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FOR BOOK GROUPS: .jpg) I love speaking to book groups. If you'd like me to come to yours, just shoot me an email from the CONTACT VICKI page of this site. If you're within a 90-minute drive of Boston, I'm happy to get there on my own (warning: I often like to.jpg) bring my Irish wolfhound Sage). I've also had a great time being flown out to book groups around the country. Of course that gets a little more complicated, but send me an email and we'll work it out if possible.
Suggested Discussion Topics If your book is anything like the ones I've visited lately, you don't need any input for a lively discussion, but here are a few general questions you might think about when reading the book or discussing it: It's impossible to know what makes each of us who we are, but what elements of Ruth Harkness's life do you think help explain how she became such a courageous, if unlikely explorer? Who and what were the greatest loves of Ruth Harkness's life? Does any of the Chinese history from that period have a bearing on what we read about the country today? How about the giant panda? What are the things Ruth seemed to know intuitively that took the conservation world decades to realize? What about Ruth's notions of destiny? Do you believe we each are guided by a pre-ordained fate? Mull over the "what ifs" -- what if Bill had brought Ruth with him to China in 1934? What if Ruth had stuck with the original plan and had made Floyd Tangier Smith and Gerry Russell her expedition partners? What if she and Quentin Young had come back to the US together? What if she had stayed in China after her third expedition? Ruth is both an inspiration and cautionary tale in one. Has her life made you examine your own? Has her courage and determination made you think about pursuing your own dreams?
Further reading: If you've read THE LADY AND THE PANDA and aren't quite ready to leave that whole world or you want to learn a little more, here are a few books that might give you a fix: "Shanghai : The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City 1842-1949" (Paperback) by Stella Dong. A rollicking, well researched history that reads like a novel. One of the most important books in my research and a delight to read. "When We Were Orphans: A Novel" (Paperback) by Kazuo Ishiguro. The author of REMAINS OF THE DAY takes on Shanghai of the 1930s. "Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45" (Paperback)
by Barbara Tuchman. This epic story won the Pulitzer Prize -- read it and you'll know why. Insightful, thorough and vivid. "Shanghai '37" (Oxford Paperback Reference) (Paperback)
by Vicki Baum. Huge, sprawling, melodramatic page turner from the author of GRAND HOTEL. Baum spent time in Shanghai in the '30s and the book is full of vivid detail. "Chasing the Panda: How an Unlikely Pair of Adventurers Won the Race to Capture the Mythical White Bear" (Hardcover) by Michael Kiefer. My terrific colleague Michael Kiefer has been tireless in tracking the story and people of the great panda adventure. He is the only person Quentin Young trusted enough with the details of his life.
Movies: LOST HORIZON (1937): Frank Capra made the movie that outstrips the book it's based on. (Interestingly, the only woman on board the plane is a missionary in the book but a hooker in the movie -- I guess there ARE only two kinds of women.) Ruth said of this film that for once Hollywood's propensity for going over the top didn't go far enough in portraying the majesty of Tibet. Ronald Colman is the lead, and you'll remember from THE LADY AND THE PANDA that Bill once partied with him near Borneo. BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN (1933): Surprising gem directed by Frank Capra (again!) and starring Barbara Stanwyck. Very much ahead of its time in depicting, among other things, the possibility of interracial love, but also is pretty enlightening about cultural misunderstanding. You won't want to miss Stanwyck's trippy dream that reveals her feelings for General Yen. EMPIRE OF THE SUN (1987): Fantastic. Not only a great Steven Spielberg movie based on J. G. Ballard's autobiographical novel-- with Christian Bale as a kid -- but it will satisfy your longing to soak in a little Shanghai 1940s atmosphere. THE LADY AND THE PANDA (not yet released. In fact, not yet filmed) -- Focus Features.
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