Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Book Club meet up Monday 12/8
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December 1, 2008 at 11:36 pm #588866
ZenguyParticipantJust a reminder, we will be meeting at Barnes and Noble again Monday December 8th in the cafe at 7:00 for our second meet up.
We chose the Zookeeper’s Wife, a well written and IMO a fascinating book based on the memiors of Antonina and Jan the Warsaw Zookeepers that hide Polish Jews in the zoo during WWII.
Anyone else that wants to come is welcome too.
December 2, 2008 at 12:14 am #648440
addParticipantThanks Zenguy. Just getting started with the book, have a couple of airplane trips this week so I plan to polish it off by the weekend!
The beginning is reminding me a little of “Life of Pi”.
December 2, 2008 at 12:49 am #648441
charlabobParticipantSo is this one book per (time period)? IE, will we be finished with this one in one session? I’ve actually never attended a book club with more than one other person — and we read the book together :-)
December 2, 2008 at 1:19 am #648442
celeste17ParticipantHi Charlabob, no we don’t plan on being done with the book at this time. We just thought we would meet up in two weeks to see how everyone was doing in reading the book and to discuss what had been read. I will not be able to make it to this discussion because of a prior commitment but have my book and plan on starting to read it as soon as I finish my mystery I am reading.
December 2, 2008 at 2:35 am #648443
JoBParticipanti have the book and have finished it.. and would be glad to pass it along to anyone else who would like to read it.
just PM me and we will figure out how to make the tansfer..
December 3, 2008 at 10:03 pm #648444
ZenguyParticipantJust to remind people again and offer some questions for thought on the Zookeeper’s Wife. I believe we will be posting some discussion about the book after the meeting as well.
1. How does Diane Ackerman’s background as a naturalist and a poet inform her telling of this slice of history? Would a historian of World War II have told it differently, and, if so, what might have been left out?
2. Reviews have compared this book to Schindler’s List and Hotel Rwanda. How would you compare them?
3. Did this book give you a different impression of Poland during World War II than you had before?
4. Can you imagine yourself in the same circumstances as Jan and Antonina? What would you have done?
5. How would you describe Antonina’s relation to animals? To her husband? How does she navigate the various relationships in the book, given the extreme circumstances? Is her default position one of trust or distrust?
6. Do people have a “sixth sense” and how does it relate to “animal instinct”?
7. Some might judge Jan and Antonina guilty of anthropomorphizing animals and nature. Would you? Why or why not?
8. Can nature be savage or kind—or can only humans embody those qualities? As science and the study of animal behavior and communication teach us more and more about the commonalities between animals and humans, is there still any dividing line between the human and the animal world? If so, how would you describe it?
9. The Nazis had a passion for animals and the natural world. How could Nazi ideology embrace both a love of nature and the mass murder of human beings?
10. The drive to “rewrite the genetic code of the entire planet” is not distinct to Nazism. What similar efforts are alive today? Are there lessons in Jan and Antonina’s story for evaluating the benefits and dangers of trying to modify or improve upon nature? Do you see any connection between this story of more than sixty years ago and contemporary environmental issues?
11. Genetic engineering of foodstuffs is highly contentious. So are various reproductive technologies that are now common, such as selecting for—or against—various characteristics when choosing from sperm or egg banks. How would various characters in this book have approached these loaded issues?
December 5, 2008 at 10:39 pm #648445
ZenguyParticipantI hope after the meeting to have some of the discussion posted here as well.
Ok, this is just a shameless bump
December 5, 2008 at 10:46 pm #648446
JoBParticipantthis isn’t a shameless bump..
i applaud keeping this in front of all WSB book lover’s attention…
you really don’t have to read the book to come…
but being a reader is a definite plus.
December 5, 2008 at 11:37 pm #648447
addParticipantJoB, I’m not sure I get why you don’t have to read the book to come, as I thought we would be discussing the book? I suppose that could be interesting to some, I guess I just would like to be clear about our purpose/agenda for Monday night?
PS – I’m totally open for anyone to join us, but we should just let everyone know what we will be doing/discussing so expectations are clear all around!
December 5, 2008 at 11:42 pm #648448
JoBParticipantyou are right of course.. we will be discussing the book.
or to be more accurate.. we will be discussing how we are progressing with the book this monday since not all who attend will have finished the book and discussing the book too deeply would spoil it for those who are still reading.
i suspect we will also be talking about what we are currently reading and what we might want to read as a group in the future…
the one drawback to meeting mid-point in our reading cycle for a book is that not everyone will be done reading.
the advantage is that it allows those of us who have read the book to pass it along to other eager hands and to talk more generally about what we are reading during the interim .. leaving more time to discuss the book when everyone has completed it.
December 5, 2008 at 11:47 pm #648449
addParticipantThanks. I’m almost done with the book – there are some parts that are really riveting! It’s definitely different from what I was expecting. Really looking forward to the discussion.
December 6, 2008 at 12:07 am #648450
addParticipantOh – and if anyone wants to bring books to swap/share feel free to do so!
December 8, 2008 at 11:27 pm #648451
BayouMemberI haven’t finished the book yet but I’m planning on coming anyways. I look forward to the discussion so I’ll take my chances with spoilers. ;)
Thanks again for passing along your copy, JoB!
December 9, 2008 at 12:14 am #648452
FranciParticipantI won’t be there tonight, I’m not feeling well.
December 9, 2008 at 2:11 am #648453
addParticipantSorry to miss you Franci, hope you feel better soon. I will be there closer to 7:15. Whoever gets there first, grab those comfy chairs in the corner!!
December 9, 2008 at 2:21 am #648454
JoBParticipanti may be a little late.. i have to go pick up my bacon as soon as hubby gets home:)
December 9, 2008 at 5:51 am #648455
celeste17ParticipantSorry I missed the book club meet up tonight. I had a prior commitment. I am about 150 pages into the book and I am enjoying reading the book. I once knew a lady who was from Czechoslovakia and she was there during WWII and worked in the munitions factory as a prisoner and I think of her when I read this book. I can’t help but think that if she had known these people if she would have escaped.
December 11, 2008 at 3:48 am #648456
celeste17ParticipantHi all, I finished the book just now and found it really interesting to read. I knew that the war was in Poland but never really gave it a thought as to everything that the people went through during the war. I can’t wait until we have the next meeting to discuss this book. When will the next meeting be? Could we try to meet the week between Christmas and New Years?
December 11, 2008 at 4:00 am #648457
addParticipantHi Celeste – we had tentatively booked Monday 12/29, same time & place, when we first met and that still seems to work for most folks. See you then!
December 11, 2008 at 4:21 am #648458
celeste17ParticipantCool!
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