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<p class="MsoNormal">Greetings and Happy New Year,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our January Book Club meeting is scheduled for Wednesday January 3, 7:00 PM at the home of John and Sandy Halverson, 810 22<sup>nd</sup> Street South, Arlington, VA 22202.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All are welcome!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The book is Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream by Doris Kearns Goodwin. This is an older book and I was unable to locate book club questions. Instead I use some generic questions and added a few additional. Please find the questions
below and attached.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As usual we will order dinner for delivery for those who are interested. Additional information over the weekend.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Upon occasion it is a good idea to move the book club meetings to a different location. Does anyone volunteer to hold the February meeting at their home?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">See you next Wednesday.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">John<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Attachment<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">1. How did you experience the book? Were you engaged immediately, or did it take you a while to "get into it"? How did you feel reading it—amused, sad, disturbed, confused, bored...?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">2. How do your memories of the 60s fit with this book?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">3. Describe the main characters—personality traits, motivations, and inner qualities.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">• Why do characters do what they do?
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">• Are their actions justified?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">• Describe the dynamics between characters (in a<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> marriage, family, or friendship).
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">• How has the past shaped their lives?
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">• Do you admire or disapprove of them?
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">• Do they remind you of people you know?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">4. Does Lyndon Johnson manipulate his cabinet and advisors or do they manipulate him in terms of reacting to national and world events?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">5. Are the main characters dynamic—changing or maturing by the end of the book? Do they learn about themselves, how the world works and their role in it?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">6. Has the book caused you to change your opinion about politics in the mid-20<sup>th</sup> century?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">7. What personality traits motivated Johnson?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">8. Talk about the book's structure.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">• Is it a continuous story...or interlocking short stories?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">• Does the time-line move forward chronologically?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">• Does time shift back & forth from past to present?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">• Is there a single viewpoint or shifting viewpoints?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">• Why might the author have chosen to tell the story<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> the way he or she did?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">• What difference does the structure make in the way<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> you read or understand the book?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">9. What main ideas—themes—does the author explore? (Consider the title, often a clue to a theme.) Does the author use symbols to reinforce the main ideas?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">10. What passages strike you as insightful, even profound? Perhaps a bit of dialog that's funny or poignant or that encapsulates a character? Maybe there's a particular comment that states the book's thematic
concerns?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">11. Is the ending satisfying? If so, why? If not, why not...and how would you change it?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">12. If you could ask the author a question, what would you ask? Have you read other books by the same author? If so how does this book compare. If not, does this book inspire you to read others?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">13. Has this book changed you—broadened your perspective? Have you learned something new or been exposed to different ideas about people or a certain part of the world?
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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