This tender and intimate memoir of a marriage will resonate with readers of About Alice, The Year of Magical Thinking, and Erich Segal’s beloved novel Love Story. Visit www.glendaburgessbooks.com for more information.

1. In her memoir’s prologue, Glenda Burgess recalls the child-friendly explanation her father gave for shooting stars: “Just a bit of chance and chaos, Sunshine. Atoms that dance.” How do these images apply to love? Did this description of the universe prove true in her life?
2. Discuss the memoir’s title. What does it mean to create a geography of love, mapping and describing its features? Where was love “located” for Glenda and Ken, both emotionally and on a map of the world? Which places and people have contributed most to your own geography of love?

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Capri, Lexi, Jermane, Angel, and Jewel are back with more mayhem and madness, and they are still trying to keep the faith! The questions and discussion topics that follow are intended to enhance your reading of The Sunday Brunch Diaries. We hope they will enrich your experience of this mesmerizing novel.

1. What adjustments do you believe Lexi had to make once she went from being single to married life? Do you think marriage changes the dynamics of married and single friendships?
2. When Angel explained her reasons for changing her membership to Lakewood Church, why do you think Jewel wasn’t so accepting? When and under what circumstances do you think it is appropriate to consider changing your church membership?
3. When a person acquires more responsibility in their lives, how do they continue to make God a priority? How does a person maintain that balance?

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Today, Friday, August 29, 7:00p.m., @ Apple Soho NY (103 Prince St. @ Mercer St.) Incendiary author Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club) will discuss his best-selling novel, Choke, with Clark Gregg, the screenwriter and director of the upcoming big screen adaptation. Chuck will read from the book, show exclusive clips from the film, and answer questions from the audience. Fox Searchlight will release Choke in theaters on September 26. *This event will be recorded for the iTunes Meet the Author podcast.

The official Choke movie website (trailer, pics, & more)
The Cult - The official Chuck Palahniuk fan site

The questions and discussion topics that follow are intended to enhance your reading of Attack of The Theater People, the hilarious sequel to How I Paid for College. We hope they will enrich your experience of this mesmerizing novel.

1. Edward gets a lot of advice from everyone around him, much of it bad. With which advice do you agree? If you were his friend, what would you tell him?
2. Edward pretends to be a lot of people. How does that relate thematically to the book?
3. How I Paid for College is a love letter to friends. What is Attack of the Theater People a love letter to?

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From The Most Decadent Diet Ever by Devin Alexander. I dreamed about eating a cake like this for years (both in my sleep and just rapid-fire thoughts during the day). I’m serious. I’m one of those “There’s no such thing as chocolate cake that’s too rich” types. I was dieting, but I would have to “cheat” with chocolate from time to time just to keep my sanity.

And then came this cake. It’s as rich as they come and I love it more than any other flourless chocolate espresso cake I’ve had. Plus, it packs six grams of fiber, so it really is guilt free!

If you really want to impress your friends, store some, unbaked, in the ramekins in an airtight container in your freezer. When you need a no-fuss dessert, pop them in the water bath and bake them 30 to 32 minutes. (more…)

Just as he is turning fifty, Ambrose Zephyr is told by his doctor that he has one month to live. Reeling from the news, he and wife Zipper embark on a whirlwind expedition to the places he has most loved or has always longed to visit, from A to Z, Amsterdam to Zanzibar. The End of the Alphabet is a timeless, resonant exploration of the nature of love, loss, and life. The questions that follow are intended to enhance your reading experience.

1. The book opens with an epigraph by Elizabeth Bishop, excerpted from her poem “Questions of Travel”: “Think of the long trip home/ Should we have stayed at home and thought of here?/ Where should we be today?” What do you think of this choice for an epigraph? Why is it significant? Look up the original poem if you wish. Is CS Richardson influenced by other aspects of this poem?
2. CS Richardson has called this book “a fable, a parable on the notions of love and loss and relationships, and how far you would go in the name of love.” How does the tone of fable impact the way you receive the ideas contained in this book? Why do you think Richardson chose to tell this particular story with nuances of the fabulous?

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