"The Diviners" {by Libba Bray} Book Club Ideas

MARCH 2013 BOOK CLUB 

We kept the decor simple with a few classic 1920's touches.

(Which involved LOTS of pearls and feathers)

Whenever we read a book that's set in a different era, we tend to use it as an excuse to play dress up.  ;)

We set up a photo booth in my front room where everyone could pile on the fur coats, feather boas, pearls and other props for a memorable 1920's portrait!

 Here's an example of Beth and I dancing the Charleston! 

To see all of our FABULOUS 1920's photos, check out the earlier post HERE

The evenings menu was themed after many popular 1920's food and drinks.

Refreshing virgin mint juleps
and of course,a tub full of"giggle water"

YUMMMMMM......
The mini pineapple upside-down cakes were UH-MAZING!
If you'd like to impress your friends and make your tummy happy, make your own mini cakes! You can grab the recipe from BIG MAMA'S HOME KITCHEN 
(the link will take you directly to the recipe)

IT ALL STARTED WITH A HARMLESS OUIJA BOARD...

The wilted girls spring up from their club chairs. “What’ve you got there? Is that a wee- gee board?” one of them asks.“Isn’t it darling? Mother bought it for me. It’s supposed to be haunted,” the hostess says and laughs. “Well, I don’t believe that, naturally.” The hostess places the heart- shaped planchette in the middle of the board. “Let’s conjure up some fun, shall we? 

“What is your name, o great spirit?” the hostess insists.The planchette moves quickly.N-A-U-G-H-T-Y-J-O-H-N“Why are you here, old sport?” George asks the board.The planchette moves so quickly they can barely keep up.I-H-O-L-D-T-H-E-K-E-Y-S-O-F-H-E-L-L-A-N-D-D-E-A-T-H. W-R-A-T-H-I-S-C-O-M-E-A-R-M-A-G-E-D-D-O-N-B-A-B-Y-LO-N-W-H-O-R-E.“Stop it this instant!” the hostess shouts."...Make it stop, make it stop!” one girl screeches, and even the jaded boys pale and move back.“Stop, spirit! I said stop!” the hostess shouts.

"Deep in the cellar of the dilapidated house, a furnace comes to life with a death rattle like the last bitter cough of a dying man laughing contemptuously at his fate. A faint glow emanates from that dark, foul- smelling earthen tomb. Yes, something moves again in the shadows. A harbinger of much greater evil to come. Naughty John has come home. And he has work to do." 

Wait... is that Naughty John hiding in the shadows?! CREEEEEPPPYYYY!

We all agreed that to date, this was one of the creepiest books we've read in our book club! 

That fact that we read this spooky book in February (the month of LOVE) instead of October only made matters worse. If we had picked The Diviners as our October "spooky book," maybe we could have mentally prepared ourselves better for the late night readings and nightmares that always followed! 

BUT...

I'll admit, I kind of love reading a book that made me look over my shoulder at the turn of every page...

...does that mean I have a secret dark side??

our moderator Kellie. started off the evening with a spunky quiz full of 1920's slang that we had to guess the meanings of! 

The oh so fabulously dressed Bethany won the prize!

Download the free quiz & answer key HERE!

Inside the grand prize was:

-A beautifully folded book page to display

-A CD full of jazzy tunes

-A rare white gnome taken from the museum of the creepy crawlies! ;)

Q: The Diviners is nothing short of spectacular. Could you tell us a little about how the idea was born?

Libba: The boring truth is that the idea for this came to me, as is usually the case at my house, over a longer stretch of time—no thunderclap moment. I have long been a fan of all things supernatural and horror. And I am particularly a fan of TV shows like “X-Files,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Dr. Who,” and “Firefly” in which there are spooky episodes atop longer, more political/existential story arcs. I really wanted to play in that sandbox. And so, about four years ago or so, I started thinking about all of the things I enjoy reading/watching and thought, well, hell’s bells, why not have fun and try my hand at that myself.  I am being incredibly selfish by making a big Cobb Salad of all of the things which interest me: history, politics, serial killers, New York City, religious/ethical quandaries, the American mythos, identity, class and race politics, the XL Creepy, literature, music, dancing, witty banter, and people wearing outrageous clothes, possibly adorned with feathers. But with ritual murder and ghosts and cornfields. You know, like you do.

So, #1 is that I’m selfish. #2 is that, apparently, there is a lot that interests me, most of it creepy. #3 is that I have always been fascinated by the 1920s—I started reading Dorothy Parker at an impressionable age and The Great Gatsby also made quite the impression on me as a teenager.

Q: How do you want to be remembered in 250 years time when bright, young, robotic-minds wander a museum of ancient 21st century books and stumble across one bearing your name?

Libba: As that author who was part of an international scandal involving Ryan Gosling, street mimes, and a drag queen musical featuring the songs of Burt Bacharach. 

{*I don't know if I could love Libba any more after reading this answer lol!!}

 Q: Can you give us any hints on what to expect from book two? I, for one, am dying to find out more about the Man in the Stovepipe Hat (who what is he?!) – can we expect answers?

Libba:   You can expect more pages. Probably odd punctuation. And “Diviners 2” somewhere on the title page.  I kid. I can tell you that there is a character, a Diviner, who makes a brief appearance in the first DIVINERS, and she takes a much more central role in the second book as does Henry. We learn a bit more about Project Buffalo and The Man in the Stovepipe Hat, or Mr. Fun Times, as I call him. Of course, this could all change and I could end up giving you an armadillo musical in the middle of the book. It could happen.

Below are a few of the questions we answered in our discussion.

To read our responses to all of the discussion questions check out our book review.

 FULL REVIEW HERE.

Kellie put together these adorable take home tins for each of us.

There were some fun and mysterious treasures hidden inside!

Thank you Libba for writing such a spunky, creepy, mysterious, fun, horrifying, jazzy book that will haunt me forever! 

Seriously, I can't get naughty Johns eerie song out of my head!!!

I've said it many times before but I'm saying it again, I LOVE our book club!

FREE DIVINERS PRINTABLE HERE

READ OUR BOOK REVIEW HERE