ICE Breakers
JAMES
BOOK OF THE MOMENT
Do you think you need to have read ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ to appreciate this re-interpretation? If you aren’t familiar with the story, were you able to appreciate ‘James’ as a stand alone novel?
What is the significance of the ‘pen and paper’ and how does Everett portray this?
Is literacy as important to Jim as freedom?
How does Everett use humour and satire to enhance his writing?
How does the relationship between Huck and Jim in Everett’s novel compare to the original?
Everyone who helps Huck meets a tragic death – what do you think Everett is trying to tell us?
What do you think Everett is inferring by renaming Jim ‘James’?
Have you read any other books by Everett and if so how did this compare?
TOM LAKE
MISSED OPPORTUNITY
‘Tom Lake’, like ‘Our Town’, is made up of small moments. Do you have any favourite ‘moments’ in your book group?
Did you as a reader find yourself reflecting on the anxiety of youth and did it encourage you to feel more content with life as an older person? What did the novel trigger for your book club? And was this a celebratory read or a book of reflection and ‘what ifs’?
There are two timelines in the novel, making the daughters interrupt, insert and bring the story back to the past? Did this device work for you and did you have a favourite timeline?
Ann Patchett admits with some guilt that she enjoyed having her family closer during the pandemic. Did you?
‘Tom Lake’ was written on a treadmill desk as Patchett believed it encouraged creativity as she existed in the novel 2-3 hours every day. How do you think this affected her story-telling?
Have you read any other novels by Patchett and how does this compare? If you enjoyed ‘Tom Lake’ what you recommend next?
REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES
In addition to the Reading Group Discussion Questions at the back of the book, the Den suggest some additional questions for your book club:
Did Marcellus the octopus enhance the novel's story or did you feel this was a red flag as a device for solving the mysteries that caught up with Nova and Cameron? What other books have effectively used a similar device?
Did you have a favourite character and did it remind you of any others from your book club reads? ('Olive Ketteridge' in the Elizabeth Strout series, 'Still Life' and 'Isaac the Egg')?
Did the group appreciate the bright yellow octopus jacket for the book and how did this compare to the audible version (which featured a Swedish Dala horse)?
What other books have pleasantly surprised your book club and what do you think makes this book a bestseller and a book club favourite?
THE WILD CARD