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Everything You Need to Know About the Jane Austen Book Club!
Hi everyone! We made it through the first two weeks of September and I don’t know about the rest of you but I could use a two week long nap.
I’m experimenting with running a book club independently (not in conjunction with the Sacramento Public Library, although I’m continuing those book clubs as well – more on that next week! Meanwhile we have our first Jane Austen Book Club on September 19 at 10:30 AM. This is a two-parter, with the first session being more like a class and the second session (October 17, 10:30AM) being a more traditional book club format. In both sessions we are discussing Northanger Abbey.
Here’s the Zoom Info for the Sept 19 class, which will cover background information, first impressions, and storytime:
Carrie Sessarego is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Jane Austen Book Club: Northanger Part 1
Time: Sep 19, 2021 10:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
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https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84102035845
Meeting ID: 841 0203 5845
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Meeting ID: 841 0203 5845
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See you then!
Announcing the Jane Austen Book Club!
I’m experimenting with running my own book club – this is NOT affilated with Sacramento Public Library. To get updates, follow me on Facebook at Jane Austen Book Club Pt 1, or email me at sessarego1@gmail.com and request to be added to my group contacts list.
Our first book is Northanger Abbey, and we are discussing it over two months. In September, we’ll share our first impressions of the book and I’ll give a lot of background. We’ll also have STORY TIME with a terrifying reading from The Mysteries of Uldofo, the book that so terrifies the heorine of Northanger Abbey! In October, we’ll do a more traditional book club discussion.
Here is the information and zoom link for the September Meeting:
September 19, 2021: 10:30AM – 11:30AM
Carrie Sessarego is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Jane Austen Book Club: Northanger Part 1
Time: Sep 19, 2021 10:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84102035845
Meeting ID: 841 0203 5845
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Meeting ID: 841 0203 5845
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kblnkanmTS
August Poem
Mary Oliver (1935-2019) was an American poet whose poetry focused on the natural world and our relationship to it. She spent most of her life in Ohio and in New England.
August, by Mary Oliver
When the blackberries hang
swollen in the woods, in the brambles
nobody owns, I spend
all day among the high
branches, reaching
my ripped arms, thinking
of nothing, cramming
the black honey of summer
into my mouth; all day my body
accepts what it is. In the dark
creeks that run by there is
this thick paw of my life darting among
the black bells, the leaves; there is
this happy tongue.
Zoom Link for Between the Lines Book Club
Library peeps, we have a NEW UPDATED zoom link for our meeting on August 28 at 10:30AM. Our book is The Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantu.
Carrie Sessarego is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Between the Lines Book Club
Time: Aug 28, 2021 10:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89657940050
Meeting ID: 896 5794 0050
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Meeting ID: 896 5794 0050
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcuk1mcfo
And…We’re Back, with book clubs!
Hey everyone! I took some time off from blogging to sort out some new projects. For the most part, I’ll be checking in just once or twice a month with news of where I am and what I’m doing. turns out everyone is going back to school and so am I…in the sense of adding a new book club to my list starting in September!
Here’s what’s happening in the rest of August:
Between the Covers Book Club:
This virtual book club is part of the Sacramento Public Library’s roster and is co-facilitated by myself and librarian Brendle Wells. We read all romance, all the time! Join us on:
Saturday, August 14, from 1PM – 2PM
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwlce2hrjIoGtDR5cQvFah8LeiLcpzE7ULE
Our August selection is Love In Color by Bolu Babalola!
Arden Dimick Book Club:
This is an event facilitated by myself and sponsored by the Arden Dimick Branch of the Sacramento Public Library. We read an inclusive selection of fiction and non-fiction!
For updates on this club, email sessarego1@gmail.com to be added to my update email list.
Our next meeting is at 10:30AM on Saturday 28!
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/97441069266?pwd=WFpFOUZScncwOWNwOHBadU1KRWNSQT09
Meeting ID: 974 4106 9266
Passcode: Books
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Meeting ID: 974 4106 9266
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aXJOhUSns
Our book for the month is The Line Becomes a River, by Francisco Cantu
Watch this spot for news about my own very own:
Jane Austen Book Club
We’ll be discussing Northanger Abbey on September 19 and October 17, from 10:30AM – 11:30AM
Email me to be on an update list for more Jane Austen Book Club news: sessarego1@gmail.com!
In final news, I made a thing!
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/sessarego_06_21/
“Fungi in Fiction,” Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 177
Between the Lines Book Club: Meryl Streep plays Susan Orleans
Who do you wish would play you in a movie? Susan Orlean is played by Meryl Streep in Adaptation, This movie from 2002 was written by Charles Kaufman and stars Nicholas Cage as Kaufman and Kaufman’s (fictional) twin brother. Wikipedia describes it here:
Kaufman based Adaptation on his struggles to adapt Orlean’s 1998 nonfiction book The Orchid Thief while suffering from writer’s block. It involves elements adapted from the book, plus fictitious elements, including Kaufman’s twin brother (also credited as a writer for the film) and a romance between Orlean and Laroche. It culminates in completely invented elements, including versions of Orlean and Laroche three years after the events of The Orchid Thief.
Here’s a trailer:
Between the Lines Book Club: Interviews with Susan
Our book for March is The Library Book by Susan Orlean. Here is an interview with the author:
We have a new zoom link and will be meeting on March 27, 2021 at 10:30 AM. Join us!
Topic: Arden-Dimick Book Club
Time: March 27, 2021 10:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.
Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 860 3186 5785
Passcode: M9KVgt
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Meeting ID: 860 3186 5785
Passcode: 410693
Happy Belated Women’s Day
It’s never too late to celebrate kickass women, so here’s Helen Reddy performing “I Am Woman” at the 2017 Women’s March in Los Angeles.
Between the Lines Book Club: The Library Book by Susan Orlean
Our book for March is The Library Book by Susan Orlean. This non fiction book tells the story of libraries, framed around the 1986 Los Angeles Public Library Fire. Here is the publisher’s description:
Susan Orlean re-opens the unsolved mystery of the most catastrophic library fire in American history, and delivers a dazzling homage to a beloved institution – our libraries. On the morning of April 29, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. Raging through the stacks, the fire reached 2000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. It was the largest library fire in the history of the United States: it destroyed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more, and shut the library down for seven years. The mystery remains: did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who?
Weaving her life-long love of books and reading with the fascinating history of libraries and the sometimes-eccentric characters who run them, award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author Orlean presents a mesmerizing and uniquely compelling story. With her signature wit, insight, compassion and talent for deep research, she investigates the legendary Los Angeles Public Library fire to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives, and reveals how these buildings provide much more than just books and are needed now more than ever.
We have a new zoom link and will be meeting on March 27, 2021 at 10:30 AM. Join us!
Topic: Arden-Dimick Book Club
Time: March 27, 2021 10:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86031865785?pwd=MlVsSW15Z3dWeGxtLy9leW5qRW9yZz09
Meeting ID: 860 3186 5785
Passcode: M9KVgt
One tap mobile
+16699006833,,86031865785#,,,,*410693# US (San Jose)
+13462487799,,86031865785#,,,,*410693# US (Houston)
Dial by your location
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 860 3186 5785
Passcode: 410693
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/k4vNblPwi
Between the Lines Book Club: More Books About Being Unstuck in Time
Our book club meets tomorrow (February 27, 2021) at 10:30AM over Zoom to discuss Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore. If you still need a zoom link, email me at sessarego1@gmail.com.
If you liked the concept of Oona Out of Order, you might enjoy these books as well. These books are generally classified as “Speculative fiction,” and they explore lives that are lived in a non-linear fashion.
Woman on the Edge of Time, by Marge Piercy
A classic from 1976, this is about a woman in a mental institution who escapes her situation by travelling in time. Her travels explore utopian ideals and concepts around feminism, gender, mental illness, environmentalism, and more.
How to Live Safely in a Science-Fictional Universe, by Charles Yu
A funny, sad, mind-bending book from 2011
From Amazon: Every day in Minor Universe 31 people get into time machines and try to change the past. That’s where Charles Yu, time travel technician, steps in. He helps save people from themselves. Literally. When he’s not taking client calls, Yu visits his mother and searches for his father, who invented time travel and then vanished. The key to locating his father may be found in a book. It’s called How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, and somewhere inside it is information that will help him. It may even save his life.
Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
This classic from 1969 tells the story of Billy Pilgrim, who is “unstuck in time.” The book explores his life in a non-linear manner as he survives the Battle of the Bulge, the firebombing of Dresden, and develops a new philosophy.
This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Motar and Max Gladstone
A touching love story between two time-travelers who work for opposing side that try to make small changes in Earth history to achieve victory. As these two enemies communicate with each other through history they develop a bond that throws the time war into question.
Happy Birthday Dana Scully
Our favorite FBI agent was born on February 23, 1964. Thanks to YouTube for some great Scully moments.
Music in Oona Out of Order
Our next book club meeting will be on February 27 at 10:30AM. We are reading Oona Out of Order. At the start of the book, Oona is an aspiring musician, and music plays an integral role in the book. Here’s a sampling of some of the music that is important to the characters.
Oona’s favorite song is Sunday Morning by “Velvet Underground”
The first time she jumps, she listens to Kate Bush’s album The Hounds of Love over and over again:
She meets Kenzie at a Suzanne Vega Concert and he breaks down when Vega sings “In Liverpool”
Later, Oona promises to take Kenzie to see Garbage – a good band, but a bad move, Oona.
Edward is a fan of Nirvana:
Finally, the last chapter brings us back to Velvet Underground with All Tomorrow’s Parties:
Tarot Tunes: Major Arcana Pt 1
I’ve been working on a playlist for all 78 Tarot Cards. Here are my choices for the first half of the Major Arcana. What do you suggest? I love having multiple songs to think about especially from multiple genres, so please leave your pics in the comments!
Fool: The Joker (Steve Miller Band)
The Magician: Sunny Goodge Street (Donovan)
The High Priestess: Mysterious Ways (U2)
The Empress: This is to Mother You (Sinead O’Connor)
The Emperor: You Should See Me in a Crown (Billie Eilish)
The Hierophant: Chicken Man (Indigo Girls)
The Lovers: We Found Love (Rihanna)
Chariot: Running Down a Dream (Tom Petty)
Strength: Leather and Lace (Stevie Nicks)
Hermit: Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin)
Wheel of Fortune: The Bug (Mark Knopfler)
Let me know your thoughts! The rest of the Major arcana will be showing up next month!
Between the Lines Book Club: Oona Out of Order Discussion Questions
Our book club discusses Oona Out of Order on February 27, 2021 at 10:30 AM. Ready for discussion questions? These come from Litlovers.com and from the publisher with a few thrown in by myself.
If you could write a letter to yourself in a past year, what year would you pick and what would you say?
If you could jump back (or forward) into any era of your life, when would it be?
Was this a good book club book?
How old are you on the inside and on the outside? How does this, if any, dissonance, affect your attitude and decisions?
1. Discuss the novel’s epigraph: “Time heals all. But what if time itself is the disease?” How do you interpret that question? How does the novel seek to answer it?
2. In the prologue, Oona reflects that her condition is the closest thing she could imagine to immortality. What do you think she means? Do you agree?
3. Oona has a “no spoiler” approach to time travel and takes precautions to reveal certain things about her future but keep others secret via her annual letters. Do you agree with her approach? If you were to switch places with Oona, how much of your future would you reveal. and what would you add/remove from the letters?
4. To counteract living her life out of sequence, Oona spends much of the novel searching for constancy. Who/what are some of the constants she manages to establish throughout her leaps?
5. There are moments when Oona laments mistakes she’s made in her life and considers trying to fix them. What mistakes do you think she has made? Do you think she was better off trying to prevent them or learn from them?
6. Oona and the people closest to her often describe her life as “bittersweet.” Do you agree that her time travel makes her life feel more bittersweet than it would if she were living “in order”? Why or why not?
7. Discuss the evolving role of music in the novel and in Oona’s life.
8. How much of Oona’s destiny do you think is predetermined? Do you think she’s capable of changing her future? What do you think this book ultimately says about fate vs. free will? Do you agree or disagree?
9. Did you have a favorite section in the novel? Why?
10. Let’s dissect this book by each of its parts. Starting with Part I in 1982 were 18-year-old Oona is in love with her boyfriend Dale and she deciding whether to tour with him or go to economics school in London. What were your initial impressions of Oona in this section?
11. Part II comes quickly and Oona is transported to 2015 and she’s age 51. Let’s talk about Oona’s jump to her future. What would you have done if you were Oona and went from being 19 to 51?
12. Oona says she’s never been susceptible to nostalgia and wonders: is this what it means to get older, replaying happy memories because the best times are behind you? Do you agree with this? Why or why not?
13. Oona goes from an unhappy and confusing year at age 51 to back being in her 20s again in 1991. What did you think about Oona partying in this era? Why was it important for her to let loose?
14. After the ’90s, Oona is 40 and in 2004. And she’s married to a Brit named Edward. In this section, she never really falls for Edward and instead has feelings for her guitar instructor Peter. Let’s talk about Oona’s relationship with Edward and Peter in this section.
15. And, in a twist, the next section is when Oona is 39 and in 2003—right before she meets Edward. So she experiences the romance with Edward backward. Were you surprised when she did actually fall for him, even though she knows how it ended up?
16. Oona is then back to her 30s and in 1995. She’s grieving over her failed marriage to Edward and a fight with her mother. But in this time period, she goes with her mother to Asia. Let’s talk about how Oona matured throughout this year.
17. When Oona goes to 1999 at age 35 she learns that Kenzie is not just her assistant but also her son she had with Dale. Did you suspect that he was her son or were you surprised by this? Do you agree with her mother that Oona wasn’t fit to raise him in her condition?
18. In 2017, Oona is 53 and has a repaired relationship with Kenzie but her mother dies of cancer. Let’s talk about this chapter.
19. The chapter ends with her running into Peter, her former guitar teacher, and they agree to meet up in 2018 for a dinner date. Do you think they will get together?
20. And it ends with Oona back in 1983 and at age 19 where she’s learned from all the different eras. How did it change Oona for good?
Geek Girl in Love 