Hey everyone! I’m just going to finish posting the discussion and questions. Please chime in if you’ve read it! If for some reason you haven’t been able to get a hold of the book yet, the links to these discussion posts will be posted under the Group Reads page. You can join in at any time!

Please remember to start looking for August’s read Live a Little by Kim Green now! Our September read will be A Passion Redeemed by Julie Lessman and you might want to read A Passion Most Pure first.

Discussion questions can be found here.
If we don’t cover something you want to discuss, please bring it up!

A major theme in the book is poverty and what is the nature of true poverty. Here are some of our thoughts:
Leah: Interesting that Laurel had feelings for Bet when she was a baby, but not as she grew up.
Amy: Laurel only had Bet in their lives to protect Shelby from seeing the reality of poverty
Leah: I wonder if that would work?
Sally: NO
Amy: In some ways, by trying to protect her from it, she ended up experiencing the worst side of it
Sally: The poor are always with us.
Leah: And maybe to appease her own conscious about De Lop?
Sally: Was it her conscience or her mother’s - Laurel’s mother.
Amy I suppose that, too.
Sally: What is the worst side of poverty? Murder?
Amy: Yeah, the desperation that made Bet try to kill her
Sally: Was that poverty or lack of love in her life? Even rich kids might have that problem. She was screaming for attention.

What do you think? What was the real issue of poverty in this book? Was Laurel right in trying to soften the reality of De Lop for Shelby?

Thalia and Laurel seemed to criticize each other’s marriages and Thalia’s was very untraditional. Here’s out discussion about that!

Amy:I think Thalia’s was more like a business partnership. That was also a close friendship. But not at all romantic in nature, actually.
Leah: Yeah, like best friends with no benefits.
Sally: Laurel was blind about hers.
Leah: How do you think laurel was blind about hers? I considered hers ok, really. I mean David never did have an affair. Once they communicated, things seemed ok.
Sally: But things could have happened.
Amy: The worst part of Laurel’s relationship was Thalia.

What do you think about the two marriages in the book?

We’ll be having another group read discussion in August of Kim Green’s Live a Little! Once again, the publisher (Hachette Book Group USA) has offered to give a copy to one lucky reader. Here are the rules:

1) Leave a comment agreeing to participate in the group discussion August 27-29.
2) For two extra entries, post about this giveaway on your blog and leave a comment here with your link.
3) This will be open until July 23rd. At that point, we will choose a winner. That is the same day the book will be available in stores.

Here’s a little about the book from the publisher’s site:
-What do you do if you have two bratty teenage kids who don’t give you the time of day?
-What do you do if your husband is more interested in his remote than you?
-What do you do if you’re forever being compared to your perfect sister–who just happened to marry your perfect boyfriend?
-And what do you do if you’re told you have stage 4 breast cancer?
Well, if you’re Raquel Rose, you tell your family your diagnosis, and then you watch them go from treating you like dirt to treating you like a queen. Then you go on to raise unprecedented amounts of money for breast cancer research. You fulfill your early artistic promise. And you find you love this new life of yours, no matter how fleeting it may be.

So when the doctor calls to tell her that there was a mistake and she’s actually perfectly healthy, instead of sharing her good news, Raquel can’t relinquish the sudden attention and love from her family. Soon Raquel’s lie by omission snowballs and the wise-cracking 40-something becomes a sought-after figure on her sister’s popular talk show, elevating her “illness” to local rock star status. Her mistaken diagnosis becomes the fated opportunity to fix the glaring problems in her life–her stalled career as an artist, her lackluster marriage, her unappreciative children, and her highly dysfunctional family.
And while she wants to tell the truth, she’s afraid to give it all up–would her family go back to taking her for granted? Would the donors rescind their checks if they think she was a fraud? In the end, it’s up to Raquel to find her real “cure”: an ending that befits the second chance she’s been granted.

We met online for a chat to discuss the book and the discussion went all over the place! But I hope you have had a chance to read and finish the book now. There’s a lot to talk about, and we’ll be working off some of the discussion questions that Hachette provides as well as some of the things that come up in comments from you! So speak up!

You can access the discussion questions from Hachette here.

The first question, in short, is what constitutes true art? Laurel makes quilts, but her sisters dismisses as them mere handicraft.

Here are some of our thoughts, please share yours!
Sally Oh yeah, art, something I know so much about
Leah art - um, i would say it is an expression
Sally I do think that art includes lots of things and I would include quilt making
Leah I would definitely include quilt making
Amy I think art is the expression of the soul
Sally Especially since it’s called art quilting
Leah Her quilts sounded kinda morbid though, didn’t they? not sure if they would be my thing, but still would be art.
Amy I think it involves other things, like the discipline and knowledge of the craft

What did you all think? What is true art? Are Laurel’s quilts true art?

The second question involves Laurel’s mother. Laurel’s mother cut herself off from De Lop but continued to bring them canned goods. Do a person’s motives add or subtract to a charitable act?

Amy This is in many ways the question of the book to me.
Leah Well, I think the receiver of the charitable act can tell the difference, but hey, food is food when you are hungry.
Sally Yes, I think it’s all about motives and feelings. Laurel’s mom was trying to salve her conscience because she had severed all ties and she wanted to be perceived as a good person.
Amy Well yes. I do think it diminishes the charity, but like you said, it’s still being done.
Sally Maybe in the end the motive is what really matters. Is it guilt, desire, conviction???
Amy To the giver, the motive matters, to the one receiving, it matters less.
Sally I think it mattered to Bet in the book.
Leah Definitely mattered to Bet.
She came to love Laurel even though Laurel stayed distant from her.

What do you think? How important is motive in charity?

Tomorrow we’ll tackle the family relationships and the issue of poverty in the book! Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

Courtesy of the publisher, we have a copy of The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson to give away!

Here’s how to enter!

1) Agree to participate in the Group Discussion if you win the third week of June and leave a comment. (one entry)

2) Blog about the Group Discussion and invite your readers to join in with a link back to this giveaway! (two entries)

By the way, I’m reading it now and it’s unputdownable. Thanks everyone! I’ll leave this open for a week.

Hi everyone!

 In June, we will be having a group discussion on the site.  We (Sally, Leah, Amy) will all be reading The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson and then discussing the book over three days.  We would love to have you join us!  Think of it as a virtual book club and be sure to bring some virtual snacks!

 Please note that this book probably has a PG-13ish rating.  More details to come!