Books we will be reading in the upcoming months:
2012:
January 26: "The Hawaiian Archipelago" by Isabella Bird
Host & Discussion Leader: Bob Green

Discussion Questions

Product Description
“The Hawaiian Archipelago” is a great eyewitness account of Hawaii in 1863, by one of the era's most intrepid travelers, after it had been impacted by its collision with the American and European powers but while it was still a robust independent Kingdom and before its forced assimilation into the USA. Isabella Bird visited the Sandwich Islands in 1871, when she was forty. Her letters home to her sister Henrietta have a remarkable freshness and spontaneity, and reveal the transformation of a Victorian invalid into a fearless horsewoman and enthusiastic mountain-climber, who thought nothing of riding for miles soaked with rain and fording terrifyingly swollen rivers. She undertook a thirteen-hour unaccompanied trek to the summit of the extinct volcano of Mauna Kea, revelling in the security with which she was able to travel and camp out without guides or companions. At the end of her stay she was able to make the perilous ascent to the summit of Mauna Loa, the largest volcano in the world, camping for the night on the edge of the crater, at nearly 14,000 feet. Isabella Bird's travel writing is a wonderful look at the world at the turn of the last century. Her writing is fluid and clear and her insights into people and places are gentile but pointed. In “The Hawaiian Archipelago,” Isabella Bird is at her best, giving the reader a fascinating and insightful taste of the old Hawaii.

This book is available through the following:
Amazon.com:
$14.95 (Paperback, new)
From $14.94 (Used)
$33.40 (Hardback, new)
From $31.70 (used)
$0.0 (Kindle edition)

Audible.com:
Not Available

Barnes & Noble:
$15.39 (Paperback, new)
From $16.30 (Used)
$24.20 (Hardback, new)
From $21.24 (Used)
$0.99 (Nook ebook)

HI Library System:
Available as a book (~8 copies, 0 requests)

February 23: "A Covert Affair" by Jennet Conant
Host & Discussion Leader: Debi Bahl

Discussion Questions

Product Description
Julia Child's passion for French cuisine began when she and her husband, Paul, moved to Paris in 1948. The couple met in Ceylon in 1944 when both were in the Office of Strategic Services, precursor to the CIA, and they married two years later. To tell their story, Conant (The Irregulars) combed through numerous archives to fill in the deep backgrounds of their OSS friends. Opening with OSS origins and the 1943 OSS recruits, the narrative follows the WWII trajectory of Julia Child, who volunteered for a post at the OSS base in India. At Mountbatten's mountaintop headquarters, the team included Julia, Paul, and the flamboyant Jane Foster. With the end of WWII, Jane flew to Java to record the war crimes testimonies of American POWs, while Paul and Julia's romance heated up in China and France. The couple fell under suspicion when Jane was targeted with accusations of espionage, having "left a trail of Communist ties the FBI followed like breadcrumbs" (though Conant found no conclusive evidence that Jane was a Soviet spy). The bulk of this book is mostly about Jane, making the title somewhat misleading, but Conant's vivid tapestry of the 1940s skillfully interweaves interviews, oral histories, memoirs, and recently unclassified OSS and FBI documents with unpublished diaries and letters. The adventurous young OSS recruits spring to life throughout this meticulously researched, authoritative history. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

This book is available through the following:
Amazon.com:
N/A (Paperback, new)
From N/A (Used)
$11.20 (Hardback, new)
From $2.41 (used)
N/A (Kindle edition)
Also available as an unabridged CD

Audible.com:
$19.59 or 1 Credit (Member)
$27.99 (Non-member)
13 hrs & 55 min

Barnes & Noble:
$16.00 (Paperback, new)
From $9.79 (Used)
$15.90 (Hardback, new)
From $1.99 (Used)
$9.99 (Nook ebook)

HI Library System:
Available as a book (11 copies, 1 requests)
Also available in CD format (2 copies, 0 requests)

March 22: "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
Host & Discussion Leader: Jennifer Eland & Rebecca Sellsteg

Discussion Questions

Product Description
Julia Child's passion for French cuisine began when she and her husband, Paul, moved to Paris in 1948. The couple met in Ceylon in 1944 when both were in the Office of Strategic Services, precursor to the CIA, and they married two years later. To tell their story, Conant (The Irregulars) combed through numerous archives to fill in the deep backgrounds of their OSS friends. Opening with OSS origins and the 1943 OSS recruits, the narrative follows the WWII trajectory of Julia Child, who volunteered for a post at the OSS base in India. At Mountbatten's mountaintop headquarters, the team included Julia, Paul, and the flamboyant Jane Foster. With the end of WWII, Jane flew to Java to record the war crimes testimonies of American POWs, while Paul and Julia's romance heated up in China and France. The couple fell under suspicion when Jane was targeted with accusations of espionage, having "left a trail of Communist ties the FBI followed like breadcrumbs" (though Conant found no conclusive evidence that Jane was a Soviet spy). The bulk of this book is mostly about Jane, making the title somewhat misleading, but Conant's vivid tapestry of the 1940s skillfully interweaves interviews, oral histories, memoirs, and recently unclassified OSS and FBI documents with unpublished diaries and letters. The adventurous young OSS recruits spring to life throughout this meticulously researched, authoritative history. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

This book is available through the following:
Amazon.com:
$6.99 (Paperback, new)
From $2.60 (Used)
$10.80 (Hardback, new)
From $6.86 (used)
N/A (Kindle edition)

Audible.com:
Not available

Barnes & Noble:
$6.99 (Paperback, new)
From $1.99 (Used)
$10.80 (Hardback, new)
From $5.00 (Used)
N/A (Nook ebook)

HI Library System:
Available as a book (many copies, 0 requests)