The contents of someone's bookcase are part of his history, like an ancestral portrait. Everyone is welcome to come to all the discussions, or just for the books that interest you, to discuss, or just to listen. We are always pleased to offer suggestions for books over a wide range of topics that lend themselves to friendly and sometimes animated discussions. We can often get reading guides for many books and suggest related titles or follow-up suggestions. Rather than simply painting a revisionist picture from the traditional Cinderella story, Gregory Maguire turns familiar elements on their heads with a morality play where things are not quite what they seem - sometimes even the opposite of expectations.
Villains turn out to be heroes, and heroes can be ironically ineffective.
When we grow up, we learn that it's far more common for human beings to turn into rats. Like his previous novel, Wicked, the story of a little green girl who grows up to be the Wicked Witch of the West, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is an endearing and accomplished piece of literature addressing the meaning of beauty, relationship, and perspective.