Author Fills Coeur d'Alene Library Community Room

Jamie Ford, author of "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" spoke to an audience of 180 people Wednesday, March 16, in the Community Room at the Coeur d'Alene Public Library. Earlier in the day, the author responded to questions from regional teens during a program at Lake City High School. Ford's visit was supported in part by a grant from the Idaho Humanities Council with support from Friends of the Library at Coeur d'Alene, Hayden and Post Falls.

 

Minidoka Exhibit at Coeur d'Alene Library

A touring exhibit created by the National Park Service about the Minidoka Relocation Center, an internment camp that held Japanese-American families during World War II, is currently on display at the Coeur d'Alene Public Library, 702 E. Front. The exhibit is traveling regionally among libraries participating in Our Region Reads.

Jamie Ford Arrives in North Idaho

Jamie Ford, author of "The Hotel on the Corner of the Bitter and Sweet," addresses book club members at a reception Tuesday, March 15, at the Post Falls Library. This event was the first of a series of activities planned for the author who is North Idaho as part of Our Region Reads, a cooperative project by area libraries.

Author Jamie Ford Scheduled for Several North Idaho Events

Jamie Ford, author of “The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” – the 2011 title for the Our Region Reads project – is scheduled to attend several events in North Idaho in connection with the regional community read.
The primary public activity will be Wednesday, March 16, when Ford will be at the Coeur d’Alene Public Library at 7 p.m. in the Community Room. The author will speak, answer questions, and will be available to sign copies of his book. Admission is free.
Ford’s novel tells the story of Henry Lee, a boy of Chinese heritage who is 11 years old growing up in Seattle when the attack on Pearl Harbor marks the entrance of the United States into World War II. But it is also the story of Henry Lee late in his life when a surprising discovery in the old Panama Hotel in Seattle brings back memories of a time when Japanese-Americans were rounded up and sent to internment camps.
The background music for “Hotel” is the sound of jazz being played in Seattle’s clubs and homes in the 1940s.
Prior to his presentation at the Coeur d’Alene Library Ford is scheduled to speak to the area high school students at Lake City High School. A discussion about the book by the 3Cs Book Club will be held Wednesday at the Coeur d'Alene Resort and will be led by Virginia Johnson. On Tuesday the author was greeted by a reception at the Post Falls Library with representatives from several area book clubs.
Upcoming public Our Region Reads activities include:

March 18, 7:00 p.m.(doors open 6:30 p.m.): “Bitter Sweet Memories: Music of the Second World War” with vocals by Ruth Pratt, Jacklin Cultural Center, 405 William St., Post Falls, tickets $20, art@thejaclincenter.org, 208-4578950.

March 23, 10:15 a.m.: Pageturners Library Book Club, discussion “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet,” open to any adult reader, free, Coeur d’Alene Library Community Room, 702 E. Front Ave., 208-769-2315.

March 23, 7 p.m.: Living Voices – “Within the Silence:” A one-woman show characterizing the forced relocation of Japanese-American to internment camps, Coeur d’Alene Library Community Room, free, 208-769-2315.

March 24, 1:30 p.m., “Within the Silence:” A one-woman show characterizing the forced relocation of Japanese-American to internment camps, Post Falls Library, 821 N. Spokane St., free. 208-773-1506.

Discussion Guide for "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet"

The Pageturners Library Book Club will discuss “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” on Wednesday, March 23, at 10:15 a.m. in the Community Room at the Coeur d’Alene Public Library,

702 E. Front Ave.

. The discussion will be led by Virginia Johnson. Here is the discussion guide she has prepared.

The discussion is open to any adult reader. No registration is required.

“Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” tells the story of Henry Lee, a boy of Chinese heritage who is eleven years old growing up in Seattle when the attack on Pearl Harbor marks the entrance of the United States into World War II.  But it is also the story of Henry Lee later in his life when a surprising discovery in the old Panama Hotel brings back memories of a time when Japanese-Americans were rounded up and sent to intern-ment camps.

Among the awards presented to this novel are the following:

            2010 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature

            2010 Washington State Book Award Finalist

            2009 Montana Book Award

            2009 Borders Original Voices Selection

            2009 Director’s Mention, Langum Prize for American Historical Fiction

            2009 Book Browsers Favorite Book Award Runner Up

ABOUT JAMIE FORD

Jamie Ford is the great-grandson of Nevada mining pioneer Min Chung, who emigrated in 1865 from Kaiping, China, to San Francisco, where he adopted the Western name, “Ford.”   Ford grew up in Oregon and near Seattle’s International District, studied as an illustrator and copywriter before turning his attention to fiction.  He is an award-winning short story writer, an alumnus of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, and a survivor of Orson Scott Card’s Literary Boot Camp. His second novel, Songs from the Book of Souls, should, he says, “be hitting shelves sometime in 2012.”  He lives in Montana with his family, wife Leesha and their blended family.

SOME QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION

1. How believable is it for a twelve-year-old to meet and later remember the “love of his life”?
2. What attitudes toward immigrants are still present in the U. S. today? 
3. Do generational differences and struggles like those between Henry and his father and Henry and his son still exist? Examples?
4. Why is Henry’s father so mean to him?
5. How would the novel differ if jazz were not a component of it?  Would any other kind of music have worked just as well?
6. Tell about a time when you experienced the phenomenon Henry describes on page 115:  “When the music played, it didn’t seem to make a lick of difference if your last name was Abernathy or Anjou, Kung or Kobayashi.”
7. Where – if at all – did you find humor in this story?
8. Jamie Ford suggests that to “hear” the song, “Alley Cat Strut,” you should listen “something of that era played VERY LOUD. Too often we think of jazz as background music, rather than headlining performances.”  Which song of the 1940s would you choose as your “Alley Cat Strut”?”

P.S.  Here is the list of songs and their performers Jamie Ford suggests as the “sound track for the novel”:

“On the Sunny Side of the Street,” Sidney Becket

“I’m Through with Love,”  Arthur Prysock

“Them There Eyes,” Billie Holliday

“When I Fall in Love,” Nat King Cole

“Perdido” the Quintet (Live at Massey Hall)

“Blues in the Night,” Kansas City Band               

“My Man’s Gone Now,” Sarah Vaughan

“If,” Jane Monheit

“And So It Goes,” Karrin Allyson

“Whatever Possessed Me,” Chet Baker

            “My One and Only Love,” Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane

9. Of  major elements of design of the novel—plot, character, setting, point of view—which would you say stands out most?
10. Is this, as one reader called it, “an implausible love story”?  Or as another said, is it “as saccharine and overly sentimental as the title suggests”?  Explain.
11. As he prepares to bury his father and marry Ethel, Henry thinks “he’d do what he always did, find the sweet among the bitter.”  When does he always do that?

SOME SOURCES

www.randomhouse.com/highschool (excellent guide with additional readings about the period, including movies)

www.jamieford.com (an excellent source of information about and comments by Ford; good way to get to know him)

www.readinggroupguides.com/guides_Hotel_corner_bitter_sweet

www.litlovers.com/guide_hotel_bitter_sweet

“Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.”  Kirkus Review 76 (20): 1086. 2008-10-15

“Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.” Publishers Weekly 255 (37): 40.  2008-90-15

Clouther, Kevin (2008-11-15).  “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.”  Booklist 105 (6):27

Burkhart, Joanna M.  (10/1/2008) “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” Library Journal 133 (16):56

Priscilla Wegars Program

Dr. Priscilla Wegars speaking at the Coeur d'Alene Public Library Saturday, March 12. She is the author of “Imprisoned in Paradise: Japanese Road Workers at the Kooskia Internment Camp.”

Priscilla Wegars Programs Begin in Libraries

Author Priscilla Wegars is presenting programs at regional libraries as part of the 2011 Our Region Reads project.

Her presentation is “Imprisoned in Paradise: Japanese Road Workers at the Kooskia Internment Camp,” which is also the title of one of her books.
Wegars tells the story of this obscure and virtually forgotten World War II facility. The Immigration and Naturalization Service-run camp held “enemy aliens” of Japanese ancestry from Idaho and other states as well as from Mexico, Panama, and Peru. Her talk includes information from both internees and employees to illustrate camp experiences.
Wegars is a historian and historical archeologist who has worked on excavations in Idaho, Washington, England, New Zealand, and Belize. She received her doctorate at the University of Idaho and is the author of several books.
Her local presentations will include:
► Tuesday, March 8, 7 p.m., Hayden Library.
► Wednesday, March 9, 6 p.m., Spirit Lake Library.
► Thursday, March 10, 7 p.m., Post Falls Library.
► Friday, March 11, 6 p.m., Athol Library.
► Saturday, March 12, 2 p.m., Coeur d’Alene Public Library.
► Saturday, March 12, 5 p.m., Pinehurst Library.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Idaho Humanities Council as part of the "We the People Initiative" of the National Endowment for the Humanities with additional support from the Friends of the Library at Post Falls, Hayden and Coeur d’Alene libraries.