The Reading Guild Podcast

“Maybe this is why we read, and why in moments of darkness we return to books: to find words for what we already know.” - Alberto Manguel

Welcome to the Scones & Tomes Book Club!

I don’t know what brought you to my part of the woods, but I am so delighted to have you here on this journey with me!

Each month (sometimes more often) we'll get together over a cup of cozy and chat about the month’s pick and other bookish fun. This is a safe, magical community for us to join each other where ever we are on our reading journeys. Come as you are and bring a friend as we enjoy one of life's simple pleasures together.

Stay cozy & I'll talk to you soon!

Librarian Anna 📚

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🎙: https://anchor.fm/sconesandtomesbookclub

📚: https://bookshop.org/thelibrariananna

📝: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/100ZH3GMS4MYT

Happy book club Monday deerlings! Welcome to the first ever episode of the Scones & Tomes Book Club. I am so excited to be chatting about Gilded by Marissa Meyer with you today!

📝 Discussion Guide

1. What was your overall experience reading Gilded and how did you rate it?
   
2. Gilded is a re-telling of Rumplestiltskin but also introduces a number of other German mythological creatures such as the Erlking and nachkrapps. Did you know anything about the German fairy tale creatures before reading this novel? What did you think of their inclusion and how they were portrayed?
   
3. The novel begins saying "But there are two sides to every story. The hero and the villain. The dark and the light. The blessing and the curse.” - where do you see this dynamic playing out throughout the novel? Were there any moments where the dynamic played out differently than you expected?
   
4. Gilded is a very unique book in its entirety, but also plays a lot on the ideas of fairy tales - some of which get called out by the listeners of Serilda’s stories. One of the tropes that it plays on specifically is the idea of an unreliable narrator - Serilda is known for telling stories and being untruthful, yet as of the end of Gilded - we see that her stories have an element of truth to them. What did you think of this approach and where do you hope it will go in the next book?

P O R T A L S

☘️ Order Gilded by Marissa Meyer

☘️ Pre-Order Cursed, Book 2 in the series

🐇 Our April Pick: The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

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🛍 Buy Books

OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED

📗 Lore Olympus

📗 The Lunar Chronicles

📗 An Enchantment of Ravens

Happy book club Monday deerlings! Welcome to the second episode of the Scones & Tomes Book Club. I am so excited to be chatting about The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker with you today!

📝 Discussion Guide

1. What was your overall experience reading The Silence of the Girls and how did you rate it?

2. The Silence of the Girls is a retelling of Homer’s Iliad, how did reading this book impact your understanding of the source material or vice versa?

3. Throughout The Iliad and Greek mythology as a whole, Achilles is always seen as a hero. How does this novel challenge that image throughout the book and what was your opinion of him by the end?

4. One of the biggest critiques of this book is that it was written in more of a modern style. Do you feel that it took away from your reading experience? Or did it make the ancient stories much more easy to enjoy?

5. From what we know of ancient Greek culture and customs, the gods play a much bigger role in the lives of mortals than we are witness to in the novel. What did you think of their omission from the story?

P O R T A L S

🏺 Order The Silence of the Girls // Amazon | Bookshop

🏺 Order The Women of Troy, Book 2 in the series // Amazon | Bookshop

🏮 Our May Pick: The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur // Amazon | Bookshop

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🛍 Buy Books

OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED

🏺 The Iliad // Amazon | Bookshop

🏺 The Odyssey // Amazon | Bookshop

🏺 A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes // Amazon | Bookshop

🏺 For the Most Beautiful by Emily Hauser // Amazon |

🏺 Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics

🏺 BookRoast's CAWPILE Explanation

--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Welcome to The Scones & Tomes Review; a bi-weekly podcast dedicated to all of the literary drama both on and off the page. Check in every other Friday for reviews, recommendations, and other bookish content.  

For more literary goodies, check out our website at https://sconesandtomes.wordpress.com.

Welcome to the Reading Guild podcast, your monthly invitation to get comfy, grab your favorite highlighters and cozy up with a new book every month.

For the month of November, we read Anxious People by Fredrik Backman