Heatwave

 

Photo by cocarinne : https://www.pexels.com/photo/tied-rope-decorating-light-wall-in-room-7260273/

As we are experiencing the first heatwave of the season we couldn't enjoy Jane's beautiful backyard, but sat very comfortably in the front room. Once again, it was wonderful to be together, chatting and enjoying Jane's thoughtful hospitality. 

We all had something to say about The Measure, and brought forward many themes in and beyond the book. These are challenging times for the world, and as we are aging the question resonates: "What will you do with your one wild and precious life?"  How do individuals choose between "Seize the day" and  "What will be will be"? The book explores interesting ideas about human rights, politics and personal choices. 

Our next book is Table for Two by Amor Towles and we will meet at Jo's place on July 17th at 1 pm. In August we may decide to share what we've been reading instead of choosing one book, but we can figure that out at the July meeting when we will have to decide on an August location as well. 

Here is Margaret Atwood reading Dance of the Happy Shades by Alice Munro. 

Books we mentioned: 

• Long Island by Colm Toibin
• The Fraud by Zadie Smith
• White Teeth by Zadie Smith
• Infectious Generosity by Chris Anderson
  
• The Reason You Walk by Wab Kinew
• Permanent Astonishment by Tomson Highway

What We are Watching:

• Fallout - Prime
• Saving Bea - Netflix
• A Confession - Britbox
• Maestro in Blue - Netflix
• Under Paris - Netflix
• The Sympathizer - Crave
• Deadwind - Netflix
• Page Eight - Netflix
   

Michael Lewis in conversation with Amor Towles

Remarkably Bright Creatures

 

It is always a treat to spend the afternoon together, chatting about this and that. The subject of octopuses (sic) is a first for us, and it is certainly unusual that one of the main characters of a book is an empathetic octopus. Susan provided a perfect selection of snacks - without any seafood, thank goodness. 

We also had quite a bit of conversation about Saara's new glucose monitor, and all the ways our devices are helping us to stay healthy. By the way, the Ministry of Health emailed today to encourage me to have the spring COVID-19 vaccination. Just saying...

Our next book is The Measure by Nikki Erlick. We will meet a Jane's on Wednesday, June 19th to talk about it.

Not everyone is around in July but we have planned to meet anyway, at Jo's. We chose the new book, Table for Two by Amor Towles.  The tentative date is July 17th, pending confirmation.  

Books: 

• Fayne by Ann-Marie MacDonald
• Table for Two by Amor Towles
• Glorious Frazzled Beings by Angélique Lalonde
• The Seventh Son by Sebastian Faulks
• This is Happiness (audiobook version) by Naill Williams
• The Milkman (audiobook version) by Anna Burns
  
• Verity by Colleen Hoover

On Film:

• A Gentleman in Moscow - Prime/Paramount
  
• The Sympathizer - HBO/Crave
  
• Ripley - Netflix
  
• The Old Man and the Pool - Netflix (about living a healthy life - see above)
  

Held Here at Home

Today we met at my place to talk about Held by Anne Michaels. The book is challenging but rewarding with vivid scenes that stay with you and sentences that make you stop and wonder:  "The shadow of a bird moved across the hill; he could not see the bird."  or "We can only think about the unknown in terms of the known."

We made decisions about the next two months.  On Tuesday May 7th we'll meet at Susan's to talk about Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. 

The book for June will be The Measure by Nikki Erlick. We will meet a Jane's on Wednesday, June 19th to talk about it. 

Some Books We Like

• Death Interrupted: How Modern Medicine is Complicating the Way We Die by Blair Bigham, MD
  
• The Measure by Nikki Erlick
• The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
  
• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
• Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
  
• The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
• Followed by the Lark by Helen Humphreys 

Thinking about an octopus as a character in our next book here are a few videos to dig deeper.

Fresh Water Finally

The plan was to meet at Lynda's today, then we cancelled, then this morning, suprise! it all came together and the five of us had a perfectly great time. It felt a bit impromptu with the last minute decision, except that Lynda had prepared great snacks for us, and had chosen some soothing music to play in the background.  Lots of laughs and reminiscing. We even spent some time talking about the book, which tells a story about the complicated mix of light and dark in life and love. 

The next book we plan to read is Held by Anne Michaels.  We chose Thursday April 4th, recognizing that the date may have to change when we hear from those who were absent today. It will be at my house (Marian).

Books of Note: 

• Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig
• The Story of Us by Catherine Hernandez
• Swimming Back to Trout River by Linda Rui Feng
• Tenacious Beasts by Christopher Preston 
• The Reason You Walk by Wab Kinew 
• The Orenda by Joseph Boyden 
• Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
• Caste: the Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

Watchable: 

• The Greatest Night in Pop: We Are the World. (Netflix)
  
• Navalny (Crave)
• Saving Bea (Netflix)
• Hope Street (Britbox)
• Perfect Days
  
• Origin
• All of Us Strangers
• Four Daughters
• Oppenheimer
• Poor Things
• Anyone But You
• The Holdovers (Crave)
• Colin from Accounts (Gem)
  

Thursday, January 11, 2024 

January Lunch Meeting

For the first meeting of 2024, Jan, Lynda, Saara and I had lunch at La Veranda Osteria in Etobicoke. Although it is a large restaurant and usually fairly crowded, on that day it was literally empty except for us! The food was delicious and the atmosphere very relaxed--all extremely enjoyable.   Afterwards we came back to my house for orange chiffon cake and tea. Because there were only four of us, and only two had finished the book (Fresh Water for Flowers) we decided that we should wait until February to discuss it. 

In the meantime we talked about the Canada Reads choices for this year, and had a very profound discussion on windows and mirrors, with Saara's comments being especially insightful!!! She will be happy to share them at our next meeting, which will be at Lynda's on February 21st, when we'll be discussing Foster by Claire Keegan (as well as Fresh Water for Flowers)

Canada Reads Books:

Bad Cree by Jessica Johns

Denison Avenue by Christina Wong and Daniel Innes

Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune

Shut up You're Pretty by Tea Mutonji

The Future by Catherine Leroux, translated by Susan Ouriou

Watching:

The Night Agent (Netflix)

Karen Pirie (BritBox)

All of Us Strangers (film)

Last book of the year

We met at Susan's to talk about Lucy by the Sea. There were mixed reviews in the room, and some of us hadn't finished the book. After our discussion will they be curious enough to explore the controversy that the book provoked? We may find out next month. We were in good hands with Susan, who makes hosting look easy. Thank you for a great afternoon. 

Next month we are starting the year with Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin. We will be at Wanda's house on Thursday January 11th at 1pm. 

A reminder that on Wednesday, February 21st we will be at Lynda's to talk about Foster by Claire Keegan. 

Books:

• Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
  
• Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein
• Burnham Wood by Eleanor Catton
• Chrysalis by Anuja Varghese  
• Profit Song by Paul Lynch

Watching: 

• Leave the World Behind (Netflix)
  
• The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem (Netflix)
  
• Miss Scarlet and the Duke (PBS)
• Shetland (BBC - Britbox)
  
• The Gilded Age (HBO)
  
• Dear Child (Netflix)
   

I found this introduction to Fresh Water for Flowers so interesting:

Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas, my book club friends.

Whatever 2024 brings we can always look forward to the time we spend together, talking and laughing - sharing our thoughts and enjoying the goodwill of dear friends. 

Happy New Year to us all!

November by the Lake

We had a great fall day for book club in November 2023 when we talked about Gin, Turpentine, Pennyroyal, Rue.  The events of the book happened a century ago but the themes were quite relevant today and the characters were well drawn and full of life. Jane made us very comfortable in her front room with a lovely array of nibbles. Thanks, Jane!

A reminder that the next book is Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout and we're meeting at Susan's on Thursday, December 14 - at 1:30 (instead of 1:00) because of an unavoidable appointment. 

I don't remember that we spoke about any other books but we did recommend a few things to watch. 

• The Last Detective (BritBox)
• Annika (Masterpiece PBS)
• Unforgotten (BritBox)
• Lessons in Chemistry (Apple TV+)
  

It's interesting to be reminded of Lucy Barton as Elizabeth Strout first imagined her. Here's a discussion about the first Lucy Barton book.