book clubs
I love book clubs!
What could be better than reading a terrific book? Well... nothing. But what’s close? Getting out of the house to meet with girlfriends, eat snacks, and discuss terrific books.
I’d be honored if you’d consider My Stubborn Heart as one of your book club selections. Check out the following resources -- including a quick blurb to to let your group know what the book’s about, theme ideas for your meeting, and discussion questions.
blurb
I know that book groups choose books in different ways. In case it’s helpful to you to “pitch” a quick summary of the novel to your group, here goes:
One gorgeous ex-pro hockey player with a broken heart.
One single, Christian girl full of determination.
One house that they’re both committed to renovate.
One God who has bigger plans.
My Stubborn Heart by Becky Wade
from Bethany House Publishers, May 2012
click here for a printable version of the above blurb.
theme ideas
If your book club has settled on My Stubborn Heart for your next meeting, then -- wow! -- thank you! How about a few fun theme ideas?
HOST A “HIGH TEA”
Throughout the novel, Kate and Gran regularly sit down with their friends to enjoy “high tea” together. They always wear funny hats, drink hot tea, and eat homemade desserts. You can easily do the same for your book club!
Ask all your members to wear a hat. Once everyone arrives, brew tea in a tea pot, pour it into the daintiest cups and saucers you can excavate, and serve up one of the dishes from the book.
In the book, the ladies munch on oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and buttermilk cake while having their tea. It was a hard job, but I felt somebody had to taste various recipes to find the best offerings in each category. So here they are, my chosen recipes for...
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Buttermilk Cake
HOST A POKER NIGHT
Kate and Matt join ‘the seniors’ in My Stubborn Heart for poker night on Fridays.
So long as one of your members has access to a poker set and some knowledge of the game, you can let the cards fly and battle it out over some poker at your meeting. If you’d like to stay very true to the book, each person can ‘buy in’ to the game for $5 and the winnings can be split between the top 3 finishers based on the size of their stacks.
KATE AND MATT’S FIRST DATE
Remember how ‘the seniors’ arrange for Matt and Kate to have a date night out at his place?
You could serve frozen pizza and root beer floats at your book club meeting. If there’s a TV nearby, you could have hockey (or the movie Notting Hill) playing silently on the screen. If you’d like to add a soundtrack, see if someone in the group has a Mamma Mia CD you can play. Do you recall Kate listening to Take A Chance On Me (from Mamma Mia) when she runs into Matt on her walk?
discussion questions
Click here for the printable list of discussion questions.
Have a great meeting! Feel free to contact me ahead of time with any questions you’d like me to answer for your book club. If you’re interested, I might even be able to ‘join’ you via skype during your meeting. I’d certainly enjoy meeting you!