Book Club Night Kit

The Steps

Sylvester Stallone

Cozy night

Sylvester Stallone looks back at a scrappy, uncertain childhood and the long climb toward his first break, in a voice that is funnier and more tender than you expect. It is a short, warm read about wanting something badly before anyone believes you can have it.

Come For Meatballs, Stay For The Underdog

We are reading Sylvester Stallone's memoir about a rocky childhood and a very long climb, so dinner is a big pot of sauce and a pile of doughnuts. Wear something soft and bring one story about a time you almost quit.

Reading level: Easy

Best for: A club that likes memoirs with heart, trades personal stories freely, and would rather feel something than dissect it

Discussion

Warm-up

1.Before you opened this, what was your Stallone? The movie, the poster, the impression you walked in with. Tell us in one sentence.
2.What is the first thing in these pages that made you smile or wince in recognition, before you were even settled into the book?

Digging in

1.The book spends real time on being the kid who does not fit the room. Was there a passage about that feeling where you quietly thought, oh, me too?
2.Money is tight here in very specific, ordinary ways. Did any of those small details land somewhere personal for you, and do you want to say what it reminded you of?
3.Who in your own life played the part of the person who believed you a little early, before the evidence was in? What did they actually do or say?
4.He keeps showing up for something that is not going well yet. Where is your version of that, the thing you kept doing without proof it would pay off?

Going deep

1.Memoir lets someone decide how gently to tell on their younger self. Where did you feel him being kind to that kid, and where did it seem harder for him to be? Did his softness toward himself change how you feel about your own earlier years?
2.Taking the whole book as one long walk, which step do you think cost him the most to describe, and does reading someone else's climb make your own look different, maybe more forgivable?

On the table & to sip

To eat

Big pot of Sunday meatballs with crusty bread

Italian American kitchen food, cheap to stretch and generous to share, exactly the sort of dinner that carries a family through a thin year. Make it ahead and let it sit warm on the stove.

Philadelphia-style cheesesteak sliders

A nod to the rowdy Philly stretch of his young life, shrunk down to warm handheld bites so nobody has to balance a full sandwich on their knees.

Raw sugar and cinnamon bakery doughnuts

Underdog comfort, the kind you buy by the bag after a long day. Serve them piled on a plate in the middle of the table for second helpings.

Soft pretzels with grainy mustard

Street food of the city where so much of this story is set, warmed in the oven and torn apart by hand.

To sip

Hot cocoa with a shaker of cinnamon (no alcohol)

Non-alcoholic and deliberately childlike, because this is a book about a kid. Put mugs out and let people fix their own.

Strong stovetop espresso with lemon peel (no alcohol)

The after-dinner cup of an Italian American household, small and fortifying for the middle of the conversation.

Amaretto nightcap, neat or stirred into the coffee

Sweet, almondy, a little indulgent. A soft landing for the last half hour when the talk turns personal.