May 2020: Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick

[Anne, BPL Librarian]

Just a heads up that we have 5 copies of the e-book and 2 copies of the e-audio in Overdrive:

e-Book https://uhls.overdrive.com/uhls-bethl...

e-audio https://uhls.overdrive.com/uhls-bethl...

Our newest digital service Hoopla also has the e-audio: https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/1...

Happy reading!

[Anne, BPL Librarian]

Before I start adding book discussion questions for this, I have one BIG question for you all:

Was this book too quirky and/or light weight for our group?

Okay, two big questions. The second question:

Is everyone having a hard time reading during the pandemic? If not, what have you been reading?

[Donna]

Good morning! Personally, I enjoyed rereading this and it was nice to have something to read that's a bit lighter, but still with plenty to think about, especially the impact of family and the pressure of trying to be a people pleaser!
Fortunately, I have not had any problem reading - I think it provides a welcome balance to the tough reality we see and hear in the news. I've enjoyed such a great range of books, including Radium Girls by Kate Moore, The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman, Doc by Mary Doria Russell, My Antonia by Willa Cather and The Little Shop of Found Things by Paula Brackston.

[Anne, BPL Librarian]

Great to hear from you, Donna! Thank you for the book suggestions!

[Amanda]

Hello! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and thought it was the perfect amount of light. There's already too much heavy in the real world out there. I really loved the short stories within the main story line; they were like bonus reads.
I have been reading everything I can get my hands on: "Untamed" by Glennon Doyle, "The Two Lives Of Lydia Bird" by Josie Silver, Stephen King, Lisa Wingate, J.R. Ward, Emily St. John, Caroline Kepnes, and my old pal Dir Walter Scott.

[Anne, BPL Librarian]

Great to hear from you, Amanda! Thanks for the reading suggestions, too!

[Maria]

Hi! I enjoyed reading this book although it was a lighter read than I normally like. But like Amanda I think that this was the perfect time.
I am looking forward to the Zoom discussions!

[Anne, BPL Librarian]

Great to hear from you!

[Anne, BPL Librarian]

More questions:

(1) Martha’s fairy stories feature in the book. Did you have a favorite fairy story from the book, or a favorite fairy tale in general? Why is it your favorite, or why did one resonate with you?

(2) Out of all the characters in the book, which one did you find most interesting?

(3) As a child, what was your favorite book? What is your favorite book now?

(4) Betty (Martha's mother) stayed with Thomas despite his attitude and behavior. She felt she owed him a debt of gratitude because he married her while she was pregnant with someone else’s baby. She even chose Thomas over her mother Zelda, possibly even over Martha. Did she just get entrenched in a position and didn't see an alternative?

Follow up questions about Betty and Thomas:
(4a) How would you describe Thomas’s relationship with his wife Betty – overbearing, over-caring, protective, or controlling?

(4b) Do you see Betty as a weak person, for allowing Thomas to control the household? Or is she strong, for holding her family together?

[Anne, BPL Librarian]

(1) I remember reading as many of the Andrew Lang fairy books as I could get my hands on as a kid. The Blue Fairy Book, The Yellow Fairy Book, etc. I recently tried to reread one of them and I was too bored to continue. I think i just don't have the time or patience any more. I also remember a book of Perrault fairytales that had all the original endings - like the gruesome feet of the stepsisters in Cinderella (they chopped off parts of their feet to try to fit the glass slipper). I don't think I have a favorite folk- or fairy-tale, though.

[Anne, BPL Librarian]

(2) Out of all the characters in the book, which one did you find most interesting? Well, Siegfried, of course. He was designed to be the quiet mysterious neighbor with A Past. I liked that at the end of the book Martha realized that the love and caring she so craved had actually been present in her life through Siegfried but that she hadn't seen it. The little loving things he did, returning her trolley, following her out of the library to make sure she was okay, etc. I think at that point she learned to be more present and aware.

I think a lot of the characters were written to have obvious faults for us to latch on. I actually didn't like Zelda that much, and Gina didn't have much of a personality for me to latch on to.

Also, I kept picturing Martha as Kim-Joy from the Great British Bake Off! She has kinda of a bubbly happy personality that covers up sadness, as an extremely expressive face and wears quirky outfits.

[Anne, BPL Librarian]

(3) As a child, what was your favorite book? What is your favorite book now?

When I was a child, I read and reread a few books: The Velvet Room and Striped Ice Cream and Mr. Pudgins are the first to come to mind. Also, The Hounds of the Mórrígan and Dianna Wynne Jones books but I read those when I was older.

These days I don't think I have any favorites. There are definitely books that rocked my world (or worldview) by opening it up, like Things Fall Apart. Then there are books that I like to listen to - any Tana French audiobook!

[Anne, BPL Librarian]

(4) I'm ambivalent about Betty. The story at the end of the book helped me understand her a little better, though. I think she did love her husband and was grateful to him, and learned how to live with him, but that there was fallout from that.

(4a) At the beginning of the book I hated Thomas Storm and thought he was controlling and overbearing, but by the end of the book I saw that it was how he tried to protect his wife and children.

(4b) Again, ambivalent towards Betty. She wasn't perfect but she obviously loved and cared for her children and husband.

[Donna]

This whole family made me a little crazy. Thomas sails perilously close to, if not over the line of, being an emotional abuser. Betty will do anything to keep the peace, which makes her his victim, but between the two of them, they really set up poor models for their children. And Zelda fans the flames, which I thought was pretty immature, though I appreciate what she meant to Martha. There are reasons for all the behaviors, but oh, so self-destructive! in that way, all the characters were a little over the top and exaggerated, but even so, I was cheering for Martha and enjoyed it when her assertiveness asserted itself! :) Loved her colleague - Suki? and the quiet decency of the lighthouse keeper. And there is a lesson about trying to base your self-worth on pleasing everyone around you.
Fairy tales - I read and loved them as a child and then read them to my girls, and never once realized how terrifying they can be! As an adult, I love Naomi Novik (Spinning Silver, Uprooted), Jasper Fforde (Nursery Crime series), and Neil Gaiman (Neverwhere) and the way they incorporate nursery rhyme characters, legendary and mythical figures and fairy tale creatures into really great adult fantasy novels!

[Anne, BPL Librarian]

Thanks, Donna!

[Alison]

Just finished listening to this one. It was a little cutesy in some ways, but the reader had a voice and accent like Daisy from Downton Abbey, so I enjoyed that! I lost attention a lot, but I find that happening a lot lately!

I was intrigued by Zelda- and found Thomas to be emotionally abusive. But I was glad Martha finally got some grit!

You asked if anyone is having trouble reading now- yes! I am turning more toward going for walks and hikes vs reading. It helped getting this one as an audio book so I could listen while walking or doing a puzzle.

[Anne, BPL Librarian]

Great to hear from you, Alison!