Hamnet and Judith

In imagining Shakespeare's family life, Maggie O'Farrell made the distant past relatable to modern readers. Too bad the book was in such demand during the pandemic that not all of us were able to get a copy before last night's meeting. You may want to come back to it when time allows. 

We have books, dates and times worked out for the next few months: 

• Someone by Alice McDermott on Wednesday, January 13th at 2 pm 
• The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue on Wednesday, Febrary 17th at 2 pm 
• Five Wives by Joan Thomas on Wednesday, March 17th (time TBA) 
• Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout on Wednesday, April 14th (time TBA) 

There was mention of ordering glasses online through Zenni Optical.  It may be something to consider as other options close down in the pandemic.

What to watch:

• The Prom
• Ethos  (hint - way better with subtitles than the dubbed version)
• Small Axe
• Criminal - season 2
• Pain and Glory  

The Tenth Muse

 “I couldn’t help but wonder why so many intelligent men aren’t more embarrassed to speak on topics they know nothing about, or why anyone would listen to an economist on such a matter in the first place. How are they so sure of themselves, and why are so many people so eager to listen? I’ve always wished I had the confidence to speak with half the conviction on subjects I’m actually competent to discuss.”
― Catherine Chung, The Tenth Muse

The themes of this book definitely struck some chords with our group. It was a good choice.

We made some other choices last night, and a few changes of note. We chose a date for our next zoom book club - Wednesday, December 16th. We will meet at our usual time and the book will be Hamnet and Judith by Maggie O'Farrell.

As we approached 2021 we had planned to start in January with The Pull of the Stars, but it has proved difficult to find, so we will read Someone by Alice McDermott  We also changed the time of our meeting to 2 pm. The date will be Wednesday, January 13. 

Then we will get to The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue at 2 pm on Wednesday, February 17th.  

On Wednesday, March 17th we will talk about Five Wives by Joan Thomas and on Wednesday, April 14 the book will be Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout.  We will decide in February whether we want to stay with 2 pm or go back to evening meetings. 

Books we noted:

• Someone by Alice McDermott 
  
• Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
• Five Wives by Joan Thomas
 
• The Student by Cary Fagan
 
• The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

 

Ragged People

 

"All that we are is story. From the moment we are born to the time we continue on our spirit journey, we are involved in the creation of the story of our time here. It is what we arrive with. It is all we leave behind. We are not the things we accumulate. We are not the things we deem important. We are story. All of us. What comes to matter then is the creation of the best possible story we can while we’re here; you, me, us, together. When we can do that and we take the time to share those stories with each other, we get bigger inside, we see each other, we recognize our kinship – we change the world, one story at a time…"  - Richard Wagamese

Our next book will be The Tenth Muse by Catherine Chung.  We will meet on Zoom on Thursday, November 26 at 7:30.

In December the book will be Hamnet and Judith by Maggie O'Farrell.  

And in January 2021 we plan to talk about The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue. 

Books we mentioned

• Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
• Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout
• Why Fish Don't Exist by Lulu Miller
• Women Who Blow on Knots by Ece Temelkuran 

 Things to Watch

• The Trouble with Maggie Cole
• Transplant
• Giri/Haji (Netflix)
• Family Home Overhaul
• Hap and Leonard (Netflix)
  
• Trickster
• My Brilliant Friend
• The Ladies in Black 

More Fun

• Fantini Sangiovese
• Mexican Train

 

Reading Circe

We had a great talk about Madeline Miller's depiction of Circe, a witch goddess who has a small part in ancient mythology. Miller's Circe lives a long and rich life that has many points of reference for modern readers, a good book club choice. We miss being together in reality but are grateful for zoom so that we can see each other and chat.

Next we will meet on zoom again, on Wednesday, October 21 at 7 pm.  We will talk about Ragged Company by Richard Wagamese.  

We didn't pick any other dates but we chose books for the next three months.  In November the book will be The Tenth Muse by Catherine Chung.  

In December we will talk about Hamnet and Judith by Maggie O'Farrell.  

And in January 2021 we will get to The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue. 

Books we mentioned: 

• Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga
  
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
  
• The Very Marrow of our Bones by Christine Higdon
• The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell
• The Reality Bubble by Ziya Tong
• Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

What to watch: 

• Netflix - My Octopus Teacher 
• Netflix - Cuties
• Tiff - Inconvenient Indian
• Tiff - Nomadland 
  

Scarborough

Zoom worked for us again, as we met to talk bout Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez. Much as we agree that meeting in person was better in many ways, we are lucky that technology allows us to see each other and spend this tine chatting during this period of pandemic. 

Remember that we will meet again on Thursday September 24th on zoom to talk about Circe by Madeline Miller. As usual it will be at 7:30.  

We did spend some time talking about how to fill the aimless hours of isolation. Here are some things on tap:

• Hot Docs Curious MInds series 
• Heliconian Club Literary Lecture Series 
• Learning Unlimited Etobicoke 
• Indigenous Canada (University of Alberta) 
• McMichael Gallery An Afternoon of Maud Lewis
• Malcolm Gladwell's podcast Revisionist History
• Pushkin Industries podcast collection (try Cautionary Tales)
• CrowdCast Innocents (Emma Donoghue and Michael Crummey)
• HGTV Family Home Overhaul
  

Books we mentioned: 

• The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
• Hamnet and Judith by Maggie O'Farrell
• Brother by David Chariandy
  

What is Not Yours is Not Yours

We met on zoom again last night to talk about What is Not Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi. Maybe we could sum up by saying that this book of short stories confused us. In this interview she attempted to explain some of her ideas. Hmm...



... moving along, we set times and books for the next two months.  We will meet on Thursday, August 20 to talk about Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez.  Watch for a wine pairing for this evening, something new to experience and share. And on Thursday, September 24 the book will be Circe by Madeline Miller.

Books we mentioned:   

• Becoming Mrs. Lewis: The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C. S. Lewis  by Patti Henry
• Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
• Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club by Megan Gail Coles 
• From the Ashes: My story of Being Metis, Homeless and Finding my Way by Jesse Thistle
• Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson
• We've Always Been Here: a Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib
• The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
• The Yellow House by Sarah Broom
  

 And to watch: 

• The Book of Negroes on CBC
• Grizzlies on Gem
• Primary Colors

The Youth of God

Aside from being a page-turning story, this book gave us some insight into the lives of Somali-Canadians who live just down the street from us. We walk past them on the street and see them in schools and malls but we know only superficially about their experiences and culture.

Given it's prominence in the world lately, Black Lives Matter was also on our minds. We had quite a bit of conversation about what people like us, who have not experienced being racialized, can contribute as allies.

As for what's next for our group, we will meet again on Zoom on July 22nd at 7:30.  This is a Wednesday.  The book will be by Helen Oyeyemi - What is Not Yours is Not Yours. Wanda will set up the zoom room for us.

Books we mentioned: 

• Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
• Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
• The Tenth Muse by Catherine Chung
• Days by Moonlight by Andre Alexis
• Barkskins by Annie Proulx
• Bina: a novel in warnings by Anakana Schofield
• Machines like Me by Ian McEvan
• White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
• How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
  
• Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad
  

And to watch:  

• Lenox Hill (netflix)
• Toni Morrison: the pieces I am 
• Gloria Steinem HBO
• Unorthodox (netflix)
• The Woman who Loves Giraffes
• 93 Queen (Passionate Eye)

Black Lives Matter:

The Long Petal of the Sea

Thank you to Jo for starting off our Zoom meeting and to Wanda for arranging the extension. It really is wonderful to be able to see each other during the pandemic. 40 minutes is not enough when we have so much to say to each other - two new babies since last meeting!

As we talked about The Long Petal of the Sea and the history of Chile a few films came to mind:

• Nostalgia for the Light  
• Influence - Hot Docs
• Missing (1982)

Our next meeting will be on June 24th on Zoom and Wanda will arrange for the invitation to allow us continuous connection. The book will be The Youth of God by Hassan Ghedi Santur. 

Books we mentioned: 

• The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel 
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
• A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
• Paris Hours: a novel by Alex George
• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
• Citizens of London: the Americans who stood with Britain in its darkest, finest hour by Lynn Olson 
• The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
• The Cut Out Girl: a story of war and family, lost and found by Bart Van Es

 

Further to our conversation about Long-term Care in Ontario here's a portion of TVO's The Agenda that was playing simultaneously: 

 

Heroes in my Head

Our second zoom book club meeting showed that we're learning to thrive in the new isolating world. We had perfect attendance, we figured out how to extend our time beyond the allotted 40 minutes and we actually managed to spend some time talking about the book: Heroes in my Head by Judy Rebick. Having learned from our mistakes we did some planning for next month before our zoom room went dark. Next month Jo will organize the zoom invitation for us - 7 pm on May 28th.  Our book will be The Long Petal of the Sea by Isabelle Allende. A reminder that we need to plan for the next few months while everyone is still connected by zoom.

There's a long wait at the TPL for The Long Petal of the Sea. If you are buying, you may want to support local businesses. Two were mentioned: The Novel Spot, and Book City.

Also, support our local restaurants.  Jan recommends Absolutely Fine Foods for their roast striploin of beef on the weekends. Call ahead.

It is becoming more commonplace to wear a mask when out in public. Some of us are making our own. I've been using a modified version of this one from Bijou Lovely Designs for the Million Masks project. Some are for myself and the rest are for a midwifery practice.  These masks are not meant to be complete barriers but in situations where a 6 foot distance can't be maintained, they mitigate the risk. They can be  washed after wearing and re-used, so are also a greener option to the disposable masks.
If you want a fancy one like Jo's you can order from Doll Factory by Damsels. 

Books we mentioned:

• When we Were Vikings by Andrew David MacDonald 
• Sixty by Ian Brown
• The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
• The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
• She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
• Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow

Also recommended: 

• The Capture television series
• zoom games like Jackbox Games Drawful, Scattergories or Trivia.  These use the Screen Share option in zoom settings.

Ian Brown on Sixty

Zoom, zoom!

Due to the new coronavirus, (COVID-19) we were motivated to try book club on the Zoom application, and surprisingly we managed to get almost everyone operational. In the circumstances our conversation had a lot to do with the technology and only a little about the book, The Dutch House.

The rest of our talk was about COVID-19 of course. Because of this catastrophic pandemic, book stores and public libraries are closed. But the Toronto Public Library can still provide digital books, audiobooks and other wonderful online options to watch, to explore and to learn. Given the restrictions on other activities, we now may have time to do some of this.

Our next book will be Heroes in my Head: a memoir by Judy Rebick. You can download Judy Rebick reading her memoir from the Toronto Public Library. I don't recall if we changed the date, from Thursday, April 3rd, but we did make an assumption that it would be on Zoom, so you can stay in your pyjamas, and provide your own laptop, snacks and wine.

The book after that is The Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende.  The date was originally Thursday, May 28th.  Again, we have to assume that it will be in a Zoom chat room.

Stay at home friends and be safe.

Blackwater Lightship

We found much to praise in this deeply compassionate book by Colm Toibin.  We were also impressed with the Hallmark video that was quite true to the novel. The whole production was excellent, though we found the music unnecessarily oppressive.

Susan hosted, and as usual it was lovely. Here's the recipe for her lemon tart. You don't need a Meyer lemon - it may be even better with a plain one. Everyone loved it last night. Yum!

We had already planned to talk about The Dutch House by Ann Patchett next month.  We'll meet on Thursday, March 26th at Jane's.

Planning ahead we decided to read Heroes in My Head: a memoir by Judy Rebick. The date will be Thursday, April 23rd and we'll meet at Janice's. 

After that we plan to be at Jo's on Thursday, May 28th to talk about The Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende.

Books we mentioned: 

• Peace and Good Order: the case for indigenous Justice in Canada by Harold R. Johnson
• All the Light we Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
• Transit by Rachel Cusk
• Greenwood by Michael Christie
• Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
• The Accomplice by Joseph Kanon
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
• Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow
• Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

And on film:

• The Long Shot (Netflix)
• Remember 
• Bombshell
• Parasite