- The BBCE
The BEST 22nd Episode Ever : "The Guardians"
This week, Mandy hosts the second episode discussing the book The Guardians by John Grisham. We rate the book, give our ideas on how to host this bookclub and continue our discussion about wrongful convictions.
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Book club discussion questions
1. If you have read John Grisham before, how do you think this stacks up to his other books?
While the book wasn’t actually based on a true story, it is inspired by actual circumstances and by a real-life organization that helps innocent convicts. Does that change anything for you about the story that we read?
2. Just Mercy - true story - kept getting the two stories confused even though one was fiction and one was not. Think this gives a lot of clout to Grisham’s writing…..He just wrote something so so close to what we see in real life. Like we talked about in last week’s episode, I think he writes out of 1) a passion for the injustice of innocent convicts, but 2) the first-hand knowledge that this stuff actually happens.
3. Let's talk about the title - can someone summarize why this book is called “The Guardians?” It’s a ministry run by attorneys whose ministry is to rescue innocent people. I love this because……yes, ministry…..but they are still attorneys, and they act like attorneys AND they are in ministry. Ministry can be so many things – it doesn’t only mean that you are out directly telling people about Jesus. Jesus’ ministry – healing people – and he even told one lady to go and not even tell anyone that He had healed her! That is so opposite of what we would think of as ministry.
Matthew 8:4
Mark 7:36
4. Have you ever been wrongly accused of something?
How did it feel?
What did you do?
Did anyone help you?
*Grading Scale
A - All Good
B - Better than most
C - Could have been better
D - Disappointing
F - Failure on all levels
Ratings for this book
Mandy- C
Sarah - C
Katie - B
Holly - C
Ideas for hosting a book club for The Guardians
Location - Savannah— let’s GO! 😊😊😊 or, more practically, a roadside restaurant, a court building ; a jail ; a haunted house
Activity - one of those solve a crime boxes, take a road trip , “breakout“ room
Décor – Tennessee paraphernalia, a skeleton, flashlight
Attire - your best courtroom attire; jail clothes ; priest’s collar
Favor - Gas card, flashlight
Food - what you would choose as your last meal on death row (Katie - I would choose Holly’s Hunger Games lamb stew)
Music – Johnny Cash (Folsom Prison Blues)
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Show Notes
The Next Right Thing by Emily Freeman
Why Now, White People - Code Switch Podcast
The Innocent Man - Netflix
Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell ( Best 13th Episode Ever : "Talking to Strangers" ; Best 14th Episode Ever : Stranger Danger )
Johnny Cash (Folsom Prison Blues)
Upcoming Books
Sarah's Next Book : The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
Katie's Next Book : Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Holly's Next Book : The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown