Next pick: Queen of the Nile!

I've been wanting to read this for some time. Hope it lives up to the crazy praise it has garnered.

Dystopia

What did you think of the futuristic society in the final chapter, with everyone's opinions for sale and everyone communicating through "handsets" and the constant whir of helicopters overhead?

Goon

I thought this was interesting (from Wikipedia):

In one story, a character named Bosco declares: "Time's a goon, right?", referring to the way that time and fate cruelly rob most of the book's characters of their youth, innocence and success. As Bosco complains: "How did I go from being a rock star to being a fat fuck no one cares about?" Some of the book's characters do end up finding happiness, but it is always a limited happiness, and it is rarely in the form that they intended. In an interview, Egan explained that "time is the stealth goon, the one you ignore because you are so busy worrying about the goons right in front of you."

Points of view

Did you like how each chapter had a different narrator or focus? Which character was your favorite or the most interesting to you?

Next pick

"A Visit from the Goon Squad" by Jennifer Egan

Bryson's voice

How did the experience of reading Bryson compare with the experience of listening to him? (When I went online to buy "Notes From a Small Island," I ended up buying the abridged version as part of the Bill Bryson "collection" because the unabridged version was narrated by someone else and I didn't want to listen to someone else read his stuff.)

Terra incognita

Bryson begins the book with the observation that we know almost nothing about Australia, that all manner of interesting and crazy thing happens there (prime ministers vanishing into the surf) or can be found there (deadly critters galore), and yet we never hear a word. Two questions: (1) What's the most interesting/surprising thing you discovered about Australia in the book? and (2) Did the book alter your preconception of the country?

Of all the places

Of all the Australian cities, sites and natural wonders that Bryson visits, which would you most like to see?

Next pick

The characters

There were so many real-life figures who made cameo appearances in the book. Since you did some research on these, were there any that were particularly notable or interesting?

The books

I think the only Henry James works I've read are "The Turn of the Screw" and "The Aspern Papers," but it was still fascinating to read about the supposed inspirations for his work during this time period. Did any particularly strike you as interesting? Did it start to sound as though he never had any original ideas since he seemed to be copying all his characters and situations from real life?

The women

There were a series of women in James's life -- especially his sister, Minny Temple, Constance Fenimore Woolson -- who have a tremendous influence on his life and then meet with tragedy. And in each case, he seems to have failed them in some way that may have contributed to their deaths. What do you make of this?

Henry James

What did you think of how Coibin portrayed Henry James? Did it jibe with what you already knew/thought about him? What did you think of how he hinted at James's (probable) closeted sexuality?

Next pick

"The Master" by Colm Toibin

In January 1895 Henry James anticipates the opening of his first play, Guy Domville, in London. The production fails, and he returns, chastened and humiliated, to his writing desk. The result is a string of masterpieces, but they are produced at a high personal cost. In The Master Colm Toibin captures the exquisite anguish of a man who circulated in the grand parlours and palazzos of Europe, who was astonishingly vibrant and alive in his art, and yet whose attempts at intimacy inevitably failed him and those he tried to love. It is a powerful account of the hazards of putting the life of the mind before affairs of the heart.

Greed and romance

My book has a "reader questions" section that refers to the greed of the squire and the doctor in going after the treasure. I was a little taken aback by that because I didn't see them as greedy per se. Maybe they were, though. But more so than a run-of-the-mill person? Anyway, it got me thinking about their reasons for going vs. Jim's. Jim was certainly interested in the money to repair the financial damage to his family's inn, but the money seemed secondary to the romance of sailing and treasure-hunting. Maybe that's also why Jim harbored more sympathy for Long John Silver, because he was swept up — in a way the literal-minded, mission-oriented adults weren't — in the romance of the voyage.

Jim again

What did you think of Jim as a hero?

Jim

I found Jim's relationship to his parents curious, especially for a "children's" book. He seemed sympathetic to them, but not especially close. He didn't seem terribly upset by his father's death; he seemed more preoccupied with the pirate's doings while his father was dying. And he didn't seem overly fond of his mother; for example, he wasn't pining for home while he was on his voyage.

A lot of great children's stories involve orphans, and Jim seemed like an orphan, even though he wasn't. I sort of wondered whether Stevenson made him a kind of honorary orphan just for the sake of the story. Thoughts?

Villainy!

What did you think of Long John Silver eluding justice in the end?

Next pick: "Treasure Island"