In today's post, regular contributor Heather Johnson (Age 30+ ... A Lifetime of Books) shares her book club's latest discussion and wants to know if your book club ever casts the movie version of the book as part of your discussion. My book club has never done it, but I like the idea!
On one of the last warm days before autumn set in, my book club got together to chat about Garden Spells, by Sarah Addison Allen. This is the perfect book to discuss outside because such a large part of it focuses on flowers and plants. Needless to say, we took advantage of the weather and the book’s subject to enjoy ourselves to the fullest outside on the deck.
This is a much “lighter” read than our usual book picks so we were shocked when someone mentioned an interview with the author where she referred to this book as “dark.” Really?! We all felt that this was a comfort read, one of those books where what happens isn’t exactly likely but it makes you happy anyway.
Because the book was a comfort read and most of us really enjoyed it, we felt like there wasn’t a great deal to discuss. That didn’t stop us from chatting and enjoying ourselves though!
There was a new member at the meeting this month and she suggested that we think of actors/actresses who would fit if the book was made into a movie. I know many clubs do this but it’s not something my club has ever tried. The idea sort of flopped because so many of us aren’t familiar with the names of current celebrities but it did lead to a fascinating discussion of the way we visualize characters. Some of us pay close attention to physical descriptions and make sure to imagine exactly what a character looks like as we read. Others skim past the descriptions unless they are repeated for emphasis (maybe one character constantly flips her gorgeous blonde hair, or flaunts her curvaceous figure). I’m one of the latter, and it is sometimes jarring to realize that a character I’ve visualized with brown hair actually has blonde hair and I’ve somehow missed that fact. We had a lot of fun comparing our mental images of the main characters in this book and realizing that none of us saw them in the same way.
Does your club “cast the movie” during a book discussion? Have you ever talked about the different ways you visualize the same characters? I’d love to hear about it!
-- Heather Johnson, Regular Contributor
