MARCH BOOK

Our March book will be The Best Short Stories of Katherine Mansfield (link) by the famous New Zealand born writer who moved to England and mixed with the Bloomsbury circle, only to succumb to tuberculosis at the tragically young age of 34.  We haven't yet decided on a venue or ZOOM meeting, so check the Comments section below this post after next weekend for updates.  Once again, the first Tuesday of the month falls early (March 1).  One way or the other, festivities will begin at the customary 7pm and all are welcome to join our humble gathering.

An artist who excelled at the expression of subtle details and concentrated emotion, Katherine Mansfield ranks among the twentieth century's greatest short story writers. Her elegant, ironic tales reflect her own bohemian lifestyle, which involved tempestuous relationships with Bertrand Russell and Virginia Woolf. This collection of a dozen of Mansfield's finest works features compelling tales of fraught relationships and shattering revelations, all recounted in an intensely visual and impressionistic style. These stories range through Mansfield's brief but prolific career. They include "Prelude," a reminiscence of the author's New Zealand girlhood; "Bliss," involving a young mother's disillusionment; "Je Ne Parle Pas Français," concerning a romantic young woman's betrayal; and "The Garden Party," a contrast of snobbery and social responsibility.

FEBRUARY BOOK

Our book for February is The Dawn of Everything  (link) by David Graeber and David Wengrow (a hefty tome, so I hope everyone started reading early). We'll stick with our ZOOM meeting once again (ZOOMlink) as we wait for the pesky Omicron variant to recede into the dustbin of history.  Join the virtual fun this Tuesday evening (Feb. 1) at the usual 7pm start time.  All are welcome but supply your own food and drink.

For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike―either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself.

JANUARY BOOK

Happy New Year to one and all.  Our book for January is The Kraken Wakes  (link) by noted English sci-fi author John Wyndham.  (Several of his novels have been filmed.)  We'll be having a virtual ZOOM meeting once again (ZOOMlink) as we wait for the Omicron variant to reach its omega point.  As usual, the entire universe is invited to join us dedicated bookateers, commencing at 7pm this Tuesday evening, January 4.  White tie and tails strictly optional.

An "ingenious, horrifying" (The Guardian) first contact story by one of the twentieth century's most brilliant—and neglected—science fiction and horror writers, whom Stephen King called "the best writer of science fiction that England has ever produced."

What if aliens colonized Earth's oceans, rather than its land?

DECEMBER BOOK

Our book for December is The Sense of an Ending (link), the Man Booker Prize winning novel by English author Julian Barnes.  (A film based on the book was released in 2017.)  We'll be returning to the spacious, heated patio of the Joey Shipyards location in North Vancouver (Joey).  Join the gang this Tuesday evening (Dec.7) at the regular 7pm start time for some pre-holiday literary merriment.  All carbon-based bipeds more than welcome.

This intense novel follows Tony Webster, a middle-aged man, as he contends with a past he never thought much about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. Tony thought he left this all behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.

     NOVEMBER BOOK

Our book for November is To Siberia (link) by Norwegian author Per Petterson.  (You may recall we read Out Stealing Horses by the same author a few years back, to quite positive reviews.)  Once again, we'll be meeting at Joey's Shipyards location (Joey) in North Vancouver.  Not only is it close to the Seabus but it has a huge covered and heated patio.  So join the bookateers next Tuesday evening (November 2nd) for some post-Hallowe'en frivolity and badinage; 7pm start time as usual.

A brother and sister are forced ever more closely together after the suicide of their grandfather. Their parents' neglect leaves them wandering the streets of their small Danish village. The sister dreams of escaping to Siberia, but it seems increasingly distant as she helplessly watches her brother become more and more involved in resisting the Nazis.

   OCTOBER BOOK

Our book for October is Calypso by David Sedaris (link).  We'll be returning to Joey's Shipyards location in North Vancouver, just a short walk from the Seabus terminal (Joey).  The huge covered patio will shelter us from any inclement weather.  Come and join the fun this Tuesday evening (Oct 5).  As usual, festivities commence at 7pm and all are welcome.

With Calypso, Sedaris sets his formidable powers of observation toward middle age and mortality. Make no mistake: these stories are very, very funny--it's a book that can make you laugh 'til you snort, the way only family can. Sedaris's powers of observation have never been sharper, and his ability to shock readers into laughter unparalleled. But much of the comedy here is born out of that vertiginous moment when your own body betrays you and you realize that the story of your life is made up of more past than future.

   SEPTEMBER BOOK

Our book for September (hard to believe another summer is almost gone) is Stories of Your Life and Others (link) by American author Ted Chiang.  The title story was the basis for the science fiction film Arrival.  Once again, we'll meet at the Tap & Barrel Shipyards location in North Vancouver, just a few minutes walk from the Seabus terminal.  (Check earlier posts for more precise directions.)  Join the lonesome bibliophiles on the evening of Tuesday, September 6 at 7pm for good food, drink and conversation.  As always, all are welcome.

This new edition of Ted Chiang's masterful first collection, Stories of Your Life and Others, includes his first eight published stories plus the author's story notes and a cover that the author commissioned himself. Combining the precision and scientific curiosity of Kim Stanley Robinson with Lorrie Moore's cool, clear love of language and narrative intricacy, this award-winning collection offers readers the dual delights of the very, very strange and the heartbreakingly familiar.  Stories of Your Life and Others presents characters who must confront sudden change—the inevitable rise of automatons or the appearance of aliens—while striving to maintain some sense of normalcy.