Book Club discussion questions for "Alice," by Christina Henry

I found no readymade discussion questions for "Alice."  It made a fun book club selection though.  It was fast-paced and fun (albeit a bit horrific.) Here are some reading group questions to help others along.

Here are the "Alice" questions we used.

1) Women victims, are there too many? Is there a lesson about woman power? Who is the most powerful person in this world?

2) Did anyone read the original? If so, was it helpful? If not, are you inspired to?

3) Discuss the irony of a "grown up book" using child characters. Is there a difference these days? Compare your comfort level of reading a kid story with adult themes compared with adult story based on child book.

4) Alice grows up and becomes increasingly self sufficient in this book.  Discuss how? Readers of the "Alice" story grow up too.  Is it a natural thing to want a more grown up version?  What other childhood books would be good candidates? 

5) Who is Hatcher? Is he the Mad Hatter? Are Tweedle dee and Tweedle Dum Theodore and his brother?

6) Are we supposed to learn lessons about New town versus Old Town? What are they?

7) If conformity is rewarded, what is lost?

8) Eating and drinking are a powerful theme in the book? Why? What do they signify?

9) Is there a Queen of Hearts anywhere?

10) Alice locked away jabberwocky as she was locked away? Was this a satifying end?

11) What lesson is there in the mermaid's tale?

12) Throughout the book self interest is generally punished except in the case of Cheshire. Why?

 

Reading Group Discussion Questions for "The Oath," by Frank Peretti

Here are the book club discussion questions we used for "The Oath," by Frank Peretti.

Once again our book club selected a book without readily available discussion questions online. Im jotting down the ones we used because "The Oath" made an incredible book pick!  It's an oldie but a goodie.  It's fast-paced enough to get readers to finish it.  It's meaty enough to provide at least two solid hours of discussion.  Lots of good stuff here!

1) What do you think the dragon was? Sin? Hell? Satan? A demon? Did you think it was a real, living creature as you read the book or something else?

2) What do you think the black, oozing rash was? What changed in the lives and minds of the residents of the town as the black rash progressed?

3) It appears that Frank Peretti had a checklist of the 7 deadly sins next to his typewriter as he wrote this book.  What characters and behaviors can you think of that demonstrate:
-- envy
-- gluttony
-- greed or avarice
-- lust
-- pride
-- sloth
-- wrath

4) Why did the dragon grow over the 100 years?  What changes in his behavior as he grows? How does the dragon's life mirror sin?

5) The town charter signed in 1882 is a declaration of what?  What sin is represented in it? Did The Oath create the dragon or did the first Hyde merely discover it?

6) Why didn't the residents want the dragon killed if it was killing them?

7) Why was Jules Cryor eaten by the dragon?

8) What sins did Steve show?

9) Alexander Pop in his "Essays on Man" wrote:
Vice is a monster of so frightful mein,
As to be hated needs but to be see;
Yet, seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

Can you see this description of behavior in the book?

10) What was Ron the pastor guilty of?

11) Did you chafe at the seeming incongruity of the order in which the dragon selected his victims?  Weren't Harold Bly's sins worse than others?  What does the say to you about the nature of sin and it's punishment?

Book Club Discussion Questions for "The September Girls," by Maureen Lee

Here are the discussion questions used by my book club for "The September Girls," by Maureen Lee.  I hope they help other reading groups discover this novel.  

While the book wasn't necessarily a favorite of my club members, it was appreciated for being an engaging and happy book.  It's a book to pick when you're worn out with death and disillusionment books -- a good "summer read."  Plus, our discussion was really lievely.  Love it or hate it, this is a great discussion book for a group.


1) Will Brenna and Colm get back together some day?  Did you like Brenna?  Did you like or sympathize with Colm?  What did you think of Lizzie?  

2) If not Brenna/Colm, who else might the tea leaves prophecy be about? Did you believe in the "tea leaves reading" within the framework of the story? Was the "reading" too much or a spoiler for you?

3) Did Nancy have any faults?  Was she realistic?  What role did she play in the book?  Did you expect Nancy's death?  

4) Was it right that Cara accept the house after Marcus died?  Did she owe Sybil anything after inheriting, considering Sybil was intended to inherit?  Would your answer be different if Cara had not had Marcus' baby?

5) Are Sybil and Tyrone going to have a happy or lasting marriage? How did you feel about Sybil throughout the story?

6) Was Fielding bisexual?  Did you realize the two lodgers were gay?

7) How did you feel about the Hector/ Eleanore marriage?

8) Were the friendships between the wealthy and servant/working class believable?  Were some friendships more believable than others?  Did the characters accurately behave, speak, and view the world as a person would who actually lived in that era?

9)  The book was entitled "The September Girls."  Thinking of the story as a whole, is it an appropriate title?  What else might the book be called?  

10) If you could change one thing about the book, story, or characters, what would that be?

11) How do you think you would have weathered the bombing of Liverpool?  Would you have stayed away in the countryside? Would you have sat in your kitchen as bombs fell? 

12) What do you think Anthony was doing all that time in America?  

13) Were you surprised by characters naïveté?  Would you have liked to live in those times?  

14) How did you feel about the women's experiences in the British military?  Were you familiar with the female soldiers' perspective in WWII? How do you see it as different as male soldiers? 

15) How do you feel about bombing cities in general?  (Like Liverpool or Berlin)  Would it be tolerated today? 

16) Religious faith, or its lack, was a commonly discussed trait in the book.  Was it portrayed as a positive or negative?

Sluggy self-knowledge and working to better some lesser-known author's world

I'm a blog slug.  I've come to accept that.

I used to sit down, research, and write volumes on here.  Then I accidentally erased three years of semi-consistent book-blogging output.  Now I just can't muster the same gumption.

(sigh)

Oh, well.  There's one thing I still can do with this site.  I find it particularly satifying to post discussion questions for those poor orphan books that don't have any.  Some Book Clubs won't select a book that doesn't have questions available online.  It's nice feeling that my small, rarely used blog can nudge a lesser known book into the book club world (and marketplace.)

So, in that spirit, here goes nothing.  On to book club questions!

By the way, I'm putting the questions in a separate blog post so the book title is in the first sentence.  Just helping a sister writer out with my techno savvy (what little I have anyway.)

TBR Challenge Update 1

I'm doing it.  Im taking a break from buying books.  Gasp!  My goal is to get through "a significant portion" (whatever that is) of the huge backlog of books I own before I go merrily back to my profligate book-buying ways.

I decided to start with the Legend series, by Marie Lu.  I read "Legend" About 2 years ago and liked it.  Since then, both my daughter and niece have pestered me to finish the series -- one they both love -- so we can discuss it.

What better incentive do I need?  Lots of book talk with two of my favorite girls is a great reward.

I wasn't sure I'd remember enough of "Legend" to carry me through to books two and three so I decided to reread book one.  Ultimate TBR pile diminishment? Zilch.  Oh well.  It turned out to be worth it.  I can go on to read books 2 and 3 now without struggling to remember plot points.

Pages: 305

Days to finish:  4, but only because I forgot to bring the book with me one day

Review: 4 1/2 stars based mainly on the fun I had reading it

Laughs:  none really, that I can remember

Tears: twice, but I'm weepy this week.

BIG ISSUES or themes?:  perhaps just that family is what matters. -- both the family you're given and the family you make for yourself.  Also, "Watch out for big evil governments.  They lie."

My thoughts:

"Legend" is a dystopian and is just as much fun as I remembered.  While I wouldn't put it in the same league as a "Hunger Games," (mainly for its lack of moral ambiguity or life lessons) I enjoyed it immensely.  The romance, suspense, and world-building were all deftly handled and engaging.  It is a straightforward dystopian romp that allows us to hate the baddies and cheer for the beautiful, perfectly smart and athletic, teenaged H and h.

The polar caps have melted and humans struggle to live in a world of cramped land and totalitarian military rule.  Plagues and hurricanes routinely sweep through the Los Angeles of Legend, killing many of the poor that the evil military would otherwise be oppressing.  

There were enough mysteries -- both resolved by the end of the book and hanging out there be be resolved in later books -- to keep me reading.  There's a revolution brewing that will likely pull in the H and h.  Hopefully I can finish the next two books quickly before my book club book comes in the mail.

RIP, original content from "Bookish Omniana."  I attempted to erase my son's access to YouTube and wound up erasing years worth of blogging.  Duh!  Techno-savvy, I am not.


I will struggle to recreate some of the old information here, the necessary stuff, anyway.  The rest is Gone with the Wind.  ;-)  Check back.