How to Read a Book by Monica Wood

https://bookshopsantacruz.com/spring-reading-challenge-2026

I get there at 6:30ish to hold down a table. We have been promptly starting at 7pm so come early if you would like a drink/food.

Discussion Questions:

1. What were your overall impressions of the book? Was there a particular character, moment, or image that has stayed with you?
2. Frank forgives Violet even though she was responsible for his wife's death. Reflect on a time you've witnessed or experienced unexpected forgiveness — how did it change your perspective on that relationship?
3. Violet struggles to find work and rebuild her life after prison, facing rejection even from her own family and community. What does the novel make you think about how we treat people who have served their sentence? Has it shifted your perspective at all?
4. Harriet tells Violet, "We are a continuum of human experience, neither the worst nor the best thing we have ever done." How do you relate to this idea in your own life?
5. Violet, Frank, and Harriet become an unlikely found family by the end of the novel. What does this relationship suggest about where belonging can come from? Have you found family in unexpected places?

280 pages 4.3 on Goodreads

National Bestseller * From the award-winning author of The One-in-a-Million Boy comes a heartfelt, character-driven, and uplifting novel about a chance encounter at a bookstore, exploring redemption, unlikely friendships, and the life-changing power of sharing stories.