General Book Club Questions for Study and Discussion

In your book club, you may be reading books on a wide variety of topics. Here are a few questions for study and discussion. These questions are designed to make you think about the book(s). Take a look...

• What did you think the book was about?
  
  
• Did you feel that the book fulfilled your expectations? Were you disappointed?
  
  
• Did the author seem to appear in the book? How? Why? Was the presence of the author disruptive? Or did it seem appropriate/fitting?
  
  
• Did you enjoy the book? Why? Why not?
  
  
• How did the book compare to other books by the author (or other books in the same genre)?
  
  
• What about the plot? Did it pull you in; or did you feel you had to force yourself to read the book?
  
  
• How realistic was the characterization? Would you want to meet any of the characters? Did you like them? Hate them?
  
  
• Did the actions of the characters seem plausible? Why? Why not?
  
  
• If one (or more) of the characters made a choice that had moral implications, would you have made the same decision? Why? Why not?
  
  
• How does the setting figure into the book? Is the setting a character? Does it come to life? Did you feel you were experiencing the time and place in which the book was set?
  
  
• How would the book have been different if it had taken place in a different time or place?
  
  
• What are some of the book's themes? How important were they?
  
  
• How are the book's images symbolically significant? Do the images help to develop the plot, or help to define characters?
  
  
• Did the book end the way you expected?
  
  
• Would you recommend this book to other readers? To your close friend?