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

Many books

We had a superb evening at Wanda's. Our original plan was to talk about Blackwater Lightship but the book had proved difficult to find.  So we had a sharing session instead and talked about what we have been reading recently.  We also went ahead with some plans for the next few months. Thank you so much to Wanda for hosting another lovely evening.

In January we will follow our new tradition of starting the year by meeting for dinner at a restaurant instead of holding book club. It was easy to choose Mai Bistro again, and we'll meet there at 6 pm on January 23, 2020. 

The following month we'll get back to Blackwater Lightship by Colm Tóibín again when we hope that more people will have had a chance to read it.  This will be at Susan's place on February 27th.

On March 26th we'll be at Jane's and the book will be The Dutch House by Ann Patchett.  I've been thoroughly enjoying the audiobook read by Tom Hanks that can be downloaded from the Toronto Public Library.

Books: 

• Something for Everyone by Lisa Moore (also by Lisa Moore - Alligator, February, Caught) 
• Suzanne by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette (translation by Rhonda Mullins)
• The Book of Eve by Constance Beresford-Howe (also Prospero's Daughter)
• Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo 
• The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
• Outline by Rachel Cusk (also Transit, Kudos) 
• Ragged Company by Richard Wagamese (also Indian Horse)
• Reproduction by Ian Williams 
• Testament by Margaret Atwood
• The Innocents by Michael Crummey 

Blackwater Lightship: the movie

Time travel is real ... We do it all the time. Moment to moment, minute to minute.

We were small in number (3) but mighty in opinions when we met at Maureen's to discuss Ali Smith's Autumn. The book was well-received; a story about time, it was timely, having been published shortly after the Brexit vote.  Post-Brexit, when "all across the country, there was misery and rejoicing..." was the setting for Elisabeth and Daniel's friendship. We agreed that the story was well-told and filled with memorable characters. There are more books that make up part of this seasonal quartet and Jo has read Winter and Spring; Summer has yet to be published.

The next meeting will take place on Thursday, Dec. 5 at Wanda's home. We'll talk about Colm Toibin's book Blackwater Lightship.

The crowd (!) enjoyed the appetizer I made: endive with smoked trout and herbed cream cheese. I changed the recipe by using smoked trout pate instead of smoked trout fillets with the herbed cream cheese. Yummy and easy.

Endive with smoked trout and herbed cream cheese

Madame Victoria

There were only positive reactions to the stories in Madame Victoria. You could say that the themes resonated with us even if the meaning of some recurring motifs was a mystery. Possibly, in view of the unresolved nature of Madame Victoria’s death, the ambiguity was intentional?

We met at Saara's home since Maureen was away.  Sincere thanks to Saara for providing us with such a relaxing and pleasant evening after switching with Maureen. 

Although there were a few people missing, we had no choice but to make some (tentative) plans for the next few months. After some back-and-forth it now seems that our next book club will be on Tuesday, November 5th. The book in November will be Autumn by Ali Smith.

On Thursday, December 5th we plan to meet at Wanda's to talk about The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Tóibín.
 

Please note that these dates are not confirmed.  If anyone would like to suggest a change, please do so in a group email and if necessary I'll edit this posting.  

Other Books: 

• The Seasonal Quartet (Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer) by Ali Smith
• Sophie and Cecilia by Katherine Ashenburg  
• The Innocents by Michael Crummey
• Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club by Megan Gail Coles  
• Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada's Chinese Restaurants by Ann Hui   
• Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips   
• Akin by Emma Donoghue  
• The Dutch House by Ann Patchett  
• The Ditch by Herman Koch   
• The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Tóibín
• Transcription by Kate Atkinson
• The Overstory by Richard Powers   

 Movies:

• Jojo Rabbit
• Parasite 

 

Zalika Reid-Benta

Book Launch - Rogene (mom) brought the amazing cake

Having Zalika join us last night was a departure for our book club, and particularly thrilling since she had just found out this week that she was on the long list for the Giller prize.  We had many questions, and Zalika was patient in explaining all about the creative process, and the politics of publishing.  She wasn't feeling 100%, which makes it more remarkable that she gave us so much of her time and energy. Thank you so much Zalika!!

Morning-after regrets hit me though, as soon as I sat down to blog: we forgot to take selfies with Zalika! Arghhh!

A reminder that we are meeting next on Thursday, October 3rd at Maureen's to talk about Madame Victoria by Catherine Leroux.

I don't recall discussing any other books last night.

Maureen let us know about the documentary New Homeland which is available to view now on Crave TV.

NEW HOMELAND OFFICIAL TRAILER from Joe Ortiz on Vimeo.

p.s. I've just watched Wildlife on Netflix and recommend it for some great performances.