The book club focuses on contemporary fiction and non-fiction books selected by members
When: | Meetings are held on the 4th Tuesday of each month from 1:30 to 3:30 pm, year-roundNote: Currently taking a Wait List |
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Where: | Studio |
Contacts: | Sue Jergens – sjergens@hotmail.comJan Grewar – jangrewar@gmail.com |
Books for 2023 — Subject to change
January | Fresh Water for FlowersA number one bestseller in France. “Adulterous romance, bad marriages, mysterious death.”Author: Valerie PerrinJointly led by Elinor Mix & Caroline Van Slyke |
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February | Rescheduled due to snow! |
March | The Personal LibrarianThe personal librarian of JP Morgan, Belle Da Costa Greene, is one of the most powerful women in New York, and she’s hiding a secret. Historical fiction.Authors: Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher MurrayLed by Pat Bancroft |
April | American DirtThe ordeal of a woman who escapes Mexico with her son as undocumented migrants to the US.Author: Jeanine CumminsLed by Jan Grewar |
May | Killer in King’s CoveSet in King’s Cove, BC, a smart & enchanting postwar mysteryAuthor: Iona WishawLed by Deidre Simmons |
June | Ragged CompanyFour homeless people seek refuge in a warm movie theatreAuthor: Richard WaganeseLed by Holly Holt |
July | Hamnet & JudithSet in the 1500s, historical fiction, portrait of a family ravaged by grief and loss.Author: Maggie O’FarrellLed by Sue Jergens |
September | Lincoln HighwayThe story tails four boys — three 18-year-olds who met in a juvenile reformatory, plus a brainy 8-year-old — as they set out from Nebraska in June, 1954, in an old Studebaker in pursuit of a better future.Author: Amor Towles |
October | The Golden SpruceThe environmental true-crime story of a glorious natural wonder, the man who destroyed it, and the fascinating, troubling context in which this act took place.Author: John VaillantLed by Karen Allan |
November | A Town Called SolaceA Town Called Solace explores the relationship between Clara, (the sister of Rose, a rebellious teenager who has run away from home), with Mrs Orchard her next door neighbour, who also inexplicably disappears, and later Liam, the mysterious man who then appears in Mrs Orchard’s house.Author: Mary LawsonLed by Susan Dobie |
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Previous Great Reads
One memorable book for the club was The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman. Our members gave this ‘disturbing, dark’ book a rating of 4.0 Stars; many found they couldn’t put it down. This novel tells the story of the Duplessis Orphans–20,000 Canadian children who were wrongly certified as mentally ill by the provincial government of Quebec and confined to psychiatric institutions in the 1940s and 50s. Parallels to today’s revelations about the residential school survivors echoed throughout the novel. Some members found the book difficult emotionally, particularly those raised in the Catholic church.
Another favourite was Erik Larson’s book The Splendid & the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family and Defiance During the Blitz. Despite the hundreds of books that have been written about Churchill and his role in the Second World War, this book still brought fresh insights. It focused on stories and journal excerpts from those closest to Churchill: wife Clementine, children Mary & Randall, his private secretary John Colville, etc., and showed the human side of the Blitz. Our members said the book was ‘written like a thriller…readable…drew you in’ and gave it 4.7 Stars, one of our highest ratings.
