PHW ~ discussion questions 1-6

I hope you have started reading Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff. It's time to start our discussion. Happy New Year ... and happy new book discussion to us all! You may have noticed there are 14 pictures alternated with 17 chapters. This week's discussion covers five pictures and five chapters. Let's think about these, which come in this order:

1st picture = X
Chapter 1
2nd picture = Steven
Chapter 2 = Josie
3rd picture = Fishing in the Delaware River
Chapter 3 = Josie
4th picture = The Old Man's Mountain
Chapter 4 = Josie
5th picture = The Old Man
Chapter 5 = Josie

QUESTIONS:

1. Why is the first picture called "X"? And why do you think Hollis has kept it in spite of the X? Discuss Hollis’s idea of home.

2. We've heard that "a picture is worth a thousand words," so think up a picture of your family when you were a child. What would your "picture" show? Why is that particular moment in your family so special?

3. Except for the first chapter, all the others are said to be "The Time with Josie." What happens in chapter one? What name would you give this chapter?

4. Beatrice had been an art teacher for 40 years, but had never seen anyone who could do what Hollis could do (p. 43). The Old Man had said, "Where'd you ever learn to do that?" (pp. 44, 47), and Izzie had said, "You have a gift, pure and simple" (p. 44). What are some of the many many art career options for Hollis?

5. I'm testing your memory with this question. What was Hollis's favorite color in the leather box of colored pencils the Old Man gave her? What do you imagine Hollis would draw with that color?

6. Josie told Hollis, "There are saltwater people, and freshwater people" (p. 23). Which was Hollis? Which are you? Tell us why.

CCF ~ one more post from Bonnie

I have several comments about Cold Comfort Farm. First, the questions may have seemed skimpy, but about all there is to this book is Flora wanting to fix her relatives and, as Shirley asked, what was it that Aunt Ada Doom saw in the woodshed and why did the Starkadders take in Flora in the first place?

I found the best information ... and that wonderful Starkadder family tree chart ... at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Comfort_Farm

That's the place you will also find a list of Flora's solutions to the Starkadder problems. The novel ends when Flora, with the aid of her handbook The Higher Common Sense, has solved each character's problem. These solutions are:

Meriam: Flora introduces her to the concept of contraception.
Seth: Flora introduces him to a Hollywood film director, Earl P. Neck, who hires him as a screen idol.
Amos: Flora persuades him to buy a Ford van and become a travelling preacher. He loses interest in running the farm and hands it over to Reuben.
Elfine: Flora teaches her some social graces and dress sense so that Richard Hawk-Monitor falls in love with her.
Urk: forgets his desire for Elfine and marries Meriam.
Mr Mybug: falls in love with and marries Rennet.
Judith: Flora hires a psychoanalyst, Dr Müdel, who, over lunch, transfers Judith's obsession from Seth to himself until he can set her interest on old churches instead.
Ada: Flora uses a copy of Vogue magazine to tempt her to join the twentieth century, and spend some of her fortune on living the high life in Paris.
Adam: is given a job as cow-herd at Hautcouture Hall.
Graceless, Aimless, Feckless and Pointless: go with Adam to Hautcouture Hall.
Big Business: Flora lets him out into the sunlight.
Flora: marries Charles.

The future
There's one other thing I noticed ... Stella Gibbons seems to have been trying to predict the future! If you remember that the novel was written in 1932, you would be surprised at some of what was there. I wrote this in my reading notes when I got to Chapter XII (12), my pages 140-141, and then page 177:

What's with the television in 1932? Especially a phone with a television? Stella Gibbons must have been trying to predict the future ... especially since she mentions "the Anglo-Nicaraguan wars of '46" as something in the past!

The Wikipedia article mentions her use of air taxis. What sorts of things did YOU notice in the book?

My pick

I am honored that so many of you are willing to read a book chosen by me. I propose to read Arthur Japin's "In Lucia's Eyes", the book that made the shortlist for December. I'll leave it to a democratic vote as to when we will read it. I think that Japin is a great writer, and this one I haven't read yet.

PHW

I got the book today!!!!!! Yippeee!!! It was mailed on Sat. & I got it today. I cannot believe that I got the book so fast, when all the other books tooks around 2 weeks. The book came wrapped in pink paper. It looked just like a present. Well, I guess it was. :) I'm still finishing up CCF, so I only read the intro. to phw. The intro. gives rich details of who Hollis is, place & setting & what Hollis really wants.

Proposal on a Margreet Choice Month

Seeing the greeting this morning was pleasant.

I hope she and others in our group each had a joyful Christmas.

I had been thinking about her and her comment that this month's book would be expensive to obtain and for such a short book not worth the expense. I miss hearing her comments on books and would like to propose that we allow her to select our next book. It would be great having her back on board sharing her thoughts on our read.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Wishing all my friends here a Merry Christmas, and all the best for the New Year. May all of your wishes come true, and may your lives be filled with great books to read!!
~~~ Margreet
EDITED by Bonnie to add Snoopy, one of my favorite characters, to the greeting from Margreet, one of my favorite people. Merry Christmas to all book buddies ... and a happy New Year!

CCF ~ "something nasty in the woodshed"

Shirley: "Now that I think about it, maybe the nasty thing was in the woodshed instead of the outhouse."

Bonnie: "Yep, it was the woodshed, and I should have caught that ... sorry, I wasn't thinking, either. Okay, here's a photo of a woodshed. If you click on it and enlarge it, you'll see that the sign above the door says COAL SHED ... even though there is wood inside. Both wood and coal were ways of heating the house, once upon a time. The woodshed was once known as the place misbehaving children were taken to be disciplined by spanking. So maybe THAT was what Aunt Ada Doom saw. Maybe she thought spanking a child was a nasty thing to do to the poor kid."