We Don't Bake Muffins Book Club

Reading a book is just the beginning. Sharing the experience - that's the real rush!

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.”
Charles William Eliot

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Complete Reading List
  • Member Fav’s
    • Alison’s Picks
    • Kathy’s Picks
    • Kelly’s Picks
    • Toddy’s Picks
    • Liz’s Picks
    • Pam’s Picks
    • Peggy’s Picks
    • Andrea’s Pick
    • Cathy’s Pick
  • Contact Us

Bullets, Butterflies & Italy

Well first of all we got the time shagged up and a couple of the ladies came an hour late (or on-time depending on your point of view) … sorry about the mix up!!

The consensus was that this was not an easy read. Part travel memoir, the story is told amid vivid descriptions of significant places and events in Italy. Visualizing where the characters are going and what they are doing means paying attention. If you’re looking to kick back and relax with some mindless reading, this is probably is not the best choice.

Having said that…

Some of us really enjoyed Zack’s humour  & quick quips which popped up throughout the book and enjoyed the story as secondary to the travelogue of Italy itself. Another felt that the story of Zack, Franco & Antonella could have been stonger & that Zack’s reactions and impressions seemed too young for a man that age. At least one member was offended to some references very early on and chose not to continue reading.

Most of us felt that it would have been very interesting to read the book from the perspective of someone who had been been to Italy and to be able to visualize the places and events being described – none in our group have been so fortunate!

As with many of the books we read and then discuss, the appreciation for a book often grows from the hearing other’s take on it. For example at one point we were discussing the reason behind Franco taking Zack on a whirlwind tour of Italy and the reason behind his periodic disappearances. We came to the conclusion that he was multi-tasking (if you’ve read the book you’ll know what we mean – if you haven’t we won’t spoil it for you!).

Once we all talked this out some of the events made a little more sense – and were pretty funny.

To help give some context to the many descriptive details in the book we played a little game. Our host Googled and printed images of 10-12 different places and events described in the Bullets, Butterflies and Italy. The goal was to be the first to figure out what significant event involving Zack occurred there.

There was a prize (a bottle of Lemoncello – which apparently tastes like kerosene according to Peggy – before she knew the prize!) but since everyone pretty much sucked at guessing the right answer we just discussed the pictures.

Any one want to drop over for some Lemoncello??

In this case we had the additional benefit of hearing from the author himself. John Meyer was very generous in recording a video for us, taking the time to answer some questions we had sent him in advance.

As we all gathered around the computer towards the end of the meeting to watch and listened to John describe his motivation for writing the book and what he hoped readers would take away from it we were like ‘wow that’s exactly how we felt!” (check out the video on our Facebook Page here and learn more on John’s website.

(check out the video on our Facebook Page and learn more on John’s website – http://www.johnmeyerbooks.com

We’re glad you dropped by!

Living in beautiful St. John's NL, our book club members are as diverse and interesting as our book selections. Read More

Our Book Club Reading List

We’ve read a little bit of everything over the years. Whether you’re a book club looking for some ideas about what to read or just want a good book to curl up in bed with this reading list should help!

  • 110. Women Talking | Miriam Toews | Cathy’s Pick
  • 109. Where the Crawdads Sing | Delia Owens | Alison’s Pick
  • 108. Everything I Never Told You | Celeste NG | Toddy’s Pick
  • 107. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe | Fannie Flagg | Peggy’s Pick
  • 106. The Innocents | Michael Crummey | Kelly’s Picks
  • 105. The Alice Network | Kate Quinn | Kathy’s Pick
  • 104. Green Grass Running Water | Thomas King | Liz’s Pick
  • 103. Girl, Stop Apologizing | Rachel Hollis | Kelly’s Pick
  • 102. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine | Gail Honeyman | Alison’s Pick
  • 101. The Next Thing On My List | Jill Smolinski | Toddy’s Pick
  • 100. River Thieves | Michael Crummey | Peggy’s Pick
  • 99. Before We Were Yours | Lisa Wingate | Kathy’s Pick
  • 98. Most Anything You Please | Trudy Morgan Cole | Cathy’s Pick
  • 97. Into the Water | Paula Hawkins | Toddy’s Pick
  • 96. Difficult Women | Grove Atlantic | Pam’s Pick
  • 95. Neuromancer | William Gibson | Andrea’s Pick
  • 94. Something Is Always On Fire | Measha Brueggergosman | Liz’s Pick
  • 93. Rock Paper Sex | Kerri Cull | Peggy’s Pick
  • 92. We’ll All Be Burnt In Our Beds Some Night | Joel Thomas Hynes | Kathy’s Pick
  • 91. Cutting for Stone | Abraham Verghese | Cathy’s Pick
  • 90. Bear Town | Fredrik Backman | Kelly’s Pick
  • 89. Caught | Lisa Moore | Alison’s Pick
  • 88. Let’s Pretend This Never Happened | Jenny Lawson | Andrea’s Pick
  • 87. Found Far and Wide | Kevin Major | Toddy’s Pick
  • 86. The Sparrow | Author Mary Doria Russell | Pam’s Pick
  • 85. Tomboy Survival Guide | Author Ivan Coyote | Liz’s Pick
  • 84. Rush Oh! | Author Shirley Barrett | Kathy’s Pick
  • 83. The Invention of Wings | Author Sue Monk Kidd | Toddy’s Pick
  • 82. No Longer Human | Author Osamu Dazai | Kelly’s Pick
  • 81. The Nest | Author Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney | Peggy’s Pick
  • 80. I’m Thinking of Ending Things | Author Iain Reid | Alison’s Pick

See Our Complete List

Thanks for taking time to visit!

Muffins-Logo

Find Additional Information

  • Home
  • About
  • Our Reading List
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2023 We Don't Bake Muffins Book Club · Website by KCD Web Services