Hello, Protagonists! In this post, you’ll find:
🎥 The video replay of our February meeting
📚 Your invitation + discussion questions for The Correspondent, our next Book Pick
🗓️ Upcoming Book Club Picks
💛 RSVP & Zoom link (below the paywall)
xo,
Joanna & Evelyn
The “Reading with Wonder” Book Club is for our community members who want to dive deeper into how great books and great creatives work. Come explore with us! 🤓
🎥 Replay: The Way of Integrity
If you missed our last Book Club meeting, you can now watch the full replay above. This meeting was particularly special.
We had a deep, poignant discussion of The Way of Integrity and talked about:
Martha Beck used Dante’s Divine Comedy as the guiding structure for the book.
How the intensity of the epic poem matched the intensity of the life experiences Beck shared throughout the novel and invited the reader not to shy away from facing their own deep challenges.
Everyone shared specific concepts or exercises that impacted them. Favorites included:
The goal of integrity or wholeness achieved by tuning into internal direction rather than external expectation.
The challenge of not lying - how to share your truth and protect yourself.
One-degree turns toward sharing your truth
How to tell the truth in fiction
White vs gray lies
Paying attention to how the teacher “arrives.”
Understanding the impact of nature and nurture on our own compass.
During the Mini Creativity Coaching portion, we explored:
Hell: The Inferno (Identifying the Lies)
Culture vs. Nature: As creatives, what cultural scripts are we following?
Traditional publishing is superior. Our worth is separate from our success.
The Lie of “Should”: What is one thing you are writing or pursuing right now only because you think you should?
i.e., Writers “should” have a social media presence.
Purgatory (The Practice of Alignment with Self)
The Withdrawal from Praise: Separating our worth from publishing success. In working on seeing our worth as more than what we do, we asked: What do you want more than money/publishing deal? The answers warmed our hearts.
Paradise (The Flow and Wholeness of Integrity)
The Feeling of Flow: Beck describes the state of integrity as one in which magic seems to happen and things become effortless.
We discussed how flow is not a constant state and how facing fear and embracing struggle help lead us to opportunities for flow.
We talked about Alysa Liu’s statement: "I love struggling, actually. It makes me feel alive,” connecting this month’s discussion to last month’s novel on ice sports.
P.S. If you had any difficulty logging into Zoom for this meeting, please let us know.
As always, the replay is available to paid subscribers to keep our discussions cozy and private.
📚 You’re Invited: The Correspondent
Whether you’re a curious reader or a fellow writer, we’d love to have you join us. No need to be “an expert”—just bring your thoughts and your love of books.
Our next Book Club pick is:
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
We LOVE an epistolary novel! It was such a thrill to see this one break out and beat the expectations of the publishing world. We think this will provide a fun discussion of form, character, and slow-burn publishing hits.
Meeting Date:
Sunday, March 29, 2025
8pm ET / 5pm PT
Zoom link below
💬 During the book discussion, we’ll chat about:
Format: An epistolary novel is a work of fiction told through a collection of documents rather than a traditional narrative, most commonly through letters, diary entries, or, in modern contexts, emails, blog posts, and text messages.
How did the novel’s format shape our understanding of the protagonist?
What did contrasting the tone, style, and information across letters reveal?
How did the epistolary format help and/or hinder the plot development?
Themes: Grief was a major theme in the novel. Sybil grappled with a devastating past and new loss throughout the story.
How did the protagonist’s grief transform?
How did the layers of grief work to establish the theme beyond the stated?
Famous Authors: Some authors that the protagonist writes to include Ann Patchett, Joan Didion, Kazuo Ishiguro, Larry McCurty, and Diana Gabaldon.
What do her letters reveal about the authors as characters?
How do these relationships develop the protagonist?
What book would you recommend to Sybil?
Breakout novel: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans achieved breakout success in 2025 as a "slow-burn" hit, driven by “strong word-of-mouth, a crucial endorsement from author Ann Patchett, and its unique epistolary format.”
What gave this novel strong word-of-mouth travel?
What does The Correspondent’s success say about the publishing industry?
What other novels grew slowly in popularity? And what can we learn from this as writers?
💬 During the Mini Creativity Coaching portion, we will talk about:
Although it may seem paradoxical, experiencing grief around our creative process is an essential part of our creative vitality.
In our creative lives, we can feel grief over rejections, incomplete projects, failed partnerships, and more. What part of your creative process no longer feels alive for you?
How might we release these things to make room for what needs to come next—new inspiration, ideas, and callings?
If you were to write a letter to your past self, what would you tell them?
We think this is going to be a wonderful conversation!
✨ Introverts welcome: Cameras on or off. Your presence is enough.
Upcoming Book Club Picks
In case you missed it, here are our book picks for the first half of 2026:
🔐 RSVP & Zoom Link
To protect the privacy of our discussion space and prevent Zoom-bombing, the RSVP and Zoom link are posted below the paywall.
If you’d like to join us in the Book Club, you can upgrade to a paid membership here:
Or refer friends to receive complimentary months:
1 referral = 1 month free
2 referrals = 3 months free
3 referrals = 1 year free
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