Book Selection Status: READ
Month: January 2011
Author: Paula Froelich
Question source: http://www.bookmovement.com/app/readingguide/view.php?readingGuideID=13788
1. On the surface, Penelope, Lipstick and Dana are three very different women. Why do you think they become friends? 2. Lyrics to several popular 1980s songs appear throughout Mercury in Retrograde. Why do you think author Paula Froelich decided to include them? How did they enhance your read?
3. What role does fashion play in the novel? What do each woman’s clothes say about her character?
4. Why do you think Paula Froelich included horoscopes at the start of each chapter? What do they add to the novel?
5. If she had not been fired from The New York Telegraph, would Penelope have ever quit her job?
6. Why is SocialStatus.com initially so important to Lipstick? If she “always feels dirty after reading the website” (pg. 15) why does she still visit the site?
7. Instead of staying at her parents’ home and joining the family business, why does Lipstick decide to strike out on her own?
8. Following her divorce, why is Dana so hesitant to socialize with other people? Is she afraid to get hurt, embarrassed about being single once again, or something else?
9. “And every day [Lipstick would] think, I’ll call them tomorrow. But she never got around to it” (pg. 186). Is she simply too busy, or is there another reason Lipstick never returns her mother’s telephone calls?
10. Following the disastrous events at the Met Gala, Lipstick thinks, “What is Bitsy going to do? What will be on Socialstatus.com? What am I going to tell my mother?” (pg. 240). After previously declaring she no longer cared about what her fellow socialites think, why do these thoughts run through Lipstick’s mind?
11. Why doesn’t Dana finish decorating her new apartment? And why are the few items she does buy all in white?
12. Each woman has a complicated relationship with her parents. To what extent do they care about their parents’ approval, and do these relationships change throughout the novel?
13. Ultimately, is Penelope happy with her job at NY Access? Have Penelope, Lipstick and Dana found success both in their professional and personal lives?
14. There are several characters in Mercury in Retrograde who bear strong resemblances to real-life people. As a group, see if you can name them all.
15. Penelope, Lipstick and Dana all endure wacky, disastrous moments while on the job. Now that they’re behind you, why not share your own favorite embarrassing work story?
16. The Met Gala is an important event both in the novel and in New York society. Do some research on the soirée and post a picture of your favorite red carpet looks (maximum of 3).
Month: January 2011
Genre: Chic-Lit Fiction:
Book of the Month: Mercury In RetrogradeAuthor: Paula Froelich
Question source: http://www.bookmovement.com/app/readingguide/view.php?readingGuideID=13788
Discussion Questions:
1. On the surface, Penelope, Lipstick and Dana are three very different women. Why do you think they become friends? 3. What role does fashion play in the novel? What do each woman’s clothes say about her character?
4. Why do you think Paula Froelich included horoscopes at the start of each chapter? What do they add to the novel?
5. If she had not been fired from The New York Telegraph, would Penelope have ever quit her job?
6. Why is SocialStatus.com initially so important to Lipstick? If she “always feels dirty after reading the website” (pg. 15) why does she still visit the site?
7. Instead of staying at her parents’ home and joining the family business, why does Lipstick decide to strike out on her own?
8. Following her divorce, why is Dana so hesitant to socialize with other people? Is she afraid to get hurt, embarrassed about being single once again, or something else?
9. “And every day [Lipstick would] think, I’ll call them tomorrow. But she never got around to it” (pg. 186). Is she simply too busy, or is there another reason Lipstick never returns her mother’s telephone calls?
10. Following the disastrous events at the Met Gala, Lipstick thinks, “What is Bitsy going to do? What will be on Socialstatus.com? What am I going to tell my mother?” (pg. 240). After previously declaring she no longer cared about what her fellow socialites think, why do these thoughts run through Lipstick’s mind?
11. Why doesn’t Dana finish decorating her new apartment? And why are the few items she does buy all in white?
12. Each woman has a complicated relationship with her parents. To what extent do they care about their parents’ approval, and do these relationships change throughout the novel?
13. Ultimately, is Penelope happy with her job at NY Access? Have Penelope, Lipstick and Dana found success both in their professional and personal lives?
14. There are several characters in Mercury in Retrograde who bear strong resemblances to real-life people. As a group, see if you can name them all.
15. Penelope, Lipstick and Dana all endure wacky, disastrous moments while on the job. Now that they’re behind you, why not share your own favorite embarrassing work story?
16. The Met Gala is an important event both in the novel and in New York society. Do some research on the soirée and post a picture of your favorite red carpet looks (maximum of 3).
4 comments:
1. I think Penelope, Lena, and Dana become friends because of proximity and they had something in common - the yoga. I think once you find a shared interest with someone it’s easier to become friends.
2. I think the author included the lyrics to the songs because she thought the added to the story and characterization of Penelope. I don’t think they did anything to enhance my reading experience per se, but provided further development of a character - I could see her singing to herself and how she related events to music.
3. I think fashion plays a central role in the novel - Lena works at a fashion magazine and has spent most of her life being defined by fashion, Penelope sees fashion as a more utilitarian necessity and Dana understands the importance of fashion, but limits its role to her work or as a treat (when she bought clothes as a reward for losing weight). Fashion also gives Lena the respect of her father for doing it on her own. I think each women’s clothes help describe their personal values - what’s important to them personally and what image they try to portray to the outside world.
4. I think the horoscopes foreshadow the action of the chapter and tie it all together with the title of the book.
5. I don’t think Penelope would have quit her job anytime soon - it was known. I think she was comfortable with the known and wasn’t quite ready to make the leap to the unknown.
6. I think Lena is a victim of her circumstances - the website is important because it is important to those around her. She has been raised to think that her social standing is one of the most important things there is in life.
7. I think Lena really likes her job and she doesn’t really know what she is signing up for in the beginning. It is her way to rebel and she realizes how much she has been manipulated up to this point.
8. I think Dana was hurt after her divorce and possibly embarrassed that she didn’t see what was happening right before her. Her whole life she was the best, or first, and she thinks she has failed - she has family that won’t talk to her and a mother harassing her about her “failure.” She continues to work because that is where she excels and is comfortable.
9. I think a part of Lena really wanted to prove that she was taking care of herself without their help - which is a lot easier to do when you don’t call.
I think Lena thinks these things because it is an old habit learned as a child. Habits are super hard to break so it makes sense that it would run through her head even if she has told herself it isn’t important.
10. White is pure and clean and represent a new start to Dana. I think she just wants the necessities to get her through the transition.
11. I think they each care about their parents approval in varying degrees, but by the end they all are making themselves happy by the choices they are making professionally and personally.
12. Yes, Penelope is eventually happy in her job at NY Access and I think at the end all of them are in a happier place.
13. I have no idea who the people are supposed to represent???
14. I don’t have an embarrassing work story...I am too boring I guess?
From Susan:
Month: January 2011
Genre: fiction:
Book of the Month: Mercury in Retrograde
Author: Paula Froelich
Question source: http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/mercury_in_retrograde.html
Discussion:
1. I believe all the girls become friends for several reasons; the first being proximity—their paths are crossing constantly in that building; next, of course, is that they are all in flux about their jobs and their love lives.
2. I’m old enough to know all of those song lyrics. Isn’t that what we all do with songs—hear them in our heads at the exact moment the lyric resonates with our feelings?
3. The evolving fashion sense of the girls is an indicator of the development of their self-esteem.
4. The horoscopes were an indicator of which character was going to be discussed in that particular chapter.
5. The best thing that happened to Penelope was losing that nightmare of a job—sometimes we get so stuck in the familiar, we don’t notice it’s a rut that gets deeper and deeper.
6. Appearing on the website is Lipstick’s way of keeping her mother happy and her “old” way of life alive. It becomes more and more of a dirty secret because she realizes none of that stuff is actually important and can be so very hurtful. She still visits the site because it’s a hard habit to break and deep down she wants to “see how she’s doing.”
7. Lipstick realizes when her parents take away her apartment that it is the perfect time to cut more ties—become a “real” adult.
8. I think Dana was removing herself from people because she was embarrassed that she didn’t see what was happening in her marriage right in front of her.
9. Lipstick was making a point that she was hurt that her parents threw her out of her apartment and seemed to care for someone else more than their own daughter.
10. Lipstick was programmed from a very young child to care “what other people thought” more than caring about herself. Status was everything to her mother and her fellow socialites – she kept trying to keep up, even though she began to realize the website was a horrible place and nothing she really wanted to be part of any more.
11. Dana is at a standstill after her divorce – white is fresh and new. She doesn’t want it cluttered and busy.
12. At the beginning, as with all people becoming adults, your parents’ lives are what you want yours to become. Until each character realized they were their own person and didn’t want their parents’ lives, they all kept striving toward that goal.
13. Penelope does become happy at Access—she realizes it suits her very well. All three characters, if not actually happy at the end of the book, are, at least, on their way.
14. I think this book, while quite different, is very much like Sex and the City and the characters in it. I liked it a lot.
15. Once I had to push a handicapped client in his wheelchair into an elevator and ride with him to another floor. When pushing him out on the other floor, the elevator was not quite even with the floor and the wheelchair, the client and I went flying when I tried to push him. That was a long time ago when skirts were VERY short—you can imagine what I looked like on the floor, on top of the client with my skirt up!
16. I love the outfits on all the awards shows:
Susan, your #15 is a riot!! lol
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