Book Club Questions Novels & Stories

I hated that my body reacted before my brain could catch up. So I did the only thing I could think of. I dropped my gaze to the book between us-anything to break the pull of him. That was the real problem. Not the breaking in. Not the roses. Not even the chocolate that kept disappearing like evidence of a crime I couldn't prove. It was the questions. Too many questions. Questions I'd carried for six years without answers. Questions that had only multiplied since that night in New Jersey. The club. How I got kidnapped.

I can't imagine spending time with him outside the hospital; I'd be too awed to speak. "All right, ladies!" Cindy taps a spoon against her glass to get our attention. "We're a book club, so we need to at least look like we're talking about this week's read." She reaches down to take a hardback book out of her bright pink beach bag. "Elin Hilderbrand's The Rumor-so much to unpack here. Who wants to start?" When none of us say a word, Cindy heaves a loud sigh. "Okay, children. I see you're going to make me work for this one. The book is told from four different points of view. Which did you relate to the most?"

“Okay. We already talked about allergies and favorite colors and the schools we attended…That’s all “ “ i really don’t think they will ask us dumb questions like this “ i sighed . “ You see that’s where Bella comes in , she’s sweet and she won’t ask crazy questions but she would ask the once you don’t even expect , She did that to Clara and Mia too, She asked Mia where Calvin used to go to during Summer , That isn’t what i expected so let’s prepare for her “ “Okay. I think we’re good,” Rue said, standing up. “You remember everything?”

Another XY chromosome in attendance was a young lad that looked like he'd been forced to be here. Three men among six women, discussing an erotica book. At the risk of sounding like Sawyer, this really did look like one of those cults that adjourned with an orgy. "Shall we start?" My god mother broke the tension almost as if she could read my thoughts aloud. "I'm just going to start by thanking Zade Cutler for showing up to our book club. I didn't know a man of your...ehm..caliber was interested in books" I smiled. A smile that had the Smith women swooning and had Claire rolling her eyes with disinterest.

"We can take it slow. Or not take it anywhere at all if that's what you want." "That's not what I want," I said quickly, then winced slightly at how fast the words came out. "I mean. I don't know what I want. I just know I don't want pressure." He smiled. "Then no pressure." We finished lunch talking about the book club. He told me when they met, who usually showed up, how half the discussions turned into arguments that had nothing to do with the book. It sounded normal in a way that made my chest loosen a bit.

I fixed my gaze on the man who had the answers to all of my questions. “Where are we going?” he didn’t answer and went back to the book he was reading, ‘The Book Thief’ certainly not what I expect someone like him to read. Knowing it is useless to ask him, I leaned back into the comfortable chair which is very unlikely in a normal plane. “Where are all the other passengers?” I asked him again when he didn’t answer I pulled the book from his hand that sure got me the attention I was seeking.

I watch as she processes my words, her face going from scrunched and confused, to surprised until a wide smile splits across her face. "Are you serious?" she asks. I take the book from her hands and flip it open to the first sex scene and hand it back to her. I watch as her eyes flit across the page. As she reads, a pink flush spreads up her neck to her face until she looks up at me. "You read this whole book?" she asks, flipping through all of the pages. "Yep. Jack and I both did. And every week we go to book club to talk about it. The ladies have kind of taken an interest in us. Giving us some tips and things." I admit, feeling my face blush.

Yet here I was, in this room full of people who had chosen me, not because they had to, but because they wanted to. I smiled, a real one this time, and sat at the center of the circle. April clapped her hands together, bubbling in excitement. “Okay, enough of the emotional display. Let’s get to work. Book Club is officially back in session!” Laughter filled the room. We started tossing around ideas for the next reading list, but the discussion quickly turned into a chaotic mess of inside jokes and playful teasing. Maya insisted we include something “dark and brooding,” while Sammy argued for something “funny, because God knows we all need to laugh more.” April rolled her eyes and wrote both

Like someone had started carving something beautiful and then walked away. “Where are we going?” I asked. He gave nothing. Men like him probably didn’t waste words on their victims. Too busy murdering families and ruining perfectly good evenings. Or maybe he had a speech problem. I squinted my eyes at him as I tried to imagine him having difficulty with words. “I have book club tomorrow. We’re doing Pride and Prejudice. I’m supposed to bring scones. I would really like not to miss it.” Still zero reaction. Not even a twitch at the corner of his mouth.

He had been expecting the question about the mother, which he had been bracing for since he had walked through the door, and he had not been expecting a question that had nothing to do with anyone who was dead. "...What." "Favorite book. Yours. Any book. The first one that comes into your head." "...Selene." "I am not asking about the file you cannot open. I am not asking about the woman in the dream. I am not asking about the six men. I am asking what your favorite book is. Tell me before I take another spoon of stew." He inhaled. He set down his own piece of bread. He looked at me the way a man looked at a woman who had just thrown him a small simple object he had not known he had been wai