Peck & Peck
Cut along the dashed lines and pass the cards around the table.
Batter was named after his parents' dog. What is the story behind your name, or a nickname you have quietly carried for years?
Settle in and tell us: where did you do most of your reading of this one, and did the book start to feel like company?
The editors believe poems hold the key to humanity's survival. Has a poem, song lyric, or single sentence ever genuinely gotten you through something? Bring it to the table if you remember it.
Batter has a skill no one wants. Which of your own small, unmarketable talents do you secretly treasure, and did reading about his make you feel better about it?
Peck & Peck is prestigious, secretive, and dysfunctional all at once. Have you ever loved a job, club, or family that was all three, and what did you miss about it afterward?
Which of the journal's odd rituals or workplace habits did you find oddly comforting, and which moment made you want to bring that whole office a casserole?
Somewhere in these pages there is probably a moment where you felt the book put a hand on your shoulder. Without spoiling where it lands, what was yours, and what in your own life was it speaking to?
By the final stretch, did the novel leave you feeling more hopeful about people or more tender toward them? Describe the feeling you were sitting with when you closed it, no plot details needed.