Book That Matters Most (Hood)

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use these LitLovers talking points to start a discussion for The Book That Matters Most...then take off on your own:

1. Ava's reason for joining a book club is for "the comfort of people who wanted nothing more than to sit together and talk about books." Does that sum up your own reasons for joining (or perhaps forming) your own club? Do you have other reasons (other than the wine)?

2. Aside from her broken marriage, what other emotional baggage does Ava carry with her? How do some members of the group dredge up her feelings of inadequacy?

3. If your club decided to choose the books that matter most to each of you, what books might show up on the list?

4. What about the books on Ava's club's list—Pride ad Prejudice, Gatsby, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Mockingbird, among others? Anne Hood extracts something pertinent to Ava out of each book. Talk about some of those relevant points: which do you find most insightful? Do any resonate with your own life? Do you find some of them simplistic or shallow, perhaps even schmaltzy?

5. Ava is flummoxed by the assignment. "She couldn't remember the last book she'd read that mattered at all. In fact, she purposely chose books that didn't matter." Why do you think she ignored books that had any significance to her?

6. Discuss From Clare to Here, the (fictional) book that Ava finally settles on. What does it mean to Ava, and what does the fact that she chose it reveal about her?

7. The author juxtaposes Ava's improving situation with her daughter Maggie's descent into addiction. What does the author gradually reveal about Maggie? Why is Maggie the way she is?

8. The Book That Matters Most makes the case for the power of literature to transform us. In what way is Ava transformed? Has a book ever transformed you? If so, in what way?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

top of page (summary)