Never Let Me Go

Now a movie playing in Toronto:

Pakistan Relief

Books books books

Three things:
1. Thank you to Lynda for providing a perfect summer evening on her backyard porch.

2.  Our next book club will be at my place on September 28th and the book will be The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. 

3.  We shared many books last night and I scrambled to take notes.  Hope I didn't miss any. 
The Laugh (short story/Atlantic Magazine) by Tea Obreht 
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott
What They Wanted by Donna Morrissey
The Amazing Absorbing Boy by Rabindranath Maharaj
The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville
The Blythes are Quoted by Lucy Maud Montgomery
The War for Civilization by Robert Fisk
Remembering the Bones by Frances Itani
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker
Beatrice and Virgil by Jann Martel
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
The Shack by William P. Young

Change of date

Can we assume that there was consensus on the change of date from August 26th to Wednesday August 25th?  Looking forward to seeing all of you soon.

Dinner on Jan's screened porch....

...on a perfect June evening.  What can we say?  It was deliciously delightful.

We made plans for getting together in July and August.  In July we're going to read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.  

Maureen will be hosting on July 22nd.

In August we're not choosing a particular book.  Everyone is invited to share something you've been reading - any genre.

We'll meet at Lynda's on August 26th.

Other books mentioned the other night were American Pastoral by Philip Roth and The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.

Due Preparations for the Plague

Due Preparations for the Plague is by Janette Turner Hospital, who also wrote one of our book club choices Orpheus Lost.

Another spy thriller,  Due Preparations for the Plague explores many timely themes.  Here's a review .

Thoughts about Charity

Kiva is an organization that facilitates microloans.  If you scan through their web site you can get an idea of how it works and be inspired.

Giving What We Can is the web site where you can learn about maximizing the effect of giving in relation to the amount invested.  The page about Recommended Charities has the information about very inexpensive but effective projects like de-worming.

Today I came across a real grassroots charity undertaken by a music teacher at the Toronto Board of Education.  It's called the Dekpor School Development Organization.  Something to think about!