The Non-Expert
Helpful Guides for Book Clubs
Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. This week a young woman wants to encourage her book club to read the classics, and ROSECRANS BALDWIN offers some topics to spark discussion.
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Question: Hi, TMN. I have a question for your Non-Expert: since you guys are such big readers, are there any classics you’d really recommend for my book group? We’re trying to do the reverse Oprah maneuver, skip new novels for big oldies we may have missed in school. Hope all’s well. Thanks. —Shannon P.
Answer: Good for you, Shannon, and good for your book club! Don’t think you’re alone—no one reads contemporary fiction anymore. Why should they when there are so many more entertaining, vituperative (and shorter-winded) things to read about contemporary fiction instead?
(Nothing I love more than September’s annual coming-of-age novel about an Ivy-educated young male in New York City dabbling in heroin and misogyny, except maybe the annual celebration and dismemberment of September’s annual coming-of-age novel about an Ivy-educated young male in New York City dabbling in heroin and misogyny!)
The classics are here to stay, available in cheap editions to nuzzle you with piquant lingo and safely distant events. Here are a few recommendations plus some discussion topics to get your group off to a roaring start.
2. Imagine Raskolnikov didn’t kill the old woman and her sister. Would the novel be any different?
3. Crime and Punishment is long, and some of the characters can be very loquacious. Still, people think the book is great. Have you ever had a similar experience, where a friend of yours is both obese and gabby, yet people still prefer her company to yours? Have you ever thought of buying an axe?
2. Communism plays a major part in the protagonist’s demise. With a fine pen, substitute every mention of “communism” with “terrorism” and then reread the book. What did you learn about your feelings about suicide bombers? Are they always evil, or do Palestinians have a legitimate case for sovereignty achieved by any means, including the sacrifice of their martyrs for a better world free of Jews?
3. Ellison’s protagonist eventually considers himself “invisible” in the world—something every African-American feels. If you are an African-American—what Ellison in the book calls a “negro”—describe what it’s like. If not, imagine.
2. The character Peter Walsh is constantly playing with his little penknife—obviously a symbol for his sex. Is this an ironic gesture on Woolf’s part, or a sincere gesture to link a man’s penis with an object that can cut through organs, e.g., the heart? (Skip this question if there are men in the book club.)
3. On p. 121, Clarissa thinks, “Who was Peter to make out that life was all plain sailing?—Peter always in love, always in love with the wrong woman? What’s your love? she might say to him. And she knew his answer; how it is the most important thing in the world and no woman possibly understood it. Very well. But could any man understand what she meant either? about life? She could not imagine Peter or Richard taking the trouble to give a party for no reason whatever.” So true.
Question: Hi, TMN. I have a question for your Non-Expert: since you guys are such big readers, are there any classics you’d really recommend for my book group? We’re trying to do the reverse Oprah maneuver, skip new novels for big oldies we may have missed in school. Hope all’s well. Thanks. —Shannon P.
Answer: Good for you, Shannon, and good for your book club! Don’t think you’re alone—no one reads contemporary fiction anymore. Why should they when there are so many more entertaining, vituperative (and shorter-winded) things to read about contemporary fiction instead?
(Nothing I love more than September’s annual coming-of-age novel about an Ivy-educated young male in New York City dabbling in heroin and misogyny, except maybe the annual celebration and dismemberment of September’s annual coming-of-age novel about an Ivy-educated young male in New York City dabbling in heroin and misogyny!)
The classics are here to stay, available in cheap editions to nuzzle you with piquant lingo and safely distant events. Here are a few recommendations plus some discussion topics to get your group off to a roaring start.
Crime & Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
1. When Raskolnikov says on p. 450, “It was I who killed the old woman and her sister, Lizabeta, with an axe, and robbed them,” do you think he’s being honest? Is mentioning the axe melodramatic, or a convincing detail? Have you ever made a similar confession—perhaps after lying to your spouse about forgetting to pay the cable bill—and if so, how did it feel?2. Imagine Raskolnikov didn’t kill the old woman and her sister. Would the novel be any different?
3. Crime and Punishment is long, and some of the characters can be very loquacious. Still, people think the book is great. Have you ever had a similar experience, where a friend of yours is both obese and gabby, yet people still prefer her company to yours? Have you ever thought of buying an axe?
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
1. On p. 214, the nameless protagonist describes the character Brockway’s face like “a dried prune.” Even though the book was published in 1947, is this type of racism excusable?2. Communism plays a major part in the protagonist’s demise. With a fine pen, substitute every mention of “communism” with “terrorism” and then reread the book. What did you learn about your feelings about suicide bombers? Are they always evil, or do Palestinians have a legitimate case for sovereignty achieved by any means, including the sacrifice of their martyrs for a better world free of Jews?
3. Ellison’s protagonist eventually considers himself “invisible” in the world—something every African-American feels. If you are an African-American—what Ellison in the book calls a “negro”—describe what it’s like. If not, imagine.
Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf
1. ”Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.” This line is among the most famous openings in literature, and for good reason: It inspired the popular folk phrase “To thine own self be true.” It is also the basis of “Never trust anyone to do what you can do for yourself a lot better and more quickly,” and also, though indirectly, “Smell the flowers while you’re not dead.” Do you have any favorite aphorisms? Write them down and stuff them in a hat. The person who can act out the most without speaking is the winner.2. The character Peter Walsh is constantly playing with his little penknife—obviously a symbol for his sex. Is this an ironic gesture on Woolf’s part, or a sincere gesture to link a man’s penis with an object that can cut through organs, e.g., the heart? (Skip this question if there are men in the book club.)
3. On p. 121, Clarissa thinks, “Who was Peter to make out that life was all plain sailing?—Peter always in love, always in love with the wrong woman? What’s your love? she might say to him. And she knew his answer; how it is the most important thing in the world and no woman possibly understood it. Very well. But could any man understand what she meant either? about life? She could not imagine Peter or Richard taking the trouble to give a party for no reason whatever.” So true.
—Published October 7, 2005
