Good Questions to Ask About a Book
Discussion questions for a book club, a classroom, or a conversation with whoever else has read it. They cover first reactions, the characters people argue about, the scenes that stay with you, whether the narrator can be trusted, and whether the ending earns itself.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Before we get into detail, what did you make of it in one sentence?
Why ask it
Going round the room for one sentence each stops the first confident speaker setting the verdict for everyone. It also surfaces the quiet dissenter who would otherwise agree with whatever the group settles on.
Was there a point where you nearly gave up, or a point where you could not put it down?
Why ask it
People remember where their attention broke even when they cannot say why, and comparing those places usually locates a real structural problem or a real hinge in the book.
Which character would you least like to spend a weekend with?
Why ask it
A lighter route into character than asking who your favourite was, and it separates a well-written character from a likeable one. Groups often discover they admire someone they would not tolerate.
Was there anyone you found yourself defending, even though they behaved badly?
Why ask it
This is where readers disagree most sharply, because it exposes what each person is willing to forgive. Watch for someone defending a character on grounds the book never actually supplies.
Which scene are you still thinking about?
Why ask it
The scene that persists is rarely the most dramatic one, and asking why it stuck often reveals something the reader brought to it rather than something the author put there.
Was there a line you read twice or went back to?
Why ask it
Gets people to open the book, which changes the whole quality of a discussion. Reading a sentence aloud also settles arguments about tone faster than describing it.
Whose story is this, really?
Why ask it
Often contested, especially in books with a narrator who is not the main subject. Disagreement here usually explains other disagreements about whether the ending worked.
Did you trust the narrator?
Why ask it
Ask for the moment the doubt started. Readers who noticed at different points effectively read different books, and comparing those moments is more productive than debating whether the narrator was reliable in the abstract.
What did the author leave out that you wanted?
Why ask it
Distinguishes an omission that frustrated you from one that was doing work. Some gaps are the point of the book, and arguing about which is which is usually the best part of the evening.
Did the setting matter, or could this have happened anywhere?
Why ask it
A concrete test that avoids a vague conversation about atmosphere. If the group can relocate the plot to another city or decade without losing anything, the setting was decoration.
Did anything make you laugh, and do you think it was meant to?
Why ask it
The gap between intended and accidental comedy tells you a lot about whether an author had control of the tone, and it gives readers permission to say a serious book was sometimes silly.
Where did it lose momentum for you?
Why ask it
Better than asking about pacing, because it asks for a location rather than a judgement. If several readers name the same fifty pages, the group has found something real.
Did the ending earn itself, or did it just arrive?
Why ask it
Separates an ending you disliked from one that was unprepared. Ask what the book would have needed to plant earlier for the ending to land, which turns complaint into analysis.
Would it be a better book if it ended a chapter earlier?
Why ask it
A specific and slightly provocative question that works on most novels, and it forces readers to say what the last chapter was actually for.
What is the book arguing, and do you agree with it?
Why ask it
Keeps the two halves apart, which matters because readers routinely reject an argument they never actually identified. Ask for the sentence in the book that comes closest to stating it.
Did it get anything wrong about how people behave?
Why ask it
Invites the objection people usually keep to themselves. A character doing something implausible to serve the plot is the most common complaint readers feel unqualified to raise.
Did it change how you see anything outside the book?
Why ask it
Worth asking without assuming the answer is yes. "No, it was just a good read" is a legitimate response and usually more honest than a claim that the book rearranged someone's worldview.
How do you think this will read in twenty years?
Why ask it
Shifts the group from taste to durability, and it lets people praise a book they did not enjoy or admit that something they loved is tied to this moment.
Who would you give this to, and who would you keep it from?
Why ask it
Forces a precise verdict, because naming an actual person requires deciding what the book is for. The second half often produces the frankest criticism of the night.
What would you ask the author if they were sitting here?
Why ask it
A good closer, because the questions people choose reveal what the book failed to resolve for them, and the group often answers a few of them between themselves.
Running a good book discussion
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Opening the discussion
- Start by going round for a one-sentence reaction from everybody, including anyone who did not finish. It takes four minutes and it stops the loudest verdict becoming the group's verdict.
- Agree at the start whether spoilers are open. In a book club they usually are, but say so, because one member reading slowly can quietly derail the whole evening.
- Ask people to bring the book, physically or on a device. Discussions where nobody can quote anything drift into general opinion within twenty minutes.
- Put the vaguest question last, not first. "What did you think of the themes?" opens badly and closes well.
Keeping it honest
- Ask for the page. "Where does it say that?" is not aggressive; it is the difference between a discussion and a set of impressions.
- Make room for the person who disliked it. Groups drift toward consensus, and the dissenting reader usually has the most to say.
- When two people disagree, ask each to state the other's reading back before continuing. It resolves half of all book club arguments, which turn out to be about different interpretations of one scene.
- Let someone say they were bored. It is a real response to a real book and it usually points at something worth examining.
Common pitfalls
- Treating research as authority. Reading an interview with the author settles what they intended, not whether the book achieved it.
- Letting the conversation become a series of personal anecdotes the book reminded people of. One is a good digression; five means you have stopped discussing the book.
- Asking whether people liked it as the first question, which tends to end the discussion rather than start it.
- Assuming a difficult book is better and an enjoyable one is slight. Both assumptions shut down honest reactions.
If the book is non-fiction
Swap the character questions for questions about evidence and structure. Ask what the central claim is and whether the book proves it or only illustrates it. Ask which chapter you would keep if the book had to be an essay, and which parts were there to reach a publishable length. Ask what the strongest counter-argument would be, and whether the author engages it or a weaker version of it. With memoir, ask what the writer could not have known at the time they are describing, and how they handle that gap.