Is the book dead?

Is anyone out there?
Is there any interest in keeping this thing going?
Does anyone still read?

John and I will be at the Railway club tomorrow evening, having a beverage, trading quinoa recipes and discussing politics and Miley Cyrus.
Join us! We may even choose a book to read next month.

september book

Next month's book will be The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

Recently retired, sweet, emotionally numb Harold Fry is jolted out of his passivity by a letter from Queenie Hennessy, an old friend, who he hasn't heard from in twenty years. She has written to say she is in hospice and wanted to say goodbye. Leaving his tense, bitter wife Maureen to her chores, Harold intends a quick walk to the corner mailbox to post his reply but instead, inspired by a chance encounter, he becomes convinced he must deliver his message in person to Queenie--who is 600 miles away--because as long as he keeps walking, Harold believes that Queenie will not die. So without hiking boots, rain gear, map or cell phone, one of the most endearing characters in current fiction begins his unlikely pilgrimage across the English countryside. Along the way, strangers stir up memories--flashbacks, often painful, from when his marriage was filled with promise and then not, of his inadequacy as a father, and of his shortcomings as a husband. Ironically, his wife Maureen, shocked by her husband's sudden absence, begins to long for his presence. Is it possible for Harold and Maureen to bridge the distance between them? And will Queenie be alive to see Harold arrive at her door?

some suggestions for august

Two of our members made have already made suggestions for our August read:

Christina suggested the new Colum McCann book, Transatlantic.

http://www.amazon.ca/Transatlantic-ebook/dp/B00BATWLSY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370471866&sr=8-1&keywords=transatlantic


Sarah suggested Dear Life by Alice Munroe

http://www.amazon.ca/Dear-Life-Stories-ebook/dp/B008ADUHKW/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1370471902&sr=1-1&keywords=dear+life

july book

Next month's book will be The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of postwar Germany.

When he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover—then she inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, he is a young law student, and she is on trial for a hideous crime. As he watches her refuse to defend her innocence, Michael gradually realizes that Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder.

June 4 meeting

Not sure what is happening, our erstwhile leader James seems to be AWOL.

Lets meet and discuss whatever we have been reading, have a cold beverage, and plan a course of action for July. 

may book

Next month's book will be The Bartender: Darkness on the Edge of Town by Axel Matfin *The Author will be in attendance!*

PLEASE NOTE: The May meeting will take place on MONDAY, May 6th 7:00pm

Action, Adventure, Intrigue! Mercenary bartender Tom Wolfe thought he was out of the game. Then a package lands in his lap that's more than he bargained for. Inside; a loaded handgun and a note telling him to watch his back. Will he find out who his secret admirer is? Down there, down in THE DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN.

april book

next month's book will be Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

It's a big one! Get started on it soon.

England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years, and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe oppose him. The quest for the king''s freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum and a deadlock.

Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. The son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a bully and a charmer, Cromwell has broken all the rules of a rigid society in his rise to power, and is preparing to break some more. Rising from personal disaster - the loss of his young family and of Wolsey, his beloved patron - he picks his way deftly through a court where -man is wolf to man.'' Pitting himself against parliament, the political establishment and the papacy, he is prepared to reshape England to his own and Henry''s desires.

In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. With a vast array of characters, overflowing with incident, Wolf Hall re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power but a single failure means death.