December Report

Thanks to Laura for an amazing dinner. I loved seeing your home renovations and your two big boys. Everyone was fascinated with Laura's crush on Galen Weston and appreciated his contribution to the dinner. You have set the bookclub bar very very high.

The discussion was lively and loud. Most people enjoyed the book and each of us had favorite parts. Christine filled us in on some things Barbara did not put in the book and some of the latest of her autobiography readings. We also welcomed our newest member Natalie Mullins.

The next book is The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo* by Steig Larsson. Next book club will be at the loft on Croft on January 4. Happy holidays everyone.

* edited -- Thanks Christine

I won't be able to make this one. Happy Holidays everybody!! lori

Holiday Book Club

December Meeting:
Ladies the elves are busy finishing our bathroom and entrance renovation just in time for our holiday book club. No matter what, you are all welcome to come to 3 Paddington Place on Monday December 7th at 7:00pm. Depending on the state of the reno there may be a tree to place your $20.00(the result of the poll) gift under. Remember no gift cards allowed this year. I will be cooking a meal worthy of the celebrities in Barbara's book. Looking forward to seeing you all and sharing good conversation and the holiday spirit. Let me know if you are able to make it and I add you to the VIP guest list, as well be sure to sit you next to Frank, Matt or Will Smith....

Malcolm Gladwell Disrobed

This weekend the New York Times published a scathing review of Malcolm Gladwell's latest book and commented on his previous books. Christine --- you are in good company.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/books/review/Pinker-t.html?_r=1&ref=books

DECEMBER BOOK CLUB SELECTION

Apologies again -- I did indeed read the list as if I was to select IN December, not FOR December.

So I have chosen an autobiography that I think would make for a fascinating read and good conversation.

AUDITION: A Memoir - By Barbara Walters

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Audition-A-Memoir-Barbara-Walters/9780307266460-431723-Review.html

Though looking at the details on Chapters (released 2008 so likely on sale) I just saw its a big book - 600 pages!- so if there are any objections to the length let me know asap! I figure its the type of book that you dont need to finish to "know" the ending so perhaps we don't mind?

Oh, and one more thing.... the entrance to my apartment is on the north side of the house. I'm Apartment A.

See you tomorrow!

Lori

So far, Christine and Melissa are planning on coming! yay! Please let me know as soon as possible if you will be attending. Thanks, Bookworms!

Lori

November 2 Bookclub!

I am looking forward to seeing you all on November 2 at my new place. I live down the street from Carolyn B. on Brunswick Ave. (#418 Brunswick).

I will be making a vegetarian feast for you to enjoy as we discuss Melissa's bookclub pick "The Cave"

See you at 7pm on November 2nd!

Yay!

please RSVP closer to the date.

Book Club on Monday

Looking forward to hosting this month's book club! I'll be preparing some hearty fall fare to go along with the beautiful fall weather!

Address and directions:
21 Pirandello St #1232 (street level townhouse in Liberty Village)

The closest main intersection is King & Strachan. Strachan is a few streets west of Bathurst and runs north as far as Queen St and south to Lakeshore.
Make your way to Strachan. If you are heading south, turn right on to East Liberty (left if you are coming from Lakeshore). The first stop sign you come to is Pirandello St. Turn right (north). I'm unit 1232, which is the 4th ground floor unit from the corner.
My number is 647 296 3117 if you have any trouble finding it.

There is street parking throughout the area - but probably the best place to park is the south side of East Liberty - they cannot yet enforce any parking restrictions there.

Any time after 7 should be fine! Let me know if you can make it!

September Book Club Update

Thank you Elva for a Spanish Tapas evening in your backyard with a veggie paella and amazing sangria. It was a beautiful summer evening with the usual spirited discussion. Christine provided some great observations and detailed research on the book. We all talked about different chapters and characters that we enjoyed. Most people found the book highly readable and fodder for conversation.

The new book for October was selected by Carolyn B (with advice from the club). It is Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro. It is a collection of short stories. See everyone next month's meeting to be hosted by Carolyn A.

Lori - are you planning to participate in November? You are listed as the host. If you are not able to participate, I assume that we will find another host and throw the book choice to the group to select.

Monday, September 14th Book Club

Hola Chicas,

I am sorry to hear that Joanna has left book club. I sincerely hope to see her again some time in the future.
So far Laura, Barb, and Christine, have confirmed attending. Thanks Carolyn A. and Lori for letting me know ahead of time that you are unable to attend. We will miss you both.
I'm hoping everyone else can make it. I plan on serving some tapas on the patio Spanish style with Sangria. I realize it is getting chilly at night so we may have to sit inside.

See you all Monday evening.

Adios.

Update

Joanne has left the bookclub. This means that Oct. book pick is up for grabs. Bring a book pick and we can vote on it.

September Book Choice

The book is Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.

http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/index.html

We already started arguing about his thesis that it takes 10,000 to be an expert. Discussion to be continued.

September Book Club Details

Hi,

I have reset my password and checking to see if I can post this blog. My address for next book club meeting is on September, 14th:

353 Greer Road
Toronto, ON
(North of Lawrence, East of Avenue/West of Yonge)
(416)789-2966

Hope to have it outside if weather is good.

Bye for now!

Lovely Summer Evening on Faith's Deck

Thanks Faith for a delightful evening of wine, falafel, jewish pastries and good conversation. In addition to wonderful hospitality, Faith also showed us a modern Haggadah so we could imagine the one in the novel.

Barb D, Carolyn B, Melissa, Christine, Elva and Faith were there. It seemed like we all like the book but we were split between people who liked the ending and those who didn't. Many people thought the structure of the book was similar to the Red Violin. Of the sub stories - people seemed to like Lola's, the Moorish woman and the relationship between the priest and the rabbi in Venice.

We missed everyone who was not able to attend. Looking forward to seeing you at Elva's in September.

August Book Club Location

I copied this from Faith's email so we can call respond on the blog........

On August 10th the location is at my new address is 193 Beatrice St., one block north of college. Hope to see you all there.

Books of 2008-2009

The Confederacy of Dunces
What is the What?
The Book of Negros
The Lace Reader
Edgar Sawtelle
Rebecca
Through Black Spruce
Deniro's Game
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
Winter in Madrid
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Three Cups of Tea

I put this list in the Main Blog Section so that it can be searched in future years.

Assignments for 2009-2010

Ladies, I can not figure out how to post to the left column of the page, here are the dates and selections that we drew from a bowl at the cottage.


Host Month Book Selector
August: Faith Barb D
September: Elva Joanna
October: Carolyn A Carolyn B
November: Lori Melissa
December: Laura Barb M
January: Barb D Faith
February: Christine Laura
March: Melissa * Carolyn A
April: Joanna Christine
May : Barb M Elva
June: Carolyn B Lori

* March may be cohosted with Peggi at her Father's Maple syrup farm. More details to come.

August Book Selection

The new book is People of the Book By Geraldine Brooks.

Great Book Club at the Cottage!!

Thank you Laura for hosting a wonderful book club at your cottage.
The food, the atmosphere, and the conversations were amazing!!
We selected the hosts and book selectors for the year - Laura has the list.
For Monday August 10 - Faith will be hosting, and Barb D. needs to pick a book ASAP
so that we can start reading now!!
See everyone in August!!
Christine

Cottage Directions

I thought I posted these on Monday, I did not notice they did not show up. Here is how you get to the cottage:
404 North
Exit Green Lane, this is where the 404 ends.
Turn Right on Green Lane
Left on Woodbine (first set of lights)
Take Woodbine for 25 minutes, through Keswick past farms etc.
You will see a yellow sign for J. C trailers it is here that to carry on Woodbine you have to vear left, there is a left turn lane and clear sign.
Make a left to continue on Woodbine to the lake
Turn left at Lake
3rd cottage on the left, black roof.
We did not hook up the phone this year as it gets knocked out by storms almost every weekend. call my cell if you need help 416-578-9469. See you Saturday

Cottage Book Club

Hello Ladies: The date we chose for the cottage book club is Saturday July 11th. For those who attended last year you will remember that the cottage is very close to the Tdot and take approx 45 minutes to be at the beach!! The plan will be close to last year. I will be making the most of being away from my kids and husband so I will be up there in the morning on Saturday. I will take care of Saturday Night dinner as the host. Depending on when everyone is arriving do we all want to contribute for Saturday lunch and Sunday breakfast, and snacks? This year we were thinking that we would have the kids, husbands, partners join us on Sunday for a bbq and a swim, again depending on who wants to join we can also contribute to that. Dave and my kids will be coming on Sunday so I will be bringing hamburgers and salad stuff for that too. The format that worked last year was sun and celebrity gossip during the day on Saturday, (You will be happy to hear my parents built a newer larger dock that will allows us to spread out more), and book club conversation over dinner. This year I will be looking to get a run or two in and possibly a bike if anyone is interested. There are 5 queen sized beds and two single beds. I will put fresh sheets on all beds Saturday morning, so no need to bring anything to sleep. 3 piece working bathroom and all the fixings in a full kitchen. Car-pooling works, I can take anyone who wants to go up early. Please respond when you are coming so we can plan food accordingly and if you need a ride. All condiments etc will be up there as my family will have just been there on the long weekend. Hope this is enough info for now. Looking forward to it!

Chaos, Donuts, Hedgehogs and Class Struggle

After a few false starts, a small but mighty group met at the Riviera Bakery to discuss The Elegance of the Hedgehog. Turns out Negroni was closed so we had to improvise.

Everyone loved the book and the discussion proved lively. What did you make of the names of the characters and the animals? Did you expect the ending? Were there characters realistic? Was that important? What did the book teach you? Are hedgehogs elegant? Much to discuss.

Laura - please post the details of the July event so people can rsvp. If you need help posting - send me an email and we can set up a quick tutorial.

Lori - will you be leading the discussion on the book?

Book Club Monday

Since Joanna can't host on Monday, and most people are unavailable Tuesday,
should we try to meet Monday on College Street? Just a thought... Any other
suggestions?
Christine

July book

Hello all,

Lori asked me to change her July book selection to Three Cups of Tea.

:)
Melissa

New book for June

Thanks Carolyn for a delightful meal in your gorgeous house. It was a classy and elegant evening.

Barb D, Carolyn, Laura and Lori all brought book choices to the group. Choices included: Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels, March by Geraldine Brooks, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer and Reading Lotita in Tehran. First there was gnashing of teeth, then the arm wrestling match and finally a dance contest all to select Carolyn's choice The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. Since it was a joint decision to chose the book, we decided that everyone would facilitate the discussion. Bring 2 questions you would like to discuss about the book.

Looks like there are lots of copies of it at Chapters. See you all next month.

btw - Lori, you are the book selector for July. Did you want to put forward your choice?

Note from Suzanne to Barb

I thought I should share this note with everyone...

I trust you received my e-mail a few weeks ago that it was best someone else pick the June book. At this time I feel I must bow out of the book club. I thank everyone for their warm welcome back in January. I was hoping to find more time to read but I'm not quite there yet.Best wishes to everyone for great discussions ahead.I hope to rejoin sometime in the future.
Suzanne Duras

Who's in for gristle soup?

This book didn't really inspire any dinner dishes other then a little gristle in soup or some old shrivelled root vegetables. Don't despair, I'll come up with something more desirable to eat.

Bookclub this Monday May 04:
Carolyn B.
7:00pm
508 Brunswick Ave
416 921 2842

I'm just south of Dupont and parking can be tricky on the street.

WHo's coming?

Remember to bring a book choice for next month's book.

June Book Selector

Suzanne was scheduled to select and facilitate the June book but doesn't feel ready to do it.

Do we have anyone who has not selected a book this yet? Anyone have a book suggestion? Should we bring a few choices to the May meeting and decide as a group? Ideas?

April Book Selection

In case people missed it in the last thread, Elva is the book selector for this month. She has chosen - at Jacqueline's recommendation - Winter in Madrid by C.J. Samson.
The next meeting is May 4 and Carolyn B is the host.

April Book Club

Hello ladies,

I am the hostess for April and since I do not have a dining room, I figure we can use Cafe Diplomatico's. The usual time - 7pm. I'll make a reservation under my name...appi's and wine are on me.

Looking forward to it,
Melissa

Sexy Night on Croft

Thank you Barb for hosting an amazing evening in your gorgeous, sexy house. We were an intimate gathering of six who not only enjoyed your fabulous vegetarian feast, but also engaged in a good discussion in front of the warmth of the fire, just like Annie and Gordon did. Except Gordon almost burned the house down, oh and he can't speak. Nevertheless it was a lovely evening, on behalf of the group, I can't think of a better place to be on a frigid night in Toronto, just blocks away from where the Aboriginals still gather. We all enjoyed the book especially William who felt he had to be vocal and speak for those who can't(Gordon)! Thanks again, I hope one day to travel with you all to Northern Ontario to ice fish, hunt, gather, and heck live off the landing drinking rye!

Oops, just saw your address Barb. I guess I should READ other blogs first. See you tomorrow!

Monday, March 2nd

Hello Everybody,

Are we still on for tomorrow night? Just wondered about address info and phone number in case I get lost.

Suzanne -- would you like to carpool with me? I don't mind driving, whatever is best.

Christine-- can we pick you up on the way over?

March Book Club Details

Monday March 2
7:00 pm
4 Croft Street

Park on College, Lippincott or Borden. There is no parking on Croft Street.

Really looking forward to seeing everyone. I am making a veggie lasagna and salad even though it is not very Moosonee and despite Carolyn B's kind offer to help me trap beavers on the Don River. Please add a comment and let me know if you are coming.


View Larger Map

Next Book

Hi everyone,
In keeping with our new procedure of choosing books in advance, I thought I'd send out my pick for March....

I've chosen:
The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society
Author: Mary Ann Shaffer

It's available on the Chapters website in both hard cover and paperback. Here is some info on the book:


From the Publisher
“ I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….As Juliet and her new …+ read more“ I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

Lebanon on College

Christine, outdid her self! What an amazing meal and evening you hosted for us! The house, the table, the food, the company, just wonderful! Barb, great questions, well attended and everyone read the book...a sign of good things to come.

I'm a blogger now

I did it! Thanks to Barb!

Parking for Tonight's Book Club

Please do not park in front of my house - they ticket after 8pm!!!
You can park south of the stop sign (past Mansfield) until midnight.

February's Book Club Meeting

Hello Everyone!
This month I have the honour of hosting on Monday February 2, 7pm at 114 Grace Street. I will be making a vegetarian Lebanese dinner (with the help of my neighborhood Falafel restaurant), and Barb D will be leading our discussion on the book "De Niro's Game". Look forward to seeing you all. Please RSVP in the comments section.
Christine
416 532 4770

thanks, Sports Barbie, for arranging all of this for our book club....  :)

Lori

March Book Choice

It was great to hear Laura's story of William's birth. To quote her "very Red Tent." Baby William was a delightful attendee at his first book club. He was happily held and cuddled by all the members. Congrats to the Delves family on their new addition - maybe he'll be a reader.

Through the adjustment to the new baby and Christmas Laura still found time to select a book for us for March. It is Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden. It was the winner of the Giller prize.

February 2

Rawi Hage Deniro's Game and the host for the event is Christine. We'll let Christine tell us the details.