Towanda Public Library

This fall we’ll be exploring three literary genres by reading a classic example and a modern interpretation of each genre. We’ve selected Adventure, Mystery, and Fantasy to start, and if you like it, we’ll try some more next spring. So here’s the books, to get us going:

The first stop on the genre tour is Adventure! (Which is always a great place to start.) The books are The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, and One For the Money, by Janet Evanovich. We’ll meet on September 28th at 10am to discuss these.

Second, we’ll venture in Mystery, with two rather spooky tales to get us in the mood for Halloween. First is the essential Agatha Christie classic, And Then There Were None, and we’ll be pairing it with the dark and creepy In The Woods by Tana French. We’ll meet on October 25th at 10am to discuss these.

And the last stop this fall we’ll be wandering into Fantasy. We’ll start with At the Back of the North Wind, a classic fantasy tale by George MacDonald which draws on fairy tales and mythology. Then we’ll jump forward to an urban fantasy by Charles de Lint, The Onion Girl. We’ll meet on November 23rd at 10am to discuss these.

Stop by the library to reserve copies of the books or ask us any questions.

In case you missed our chat on Monday, here are the questions we discussed in regards to Freedom by Any Means by Betty DeRamus.  Food for thought:

1.  Which story surprised you the most?  Which did you find the most interesting?

2.  Which person in the book can you identify with the most and why? Which story moved you the most and why?

3.  Who would you like to know more about, if the historical records were available?

4.  In the “And the Oscar Goes to…” chapter, DeRamus mentions many stories of people who had to act with quick wits and calm assuredness to survive their escapes.  Which of the stories from the rest of the book would you like to see made into a movie?

5.  The elitist attitude of European male land owners came with them to the new colonies in America. How did/does the dominance of this white-male ruling class affect how history is written?

6.  Do you think DeRamus’s book breaks away from that successfully?

7.  Do you think this book is important and would you recommend it to others to read?  Why or why not?

8.  If you were whisked back in time to the era this book talks about, where would you go and what would you do?

9.  What did you think of the structure of the book – the way that DeRamus alternated between a focused view of certain people, and then widened the perspective to other events?

10.  Do you think racism and prejudice are still a problem in our society?  What do you think you can do to fight racism?

And if you haven’t read the book yet, you can still check it out from the library any time.