Book Discussion: The Lemon Tree

Today at the Berwyn Public Library, we discussed The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan. This Nonfiction title begins in 1967 as three young Arab men sneak back into Jewish Israel in order to see the homes they were forced to abandon in 1948. The men had no luck at the first two homes, but at Bashir's former home, the one with the lemon tree planted by his father, a young Israeli college student, Dalia, opens the door and lets the young men in. So begins a dialog between the two which continues despite bombings, exiles, and imprisonments. Tolan tells Dahlia and Bashir's stories, recounts their histories, and explains the minutia of the conflict from the 1930s to the present day.

The main theme of Tolan's book is an encouragement of mutual witness and empathy for the story of the "other." Our group was most impressed by this point. We were all awed by Tolan's ability to be fair and tell both sides of the conflict. Many people in the group expressed how difficult it was, until recently, to hear the Arab side of the story. This also led to an interesting discussion about how much easier it is for Americans of European descent (like our group participants) to identify with the Jewish perspective because of our shared cultural backgrounds. A book like this was appreciated for its ability to let the reader into the Palestinian history and perspective in a way that they had never experienced before.

A large potion of our discussion focused on how "uplifting" this book was or was not. Many participants felt drained by the seemingly endless cycle of violence and how it perpetuates itself. The Lemon Tree is marketed as a hopeful story of the power of dialog between enemies; however, despite their willingness to stay in touch, Bashir and Dalia are never able to bridge the chasm of their ideological differences. One participant brought up the Northern Ireland conflict as an example of hopefulness. She never thought she would see an end to that conflict, but time and continued dialog was able to bring peace.

We also talked about the dialog model as having other applications. For example, a participant thought it would work well as a way to deal with race issues in America. This led to talk of using this book as a teaching tool in high schools. Today's students will be tomorrow's leaders, those who may be able to solve this conflict, a conflict which all present agreed began because America and Great Britain did not handle things properly back in 1948.

We also spent a great deal of time discussing how humans always persecute each other. A few participants were disheartened by all of the wars and killing done in the name of all religions over the entirety of human history. One person mentioned the book You Don't Have to be Wrong for Me to Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism by Bruce Hirschfield as a starting point for ending this cycle.

As you can see, we had quite a discussion. Although I brought this discussion guide with me, I barely used it.

There are many readalike options for those who enjoyed The Lemon Tree. There are a lot of nonfiction books about this specific conflict which one can find here. However, I would also suggest books about examples of dialog amidst war such as Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time in which the author builds schools in rural Pakistan.

In fiction, there are also many paths to follow. Books by Amos Oz, who is mentioned in The Lemon Tree and The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer are clearly tied by subject, but other titles, as varied as Half a Yellow Sun and The Quiet American are readalikes based more on the theme of our discussion title.

Finally, I would also like to suggest Joe Sacco's extraordinary graphic novel Palestine, now with an expanded edition. This work is a series of illustrated interviews with Palestinian refugees.

National Library Week

This is the week designated by the American Library Association as National Library Week. Please take a moment to thank the librarians in your life for all they do
If you work in a library, thank your co-workers for all they do to help you and the patrons your library serves.

To put you all in the celebratory mood, check out the library based comic strip Unshelved.

Take Ten: Theater Fiction

Here is the first Take Ten list for April. It is a list of "Books for Theater Folks" to be found at this link.

This list was done by Lisette as a list to be presented to the participants of an amateur theater group who meet at her (fictional) public library. As an interesting side note, Lisette did do some research and found out that there is such a group Alabama.

Spanning Genres

Irish novelist John Banville has written many critically acclaimed literary fiction novels, including the Booker Prize winner, The Sea. However, he is experiencing the largest readership of his career with his noir suspense novels written under the pen name, Benjamin Black.

Here is a link to an audio interview with Banville from NPR's Morning Edition where Banville discusses the pros and cons of genre labels.

I found his discussing of how long it takes him to write a "Banville" novel, versus the speed at which he puts out a "Black" novel quite interesting.

Poetry

Too often poetry readers get left out of the RA discussion. In my library it happens mostly because our poetry is not shelved in my department. However, every semester, at least one of my students brings up the issue.

This semester, Marisa has passed on a wonderful tool to use with your poetry readers. It is the Academy of American Poets home page, and specifically their recommended reading list found here. There is also the Poetry Foundation's page.

April, as well as being National Poetry month is also the month in which the annual Pulitzer Prizes are announced, which, of course, include prizes for poetry. This is one of the only times during the year when people notice prize winning poetry on a national stage. So also check out this year's winners and the archived list of winners going back to 1917 at this link.

And please, don't forget about poetry when attending to the reading needs of your patrons and yourself.

BPL Displays for April 2008

This month BPL has displays for National Library Week and the always popular Staff Picks.

This is the last month I will be hosting our wonderful display lists. In May, look for the BPL Displays links to go directly to our newly refurbished website.

National Library Week

National Library Week is coming (April 13-19) and the ALA has put up some amusing videos promoting library service on their website.

If you work at a library, you may want to consider posting these on your website. If you are simply a library fan, play them for your friends and family. They are fun and informative, much like your local librarian.

Additions to My Shelfari Shelf

I am experimenting with doing even more with my Shelfari account. I am now cross posting the books I have read and reported on here. There are many reasons to do this. First, it promotes this blog on Shelfari and leads those users here where I can remind them (as I do you) of all the ways your local public library can enhance your reading experience.

But the second and more important reason is that the newly redesigned BPL web site will be up and running next week and our department is looking into how Shelfari can update our staff reading logs. BPL was one of the first public libraries to put narrative descriptions of what our staff was reading on the web. This was back in 2001 and way before Web 2.0 made it easy. We have continued to update this impressive collection of reading logs here, but with our new web site, we can now consider new ways of doing this. Ways that take better advantage of Web 2.0 capabilities and functions.

Shelfari allows you to visually display your books and easily add comments about them. BPL could also create a group so that our books are all found in one place. It is a very exciting prospect that we will be pursuing in the next few months. If you head over to their site and sign up for a free account, you can look at my shelf and those of any other user to see for yourself. (Search for Becky Spratford and you'll find my shelf)

What I'm Reading: March 2008

I begin this month's reading report with Elizabeth Berg's WWII set novel, Dream When You Are Feeling Blue, which also happens to be the book chosen for my area's "Big Read." This is the summary of the book as posted on The Big Read website:

The time is 1943; the place is Chicago, Illinois. Three Irish-Catholic sisters, the Heaney girls, spend part of every evening sitting at the kitchen table in their pincurls, writing to their boyfriends and to other men fighting in World War II. Observing the daily life of these girls, as well as their parents and three brothers, we get a glimpse of what life was like on the homefront; in the letters that the women receive from men, we get an idea of what it was like “over there.” This novel is an evocation of a time gone by, a purposefully nostalgic and sentimental - and fun! - look at the forties: the clothes, the music, the language, the meals, the sentiments. It is a dramatic example of how a certain period in time can shape a person. Most of all, it demonstrates how much we are willing to give in the name of love.

There is quite a lot of information about the book and the events being offered at the participating libraries to be found here. The Big Read is going on right now!

Although the events are only open to residents of the participating libraries, the organizers of this cooperative event have been doing this for a few years now and have set an excellent example of how multiple communities can pool resources and offer outstanding adult programming and Reader's Advisory. Look at their website for ideas for your own community.

The Big Read Organizers have also an extensive list of WWII era read alikes to be found with this link. However, for those who read this book and enjoyed the relationship between the sisters more than the time period, you could also try Jennifer Weiner's In Her Shoes, which has nothing to do about WWII, but everything to do about the bonds between sisters.

I also listened to the popular A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Hosseini's follow-up to The Kite Runner tells to stories of two women, Miriam and Laila, as they live through three decades of war in Afghanistan. With his second novel, Hosseini has shown that he is an excellent storyteller who is here to stay. I especially enjoyed the detailed history lesson which this book provided. Mostly, I was riveted by the two women, their voices, and their stories.

Those who like Hosseini's setting of Afghanistan should also try the current nonfiction best seller Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson or the fiction title The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra. Those who enjoyed learning about the history of Afghanistan may also want to delve into the Iranian Revolution (a neighbor of Afghanistan). Here I suggest The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. In this accessible graphic novel, Satrapi tells her personal story of living through war and Islamic revolution in Iran. Much of her story resonates with that of Miriam and Laila's. Finally, those readers who found the women's friendship against all odds very appealing, I suggest Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. Although this novel takes place in China, the laotong relationship between the two main characters has many similarities with Hosseini's novel.

Now for something completely different. To fulfill one of my two YA reading requirements I went to my local public library to talk with the YA staff. Debbie suggested How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff. I am glad I sought out assistance in choosing this title because I thoroughly enjoyed the originality of this novel and its Science Fiction twist on the traditional finding yourself theme found in most Young Adult literature.

I How I Live Now, Daisy is a disaffected, motherless, NYC tough girl who is sent to live at her Aunt's English Country Estate. The twist here is that a World War is beginning and eventually, Daisy and her cousins are left to fend for themselves without any communication with the outside world. The story that follows has some violence, but is very realistic. You will be emotionally affected by this novel. Up against terrible odds, Daisy learns what really matters in life and the reader is treated to a fairly happy ending.

How I Live Now is being marketed as a both a YA and adult read, but I will focus on adult read alikes, since that is my expertise. An obvious choice is The Road by Cormac McCarthy which is the story of a boy and his father as they travel a very dangerous, post-apocalyptic, American landscape looking for a safe place. Mark Zusak's The Book Thief is also a good suggestion here. Another popular YA/Adult cross-over novel, The Book Thief tells the story WWII era story of a young German foster child.

What I'm Reading: Shelfari Widget

I realized that I do not always write about every book I read in a given month here on the blog, and I have a Shelfari account which I am not using to its fullest... so, I have now added my shelf of the books I have/am reading this month.

I do keep track (in a written notebook) of each and every book I read with a sentence or two comment; however, that is not always recorded here. I figured three books plus my book discussion book per month is enough to write about, and plenty to expect people to read about.

With the addition of this widget though, I am now showcasing Shelfari's growing capabilities and allowing readers of this blog to see all the books I am exploring in a given month. Ideally, some day, I will also be adding comments about all of the books to the Shelfari database, but for now, baby steps.