June

We had a good turnout last night for our discussion of Little Fires Everywhere and a good discussion. We tried something new this month. Instead of just having a list of questions, we took drew rounds of questions from a basket. Not only did that put each person with some questions they had to answer but holding that question in your hand was a good reminder that we still had book discussion to continue with when we got off track.

We largely stuck to the publisher's questions for the book, although they were tweaked some and we didn't include all of them. This allowed us to talk about character development, the different kinds of mothers, the setting of the book and how it impacted what the characters did. We spent a lot of time talking about the open-ended questions Ng left for readers to consider. A lot of our discussion had to do with surrogacy: the way it was accomplished here, the difference it might make if neither of the prospective parents were a biological parent, and whether or not we would be able to carry a baby as a surrogate. We also spent a lot of time talking about adoption, the role race plays in adoption, and what happens when a birth parent decides they want their child back. We had to remind ourselves frequently that Ng has set this book twenty years in the past and then we worked to remember what the world was like at that time.

Those of us who had read the book enjoyed it and we would definitely recommend it for other book clubs. There were enjoy wider topics discussed in this book, too, so that those who hadn't read the book could also jump into the conversation.

Thanks to Ann for hosting and all of the yummies and to Lisa W. for sharing books!

April and May

April's turnout was the biggest turnout we've had in a long time and everyone there had even read the book. Huzzah! Apparently we need Paulette Jiles to start writing books faster? Of course, this was the only meeting I've missed in a year; fortunately, I was able to call in to talk to everyone about New Of The World. It was a great discussion. We talked about the writing, the characters, what we were expecting to have happen as we were reading (some of us were certain of a happily-ever-after and some of us were expecting the worst). This one was definitely a hit with the club, in no small part because we all really liked the relationship between the main characters. Plus, there were plenty of surprises, new things to think about (none of us had ever heard of traveling news readers), and we found a link to the cowboys in the story.

In May, we had the inverse - only three of us were able to make the meeting (sorry, Mary Beth but thanks for the great spread). Luckily, we'd all read the book so we had a good time talking about the book, what we had expected versus what we got, and how it seemed to tie into current events. We'd all definitely recommend The Women In The Castle for book clubs in no small part because of the way the rise of the Nazi party seems to parallel much of what we seeing now regarding nationalism. We found the ladies interesting and thought Shattuck had done a good job crafting unique individuals of each of them. We all remarked that this book touched on a part of the World War II era that we had not previously read anything about and it was interesting to see how the disparate factions began having to live with each other again.

Wonder what kind of a group we'll end up in June now that summer travels have begun? We should have a lot to talk about again with Little Fires Everywhere!