Shelf Indulgence Book Club

  We were so lucky today to have Rachel Harrison  join us for our discussion of The Return. We wanted to share the discussion with those that couldn't make it but may have loved the book as much as we did:  Play Video Enjoy! And here are our additional questions from those that couldn’t  be with us from our Q&A:  One of our gals wondered if you (jokingly) had any friends you based Julie on? And if you joke with them about that?  Haha! No, I know better than to base characters on people I know. That's trouble right there.  She also wondered if there was any grief for a loved one that inspired the story and if you could elaborate if so?  I've had two close friendships fall apart, and how do you mourn a friendship? It's not really widely talked about. It was definitely something I was working through as I wrote this book.  Are the creatures all in parks? And if so do they have slight differences like the creatures in WA parks look more ...

An edgy and haunting debut novel about a group of friends who reunite after one of them has returned from a mysterious two-year disappearance. Julie is missing, and the missing don't often return. But Elise knows Julie better than anyone, and she feels in her bones that her best friend is out there, and that one day she'll come back. She's right. Two years to the day that Julie went missing, she reappears with no memory of where she's been or what happened to her.  Discussion Questions:  1.This book revolves around the friendship between its four characters. Did you find these relationships compelling? Did they remind you of any of your own friendships?   2.       Much of the tension between Elise and her friends comes from the differences in their situations: finances, careers, location. How much responsibility do you think each character bears to bridge that gap?  3.       How did Elise’s affair make you feel about ...

So, history was made at Shelf Indulgence during our October 17th meeting  to discuss Learning to Speak Southern . Author Lindsey Rogers Cook joined  us - and, guess what? She’s a childhood friend of our own SI member,  Bailey Dozier. Lindsey and Bailey became pals while in elementary school in Woodstock, GA. Lindsey, who has written two novels, is a UGA graduate. And, yes, she’s a Bulldog fan, though, being a journalist (for the New York Times), and a novelist, she admits to journaling during SEC football. We had many questions for Lindsey, including how she managed to interweave the past and present stories of a mother and daughter. Turns out, she did write their stories separately, then decided to follow a less linear narrative by interspersing the flashback backstories with the current stories. Her clever use of the mother’s letters, which her daughter had never read, really heightened one of the book’s intriguing mysteries. This is a book with surprises. You’re smart...

We were so lucky today to have Lindsey Roger Cook join us for our discussion of Learning to Speak Southern. We wanted to share the discussion with those that couldn't make it but may have loved the book as much as we did:  Play Video Enjoy!

It was an honor to have Lindsey Cook the author with us today to discuss her book Learning to Speak Southern.   A searing Southern story about confronting the difference between the family you're born into and the family you choose, from the acclaimed author of  How to Bury Your Brother Lex fled Memphis years ago, making ends meet with odd jobs teaching English around the world. She only returns when she has no choice, when her godmother presents her with a bargain she can't refuse. Lex has never understood her mother, who died tragically right before Lex's college graduation, but now she's got a chance to read her journals, to try and figure out what sent her mother spiraling all those years ago. The Memphis that Lex inhabits is more bourbon and bbq joint than sweet tea on front porches, and as she pieces together the Memphis her mother knew, seeing the lure of the world through her mother's lush writing, she must confront more of her own past and the people she le...

Emily is having the time of her life—she’s in the mountains of Chile with her best friend, Kristen, on their annual reunion trip, and the women are feeling closer than ever. But on the last night of the trip, Emily enters their hotel suite to find blood and broken glass on the floor. Kristen says the cute backpacker she brought back to their room attacked her, and she had no choice but to kill him in self-defense. Even more shocking: The scene is horrifyingly similar to last year’s trip, when another backpacker wound up dead. Emily can’t believe it’s happened again—can lightning really strike twice? Back home in Wisconsin, Emily struggles to bury her trauma, diving headfirst into a new relationship and throwing herself into work. But when Kristen shows up for a surprise visit, Emily is forced to confront their violent past. The more Kristen tries to keep Emily close, the more Emily questions her motives. As Emily feels the walls closing in on their cover-ups, she must reckon with the t...