Deb Kelly Picks THE GLASS WIVES…

… for my imaginary book club! I’m not in any real book clubs because I’m terrible at it. I only read the books I pick myself, and even when someone else’s pick sound terrific, I tend to buy the book and forget about it until the night before, at which point I read the book club questions in the back in a frenzy planning to fake it. Then at the actual club I walk in and the second thing out of my mouth is a confession that I didn’t read the book, because the book club questions make no sense to me and faking it would be futile.

This surprises absolutely no one who knows me. I will read the books in my life in the order I see fit, and if that means I’ve read two serial killer thrillers before getting to that Pulitzer Prize winner, so be it. Does anyone want to start a book club with me to discuss the books we were actually reading when we were supposed to be reading our book club books?

If I were in a book club I would want the trio of best friends from THE GLASS WIVES, Evie, Laney and Beth, to be in my club too. They are fun and funny and seem to have excellent taste in men, clothes, and especially cookies. And they are powerfully and sometimes painfully honest with one another, which would make for a lively club discussion. We would probably never get to the sanctioned back-of-the-book questions, though. Too many other things to gossip about.

Today, in honor of Deb Amy’s big launch, I’m going to suggest some ‘book club questions for the rest of us’ for THE GLASS WIVES. Sure, there are great and thought-provoking book club questions at the end of the book itself and plenty of things to chew on from the story, things that will really get your brain going. But what if you don’t want to provoke that much thought? As always, when it comes to not thinking too much, I am here for you.

To follow along, you’ll need to know the general thrust of the story, and so I give you The Jacket Copy to start us off:

Glass Wives_final coverEvie and Nicole Glass share a last name. They also shared a husband.

When a tragic car accident ends the life of Richard Glass, it also upends the lives of Evie and Nicole, and their children. There’s no love lost between the widow and the ex. In fact, Evie sees a silver lining in all this heartache—the chance to rid herself of Nicole once and for all. But Evie wasn’t counting on her children’s bond with their baby half-brother, and she wasn’t counting on Nicole’s desperate need to hang on to the threads of family, no matter how frayed. Strapped for cash, Evie cautiously agrees to share living expenses—and her home—with Nicole and the baby. But when Evie suspects that Nicole is determined to rearrange more than her kitchen, Evie must decide who she can trust. More than that, she must ask: what makes a family?

Or, to put it another way, there’s this woman, Evie, whose husband has recently left her for the younger and blonder Nicole, and fathered a kid with her, and then boom, had the gall to kick the bucket, leaving them all somewhat adrift, emotionally and fiscally. And Evie has these two friends, see, who help in some ways and hinder in others. And they all have to renegotiate everything they thought they knew about each other. And there are cookies.

Everyone up to speed? Great! Then I present:

Deb Kelly’s Book Club Questions for the rest of us!

(Don’t forget to comment and get your chance to win a free copy of the book… answering one of these questions gets you brownie points if not bonus points in the sweepstakes…)

1. If you could steal the life of one of the characters in THE GLASS WIVES, which would it be?

2. Does this book pair better with red or white wine? Why? And does anyone have any red or white wine?

3. What food item in the book do you most wish you had a recipe for? What food in the book would you never ever eat? Hint: there is chopped liver in the book.

4. Have you ever lived in a place like Evie’s idyllic Chicago suburb? Would you love or hate having your neighbors know your bidness?

5. Which character (dead or alive) from the book would you be happiest to drop off at a distant bus stop and never come back for? What about which real-life neighbor?

6. Which is a worse quality in a friend: being too nosy or being too secretive?

7. Which are you?

8. Could you ever befriend an ex’s new squeeze? Have you? Would you always be secretly looking for their flaws/trying to feed them fattening food, or is that just me?

9. Did anyone bring cookies to this club meeting?

and finally…

10. How excited are you to read THE GLASS WIVES?

7 Replies to “Deb Kelly Picks THE GLASS WIVES…”

  1. Kelly, I would so totally be in your book club. Your synopsis almost had me on the floor, but then I am still pre-caffeinated and the floor is feeling more attractive than usual! The character in the book that I most want to get rid of is conveniently buried already, and red wine goes with everything!!

  2. LOL! You’ve pinpointed the exact reasons I don’t belong to a book club. But I DO love book clubs in general, especially the ones around here that have read my book & invited me to be their guest. *grin*

    In answer to #10: VERY! 🙂

  3. Okay, so confession: As a kid, I always thought chopped liver sounded gross, and I don’t like calves liver, but for my book, I tested a recipe for chopped liver (which uses chicken livers), and I LOVED it! Maybe it’s because the recipe used tons and tons of caramelized onions, but it was super delicious. So I don’t think there’s anything in the book I’d never eat! Unless Evie secretly has a penchant for kidneys or stinky cheese, in which case…I’m glad Amy didn’t mention that ;-).

    And I agree with Kerry — red wine goes with everything! (Though with summer coming up, I’m a sucker for a good, chilled Vouvray…)

  4. I want to be in a book club! Can you believe I’m not in one??? It’s crazy.

    Did anyone notice an absence of gefilte fish in my book?? Haven’t eaten it since I was ten, at a Hebrew School mock Seder. Let’s say that walk home from synagogue was unlike any other I’d ever experienced.

    Haven’t taken a bite since that day.

    Maybe I should write it into my next book. I’m doing a Philly setting—a whole bunch of new foods as Dana well knows!!!

  5. I do NOT eat liver. Chopped or otherwise. So my “no way” food is definitely the liver. Also, I’m allergic to fish, so that’s one nobody else wants me eating either. (Puking guests put a damper on any party…or book club event.)

    And yes, I brought cookies….but I eated them.

  6. Kelly, you crack me up! I’m going to have to say HELL NO on the chopped liver. I mean, it leaves a weird pasty residue on your tongue. And I’m going to say red wine pairs well with the book, even though I haven’t read it yet. Sounds like it’s got some meat to it and a medium-bodied would do nicely right now.

    Congrats on your release, Amy!!!! I can’t wait to read this!

Comments are closed.