Welcome to the Literary Oracle Book Club blog for the Second Life Platform! We are a small, but dedicated group of people who all share one frame of mind, we all love books. Our first selection was chosen by placing votes an online survey site. We tied on a total of five selections and have decided to read them all in chronological order as they appeared on the list.
Our first title is "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" written by Lisa See. This title is a historical fiction book written as if the events took place during nineteenth century in China. The main character of the book tells the story in first person and her name is Lily who is 80 years old. She was born in 1823 during the reign of Emperor Daoguang's third year in power. She tells the story starting out when she was a child all the way up to her adult life as a widowed grandmother.
This book is both riveting and exciting. I was hooked after the first five paragraphs. I was especially intrigued by the foot-binding ritual the women of that time endured. Lily's character has a way of gripping you from the beginning as she shows bravery, courage, and adulation for her culture throughout the entire selection.
We invite you to join us on Thursday nights in Second Life at one of our meetings. They are held at five pm SLT on the Sorriesa sim at the Lyrical Cafe Poetry Club.
Look for posts from our committee members along with those who are a part of the group going into details regarding how they feel the book reading is effecting them. We will also pose questions for our members to answer on the blog too.
Overall, we look forward to this blog complimenting our efforts and our endeavors that surround the Literary Oracle Book Club.
See you there!
Really enjoyed Chraeloos' reading of this book. The imagery was visceral and I appreciated how See provided a fully sensory landscape. I cringed several times and felt both the physical and emotional pain of the sisters as they underwent the grueling process of binding. A bit depressing relative to the outlook for these girls as they moved into woman hood, but the hope of a life better than those of the slaves provided a sense of accomplishment for their suffering.
ReplyDeleteGreat discussion afterward. Look forward to future events! :)
Thanks so much for your input tonight Acuminous. I agree the imagery in this selection is very descriptive. I love the quote, "...where there is beauty there is pain" or something similar. In most, if not all cultures women go to the extremes in order to attract their men. The West is no different in that "we" get cosmetic surgery in abundance from the lip injections to the butt injections. Women in other parts of the world even subject themselves to wearing neck rings. If they were to ever take them off I am pretty sure it would kill them. Overall, it was a great night and that was partly due to your presence. Please come again. Thank you.
ReplyDeletehttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Kayan_woman_with_neck_rings.jpg (here is a photo with a woman with rings on her neck)