On Monday, August 31 I met with the lovely book club of the Estates of Willow Creek in Centerville, Ohio. This group meets once a month in the club house of the development, and for August, they read my novel The Kindness of Strangers. The group loves wine and had a wonderful spread of food! Whoever brought the pumpkin bread is a goddess in my opinion!
The group used my reading group guide from the Harper Collins website, and although a moderator moved us through those questions, several of the women had other questions as well. I absolutely LOVE listening to readers discuss certain points from the story. This always feels like a gift to me, since so much of writing happens in solitude. The most controversial point of discussion seemed to center around the character of Courtney—[spoiler alert!] was her suicide a gift to Jordan or just another selfish act? Was her friendship with Sarah genuine at all, or was she simply using Sarah? Was Courtney’s relationship with Jordan more or less damaging than Jordan’s relationship with his father, Mark? I was delighted, listening to intelligent women defend their various views!
I also loved that this book club maintains a library for the entire housing development. Anyone may come and borrow books. That’s impressive enough, but even better is the fact that whenever they have duplicate titles, they ship the books to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bravo, ladies!
I have to admit to being a little out of sorts, on my first night off from the play at the Dayton Theatre Guild and the night before my fourth novel was due! If I was a bit ADD or scatter-brained, this wonderful group didn’t let on and were nothing but gracious! Many thanks!
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