Afternoon with friends

Those of us who could make it, met yesterday afternoon at Susan's. Top of mind was reminiscing about Maureen, and talking about how to memorialize her. We are looking for old photos if anyone has any, to bring to the celebration of her life. Also we will contribute to the collection for a park bench by the lake. We miss her.

Susan set out a lovely nosh for us, as usual. We talked about Rabbit Foot Bill, made plans for the next three months and shared other books that we have been reading or thinking about reading. 

In June, we will be meeting at Lynda's - Tuesday, the 20th at 1 pm - to talk about Nothing But the Truth: a memoir by Marie Henein. 

We will follow that in July with another Canadian memoir, Run Towards the Danger: confrontations with a body of memory by Sarah Polley. The date in July is Wednesday, the 12th and we will be at Jo's. 

I (Marian) will host on Thursday, August 10 and the book will be Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman - getting back to fiction.

Books we mentioned: 

• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
• The Lost Daughter by Gill Paul
• Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan Henry
• Verity by Colleen Hoover
• The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict
• Old Babes in the Woods by Margaret Atwood
  

Here are some more book suggestions from Jo:

Jasmine Sealy took home the $60,000 prize for The Island of Forgetting. The book, which is loosely inspired by Greek mythology, follows four generations of the family as they grapple with their past and try to shape their future.  The Vancouver-based Sealy was awarded the prize at an event at The Globe and Mail Centre in Toronto on Wednesday evening.

The other shortlisted authors, who each receive $6,000, include Billy-Ray Belcourt A Minor Chorus and André Forget for In The City of Pigs.

Rounding out the short list are Jessica Johns for Bad Cree, William Ping for Hollow Bamboo and Kai Thomas for In the Upper Country.

What we are watching: 

The Fabelmans

Women Talking