Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, The Novels of Anna Quindlen and our BookBrowse Review of Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. In the opening lines of the book, Anna Quindlen says about the arc of her life: "First I was who I was. Then I didn't know who I was. Then I invented someone, and became her." Looking back over your own life, do you identify with Quindlen's experience? Do you think you've "invented" yourself as you've grown older, or become who you always were? And how would you differentiate between the two?



2. Anna Quindlen loves everything about books - from the musty smell of old bookstores, to the excuse reading provides to be alone. Books, she writes, "make us feel as though we're connected, as though the thoughts and feelings we believe are singular and sometimes nutty are shared by others, that we are all more alike than different." What do you most love about books? Be specific: Is it the entertainment, the escape, the sense of connection? Something else entirely?



3. Anna writes hilariously about the small white lies - the cost of a kitchen renovation, for example - that can keep a marriage healthy. Do you agree? If so, fess up: Which of your innocent fibs do you think has spared your relationship the most grief?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Random House. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.