NOVEMBER BOOK

For November we have selected Canadian author Marie-Claire Blais' novel Augustino and the Choir of Destruction (mrblink).  Join our gregarious gang of bibliophiles on Tuesday, Nov 10 at our usual watering hole, Zawa Restaurant (link).  Festivities begin at 7pm and newcomers are always welcome.

In Augustino and the Choir of Destruction literary legend and three-time winner of the Governor General's Literary Award Marie-Claire Blais delivers the third volume in the prize-winning series (These Festive Nights, Thunder and Light, Augustino and the Choir of Destruction, and Rebecca, Born in the Maelstrom) acclaimed as one of the greatest undertakings in modern Quebec fiction.

Augustino and the Choir of Destruction is set on an island in the Gulf of Mexico that is home to the full spectrum of humanity: the rich, the poor, the powerful, the humble, artists, criminals. With her unique, signature use of punctuation, Marie-Claire Blais manages to brilliantly show in one flashing stroke men and women; victims and tormentors; child kamikaze pilots and petty thieves from Bahama Street; Charles, a great poet cut down by AIDS; Cinderella, a transvestite prostituting himself to a customer at the Porte du Baiser saloon; Caroline, an artist and photographer who has seen all the hidden treasures of the world; and Augustino, a clairvoyant child-writer. These individual destinies combine in Blais' vision to form a single harmonic texture.

OCTOBER BOOK

Our selection for October is the short story collection  The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories (wikilink) by English writer Angela Carter.  We're back to our regular second Tuesday rotation, so that's Oct 13 at our usual Zawa's location (link) and start time (7pm).  All bibliophiles are welcome to join the usual suspects for palaver and potables.

Angela Carter was a storytelling sorceress, the literary godmother of Neil Gaiman, David Mitchell, Audrey Niffenegger, J. K. Rowling, Kelly Link and other contemporary masters of supernatural fiction. In her masterpiece, The Bloody Chamber—which includes the story that is the basis of Neil Jordan’s 1984 movie The Company of Wolves—she spins subversively dark and sensual versions of familiar fairy tales and legends like “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Bluebeard,” “Puss in Boots” and “Beauty and the Beast,” giving them exhilarating new life in a style steeped in the romantic trappings of the gothic tradition.

SEPTEMBER BOOK

We've selected the novella Morning and Evening (wikilink) by Norwegian author Jon Fosse (2023 Nobel Prize winner) for September.  Note:  we are meeting on the 3rd Tuesday (Sept 15) because of various scheduling conflicts.  Come and join the fun at our usual  Zawa's (link) location starting at 7pm.  All are welcome, all the time.

A child who will be named Johannes is born.  An old man named Johannes dies.  Between these two points, Jon Fosse gives us the details of an entire life, starkly compressed.  Beginning with Johannes's father's thoughts as his wife goes into labor and ending with Johannes's own thoughts as he embarks upon a day in his life when everything is exactly the same, yet totally different, Morning and Evening is a novella concerning the beautiful dream that our lives have meaning.

AUGUST BOOK

It's been a hectic summer for our ravenous readers so we've decided to skip the July meeting and push forward our discussion of The Black Book to Tuesday, August 18.  We'll be meeting at our usual Zawa Restaurant location at 7pm and will select a book for September at that time.

JULY BOOK

We've chosen a familiar face for July: Turkish 2006 Nobelist Orhan Pamuk and his novel The Black Book (wikilink); this will be the third book of his we've selected.  Please note that we're running much later than usual this month because of a multitude of scheduling conflicts.  So you can find the usual suspects at Zawa's (link) on Tuesday, July 28th.  (In all probability we will push our August meeting ahead by a week as well.)  All are welcome to join our merry band of readers at our regular 7pm start time.

Galip is a lawyer living in Istanbul. His wife, the detective novel–loving Ruya, has disappeared. Could she have left him for her ex-husband or Celâl, a popular newspaper columnist? But Celâl, too, seems to have vanished. As Galip investigates, he finds himself assuming the enviable Celâl's identity, wearing his clothes, answering his phone calls, even writing his columns. Galip pursues every conceivable clue, but the nature of the mystery keeps changing, and when he receives a death threat, he begins to fear the worst,

JUNE BOOK

Our selection for June is Wool (link) by American writer Hugh Howey.  A topical choice, the book is the first of a trilogy, with this initial volume being the basis for the first two seasons of the Apple TV series Silo.  Look for the usual suspects on the patio (weather co-operating) on Tuesday, June 9 at our usual time (7pm) and place (Zawa Restaurant ).  All interested parties always welcome.

 

The first book in the acclaimed, New York Times best-selling trilogy, Wool is the story of mankind clawing for survival. The world outside has grown toxic, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. The remnants of humanity live underground in a single silo.

But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they want: They are allowed to go outside.

MAY BOOK

After A.C.  Grayling's effusive praise of William Hazlitt in our April book, we decided to give the latter a try for May.  Our May book is The Fight and Other Writings (link) by the aforementioned Hazlitt, an English essayist, critic, painter, social commentator and philosopher.  This edition is out of print and it may be difficult to track down a hard copy.  However, a Kindle version is available, as well as an online copy at the Internet Archive (IA).  (You have to create a free account to access the entire book.)  We're back to our usual second Tuesday schedule, so it's a 7pm start time on May 12 at our regular Zawa Restaurant (zawa) watering hole.  Look for us on the patio if the weather is favorable.  All are welcome, always.

Hazlitt is one of the greatest masters of English prose style and this new selection demonstrates the variety and richness of his writing. The volume includes classic pieces of drama and literary criticism, such as his essays on Shakespeare and Coleridge, as well as less well-known material from his social and political journalism. This collection encourages the reader to reconsider the nature of critical writing, which Hazlitt transforms into an art form.