2025 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens.

Pages: 320 pages

Length: 1 month (August)

Participants: Jannene, Cordelia, Beth

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?

I just started this one.

I'm starting today. I wanted to read this because I'm a big fan of this author from the Max Rupert series. This feels like it will be a departure for him, and I'm curious to see how it turns out.

This is SUCH a departure from Eskens's previous novels, as he himself mentions in the acknowledgement. I know this may sound weird, but I think if I'd have read this not knowing the author, I would have enjoyed it more. I kept waiting for something of the previous novels to happen, and that kept me out of the story just enough to not fully invest in it. (view spoiler)[The decision that David made in the end, though, does feel very Max Rupert-ish... performing a legally wrong act for a morally good purpose. (hide spoiler)]

I rated it a 3 because I'm on the fence about my feelings for the book. I know I'll be thinking about it for a long time, so maybe that alone makes it worth at least a 4?

Curious to hear others' opinions!

I am finding this very depressing and only 18% in.