To help get your book club discussions started, we've prepared BOOK CLUB GUIDES for many of our books. You'll find links on our authors' bio pages. Go to the AUTHORS tab in our menu and click a photo to reach that author's bio page.
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Questions for Our Authors
If your book club has questions you'd like addressed by any of our authors, we'd like to put you in touch with them.
Here's how easy it is:
- Host the author live at one of your group's meetings. Meet the author in person and have your books signed and personalized.
Can't do that? How about one of these options?
- Schedule a "virtual chat" with the author during one of your meetings.We'll arrange a time when your book club can meet privately with the author in our Press 53 Chat Room.
- Schedule a "live telephone chat"with the author during one of your meetings. He or she will give you a ring and talk to you in person.
- Email your group's questions to the author. He or she will reply to you directly.
*Events are subject to author availability.
To arrange book club discussions with our writers, email us.
Springtime on Mars by Susan Woodring
Book Club Discussion Questions compiled by Ashley Roberts, March 2008
1.
Though you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, what were your expectations before reading the book? Did the stories meet these expectations or were you surprised?
2.Susan Woodring plays with family dynamics. What do these different types of families have in common? How are they different?
3.Why do you think “Springtime on Mars” is the book’s namesake? Does this story accurately represent the rest of the stories?
4.In “Birds of Illinois,” what do the birds symbolize? The meat?
5.Six of the eleven stories are written in the first person. Do you think these stories would be diminished in any way if we didn’t have the thoughts of the leading characters?
6.Woodring plays with different fears in “Inertia.” What fears are present? Are the characters fearful of different things? Does fear appear in other stories?
7.Compare Jean and Harold’s relationship in “Morning Again” to Gladys and Andy’s in “Love Falling.” How would you describe their understanding of their roles in their respective relationships?
8.In “Love Falling,” there’s a lot of tension in the house. What is the breaking point for Julie? Why does she ultimately decide to leave?
9.Woodring describes the weather with much detail. Why do you think this is, and can you draw any connections between the weather and the temperament of the story?
10.What do you think Woodring is implying in her observations of belief systems: religious, political, and extraterrestrial?
11.Russia makes a frequent appearance in the stories. What do you think it symbolizes?
12.The parent/child relationship is often very strained in the stories. What do you think Woodring is trying show the reader?
13.When Shannon urges Jean to take the triangle IQ test in “Morning Again,” she responds, “I’ve raised three children.” What do you think this implies about Jean’s values? Shannon’s?
14.All of the characters are unique. Is there one in particular you most empathize with? Why or how?
