Welcome to the KPL Book Club Blogspot

Welcome to the internet home of the Kilbourn Public Library (KPL) Book Club. The KPL Book Club meets at the library once a month. A book is chosen for each month and then members of the book club meet the last Monday and Wednesday of every month for lively discussion and treats. While we can’t offer you treats via the internet, this KPL Reads blog was designed for those of you who would like to participate in the book club but don’t have time to join us at meetings. Each month KPL staff will post discussion topics and questions to get you “talking”. Join in the discussion by adding a post to the blog. Click on the word comments below the post you want to "talk" about and write your comment. Be sure to check back often to see feedback and comments.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

The Kilbourn Book Discussion Group is reading Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler for the October book selection.  Nickolas Butler was raised in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  He lives on sixteen acres of land in rural Wisconsin with his wife and two children.  

Welcome to Little Wing.  It's a place like hundreds of others, nothing special, really.  But for four friends--all born and raised in this small Wisconsin town--it is home.  And now they are men, coming into their own, or struggling to do so. 

One of them never left, still working the family farm that has been tilled for generations.  But others felt the need to move on, with varying degrees of success.  One trades commodities, another took to the rodeo circuit, and one of them even hit it big as a rock star.  And then there's Beth, a woman who has meant something special in each of their lives. 

Now all four are brought together for a wedding.  Little Wing seems even smaller than before.  While lifelong bonds are still strong, there are stresses--between the friends, between husbands and wives.  There will be heartbreak, but there will also be hope, healing, even heroism as these memorable people learn the true meaning of adult friendship and love.

Shotgun Lovesongs is a truly remarkable book--a novel that once read will never be forgotten.

Many of the characters in Shotgun Lovesongs regret specific moments in their life, moments that (perhaps) other people may not regret at all.  Do you feel regret is a useful emotion?  What do you regret?  Which characters (and their regrets) do you identify with?

Fame seems to be an important theme or consideration throughout Shotgun Lovesongs.  Do you feel that the novel critiques fame?  Celebrates fame?  What do think about the cult of personality in America?  Do you care about celebrity?  Read tabloids?  Why?

Some critics have said that Shotgun Lovesongs is overly sentimental.  Do you think this novel is sentimental?  Is sentimentality something to be altogether avoided in fiction?

Beth and Leland share one night of romance.  This incident happened when neither character was married or even dating someone.  And yet, it is enough to unravel lifelong friendships.  What do you think about this?  Could you relate to characters and their reactions?

There is a kind of dichotomy in this novel between city and country.  Has your own life been subject to the push-pull of living rural vs. living urban?  What have you had to sacrifice to live where you live?  Do you see it as a sacrifice?

Let us know what you think of Shotgun Lovesongs.

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