nothing mentioned yet that I won’t pick up.</p>
<p>I would read Middlemarch again and would be happy to discuss it. It’s true that it’s long, though! It’s not a fast read but rather something to linger over and savor.</p>
<p>I like the idea of the Zora Neale Hurston book because it is a classic that I’ve never read, and because it would be nice if the group chose a book that was not written by a white person/American/European or European transplant. :)</p>
<p>Nope, I didn’t realize that. No wonder I don’t remember it. I probably read the first chapter and the last chapter back when it was assigned. I was too busy in college doing…other things…to read 900 pages of anything. (I was reading Ulysses.)</p>
<p>Still, I’d give it a shot if it were chosen. </p>
<p>You’re right, NJTM, not an African American author among any of our previous (27!) selections. :o</p>
<p>On the list of Popular African-American Authors Books:</p>
<p>A Lesson Before Dying - Read it, liked it, and it’s short. </p>
<p>Silver Sparrow should be on the list. Is it? (Awards -Black Caucus of the ALA Literary Award: Fiction Category; Library Journal Top Ten: 2011) It was published in 2012. </p>
<p>*Devil in a Blue Dress: Awards - Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel (1991); The Crime Writers’ Association New Blood Dagger (1991); Edgar Award Nominee for Best First Novel (1991)</p>
<p>*My daughter is taking a course in detective fiction and Devil in a Blue Dress is one of the books she has to read. I requested a copy of her syllabus and have been happily reading along. I started with Edgar Allan Poe’s Dupin short stories, stayed caught up till I reached The Big Sleep which waits on my bedside table, and have Devil in a Blue Dress coming up several books from now.</p>
<p>We probably have too many book selections already, but maybe I could suggest Faulkner’s Intruder in the Dust.</p>
<p>If anybody has not read Faulkner, or has been put off because of taking an unsuccessful stab at one of his more challenging novels, this one is very accessible.</p>
<p>One interesting thing about it is that it presents a very sympathetic view of black people while still being a novel that reflects the flavor of the year when it was written, 1948.</p>
that both fall firmly into melancholy territory. Personally I don’t have a problem with it. Heck, I didn’t find The Orchardist melancholy, so I might not even notice. I do remember some discussion wanting the next book to be more upbeat though. </p>
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