Cozy night
Wait for MeBook club questions, food & host guide
Amy Jo Burns
Picked by
Read with Jenna
Read with Jenna
A cozy book club night for Wait for Me by Amy Jo Burns. Includes 8 spoiler-free discussion questions, food and drink pairings, a playlist, and a host guide, ready to print and share.
A club that loves beautiful sentences, slow-burn family stories, and reading aloud to each other on the couch
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Amy Jo Burns writes Appalachia with a lyric, aching tenderness, following a family held together by music, mountain weather, and the things nobody says out loud. It is a short, gorgeously written novel that invites readers to sit close and talk softly.
Why it works for clubs
- Short enough that everyone actually finishes it, rich enough to fill two hours of talk
- Family loyalty, longing, and the pull of home are themes everyone has lived some version of
- The prose is so image-driven that people arrive with favorite passages marked
- Burns writes place like a character, which always opens up stories about where readers come from
Reading level
Moderate
Warm-up questions
- 1 Before we get into it: where did you do most of your reading of this one, and did you find yourself wanting a blanket and something warm while you read?
- 2 Was there a sentence or an image early on that made you slow down and reread it? Share it, no analysis required, just the one that stuck to you.
Digging in
- 1 This is a book about a place that holds onto people. Was there a moment where the mountain setting felt comforting to you, and a moment where it felt a little lonely?
- 2 Burns writes families who love each other mostly in actions rather than words. Who in your own life loves you that way, and did reading this make you feel seen or a little wistful?
- 3 Music runs through this story like warmth through a house. What song or sound carries that same feeling of home for you?
- 4 There is so much longing in these pages. Did the book leave you feeling tender, restless, held, or something harder to name? Say the feeling out loud, even if it is messy.
Going deep
- 1 By the last stretch of the book, did you feel the characters had been given something like grace? Describe how you felt closing the book rather than what happened in it.
- 2 Burns seems interested in what we inherit without choosing it, for better and worse. Looking back across the whole novel, what did this story stir up about your own inheritance, and were you glad to have it stirred?
On the table
Skillet cornbread with honey butter
The most Appalachian comfort there is, baked in a cast iron pan and served warm so the butter melts in. Easy to make ahead and reheat.
Big pot of brown beans with pickled onions
A mountain supper staple, humble and filling, and it simmers itself while you set up the room.
Apple stack cake or a simple apple crisp
An Appalachian heirloom dessert, spiced and homey, and the crisp version is a shortcut that still smells like somebody's grandmother's kitchen.
To sip
Hot spiced cider with a cinnamon stick
No alcohol
Nonalcoholic, served in mugs so everyone has something to hold while they talk. Set the pot on low and let people refill themselves.
Bourbon in a jar with a splash of cider
A nod to the hills and to front-porch sipping, kept simple and generous rather than fussy.
Sorghum or honey sweetened hot tea
No alcohol
Gentle, warming, and quietly regional. Good for the second hour when the conversation gets soft.
Fiddle, slide guitar, and close harmony played low, like a radio on in the next room while rain falls.
- 02 Sprout and the Bean - Joanna Newsom
- 03 The Wood Thrush's Song - Anna & Elizabeth
- 04 Little Sadie - Hiss Golden Messenger
- 06 Lay Down Your Weary Tune - Sarah Jarosz
- 07 Pretty Saro - Sam Amidon
Tap a track to play it. Full songs play when you're signed into Spotify.
Run of show
7:00
Arrive and get a mug in hand
Cider on the stove, no agenda. Let people trickle in and catch up for a while before anything starts.
7:25
Supper, served from the pot
Beans, cornbread, everyone eats on their lap. Conversation can stay off-book entirely here.
7:50
Warm-up round
Go around with the two warm-up questions. Reading favorite passages aloud is encouraged and is the best possible icebreaker for this one.
8:10
Theme questions
Work through the four theme questions loosely. Let tangents happen. This is the heart of the night.
8:45
Dessert and the deep two
Bring out the apple crisp, then ask the two deeper questions once everyone is fed and softened.
9:15
Scorecards, trivia, and a soft landing
Fill in scorecards together, run a few trivia questions for fun, and let people leave whenever they want.
Host tips
- Say up front that nobody has to have finished, and that feelings count as answers. That one sentence changes the whole temperature of the room.
- Keep a basket of extra blankets and the lights low and lamp-based. The book is atmospheric, so let the room match it.
- Have the book on hand and invite people to read aloud. Burns rewards it, and it gives quieter guests an easy way to participate.
You're invited
Come Sit Close: A Cozy Night with Wait for Me
Beans and cornbread, cider on the stove, and Amy Jo Burns's tender Appalachian novel to talk about. Bring your softest socks and the sentence you underlined.
Trivia
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1
Who wrote Wait for Me?Answer: Amy Jo Burns.
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2
Which American region is Amy Jo Burns best known for writing about?Answer: Appalachia.
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3
Burns's debut was a memoir. What was it called?Answer: Cinderland.
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4
What was the title of Burns's first novel, published in 2021?Answer: Shiner.
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5
Which U.S. state did Amy Jo Burns grow up in?Answer: Pennsylvania.
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6
Wait for Me is fiction or nonfiction?Answer: Fiction, a novel.
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7
Burns's writing is often described with which adjective for its poetic, image-rich style?Answer: Lyrical.
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8
In what decade of publishing has Burns released all of her books so far?Answer: They have all appeared from the late 2010s onward.
Bookmarks
Cozy night
Tender ache
Some houses keep you long after you leave them.
Wait for Me
Cozy night
Warm welcome
Stay a while. The kettle is already on.
Wait for Me
Cozy night
Quiet music
Love here sounds like a fiddle through a thin wall.
Wait for Me
Rate the book
Comfort factor
Beauty of the writing
Did it move me
Sense of place
Would I press it into a friend's hands
One word for how this book left me feeling:
The sentence I folded the corner for:
Who I want to read this next:
Print pack
- Question cards on kraft paper, one per guest, so anyone can pick a question to ask
- Printed scorecards tucked into the backs of borrowed copies
- Bookmarks on heavy card stock, snipped with scallop scissors
- A simple recipe card for the cornbread and apple crisp to send home with guests
- A hand-lettered playlist card with a QR code propped by the cider pot
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