Man's Search--the Wrap Up

I'm really glad that I read this book again, especially at this time of year. It's a great time to get 2008 spinning in the right direction, and I am reminded that where it goes is my choice. To me, that is what this book was about. Each of us, no matter how deprived, depraved, or neurotic can choose kindness, compassion, and dignity. That's something that I've always "known", but even last night when my sweet baby woke up at 1:30 and cried for an hour and a half I wanted to spank her bum! Such a simple concept, yet so hard to execute. Isn't life grand? Needless to say, I'm glad for this little reminder!

For those of you who read this book, let us know what you thought. No specific question--just what stuck out to you, what you enjoyed, what you didn't, etc.

Enjoy the last few days of January, and I'll see you suckers next month!

psst. next month's reading...

I don't want to disrupt the Man's Search for Meaning discussion, so I'm posting very small, but I wanted to give y'all a heads-up on the next two month's readings. (I accidently picked two books out of the hat.) So. Congratulations to Tracy who will be our February discussion leader for "Reading Lolita in Tehran" by Azar Nafisi, and to Jill Wright, who will lead our discussion in March on Nora Roberts's "Blood Brothers." Good luck and happy reading! Lindy, back to you...

Man's Search for Meaning, Pregunta Uno

I hope that you guys found the first part of this book both as depressing and uplifting as I did. I know it sounds contradictory, but here it works.

Viktor Frankl talks about the prisoners' struggle to survive the day to day savagery of being debased and treated like faceless, nameless animals. Each prisoner was identified only by a number. He says that this was basically the hardest thing to survive--being completely insignificant. How did the different groups mentioned in the book combat this feeling? What did they do to make themselves significant, and at what cost?

Do you see any parallels in today's pop culture, politics, or even your personal relationships?

Better Late Than Never

Let's give a great big Finer Things Book Club welcome to latecomer respondent and new member, Jill Wright (who evidently decided that the statement in the original book club email asking for a response "by Wednesday at 5:00 pm" applied to everyone but her). Jill comes to us as a well-read, well-traveled graduate of BYU Law School, currently working and living in Washington D.C. She is a virgo who enjoys reading, going to the mall, and is a dedicated Paris Hilton enthusiast.

She has submitted three excellent book suggestions and has agreed to abide by the very strict and stringent club bylaws. We are thrilled to have her join us and believe that she will be a great asset to the club ( and by "we" I mean me. Y'all can comment for yourselves.).

Man's Search for Meaning

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Holiday and set a New Year's resolution to enjoy the Finer Things. Let us start with a little Viktor Frankl. As Todd so callously pointed out, I have read this book before, but not for many years, so I'm looking forward to discovering it again.

I'll be posting discussion questions that accompany the following reading schedule:

January 18: questions regarding Part I: Experiences in a Concentration Camp--in my edition (4th) this runs through page 100.

January 28: questions regarding Part 2: Logotherapy in a Nutshell and the 1984 Postscript: A Case for Tragic Optimism--in my edition this runs through page 154.

Happy Reading!