August 2013 - Stories from the Vinyl Cafe by Stuart McLean

Meeting Details: we're meeting at Sarah's house on Thursday, August 8th at 7:30 pm, with discussion to begin as close as we can manage to 8.  :-)

Sarah will send out a reminder email a week before the meeting with details.

* Note that this was supposed to be the Library Kit month, but we missed out on the kit and it's already signed out.  HPL does have 5 copies of this book and since a few of us already picked up the book, we decided to go ahead even without the library kit.

Menu: Small Town Canada Coffee Shop

possible items include donuts, bagels, pie, coffee cake, cookies

Coffee Cake - Amanda

Chocolate chip cookies - Melissa

Strawberry Pie and Danishes - Karen

Cinnamon Buns - Trish
Cucumber Sandwhiches - Chandra
Bagels and Cream Cheese- Danielle
Brownies - Tessa (and her mom)

coffee/tea and cold drinks - Sarah

Discussion Questions:

1.  Did you enjoy the book?  Why or why not?

2.  Which story was your favorite?  What did you like best about it?

3.  Which story was your least favorite?  Why?

4.  Do you think that Dave and Morley, Stephanie and Sam are a typical Canadian family?  In what ways?

5.  Discuss the marriages/relationships in the book.  How does McLean use the "little things" to make these relationships relatable?

6.  Discuss the relationships between fathers and sons/daughters in this book.  Do you think that this parental anxiety is an accurate reflection of real life?  

7.  Rosemary says: "You're never going to be any good as a father until you accept the fact that you're going to screw it up.  Once you accept that you'll do fine." (page 137)  What do you think of this perspective?

8.  McLean uses a lot of gentle humor in his stories.  What moments were laugh out loud funny for you?  Do you think this humor is typically Canadian?

9.  Have you listened to McLean reading any of these stories aloud?  Did you enjoy that?  In what ways do the stories lend themselves to reading aloud?

10.  McLean was asked, "If I told you Dave and Morley were in the next room, would you want to meet them?"  Discuss his response.  What about you - would you want to meet them?