Discussion prompts for the chairperson

How should you get started with a discussion about the book?

• Let one member of the group be responsible for making a presentation of the book based on reviews, author biographies, an analysis of the book, etc.
• Change the group’s chairperson from time to time
• Start with a quick round where everyone can give their first immediate experiences of the book

Suggestions for questions that could form discussion points

• What genre is it?
• The book's theme. What is the book about
  - Subject
  - Issues (how do they emerge, what are the central issues)
  - Locations / environments described in the text

• Author
  Why has the author chosen this topic?
  - Motivation / aims
  - background
  - Have you read other books by the author, and how should this book be positioned amongst others in the author’s canon?
  - Does this book remind you of any other books that you have read?
  - have other authors written anything similar?

• What do you think about the language?
  - Difficulty
  - Is the book well written. And why / why not? Give examples.

• Personal characteristics (main character, secondary characters)
  - How do you find the characters (trustworthy, sympathetic, etc.)
  - The characters' roles in the novel
  - The relationships between the characters

• What is the author’s message?
  - The essence of the book, the conclusion

• How do you relate to the book?
  - Agree, disagree
  - Positively, negatively

• What kind of experience did the book give you?
  - Excitement, joy, irritation, anger, etc.