Category Archives: book club

Bookish update plus the Outgoing Introvert

book club, choir, community, genealogy, introversion, reading

I usually tweet my #FridayReads, the meme started by Bethanne Patrick (@thebookmaven), so I thought I’d let y’all know what’s cooking on the reading front this week here as well.

I’ve done my first dive in to The Novel: A Biography. I’ve read the Prologue and most of the Introduction and it’s absolutely terrific reading. Once I get to the first chapter (Literature is Invention), I’ll also be picking up The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, noted by the author as being the first English not-quite-a-novel (but a constant narrator and more of a memoir/travel book.) (It’s free at the link as, written in the 14th century, it’s well out of copyright.)

I’m halfway through Inside by Alix Ohlin. I heard Ohlin read at IFOA a couple of years ago and purchased her book based on that. But never got to it. So far so good, and I hope to finish it this weekend.

On the audio front, I started listening to In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. This is for one of the Winter Reading Challenge at Roundtable on Goodreads, and is referenced in The Novel’s chapter title Impersonation.

I have yet to dive in to The Brothers Karamazov, although if I don’t want to get hopelessly behind in the group read, I should pull it out tomorrow. Or rather boot it up. This is one of those cases where my paper copy’s print was too small for me to read comfortably so I ended up buying a copy of the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation for my Kobo. They did a fabulous job on Anna Karenina so I’m hoping Brothers will be good too.

The Outgoing Introvert

This article from the Globe and Mail kinda sums up my project/non-resolution around meeting more people IRL. (It’s well worth a read, if you think you might not have enough community time, and I don’t mean your family or work community.) While I have benefitted incredibly from meeting people online, particularly when I was out of the country for five years, it made me do a bit of a mental inventory of the places where I am part of a community outside of my family. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become much less shy and more outgoing. (“Shy” you say, incredulously, those of you who have met me in the past five to ten years? In truth, I used to have trouble ordering a pizza by phone.)

My communities:

Choir: an absolute necessity in my life. My last two choirs (Toronto and Atlanta) have been associated with my parish. Plus a summer choir that was Catholic but not parish-based. When I lived in Ottawa, I was part of a community choir. I love crave the chance to sing on a regular basis. I meet people of all ages, different religions (or none), knitters, readers, professional musicians, students, vegans, retired people, professors, writers) who all come together to seek beauty in the combination of voices.

Book club: While the club started out with mainly people I know, we’ve branched out and I’ve had a chance to meet fascinating people who have a common love of reading and talking about literature. We’re one of the few book clubs that I know about that includes both men and women and I find that this makes for a somewhat more interesting vibe. We’ve also started an annual low-stress December meeting where, rather than read a book to discuss, we each bring a book that we’ve loved to introduce to the rest of the group. This is a great way to get to know each other a little better.

Genealogical meetings: I used to volunteer quite actively but have had to give that up in the past couple of years. I don’t know many people at the events so sometimes I don’t talk with many people, but I”m travelling to Salt Lake City with a group in February and will get to know some of the local people better.

The Salon: In years BC (before children), we held a reasonably regular “salon” where we invited friends who were interested in smart discussion to talk about topics. Wine and nibblies and a moderator. Sort of like a book club but not on a book. I’d love to do this again and have been mulling over format, topics, and logistics. I even have a spreadsheet somewhere….

So, where is your community? Do you have one? Do you need one?

New Year 2015: Projects

book club, books, deluttering, family history, genealogy, health and fitness, ,

I’m not making resolutions per se this year, but I’ve started a few projects that will put some discipline in my life.

On the health front, I’m starting the 100 days of real food program. It’s 14 weeks of “mini-pledges” that (hopefully) turn into habits. This week I’ve pledged to eat two servings of fruit/veg with each meal which is only an issue for me at breakfast. I mean, not an issue, but it’s not a habit (yet.) I also have a few minor health issues that I should deal with in the new year.

On the reading front, I’m participating in a few online challenges and read-alongs. I’m a member of the Roundtable group at Goodreads, a newly formed group rising from the ashes of Bookish that was recently closed. Like Bookish, they do a bi-annual reading challenge and so I’ve made my plans for the next four months. (I won’t get them all read, but I’ve lined up a book for most of the challenges.). They’re also doing a year-long group read of The Novel: A Biography by Michael Schmidt (along with various novels discussed therein); and a two-month discussion of The Brothers Karamazov. We’ve got our next four books lined up for my IRL book club: Us Conductors (Sean Michaels), Chez l’arabe: Stories (Mireille Silcoff), All My Puny Sorrows (Miriam Toews), and Bad Feminist: Essays (Roxane Gay).

On the social front, I am committing to meeting some online friends/relatives in real life! Last year, it was wonderful to finally meet Zouheir’s (and now my) friend Jean-Paul Audouy, high school friend Judson Stone who I saw in Paris for the first time since high school, as well as sheep-farming cousin Tom Goddard. This has spurred me on to get together with a cousin on my father’s side, Lillian Orloff Spencer, in Arizona in February and another on my mother’s side, Audrey Groff, close to me here in the GTA later this month. I also commit to be better about keeping in touch with those closer to me but with whom I can go for weeks or months without seeing.

With JP at Volos in Toronto
With the Temiskaming Goddards in Barrie
With Judson in Paris

And finally, on the home front, I will be continuing the decluttering with Rosalind from Fresh Start Solutions and getting some renovations done. December was a great month for that, with a huge purge of our main floor, new fridge and wall oven, as well as a good start on the basement (which is currently the home of things to be consigned/sold in the next little while.) The biggest win for me here will be the creation of my study/studio with all my creative endeavours organized and ready to go.

What do you see looking forward this year? Any projects/resolutions?

Review: A Beautiful Truth by Colin McAdam

book club, book review, reading, , , , ,
Chimp Eden Sanctuary - Mimi
Mimi at Chimp Eden Sanctuary, Zaire – (c) Afrika Force

Can a book change your life? Or at least, change some fundamental way that you view the world? I would argue that after reading this prize-winning novel A Beautiful Truth, something has shifted within me about the way that I think about consciousness and the animal kingdom.

On a very superficial level, the novel is about chimpanzees, with three main story lines: a childless couple adopts a chimp and raises him as a son; scientists study a group of chimps living in a contained but somewhat natural environment, observing their behaviour and teaching them to use signs, computers, and image boards to communicate; and researchers carry out experiments on chimps in a prison-like facility, exposing them to viruses including the common cold and HIV.

But the magic of this novel is how McAdam weaves these stories together and develops well-rounded characters out of some of the chimps, characters for whom you care deeply.  It’s also the first time I’ve read an author writing from the point of view of an animal.

My book club met yesterday afternoon to discuss the novel, and it was the widest set of ratings we’ve ever given a novel. Some found it slow and difficult to read, particularly the sections written from the point of view of the chimps. One had issues with the “adoption” concept: why would a childless couple choose to adopt a chimp rather than a child, or simply not adopt at all. Some (like myself) confessed to crying during the difficult climax. But I think that all of us learned something. We had a terrific discussion about the issues raised by the novel around animal-based research, the level of intelligence (for lack of a better word) of chimpanzees, so eloquently exposed by this book, and the moments of absolutely thrilling prose.

Kin Echlin, the author of Elephant Winter, writes

McAdam’s language reaches into that mysterious place where a word ends and a feeling begins. A Beautiful Truth is a story about love and beauty and our dreams for our children and our inescapable loneliness. The characters, human and animal, are sad and honest and true. I could not put this novel down, and only when I finished it could I breathe again.

Personally? I gave it an almost perfect rating. I feel like I’ve stepped through some door that can’t be closed. I’ve explored the website of the Fauna Foundation, a sanctuary for chimps and other animals located near Montreal, where McAdam did some of his research. I’m looking for other books, movies, and documentaries on these beautiful beings so that I can learn more.

I may have an activist burgeoning inside of me. Leave me recommended resources in the comments.

Colin McAdam tweets  @McAdamColin.
Find the Fauna Foundation on Facebook and on Twitter.

It’s always perfect weather to read…

book club, book review, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve been keeping cozy with lots of good reading recently. I’ll share a few mini-reviews but first a fun bookish activity for Canadians.

The National Post hosts the Afterword Reading Society. In exchange for a free, pre-release copy of a book, participants are asked to read it and provide feedback by answering a short set of questions. I was one of the lucky 25 who were sent a copy of The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon, and a couple of my responses were used in the paper. Anyone (presumably Canadian) can join so go here to sign up. Periodically you’ll get an email asking whether you’re interested in reading a particular book, and then you cross your fingers!

I’m currently reading Quality Of Life Report by Meghan Daum. Recommended by Curtis Sittenfeld, this book is funny and easy and like a warm cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter day. I needed it at this point, as I am just coming down from The Dark Road by exiled Chinese writer Ma Jian. My Goodreads review:

The Dark RoadThe Dark Road by Ma Jian

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This novel is a disturbing tale of life under the Family Planning regime in China. Kongzi longs for a son to carry on his family’s dynastic name, and he and his wife Meili are forced to flee their village when she becomes pregnant a second time. This work also looks at the issues around electronic waste and the terrifying impact of the significant recycling industry on people and the environment as well as the fate of families without residency permits, struggling to eke out an existence when they are not acknowledged by the state. This is a difficult book to read, but also difficult to put down.

Another recent read:

A Gate at the StairsA Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’d had this book on my shelf for some time and wish I’d gotten to it sooner. Moore’s prose is gorgeous, funny, and evocative, often all at the same time. There is a lot happening in it, and I almost felt like the narratives might have been better served in a set of linked short stories. A lot to think about in this novel, and I’m still processing it, but my sense is that it’s about the blurry edges between good and evil. Lovely.

I’m very much enjoying listening to the historical novel Katherine by the late Anya Seton. It’s a big book (500 pages) and over 28 hours long. I’m about halfway through it, and got a good start during my travels to Ottawa last week.

Before that, I loved the hilarity that is The Spellman Files: Document #1 by Lisa Lutz. It’s kind of like a Harriet the Spy for grownups and had an excellent narrator. I’ll definitely be reading more in the series.

Next up in print will be the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize winning  A Beautiful Truth by Colin McAdam, my book club pick for February. And for a complete change of (audio) pace, I’ve got Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan queued up on the iPhone.

What books are you snuggling up with?

The Dinner by Herman Koch – Book Club Resources

book club, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My book club had an excellent discussion about The Dinner yesterday afternoon. As moderator this month, I had done some research and prepared a set of discussion prompts. This book generated one of the best meetings we’ve had, with its interesting structure and commentary on society, family, and politics.

I wasn’t able to find many resources for book clubs online for this novel, so decided to share my outline and some links to reviews and commentary here. I have edited my notes to make them more user-friendly. Resources are listed at the end. A PDF of the discussion questions can be downloaded here.

The Dinner by Herman Koch – Book Club Discussion Starters

Without saying why, how would your rate this book on a scale of 1 to 10?

(Our club often asks members to rate a book at the beginning and end of each meeting. Some interesting shifts occur after members have had a chance to discuss a work.)

Structure

  • The author structured the book around a dinner, but used flashbacks to tell the story. Did this work for you?
  • How did you feel about the narrator at the beginning of the novel? At the end? When did you realize that he was unreliable?

The Story

  • Do you need to like the characters in order to like a book?  How did you feel about the main characters in this novel?
  • How did you feel about the reveal of the narrators genetic disorder?

Morality

  • Were you surprised by how far the parents were willing to go to protect their children? Why do you think they did that? What would you do in similar circumstances?
  • To what extent can psychological factors mitigate criminality? What about those who elect not to take medication?

Society

  • What does the restaurant setting say about the society in which the novel is set?
  • Tolerance and moral superiority: Discuss the adoption of Beau/Faso and subsequent narrative about him
  • What, if anything, does the particular crime say about society, youth, or anything else?
  • What commentary does the novel make about today’s political system?

Other

Why did you rate the book the way you did at the beginning of the discussion and would you change your rating now?

Online Resources (a selection)

  1. Online interview with Herman Koch in The Globe and Mail (Canada). March 2013
  2. Review of The Dinner by Claire Messud in the New York Times. (March 2013
  3. Review in The Telegraph. (August 2012)
  4. Review in The Guardian. (July 2012)
  5. Review in The Independent (July 2012)
  6. Bios of Herman Koch (Wikipedia, Dutch Foundation for Literature, HKs homepage (in Dutch))

The Dinner has been adapted for the theatre (2012) and made into a film (2013), both in Dutch. Cate Blanchett will make her directorial debut in an American film of the novel.

From the divine to the devil

book club, book review, choir, choral music

The Divine

I used to publish a Sunday Choral Report detailing what we sang in my church choir. When we returned to Canada five years ago, we were lucky to land in a parish with a fabulous organist and traditional choir at the 11:30 am mass. We rehearse from 10-11:15 on Sunday mornings in preparation for that mass, so there’s no weeknight rehearsal which is best for a choir made up of  professional singers and musicians (who sing)  as well as strong amateurs.

Our organist/director has a love of the Renaissance so we often sing from that era. This  morning was no exception. For the offertory we sang Nigra sum sed formosa filia Jerusalem by Tomás Luis de Victoria. The first line of text (originally from Song of Solomon) replaces the singular filliae (daughters) with filia (daughter) pointing to Mary. The full (English) text is as follows:

I am a dark-skinned but comely daughter of Jerusalem,
Therefore have I pleased the Lord
And he has brought me into his chamber
And said to me: arise my love and come.
For now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone,
The flowers have appeared in our land,
The time of pruning is come.

Chanticleer performs it here.

During Communion we sang Homo Quidam in a setting by Jean Mouton. I cannot find a recording to share, but the text is translated as:

Certain man organized a great dinner and sent his servant at the hour of dinner so that he said to his guests to come: Because everything is prepared.Come to eat my bread and to drink my wine that I prepared for you.

Quite an appropriate Communion hymn.

The Devil

After mass, I travelled south to my my monthly book club meeting where we shared our thoughts onGone Girlby Gillian Flynn. [No spoilers follow.] A psychological thriller featuring an arguably evil protagonist, I personally found it both hard to put down and necessary to set aside as the tension rose. Themes of marriage, life in the big-city vs. small-town South, the fate of print journalism and the impact of the 24-hour news cycle and quest to be first with “the” story were all present and considered by the group. While the book was rated on average 8/10 with a small range (7-9), differences of opinion were expressed about the protagonist’s mental state and motivation for the events detailed in the novel. We all loved her plotting (with some debate over how much closure the ending achieved), her sense of humour, and agreed that we’d all see the movie together when it comes out. We had one new member today, and a couple of usual members were absent, but the discussion was excellent. It topped the Amazon.ca Best Pick for 2012list.

On my drive home, I considered my descent from the divinity of the mass and the music we sang, to the discussion of evil and how it comes into a person, a marriage, and a world. On arriving home, I was greeted by my husband sitting on the porch with the papers, a whisky, and a cigar, the first time we’ve had our furniture out on the deck this spring. Life in the middle seems pretty ok.