2025 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss Rules of Civility, the first book in the Rules of Civility series by Amor Towles.

Pages: 335 pages

Length: 1 month (March)

Participants: M, Lorraine, Sophia

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Here are some questions to help get the conversation started! Feel free to look up discussion questions specific to this book or come up with your own. Just make sure any questions that contain spoilers are under spoiler tags.
Discussion questions are not required but may be a fun way to talk about the book and get to know each other!

Prior to starting:
What prompted you to join this buddy read?
Have you read this author before? What do you think of their other books?

Mid-read:
What character or ideas do you relate to the most and why?
Do you have any favorite quotes or scenes?

After reading:
What was enjoyable or not-so-enjoyable about this book?
Did this book change your perception about anything, either within the book (character development) or in real life?

This book has been sitting on my shelf for ages so I'm looking forward to finally reading it! Thank you for joining me.
I read A Gentleman in Moscow early last year and really enjoyed it. I thought it was completely charming and even watched the show afterwards.
My local forecast says we're expecting rain this weekend so I'm planning on getting into this one on the 1st while the pups and I are stuck inside.
Gosh, I can't believe it's March already!

Happy reading friends :)

I am about 90 pages into this read and am loving the prose and think the lack of quotations for the dialogue really does something for it oddly enough.

(view spoiler)[I am to the point where Eve and Tinker are "making a go of it" after going on vacation together a couple months following the car accident. I am wondering why Katey seems to be totally uninterested in keeping up friendships with other women when her one best friend is basically snubbing her? It seems like a time when I personally would be jumping at the opportunity to socialize with someone else. Eve so far reminds me of Tully in Firefly Lane, and Tully frustrated the hell out of me. I'm feeling very invested in where Katey's story goes from here in relation to Tinker and Eve. Especially Tinker, with reference to the Preface where we learned that he seemingly took a fall from prosperity. Makes me wonder if Eve had something to do with that? (hide spoiler)]

Waiting for the book

I'm at Chapter 16 (page 200) and I may just stay up tonight to finish this one. I'm enjoying it quite a bit even though I'm not finding it as charming as A Gentleman in Moscow. There's something about Towles writing that I find very relaxing!
(view spoiler)[Eve and Tinker together annoys me. I can't imagine that he had/has genuine feelings for her but is taking care of her only out of guilt because he was driving and or a sense of duty after the accident. I'm equally as annoyed that Eve acts like she won his affection when to me, it feels like she's manipulated him completely.
I'm glad that Kate is finally making moves with her career, meeting people and I'd like her to forget about Tinker and move on wholly with Wallace. (hide spoiler)]

Pairing my reading experience with this little video on repeat to set the mood :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA1W0...

Ya know, I couldn't quite put this down. I started slowly, just a chapter or two, the mood didn't feel quite right so I left it for a few days. But then, some 40-50 pages later and I knew this was going to be a favorite and I wasn't going to move on until it was over.
I really enjoyed this book! For years I've wanted to read this but for one reason or another, I never picked it up.
(view spoiler)[I was wrong about Eve but I also wasn't. While I appreciated that she turned Tinker down, my annoyance wasn't lessened when she up and left to go west. She was messy and in the end I'm glad there was separation between her and Kate. Same with Tinker. I felt for him just a touch when we learn about his true self/situation but he still wasn't the one for our girl. It was no surprise to me that he was in a thing with Anne.
Wallace = sad :( oh what could have been. (hide spoiler)]

I look forward to reading this again one day so I can highlight the crap out of it on my kindle.

“In our twenties, when there is still so much time ahead of us, time that seems ample for a hundred indecisions, for a hundred visions and revisions—we draw a card, and we must decide right then and there whether to keep that card and discard the next, or discard the first card and keep the second. And before we know it, the deck has been played out and the decisions we have just made will shape our lives for decades to come.”

I thought this book was a strong debut; my favourite book by Towles is A Gentleman in Moscow. For this book, the story itself was 3 stars, but because I love the way Towles writes I gave it 4 stars. The characters are wonderfully developed. I forgot that the next one is out; it was published when I was in an intense reading game with monthly themes, so I hope to read it this year. However, I'm not sure if I'll like it as much since it has a number of short stories and then a novella in it; I haven't been much on short stories since my early 20s.

Finished yesterday!

(view spoiler)[ I gotta say, the Tinker/Anne thing threw me a little bit and I didn't quite see that coming. I definitely don't like Eve at all and the way she was willing to just use people to get places she wants to be. I did really enjoy Kate's experiences skirting the New York upper class. Of course I took a special liking to Wallace and his gentleness; but I have to say I really liked Kate and Dicky together. They seemed unconventional but balanced with the differences in their personalities, though he was boyish and I suppose that's why Towles had him sent off to Texas by his father in the end. I am intrigued to read Eve in Hollywood but also might just be annoyed the entire time. (hide spoiler)]

I really enjoyed Rules of Civility. This was my first book by this author, but it definitely won’t be my last—I now want to read everything he’s written!

The characters were well-developed and felt incredibly real. The story was engaging, and I loved how the author portrayed the many sides of human nature—both the good and the bad.

Thank you for the recommendation! I’m thinking of suggesting A Table for Two as a buddy read for June or July. Hope you’ll be able to join!

I'm so glad you enjoyed it Lorraine! If you continue with this author I hope A Gentleman in Moscow is a winner for you also :)
The only other novel that I own from him is The Lincoln Highway and it's a thiiick one with hit and miss reviews so I'm almost nervous to read it, haha.
A Table for Two sounds interesting also but I'm with Karin, I haven't really connected to short stories since my younger years.

Lorraine wrote: "I really enjoyed Rules of Civility. This was my first book by this author, but it definitely won’t be my last—I now want to read everything he’s written!

The characters were well-developed and fel..."

This is how I felt after I finally read a novel by him, but the first one I read was A Gentleman in Moscow.