Deming Readers Met the Pulitzer Challenge!

Congratulations to all the Deming readers who participated in our Pulitzer Challenge and many thanks to the Waymaker Christian Bookstore and the amazing librarians at the Marshall Memorial Library for hosting the dialogues!

Plague of Doves in Deming

The Pulitzer Dialogues in Deming had a lively discussion around Louise Erdrich's Plague of Doves! Kudos to these active and engaged readers for tackling so many aspects of this book so deftly, from spirituality to romance. Everyone was thrilled to get their copy of the next book, Junot Diaz' Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

"Oates’ short stories are captivating, sad, compassionate, and haunting. They continue to capture the uncertainty, hurt, and darkness in all of us. Her fertile mind is our gain."

Libraries in Deming, Clovis, and Las Cruces are currently reading Lovely Dark, Deep, by Joyce Carol Oates.  Read along with us, join the conversation.  To help get you started, read the Washington Independent's Review of Lovely, Dark, Deep.

review/lovely-dark-deep-stories by the Washington Independent

Here are some of the questions we will be discussing at tomorrows get together at the Waymaker Christian Bookstore in Deming, NM. Give us some input on what you think of Lovely, Dark, Deep.

1. “Sex with a Camel” is a story with the most positive relationship in this collection. There’s a suggestion that there is something different about a relationship between a grandchild and grandparent and something special that these two characters share. How would you describe it? How did they both nurture the connection between them? What do you think of the symbolic meaning of the grandmother driving to the hospital and the grandson driving home?
2. . In “Sex with a Camel,” the story focuses on the boy taking his grandmother, who has cancer, to the hospital for treatment. At one point the boy thinks that he is “sick of his own sad story.” Do you think that there is more to his sad story than what we are reading about here?
3. “The Mastiff” is a suspenseful story with a high level of fear deliberately created. “If you are not afraid of much in life, you haven’t experienced life yet! There is much, much to be fearful of, though perhaps it is not a good idea to know this. The disasters that you might expect are not likely to happen, but others will, totally unexpected ones. Out of nowhere, they will come, and you will say, ‘but I had no idea’. That is the point: you have no idea. Just wait?” How does this attitude toward fear and the unknown resonate or not with you?
4. In “The Mastiff” the author made a conscious decision to refer to the two characters as “the woman” and “the man” though their names come up at some point. What do you think was the reason for that? Are they intended to be types or specific people? Did it engage you or distance you from the characters?
5. In “The Mastiff”  the main character, Mariella, is a single (never been married) woman about to turn 41, while in “The Hunter” the main character, Violet, is also a single (never been married) woman about to turn 40. One owns an art gallery and the other is a successful poet. Reading these two stories together, what do you think about how JCO presents these independent woman?
6. “The Hunter” has several threads running through it as opposed to, say,  “The Mastiff.” Oates brings in the underground railroad, an affair with a single middle aged poet and the President of a small college, the looming death of the woman’s father and an italicized incident of a homeless man biting her lip – a visible vulnerability. Why do you think Oates brought all these threads into the story? Do you think that she resolved them? How did this affect your sense of the story?
7. The opening couple of pages of “The Hunter” are a brilliant description of the setting-the college president’s historic mansion. How does this description of the setting skillfully lay the groundwork for the climax of the plot and the themes of the story?
8. The majority of short stories use the technique of flashback to inform the reader about what’s happened in the past of the story. In “The Disappearing” there is a nine page flashback to an incident that took place when the couple was young and newly married and they came home to find their house burglarized and they called the police. This is a lot of pages to devote to a flashback in a short story, so how is what we see in that flashback so crucial to this whole story? Do you feel it represented a turning point in their marriage?
9. “The Jesters” is a surreal account of a pivotal summer in the lives of an aging suburban couple where life seems to be falling apart as they knew it. Confronted by a mysterious, evolving  yet questionable presence, the “Jesters” become a foil for their lives as well as an active player in it.
   How did these “Jesters” bring into focus the character of the couple’s life together and the direction it is taking?
10. What do you make of the bizarre turn the story takes when the couple in “The Jesters” actually drive to the neighbors’ house to find it an abandoned wreck where an arson involving fatalities occurred some years back? Does this shift the story from what seemed like realism into a Ghost Story in this climatic scene?
11. Both “The Disappearing”  and  “The Jesters” are about empty nesters—two upper middle class couples who seem to be falling apart emotionally. The wife in “The Jesters” thinks: “She no longer made inquiries. Much of his life was separate from hers as if each was on an ice flow, drifting in the same direction yet drifting inevitably apart.” In “The Disappearing,” the wife thinks: “In marriage the most intense conversations were often with oneself.” What view of the empty nester marriage do you get from these two stories? How relevant does it seem that both couples seem to be from the same socio-economic class?

Lovely, Dark, Deep by Joyce Carol Oates, hosted by the Marshall Memorial Library-and Waymaker Bookstore

Reading and discussion of Lovely, Dark, Deep by Joyce Carol Oates at the Waymaker Christian Bookstore and Espresso Shop, Wednesday, June 22, at 10:00 am held at the Waymaker Christian Bookstore and Espresso Shop.   

To learn more about Lovely, Dark, Deep, check out NPR's Book Review.

Book Review by NPR

The Stories of John Cheever at the Waymaker Christian Bookstore in Partnership witht the Marshall Memorial Library

The Marshal Memorial Library held their book discussion on May 25 at the Waymaker Christian Bookstore.  Here are some of the questions that were explored during their discussion.

1. In the Enormous Radio, why do you think the wife was the only one consumed by the drama on the radio? Do think it's the same today?

2. Did you notice the detail that Cheever goes into in his stories? How does that help or hinder the story?

3. What similarities did you notice throughout the stories? What differences?

4. Why do you think Cheever leaves his stories somewhat unfinished, or finishes them abruptly?

5. Do you think the darkness in the stories can be tied in with his alcohol problem?

6. Do you feel these stories were based on personal experiences he had throughout his life or are they merely his imagination at best?

--Lucas Marsh, Marshall Memorial Librarian and Facilitator for the Pulitzer Dialogues

In Praise of the American Short Story

The Marshall Memorial Library is getting ready for the challenge!

The Marshall Memorial Library is honored to have been chosen for the Campfire Initiative by the New Mexico Humanities Council.We're excited to bring these amazing books to our community.Starting next Wednesday, April 27th we will be meeting to discuss the Reading Challenge at the Waymaker Bookstore for every book discussion. Please join us for the 2016 Reading Challenge!

 

Follow along and participate in the discussion!

Wednesday, May 25th 10am
The Stories of John Cheever
 John Cheever

Wednesday, June 29th 10am
Lovely, Dark, Deep
 Joyce Carol Oates

Wednesday, July 27th 10am
The Plague of Doves
Louise Erdrich

Wednesday, August 24th 10am
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
 Junot Diaz

Wednesday, September 28th 10am
Beloved
Toni Morrison