2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss Marley by Jon Clinch.

Pages: 288 pages

Length: 1 month (December)

Participants: Beth, Susan

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 am really looking forward to this. I've read one other book by this author - Finn, which is a backstory of Huck Finn's father. Thanks for reading this with me, Susan!

I started listening to Marley this evening. So far enjoying the narrator 😀

Finished listening today. I enjoyed the story and learning how Scrooge and Marley became friends and business partners. I read A Christmas Carol yesterday and now I feel good about all characters created by Charles Dickens.

I started yesterday and am about halfway through. I like the depth that Clinch has given to Scrooge's and Marley's backstories, particularly about their money house being involved (view spoiler)[in the slave trade (hide spoiler)]. Interesting interpretation!

I really enjoyed this. Lots of elements worked together to make this a really thoughtful experience... how Scrooge and Marley almost swapped personalities at the end... Scrooge became the miserly bah humbug and Marley encouraging him to change his ways. This is an amazing backstory for Dickens's novella; I can't help but wonder what he'd make of it!

I'm off to read Dickens's story now!