Tag Archives: one book one lincoln

New One Book One Lincoln podcast available!

One Book - One Lincoln thirteenthtale Professor Laura Mooneyham White’s One Book One Lincoln presentation, It Was a Dark and Stormy Read, on the history of gothic literature, was recorded on September 28th for release as a podcast on the library’s web site.

That presentation has been divided up into two separate podcasts, the first of which is now up at:

It Was a Dark and Stormy Read, Part 1 | It Was a Dark and Stormy Read, Part 2

Give it a listen, and check out the other One Book-related podcasts on our main podcasts page. If you attended Professor Mooneyham White’s presentation, or listened to this podcast, what did you think about her topic?

The Thirteenth Tale: Discussion Question #4

Discussion Question #4

The assertion with which Vida Winter opens her first book also acts as the epigraph to The Thirteenth Tale. And indeed, every major character in the book — with the exception of Miss Winter herself, who characterizes her own birth as a “subplot” (p. 58) — mythologizes his her own birth to some extent. How do characters in the novel enact Vida Winter’s assertion that “all children mythologize their birth”?

“All children mythologize their birth. It is a universal trait. You want to know someone? Heart, mind and soul? Ask him to tell you about when he was born. What you get won’t be the truth; it will be a story. And nothing is more telling than a story.” — Vida Winter, Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation

The Thirteenth Tale: Discussion Question #3

Discussion Question #3

When Margaret challenges Miss Winter on the many versions of her life story she has already told, the author replies “It’s my profession. I’m a storyteller.” For Miss Winter, Margaret’s pursuit of biography, her insistence on working with facts, is “horribly dull…Don’t you think one can tell the truth much better with a story?” (p. 46). Who do you agree with more, and why? What makes someone’s life story fiction? A biography? A memoir?

Take part in One Book – One Lincoln this week!

One Book One Lincoln fans,

Here are the opportunities for you to participate in this year’s One Book One Lincoln during the next week-or-so (October 6th through 13th):

Monday, October 6th — 6:30 p.m. — Book Discussion in a Garden: Hazel Abel Park
Join other readers in Lincoln’s historic Hazel Abel Park at 18th & “E” St. for an evening discussion of The Thirteenth Tale. You are encouraged to bring a chair or blanket, and even a picnic supper if you’d like! Garden book discussions will not be held if there is rain on that date.

Tuesday, October 7th — Noon-1 p.m. — Book Discussion: Courtyard Book Chat
Meredith, the curator of the Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors, will lead a brown-bag-lunch discussion of The Thirteenth Tale in the open central courtyard at the Bennett Martin Public Library downtown. Stop in with your lunch and enjoy a stimulating book discussion!

Wednesday, October 8th — 7:00 p.m. — Book Discussion: Southpointe Barnes & Noble
Discuss the book with fellow readers!

Monday, October 6th — 6:30 p.m. — Book Discussion in a Garden: Maxwell Arboretum and Garden Gazebo
Join other readers at UNL’s East Campus arboretum for an evening discussion of The Thirteenth Tale. Feel free to tour the fall flowers in the Maxwell Arboretum, then join us for a book discussion in the Garden Gazebo (across Holdrege St. from Valentinos at approximately 35th street). You are encouraged to bring a chair or blanket, and even a picnic supper if you’d like! Garden book discussions will not be held if there is rain on that date.

Sunday, October 12th — 2:00 p.m. — Gere Branch — Special Program: Buried in Books!
Jim McKee, Lincoln resident, historian and a lover of books, will share the story of Thomas Jefferson Fitzpatrick, longtime resident of Bethany, and a bibliomaniac. Fitzpatrick, a college professor, lived out the end of his life existing entirely in his kitchen, while the rest of the property was packed floor to ceiling with books. For some it is not enough to hear the stories or read the stories. They must own the very books that haunt their lives. What secrets do their worlds hold for us? What tales do the pages of their lives and collections have to tell? A discussion of The Thirteenth Tale will be held after this program.

Check out this year’s official One Book One Lincoln web site for full details, plus additional future scheduling information.

Scott C. / One Book One Lincoln web site manager

The Thirteenth Tale: Discussion Question #2

Discussion Question #2

Much of the mythology of Vida Winter is taken up with the lost thirteenth tale, the story that was supposed to appear as the final installment in her first book, Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation. Ironically, famous as she is, Vida Winter is at least as famous for the one story no one has read, as she is for her many novels. What is the significance of Vida Winter’s Thirteenth Tale in Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale?

What do you think?

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