Tuesday, September 28, 2010
October Book Choice
The book we selected is Juliet by Anne Fortier. We will begin discussion of this book Friday, November 5. Enjoy this book. We all need a little more romance in our life!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Next Book Club Choices
I think we had a great discussion about Diamond Ruby. If anyone has more comments, feel free to continue discussion via the comment section.
In the meantime, Beckie is hosting the next Ethereal Reader book club. Here are her book choices:
Juliet: A Novel -- Anne Fortier
The Sculptor -- Gregory Funaro
The Queen of the Big Time -- Adriana Trigiani
Whistling in the Dark -- Lesley Kagen
Please vote via an email to Kris (kzmclain@comcast.net) by next Saturday, September 25.
In the meantime, Beckie is hosting the next Ethereal Reader book club. Here are her book choices:
Juliet: A Novel -- Anne Fortier
The Sculptor -- Gregory Funaro
The Queen of the Big Time -- Adriana Trigiani
Whistling in the Dark -- Lesley Kagen
Please vote via an email to Kris (kzmclain@comcast.net) by next Saturday, September 25.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Diamond Ruby
I’m not a huge baseball fan, but I am a fan of historical novels that provide a good sense of time and place – particularly if I am interested in the place.
Diamond Ruby provided both of those, and it made me enjoy the book more than I perhaps would have otherwise. The 1920s have always interested me because so much was going on at the time. The world was between wars, Prohibition was wreaking havoc nationwide, and then, of course, there was the suffragette movement -- women were fighting for the right to vote. (Doesn’t it seem absolutely astounding that women couldn’t vote yet in the 20s?)
New York City was sort of the poster child for all that was happening during this time, and Ruby, the main character of the novel, it seems, was impacted by most of the things that were happening. Her mother was a suffragette, her brother was involved in bootlegging, much of her family died from the Spanish influenza, brought back from World War I.
Question 1: In Diamond Ruby, we read about the opening of the Coney Island Boardwalk, Yankee Stadium, Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Prohibition, the influenza epidemic and women's rights, to name a few things. Was there something regarding the time frame or Brooklyn setting that most interested you?
I thought most of the characters in the novel were interesting, though sometimes seemed to be caricatures. And frequently I thought the dialogue was unrealistic. I would think, “That’s not what a real person would say; that’s what someone in a cartoon would say.”
Having said all of this, I thought that the story told by Joseph Wallace was extremely interesting and fun to read. I often had a difficult time putting the book down. I thought it was so much fun to meet some of the real-life characters, and see how they were laced in and out of the book’s story. It led me to look many of them up in Wikipedia to find out their real story.
Question 2: It seemed like all of the characters epitomized either good or evil – there weren’t really any in-between sorts of characters. Who was your favorite character, and why? Did you find the “bad guys” to be realistic?
My favorite character, besides Ruby, was her niece Amanda. She seemed so solemn, strong-willed, and loyal. Her instincts seemed true, and her undying love and devotion to Ruby touched my heart.
While the “bad guys” were a bit predictable, I still found them to be fairly compelling – perhaps that degree of evilness is just interesting. In the back of the book, the author notes that he sort of liked Chase, which I really couldn’t quite understand. While he did seem to have a soft side for Ruby, he still didn’t hesitate to do what he had to do, even if it hurt her. To me, David Wilcox was the most despicable character.
Question 3. The author is currently working on a follow-up novel to Diamond Ruby that takes place in 1926, three years after the time period of this novel. As you finished reading Diamond Ruby, what did you envision her life being like three years later?
I love to envision what happens to characters after the book ends. In my mind, Ruby doesn’t continue playing professional baseball, because I know that the baseball commissioner, in real life, eventually prohibited women from playing. But I think she plays baseball in some capacity, and is able to provide a living for her nieces through her skills. She gets married, maybe to that FBI guy, and they all continue to live in Helen’s house – one big happy family.
Lots more to say about this book but I’m going to let you all tell me what you think.
Diamond Ruby provided both of those, and it made me enjoy the book more than I perhaps would have otherwise. The 1920s have always interested me because so much was going on at the time. The world was between wars, Prohibition was wreaking havoc nationwide, and then, of course, there was the suffragette movement -- women were fighting for the right to vote. (Doesn’t it seem absolutely astounding that women couldn’t vote yet in the 20s?)
New York City was sort of the poster child for all that was happening during this time, and Ruby, the main character of the novel, it seems, was impacted by most of the things that were happening. Her mother was a suffragette, her brother was involved in bootlegging, much of her family died from the Spanish influenza, brought back from World War I.
Question 1: In Diamond Ruby, we read about the opening of the Coney Island Boardwalk, Yankee Stadium, Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Prohibition, the influenza epidemic and women's rights, to name a few things. Was there something regarding the time frame or Brooklyn setting that most interested you?
I thought most of the characters in the novel were interesting, though sometimes seemed to be caricatures. And frequently I thought the dialogue was unrealistic. I would think, “That’s not what a real person would say; that’s what someone in a cartoon would say.”
Having said all of this, I thought that the story told by Joseph Wallace was extremely interesting and fun to read. I often had a difficult time putting the book down. I thought it was so much fun to meet some of the real-life characters, and see how they were laced in and out of the book’s story. It led me to look many of them up in Wikipedia to find out their real story.
Question 2: It seemed like all of the characters epitomized either good or evil – there weren’t really any in-between sorts of characters. Who was your favorite character, and why? Did you find the “bad guys” to be realistic?
My favorite character, besides Ruby, was her niece Amanda. She seemed so solemn, strong-willed, and loyal. Her instincts seemed true, and her undying love and devotion to Ruby touched my heart.
While the “bad guys” were a bit predictable, I still found them to be fairly compelling – perhaps that degree of evilness is just interesting. In the back of the book, the author notes that he sort of liked Chase, which I really couldn’t quite understand. While he did seem to have a soft side for Ruby, he still didn’t hesitate to do what he had to do, even if it hurt her. To me, David Wilcox was the most despicable character.
Question 3. The author is currently working on a follow-up novel to Diamond Ruby that takes place in 1926, three years after the time period of this novel. As you finished reading Diamond Ruby, what did you envision her life being like three years later?
I love to envision what happens to characters after the book ends. In my mind, Ruby doesn’t continue playing professional baseball, because I know that the baseball commissioner, in real life, eventually prohibited women from playing. But I think she plays baseball in some capacity, and is able to provide a living for her nieces through her skills. She gets married, maybe to that FBI guy, and they all continue to live in Helen’s house – one big happy family.
Lots more to say about this book but I’m going to let you all tell me what you think.
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