Last minute reading list changes for May!

LAST MINUTE CHANGES!!
May's title is the classic Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden. Audrey's bookstore says they might be able to get a few in by mid-month so check it out. It should be readily available in lots of places, it's a pretty mainstream title. This is a young adult title, considered a classic. According to wikipedia, Annie was a step forward for LGBT young adult literature because being gay is treated as something permanent and to be explored, not something that needs to be fixed. The School Library Journal included the book in its list of the 100 most influential books of the 20th century.
June's title is Six Metres of Pavement by Farzana Doctor. Farzana has offered to join us via the phone for that meeting! July we'll go with Monique Truong's The Book of Salt.
Thanks to everyone for the discussion of Seven Moves at our last get-together. It was great... Very thought-provoking discussion.
Some more reading list ideas - Malinda Lo's Ash seems very interesting - another young adult novel including a girl who's bisexual and there seem to be fairies involved. Another intriguing title is Keeping You a Secret, by Julianne Peters. Think about it!

Seven Moves discussion questions

Thanks Kay! for the discussion questions from the publisher...

1. What are some of the ways in which Chris and we question—as a result of her misperception of her and Taylor’s relationship—her competence as a therapist and lover?


2. What different views of female sexuality emerge from the relationships and actions of Chris, Renny, Taylor, Leigh, and Stéphane Michaud?


3. Does Chris’s challenge ultimately become one of recreating her very identity, beyond merely reconstructing her life without Taylor? What is the relationship between identity and love, desire, and self-deception? To what extent do we create our own identities or have them imposed upon us by society?


4. How central to Chris’s life is her need for control? Does she come to realize that loss of control is a defining element in her disintegration? How is the need for control related to a person’s self-esteem?


5. In what ways do Chris’s neglect and manipulation by her parents, in her early years, contribute to the vulnerability that surfaces following Taylor’s disappearance?


6. There are numerous references to gambling throughout the book, from Chris’s card-sharp father, to the Magic 8 Ball, to Chris’s own prowess with cards. What is the significance of all these references?


7. How much to the point is Myra’s comment (remembered by Chris) that “covering a lot of territory means you’re never wholly vulnerable in any one place”? In what ways does our gradually acquired knowledge of Chris’s sexual history contribute to our understanding of her character and her inability to achieve true intimacy?


8. Chris’s best friend and closest confidant, Daniel, is a fellow therapist and a heterosexual man with troubles of his own. How does his role differ from that of Leigh?


9. How do the ten flashbacks, juxtaposed with the ongoing narrative of Chris’s present, contribute to our understanding of Chris’s attraction to Taylor and of Chris’s changing comprehension of their relationship? To what extent do these flashbacks foreshadow for us, if not for Chris, the outcome of that relationship?


10. In the first flashback, we learn that “in the face of everything Chris knows to be true about the fundamental isolation of humans, their imperviousness to real connection, or the failure of connection to alleviate the isolation, . . . she longs to . . . slip back to the place before unbelieving.” What does this tell us about Chris’s inability to confront her own emotions and behavior? How does a terror of being “stunningly, utterly alone” impact Chris’s personal relationships?


11. What are the two most important physical clues Chris discovers that enable her to better understand Taylor’s disappearance? How is it ironic that she finds both clues in Taylor’s darkroom?


12. At the novel’s midpoint Chris arrives in Morocco and confronts Stéphane Michaud in the desert. What is the correspondence between the desert, where the paved road gives way to unmarked sandy tracks, and Chris’s inner state? What revelations does she have during her drive, in the Berber market, and in her confrontation with Mme. Michaud?


13. Stéphane Michaud tells Chris that “for Taylor, aging was like a death. The powers she holds are youth and beauty.” How does Chris react to this? To what extent does this explain Taylor’s disappearance?


14. Chris and we are presented with growing evidence that the Taylor she loved was, to a great extent, a figure of her own imagining. And after her visit to the psychic, Chris realizes that “who she is missing and who she might find are quite different people.” How does each of us, like Chris, create the person we love out of our own needs, hopes, desires, and ideals?


15. Chris’s words near the end of the novel, directed to Daniel, are: “The ferocious solitude and isolation of it all. Souls sealed away in separate bubbles.” To what extent does this constitute Chris’s final judgment of her own and everyone else’s situation in life? What does it reveal about Chris’s newly acquired sense of self?

Change the date!

Last meeting everyone agreed we need to meet one week early this go around. It's all my fault because I'm going to be out of town the first Tuesday of the month. I suggested you guys go ahead without me but for some reason you guys want me to come! Aw, thanks!
So. Meeting to chat about Seven Moves is next Tuesday March 29th (instead of April 5th)!!! Mark your calendars!

The Well of Loneliness and more

Hi all. Thanks for a wonderful discussion of the classic The Well of Loneliness. I enjoyed your thoughts immensely. Especially interesting was the discussion of Jenn's question in my last post - whether the book is still "the lesbian bible" and whether the challenges faced by the characters are still relevant today. Amazingly, almost 100 years later, most of it rings true to us; many of us could identify with the struggles of that era. What does this mean? No progress? But we live in Canada, where same sex marriage is legal! Where LGBT rights are more entrenched than most other parts of the world! I'd love to hear your thoughts as well!

Some changes to the reading list had to be made. It seems that The Au Pair is not as readily available as we'd hope so we're moving it back by a couple of months to see if we can get hold of it. So this month, we're reading Carol Anshaw's Seven Moves. Grab a copy right away! We will have some discussion questions asap! We read Anshaw's Lucky in the Corner ages ago. Looking forward to it!

The next title we've added is by another author we've read before, Toronto writer Farzana Doctor. Last time Farzana was kind enough to chat with us via teleconference, maybe we'll convince her again! Her newest book, Six Metres of Pavement, is recently out. Read an excerpt here!