Announcement | Wicked Good Book Club

We are excited to announce that Islandport Press and Books-A-Million are collaborating on the Wicked Good Book Club, which aims to highlight Maine literature and connect readers through monthly book clubs.

The first book for the Wicked Good Book Club isThis Time Might Be Different: Stories of Maine by Elaine Ford.

This Time Might Be Different is by award-winning writer Elaine Ford and it is a collection of fifteen stories in which deftly drawn characters contemplate difficult choices: a young girl might have coffee with a stranger; a guy might decide to rob the local laundromat; or a widow might get in the car and just keep driving. Underneath the commonplace—running into an old lover, a longstanding feud, an unspoken divorce—readers will find a trace of dark humor, a sinister underpinning, or a profound irony.

Elaine Ford (1939 - 2017) is the author of five novels, including The Playhouse, Ivory Bright, Missed Connections, Monkey Bay, and Life Designs, and a book of short stories called The American Wife. Her short fiction appeared widely in literary magazines and newspapers. In addition to her writing, Ford was also a wife, mother and grandmother, librarian, world traveler, and Harvard alumna Ford taught literature and creative writing at the University of Maine for nearly two decades. At the time of her death, she resided in Topsham.

The short stories in This Time Might Be Different are going to make for a wicked good discussion. We can't wait to see you there!

This free book club will take place on Wednesday, March 27 at 6 p.m. at the Books-A-Million in South Portland, located at the Maine Mall on 430 Gorham Road.

Purchase your copy at Books-A-Million or here.

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Discussion Questions

• Do you recognize the Maine depicted in these stories? Other than physical location, what makes this book specific to Maine, in your opinion? Can you imagine any of these stories set somewhere else?
  

• Do the characters achieve the “different,” or change, that many of them crave?
  

• What does the title This Time Might Be Different lead you to expect, as a reader? Is the title appropriate for these stories?
  

• Which story speaks loudest to you?

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The Wicked Good Book Club is a partnership between Books-A-Million and Islandport Press that aims to highlight Maine literature and connect readers through monthly book clubs.