Welcome to the March 2015 edition of the Christian Fiction Book Club Connection. Thanks for stopping by. Whether you’re a pastor or ministry leader thinking of forming a book discussion group at your church, a current member of a book club, or simply a fan of Christian fiction hoping to connect with other readers, you’re in the right place!
This month’s post includes a featured book that I think is well suited to discussion, as well as links to upcoming online discussions. Then I’ll wrap up the post with a discussion question I’d like YOU to chime in on.
Featured Read
Author: Harry Kraus
Publisher: David C Cook
Publication Date: March 2014
This medical suspense takes a look at the world of pharmaceutical research. It’s also a page-turning inspirational read that raises some interesting questions, of the kind that I think could make for a good discussion. Check out my review, as well as the author‘s and publisher‘s Web sites to learn more about the book, and decide if it’s one your book group might enjoy.
Online Discussions
The ACFW Book Club‘s March selection is The Daughter of Highland Hall by Carrie Turansky. You can subscribe to the group’s e-mail list now, by following the instructions on their Web site, to be sure not to miss any announcements or discussion questions.
For February, the Christian Fiction Devourers group on Goodreads is discussing Danger in the Shadows (O’Malley #0.5) by Dee Henderson AND Love’s Reckoning (Ballantyne Legacy #1) by Laura Frantz. Grab your copies and head on over to the discussion forum to check in with others who are in the midst of reading these books.
The Fans of Christian Romance Goodreads group is reading Beyond the Waves (Pacific Shores #1) by Lynnette Bonner for its March discussion.
For fans of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, Jamie of the Books and Beverages blog hosts a monthly Inklings discussion series. Sometimes fiction, sometimes non-fiction, the title for the month of March is The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis. Discussion is scheduled to begin on March 18th.
The #HedlundChallenge2015 features discussion of one of author Jody Hedlund’s historical fiction novels each month. The discussion is hosted in alternating months by Jamie of Books and Beverages and Cassie of Bookshelves and Windows. For March, participants will be discussing An Uncertain Choice, as well as its prequel novella, The Vow at Cassie’s blog beginning March 24th (discussion details here and here).
Update: I’ve got a last minute addition to the list this month. Just found out that Susan May Warren is hosting a Book Club Chat for her latest book Always On My Mind. For details and to sign up, check out the Facebook post or the Video Announcement.
Let’s Chat!
For this month’s discussion, I thought we might like to talk about discussion questions. For many books, you can find a discussion guide with suggested questions in the back of the book or on the publisher’s or author’s Web site. Those questions can be a great place to start, asking relevant questions about specific scenes and characters, and sometimes revealing hints as to what the author may have hoped readers would get from the book. But not every book has a discussion guide.
For those times when discussion questions haven’t been provided, what are your go to questions? Do you have any favorites that can be applied to a variety of books? Please share in the comments!
To help get the conversations started, I thought I’d share a link to a great list of generic questions for discussing Christian fiction I found over on the Reading Group Guides Web site (where they also provide title-specific discussion questions for a huge selection of books). Some of these questions look really good and worth checking out for discussion ideas. I’d probably add a couple of additional questions to their list.
- Which were your favorite (or least favorite) characters and why?
- Were there any really quotable lines in this book you’d like to share?
Any other questions you’d like to add to the list? Or any already on the list that you particularly like? I’d love to hear from you!
When my group, By The Book, started 13 years ago, I used the guides from Reading Group Guides whenever a book did not have discussion questions available. (They also have great tips for themes and activities too.) After meeting for so many years, we don’t really need a guide to spur on discussion ;). I always look for discussion questions and use the ones that are appropriate for our group or have not already been talked about by the group.
On a fun note, we sometimes suggest who should play the characters if made into a movie. Very enlightening!
Thanks so much for this monthly post. I think it is great that you are promoting book clubs and discussions.
I love the idea of discussing who would play which role in a hypothetical movie. That does sound like fun! And it’s interesting to hear that your long-running group doesn’t necessarily need a guide. I guess it makes sense that as group members develop greater familiarity with each other and with typical discussion topics, that having a written guide would become less important. I hadn’t really thought about that aspect, but now that you mention it, I think a group I met with a few years ago experienced much the same thing. Thanks so much for bringing that up!