Book Club - Clubs

I found that all of the stories were quite interesting, and seemed to be spread out over target ages.

Cinnamon by Neil Gaiman.

Ok, I'm not going to lie, but I didn't quite get the point of this story. Maybe it's because I read it sometime last week at about 2 in the morning, and just didn't get it. I did get that the aunt was killed by the tiger, and the tiger got Cinnamon to talk... But why did she go off into the jungle with the tiger. I mean, she was a princess -- stay in the palace! So much more comfortable than the jungle. So, yeah, that's what I got out of that story.

The Lady or the Tiger? by Frank Stockton

Very interesting. I really really enjoyed this story. The king's way of judging people to be innocent or guilty seemed to be a simple if not quite just way of solving the "problem." But really, someone could be guilty and still open the door to the lady, and he would get married, and everybody would forget about the crime that was committed...How realistic is that? Ummmm, not very. On the other hand, even if the person on trial was innocent, and he opened the door to the tiger and subsequently died, that's not quite realistic either.

The point of the story...the princess's actions of showing the lover which door to choose when she knew what was behind each door. And then not telling the reader what door she chose...that's some smart writing. It was a great story overall, and I really enjoyed it.

The Goose Girl by the Brothers Grimm

I have always loved stories by the Brothers Grimm, and this story is no exception. I thought that this story was a great children's story. Some of the other original Brothers Grimm story are not so appropriate for children, but The Goose Girl is are fun story that can teach lessons to children of all ages. I thought the real princess was quite selfless...but then again I thought that she could have stood up for herself just a little bit! And then the maid in waiting...more like a witch (replace the first letter of that word with a different letter at your leisure). But the real princess didn't complain, and she won out in the end.

The Last Question by Isaac Asimov

I thought this story was also very good, and what made it even better was that it was written in 1956. That Isaac Asimov could see the future! :P The story brought up a lot of interesting themes that could relate to today's times. The use of energy, the advancement of computers, and people's reliance on computers...All issues of today. I thought it was an interesting story, and way ahead of its time...even if we're not ever going to be moving to different planets and galaxies.