ABC

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Welcome to
A Book Chat
(yes I'm a sucker for fancy acronyms)

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This is basically your regular book group, where people like you and me will gather around a topic with their precious tomes under one arm, a cup of coffee and bisquits in hand, prepared for an infinity of time to discuss their lives in literature.

The discussions will take place in forums because we all won't be online at the same time, and someone is bound to say something I want to reply to when I'm offline, so I want the opportunity to reply on that topic without disrupting the flow of the current conversation, and that is possible in the WC-forums. The discussion will later be transcribed into the wiki in a sensible format for the future generations to awe at.

Small notice: Your choice of literature doesn't have to be a novel. It can be short stories or just one short story. It can be poetry (but preferably not just one poem :S), it can be a play or even a comic (although if that's the case you might have to scan in your passages). Anything literature, and hopefully in one edition/book, preferably by one author, although short story compilations around a topic are ok too.

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The topic
The first ever discussion's topic will be:

Wrong Is Right

I want you to find a book or passages (that's a plural so at least two) from a book in which the hero does things or acts in a way that you consider morally wrong. The act should be described from the wrong-doers point of view.
It can be anything you consider morally wrong, even if some people might not. Don't worry about being politically correct, nor fear about someone shunning you for expressing your thoughts.
If you have troubles, have a look at I don't know what book to use.

Possible passages (describing)
-the act itself
-memory of the act
-recounting the act to someone else
-regretting the act

-someone else's view about the act (this shouldn't be the only passage, since we want the wrong-doers point of view)

Here's a few things to think about when reading or preparing for the discussion:
-Was it easy or difficult to feel for the character?
-Were you appalled? Either by the act or by yourself feeling for the character, understanding his reason to do the act?
-What circumstances lead to the act?
-How is the act justified by the wrong-doer?
-Does the wrong-doer question himself before, during or after the act?
-Was the act done with intent? If not, does the wrong-doer hold himself guilty?

If you don't have access to an English copy of your book, try http://www.literaturepage.com/read/
And if the site doesn't have it, feel free to request any English-speaking member/member in an English-speaking country to find the passages from the book for you. You may also translate the passages yourself if it comes down to that.

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Participants
Put down your username, the book you are going to use and briefly what it is about, and a note if you are prepared for the discussion already or not. (By prepared I mean you have written down the passages you will give us. There might be some waiting for everyone to be prepared, during which you might end up having to return the book to library or something - have the passages typed in to your blog or in a hidden wiki or something, so you can just copy-paste when it's discussion-time)

1. [iippo]
Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews

It's (a fact-based) story of four children whose mother hides them in the attic of an old house to be able to inherit her rich father.

Prepared.

2. [RiddleRose]
Into the Woods

This is a musical that combines the fairy tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White. In the first act the fairy tales go pretty much like they do in the original stories, with only the addition of two new characters, the Baker and his Wife, who want ot have a child, but have curse laid upon them by the Witch from Rapunzel that they can't. The story is their search for the items to make a potion that will allow the Witch to lift the curse.
However, it is revealed that the Witch really loves Rapunzel as her own daughter, and has imprisoned her for her own protection. At the end of the first act, everyone is happy except for the Witch and Cinderella's Ugly Stepsisters.
However, in the second act, everything changes. The Giant's Wife from Jack and the Beanstalk comes down the second beanstalk to take revenge upon Jack for her husband's death. The Witch, who has lost all of her powers in exchange for her former beauty, cannot help them. Many people die, including the Narrator, Jack's Mother, Little Red's Granny and Mother, and (after an adulterous affair in the woods with Cinderella's prince) the Baker's Wife. Rapunzel has twins at age fourteen and then dies as well, and everyone is unhappy. It is brought to the question of who's fault all of this is, and everyone still alive ends up blaming the Witch. She, who merely wanted to be left alone with her garden and Rapunzel her daughter, sings an amazing song called "Last Midnight", in which she leaves them to their fate, bitter and alone.
Cinderella leaves her fickle Prince, the Baker attempts to raise his son on his own, and everyone wonders who was really right and who was really wrong. Little Red and Jack come live with the Baker and Cinderella, since all of their relations were killed.

not prepared yet.

3. [Delladreing]
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

It is an epistolary novel written in form of letters to an anonymous "friend" i.e. the reader; written by the narrator, known only as Charlie. We never find out his real name. It's a story about growing up, but from the viewpoint of a "wallflower". It delves into the ideas of teenage sexuality, abortion, homosexuality, paedophilia, depression, drugs, literature, and film. There are many highs in the book, like the moment when Charlie realises his infinity and other instances when he plays Rocky in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. But the lows are incredible and heartbreaking. The idea of rape which Charlie is exposed to from an early age, which later go on to mar his relationships, the knowledge of molestation and the abuse suffered by his sister via her violent boyfriend which leads to a forced abortion. All of it eventaully leads to one giant mental breakdown for the boy called Charlie which is only resolved after hospitalisation but still manages to end on an optimistic and trusting note.

Not prepared fully yet.

4. [Veltzeh]
The Outsider by Albert Camus
The book starts when Meursault receives news that his mother has died. He buries his mother, has some fun with his friends and kills an arab. He's then imprisoned. In the second part of the book he just sits around in the prison, is judged and then sentenced to death.
Prepared!

5. [Anninja]
The Outsider by Albert Camus
This book needs double care and attention, as for this topic. It's perfect for it.
Not prepared fully yet.

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