Panel discussion: Civil rights in Caroline, or Change and The Help

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Laura

(L-R) Bookclub-in-a-Box writer Rona Arato with cast members Nicholas Rice, Arlene Duncan, and Sterling Jarvis.

This Wednesday, Bookclub-in-a-Box co-hosted the Acting Up Stage Company’s Toronto production of the Tony Award–winning musical Caroline, or Change. For this one night only, we were proud to have Rona Arato, co-author of our discussion guide for Kathryn Stockett’s book The Help, taking part in a post-show discussion, joined by cast members Arlene Duncan (Caroline), Sterling Jarvis (the Dryer/the bus driver), and Nicholas Rice (Grandpa Gellman), and moderated by Associate Producer Elenna Mosoff.

What drew us to this particular show? Caroline, or Change, written by Tony Kushner, tells the story of a black maid working for a Jewish family in Louisiana in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. The parallels between this show and The Help are many, and so we sought to explore them with the help of the cast.

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Now available: the Bookclub-in-a-Box guide to Paula McLain’s The Paris Wife

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Laura

We’re excited to announce that as of today, the discussion guide for Paula McLain’s much-buzzed-about, Jazz Age–era fictional memoir, written from the perspective of Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley, is now available in print and PDF. Every guide includes:

· Novel Synopsis
· Author Information
· Character Analysis
· Themes, Writing Style & Structure, and Symbols
· Discussion Questions
· Important Quotes from the Novel
· Special section on the real Hemingway and his work
· A one-on-one Q&A with Paula McLain about Hemingway, research methods, and her next novel (about Marie Curie)! Continue reading →

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Win two tickets to the musical Caroline, or Change

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Laura

That’s right, we’re giving away two tickets to the January 25 performance of the award-winning musical Caroline, or Change.

To enter, just email laura [at] bookclubinabox [dot] com with your first and last name—it’s that easy. For additional ways to enter, find Bookclub-in-a-Box on Facebook and Twitter. Bookclub-in-a-Box will be there after the show discussing the parallels between Caroline, or Change and Kathryn Stockett’s civil rights–era novel The Help. See you there!

Contest ends on Friday, January 13 at 5 p.m. ET. To purchase tickets via the Acting Up Stage Company, click here.

About the show: Caroline, an African-American maid to a Southern Jewish family, is struggling to keep afloat both emotionally and economically, while the young son of her employer tries to make sense of the world following the death of his mother. A Tony, Olivier, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel and Obie award-wining musical—and the only musical of the 21st century on New York Magazine’s shortlist for “The Greatest Musical of All-Time”—Caroline, or Change mixes fact and fantasy, symbolism and reality, plus a wide palette of musical styles to tell the story of ordinary people facing extraordinary change.

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Happy New Year, bibliophiles! Preorder your guide to Paula McLain’s The Paris Wife today

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Laura

Hope you enjoyed some time off over the holidays with your loved ones. After enjoying many feasts with our own families, Bookclub-in-a-Box is back with a great recommendation for your first read of 2012: Paula McLain’s The Paris Wife, a novel based on the relationship of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley, as they made their lives together in Paris in the 1920s. If you’ve read Hemingway’s memoir A Moveable Feast, you’ll love hearing McLain’s interpretation of the heartbreaking story from Hadley’s perspective.

The full Bookclub-in-a-Box discussion guide, available January 20th, will include the following:

· Novel Synopsis
· Author Information
· Character Analysis
· Themes, Writing Style & Structure, and Symbols
· Discussion Questions
· Important Quotes from the Novel
· Special section on Hemingway’s own work
· A one-on-one Q&A with Paula McLain about
Hemingway, her research methods, and her next
novel (about Marie Curie)!

Click here to preorder your guide to The Paris Wife today.

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Book Club Spotlight: Novel Ideas

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Laura

Once every month, we’ll share the motivation and passion that drives one book club — it could be yours! — from across the globe. These are the people who have combined the solitary pleasure of reading a book with the joy of sharing, discussing, and debating it in a social setting.

December’s featured group is the Novel Ideas Book Club from right here in Toronto, and group member Wendy Hayden (left) says they have read more than 100 books together since they formed in 2002.

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Canada Reads True Holiday Stories: Dave Bidini

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Laura

Dave Bidini

The finalists for the CBC’s annual literary debate, Canada Reads, were announced last month, and this year’s theme is “True Stories”—non-fiction books. The debates won’t take place until February 2012, giving you a chance to get reading before taking sides. In the meantime, we’re getting to know each Canada Reads author a little better by asking them about their most meaningful holiday gift-giving and gift-receiving memories. Each day, we’ll post the responses from one author.

Today’s Canada Reads author: Dave Bidini, whose 1998 memoir On a Cold Road: Tales of Adventure in Canadian Rock marks the former Rheostatics guitarist’s “transition from rock star to writer, a chronicle of the band’s 1996 cross-Canada tour with The Tragically Hip.”
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