JULY BOOK

Our July book is Murder in Amsterdam by the Dutch writer and editor Ian Buruma (link) which remains topical even though it was written some sixteen years ago.  Once again we'll meet on the Steamworks Brew Pub patio (Steamworks), next to Waterfront Station.  Join the books and beer brigade this Tuesday evening, July 5.  We'll be off and running at our regular 7pm start time and would welcome any and all interested parties.

Ian Buruma's Murder in Amsterdam is a masterpiece of investigative journalism, a book with the intimacy and narrative control of a crime novel and the analytical brilliance for which Buruma is renowned. On a cold November day in Amsterdam in 2004, the celebrated and controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was shot and killed by an Islamic extremist for making a movie that "insulted the prophet Mohammed." The murder sent shock waves across Europe and around the world. Shortly thereafter, Ian Buruma returned to his native land to investigate the event and its larger meaning as part of the great dilemma of our time.

JUNE BOOK

Our book for June is The Power of the Dog by American novelist Thomas Savage (link), just recently made into an Oscar nominated film by noted director Jane Campion.  We'll be back in Gastown again on the Steamworks Brew Pub patio (Steamworks), kitty corner to Waterfront Station.  Enjoy a pleasant pre-summer evening of book banter and beer on Tuesday, June 7.  It's the usual 7pm start time with all and sundry welcome to join.

Set in the wide-open spaces of the American West, The Power of the Dog is a stunning story of domestic tyranny, brutal masculinity, and thrilling defiance from one of the most powerful and distinctive voices in American literature. The novel tells the story of two brothers — one magnetic but cruel, the other gentle and quiet — and of the mother and son whose arrival on the brothers' ranch shatters an already tenuous peace. From the novel's startling first paragraph to its very last word, Thomas Savage's voice — and the intense passion of his characters — holds readers in thrall.

MAY BOOK

Our book for May is Napoleon: A Political Life by French history scholar Steven Englund (link).  We'll be trying a different venue this month, namely Steamworks Brew Pub (Steamworks), located just a half block east of Waterfront Station.  Join the Gastown gang on the Steamworks patio this Tuesday evening, May 3.  As usual, it's a 7pm start and all are welcome.

This sophisticated and masterful biography brings new and remarkable analysis to the study of modern history's most famous general and statesman. As Englund charts Napoleon's dramatic rise and fall―from his Corsican boyhood, his French education, his astonishing military victories and no less astonishing acts of reform as First Consul (1799–1804) to his controversial record as Emperor and, finally, to his exile and death―he explores the unprecedented power Napoleon maintains over the popular imagination.

APRIL BOOK

Our book for April is Between the World and Me (link) by the American journalist and author Ta-Nehisi Coates.  Join the April book fools this Tuesday evening (April 5) at Joey Shipyards location (Joey) in North Van, a short walk from the Seabus terminal. Start time is the usual 7pm and all are welcome to join us on the spacious outdoor patio.

 

In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation's history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of "race," a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?

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?