Book Discussion

               

         
              While I have attended programs at my library, this would be the second time I have attended a book discussion.  The first time it was an adult book discussion that mainly talked about female books with females called Round Table Readers, which usually meets on the third Wednesday each month.  This book discussion was different.  This book discussion was called First Thursday Afternoon Book Discussion Group.  This was also an adult discussion and this group meets the first Thursday of every month and it mainly talks about classic and award-winning books. 

               The program was on Thursday March 3, 2016 at 1:00-2:00 (actually it ran to 2:15 because there was so much to talk about.) in one of the  available meeting rooms. When I got there, there were a total of six other people: five females and one male (actually two males since the director of the group was male as well).  This was a first for me because I usually go to a program where there were mainly females, so it was great to have a male attendee and a male director.  Another thing I noticed was I was the youngest person in there, while everyone else was in their 40's and 50's.  There was also a hot pot of coffee available for everyone who wanted a cup.  The book we discussed was Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City.  It is a historical nonfiction story about the Chicago World’s Fair in the late 1890’s where it is told through two men; one is an architect and the other is a sinister murderer. 

‘It is to be desired, let us say, that it should be better understood than it yet seems to be by some of your fellow citizens, that the Fair is not to be a Chicago Fair.  It is a World’s Fair, and Chicago is to stand before the world as the chosen standard bearer for the occasion of the United States of America.  All Chicago can afford to take nothing less than the very best site that can be found for the fair, regardless of the special local interests of one quarter of the city or another’ (Larson, 2003, 54-5).

This book actually was a finalist for the National Book Awards for Nonfiction.  It started out as the director mentioning upcoming events and what the next book discussion will be as well as asking others suggestions about future discussions.  A couple of people mentioned books, mostly Willa Cather books.  Once that was done, everyone had a chance to speak their thoughts.   I admitted that I had only read a little bit into it, but I made a connection between the Fair and the Indiana State Fair a few years ago when the stage collapsed and killed people, where there were people killed at the Chicago Fair too.  There were a couple other people who had not finished, but there was still a lot to talk about.  One of the women did finish the book and she talked about how she liked how the murderer character went on about his business and how he plotted to kill his victims.  Another person disagreed and how she found is behavior odd and scary at times.  We all came to the agreement how psychopath was an unfamiliar word at that time and how this began the idea of profiling murderers.  The characters in the story could realize there was something odd about the murderer character, but they could not label him since profiling was not yet used.  We also discovered this Fair was where the Ferris wheel was invented and how this gave women the opportunities to find jobs, which lead to many vulnerable people becoming targets for the murderer character.  All the females came to the conclusion that women should watch out for the charming guys and powerful people can do evil things.  The male attendee talked about how this Fair showcased Chicago after the big Chicago Fire, especially its landscapes and buildings.  He mentioned how he used to work as an electrician and how Chicago used lights to show their buildings, even in the dark when the Fair was still going on. 

            I really enjoyed going to this group and it turned out to be a good discussion.  Even though I was not done with the book, this discussion made me want to keep reading to see what it was really like to read through the mind of a psychopath and an architect trying to create something worthwhile at the Chicago World’s Fair.  Plus, we were all able to talk about something about the book.  I really liked how everyone got the chance to speak what was on their minds.  Everyone has different views on books and it is encouraging to hear what others think.  So next month’s reading will be Melanie Benjamin’s The Aviator’s Wife, which tells the story of Anne and Charles Lindbergh.  It sounds like a good book, so there could be a chance I will return next month on April 7^th and find out what the discussion will be like. 

Resource:
Larson, E.  (2003).  The Devil in the White City.  New York: Vintage Books.