Millions - Mother/Son Book Club Meeting

A bag crammed with cash comes tumbling out of the air and lands right at Damian's feet.  

Suddenly the Cunningham brothers are rich.  Damian has questions: 

Is the money a sign from a higher power?  Should they tell the police?  

Anthony is eager to spend.....

--Harper Collins Publishers

Tonight, John and I hosted our book club meeting to discuss Frank Cotrell Boyce's book, Millions. I had seen the movie years earlier, thought it was clever.  The book is listed on several Middle School "must-reads".  And so...this is how we made our selection!  

I always feel like I read a book differently when I know others are reading it simultaneously, and especially when they are reading it because of my suggestion.  I'm more critical.  I'm wondering if they'll like it.  So, I had a slightly hard time getting into this story (even though...or despite of having already seen the movie).  But once hooked, I enjoyed it.  It is a story with so many layers...which, of course, made for great discussion. 

First the guys went outside to play basketball while the moms chatted and caught up.  Soon the guys came in, hovered around, wondered when we'd start discussion (and have food!)  We found a great discussion guide here.   The last question on the guide is... "What would you do with the kind of cash that Damian found?"  So we handed each mom and each son a scratch-off lottery ticket and went around the room discussing what we each would do if we won the $777.00 grand prize.  Some money went to charity.  Some went to throwing a great big party,... reinvestment in more lottery tickets, "real" investment, a cross bow, a new computer...fun discussion.

In the story, we noticed a somewhat odd frequency of requests for...toast. Yep, toast.  So, John and I decided that we'd just serve toast.  When my mom stopped over this afternoon before the meeting, she caught me checking the internet for toast recipes.  I know, I know, it's toast.  But I wanted to make it all in the oven instead of the toaster so I wanted advice on how to do that.  Just use the broiler.  Place the bread on a cookie sheet and turn after a few minutes.  But watch closely because they can, and do, burn quickly!  We had many new jellies and jams from my wonderful aunt (who keeps us supplied year round).  And then my good friend in Maine posted an article about a new restaurant opening in her town that will be serving only,,,yep, toast!  So, I knew we were on the right track.  And it turned out great.  Very fun meeting.