Book Clubs
Talking about books is one of the most entertaining, exhilarating, enlightening activities on this planet! Gathering for book club is the icing on the cake, or maybe on the cover if you’re like me and get seconds for dessert.
I would love to visit your book club in person where possible or join you virtually. Click Contact to get in touch. Please include your book club name and location, and feel free to suggest dates/times.
Three Guesses is available anywhere books are sold. If not, just ask for it. Please always support your local, independent bookstores and community libraries.
Check out my Three Guesses Playlist on Spotify to go along with your read. The first ten songs relate to the phases of Sam, Richard, and Pete’s lives throughout the story.
See more book love here.
Author Bits
Name: Chris McClain Johnson
Book:Three Guesses, my debut novella at the age of 60 (and it won an award, yay!)
Home: Memphis TN since 1986, grew up in Mayfield KY, graduated from Murray State University in Murray KY
Cats: Kevin (a huge, white male fur ball) and Little Bit (a tiny, timid lady)
Hobbies & Happies: Turning curb finds into shabby chic decor; rearranging furniture and vignettes (there’s nothing like shopping in your own home); making jewelry (though my eyes aren’t that excited about this one these days); binging good TV series; reading-reading-reading; writing-writing-writing; being with family and friends; visiting book clubs, book stores, libraries, or wherever we can talk about books.
Writings: In a file box stashed in my writing space are a couple of very old, lofty, epic tales I started decades ago and never finished. These multi-book sagas would need reference lists of names and places and timelines, possibly maps and study guides. Again, lofty, and far beyond my attention level then and now.
Other folders in the box are loaded with stories, poems, music, and screenplay attempts. One of those stories was Three Guesses, too long to be a long short story and too short to be a full-sized novel. Thank goodness it fit perfectly in the novella genre, coming in at just under 40,000 words, and was rained upon with the blessing of Regal House Publishing’s 2023 Fugere Book Prize for Finely Crafted Novellas. Rejected time after time with short story and poem submissions, and here my first attempt at something bigger won a book prize! I couldn’t believe it, especially given the epistolary format. I wasn’t sure if people today even care about the beautiful, old-fashioned art of writing letters.
I’m happy to share more about my somewhat twisted author journey when I visit your book club. Plus, if you’re interested, I’d love to read a couple of very short stories, aka flash fiction, being snuck into a short story collection.
Book Club Talk-Abouts
First of all, THANK YOU for choosing to read Three Guesses. I hope you loved it!
To me, every letter in Three Guesses does seem like a story all its own, even Sam’s brief postcard from Somewhere, Iowa. But that’s what novels are—a collection of stories threaded together to give us twists and turns and the totality of a moment or a lifetime. Sam, Richard, and Pete give us the first seven years of their unexpected friendship with a lot to unpack about their lives, in solo and in their long-distance trio.
1. Aside from the painting, Three Guesses, what truly connects this trio and keeps them communicating, especially with such varied personalities? What are they each giving to and getting from this correspondence?
2. Each one grapples with experiencing difficult childhoods, understanding themselves and their place in the world, and even feeling haunted at times. Do you see any of these discomforts relieved throughout their correspondence? Does their connection contribute to their life changes?
3. What letter affects you the most and why? Is it an unexpected share, something comical that still makes you laugh, an emotional gut punch?
4. Sam brings up Edgar Cayce’s philosophy of God on page 24 that all souls of the cosmos were created at the same time. She writes: The soul is given free will and expected to go through an unlimited cycle of experiences that completes when it remembers its true identity with God and eventually merges back with spirit, returning to its source as the companion it was meant to be.
How does this strike you? Does this seem believable or preposterous? Does it urge you ponder your own ideas of God and humanity?
5. With this philosophy comes the concept of past lives, a theme that floats throughout their letters. Have you ever wondered if you’ve had past lives? What do you think of Richard’s notion on page 34: I’m curious to know if we carry the same DNA on all these rides. Surely we do. An entire field of research could be created to match us up with our past selves. Ideal proof of reincarnation!
6. What do you think of Sam’s decision to take to the road pregnant without a plan? Does it shape the kind of mother she is to Leeci? What path might her life have taken otherwise?
Did you notice how she only refers to her own mother as my mom, never Mom?
7. Does Richard come off as pompous or playful? What insights shared from his childhood shaped his attitude of not worrying what other people think?
8. Did your thoughts and perceptions of Pete change along the way as the magnitude of his emotional issues came to light? What did you learn about him through his poems and stories?
9. Who in this trio do you like or connect with the most and why?
10. All three of them perform months-long disappearing acts, with Sam’s being over a year. Were you as worried for them as they were for each other? What scenarios did you image for each?
11. What do letters give us that we might not get with in-person visits, phone calls, emails, and texts?
12. Does Three Guesses inspire you to start a pen pal relationship? What would you share about yourself? What would you ask or hope to be asked? See Who Would You Write To? on my Blog page.
Check out this Three Guesses Book Club Discussion Guide from the best crew ever in The Worst Book Club Ever in Western KY.
Benefits of writing letters:
fosters strong relationships and deep emotional connections
helps manage stress, process grief, reduce repetitive negative thinking, ease feelings of isolation, offer relaxing personal time
provides an outlet for things left unsaid to reduce conflicts and repair hurt feelings
provides a space for revisiting happy memories and sending special trinkets, photographs, or other meaningful memorabilia
elevates brain health and clarity of thought
boosts creativity - use expressive lettering styles, stationery, stamps; add colorful sketches, magazine cutouts, stickers; fold your letter in unique styles like accordion or origami; include quotes, poems, recipes, your reading list, or reading suggestions with a fun bookmark
Offers a digital detox to connect without tech
Have you tried Richard’s tequila cocktails? Here’s a little happy from his February 1999 letter: Richard’s Popping Paloma on page 8.
“I expect a word in return from you both since I’ve made the effort yet again to connect. While waiting for your replies, I’m going to pretend it’s summer and have my near-famous Popping Paloma. Try it. I promise you’ll like it.”
For a completely different fizz with crème de cassis, try his Vintage Tequila Sunrise on page 140.
Cocktail recipe? Yes, please!