Silent book club as post-apocalyptic sanctuary

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Particularly warm kudos are in order this month to the silent book club members who made it through the February cold and over the snowy, slippery streets to our bookish oasis. Some have been contending with the colds, flus and other ailments of the season, and all have been contending with the ever-changing and treacherous weather and how it permeates everyone’s moods, energy and ambition.

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As we were settling around our table (so nicely adorned now with a “Reserved For Book Club” sign – thanks, Press!), removing coats and scarves and layers, setting out our books, beverages and treats, an interesting thing happened. Our normally book-focused chit-chat strayed – innocuously at first – into the seemingly unavoidable state of the world today, including commentary on the latest shenanigans coming from the country to our south (aka the elephant next to which Canada sleeps). Suddenly, we seemed to realize we did not want to stray down that path – and we rapidly got back on the intended path. The refreshingly robust manner in which our group resisted – stayed true to what the group is about – did my heart and brain immense good. I hope the readers around the table with me today felt the same way.

I realize that by using the term “chit-chat”, I’ve possibly belittled what this group has come to mean to me. Our discussions are anything but inconsequential or unimportant. By sharing with open minds and hearts and without judgement the words and ideas that interest, inspire, challenge and comfort us, we’re doing something truly essential. We are taking time away from our daily demands to do that, and we’re stepping away from the newsfeeds and discourse that often inflame more than they inform. I would not call this practice a form of avoidance. On the contrary, I would assert that we’ve not only found a potent curative in this quiet fellowship, but we’ve found a very practical way to mentally and emotionally recharge before heading back into the fray.

We were not long into the “what I’ve been reading lately” portion of today’s gathering when it dawned on all of us that there was a consistent thread of darkness wending through all the reading choices we seem to be making in recent weeks. By the third or fourth mention of “post-apocalyptic”, we were conjecturing whether this was a collective response to the weather, our health, the state of the world … Whatever the cause, I think it made us aware that we all seek comfort, insight and diversion in interesting ways … and, we might all want to calibrate the brightness and lightness levels on our reading. Can’t hurt, eh.

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Here, as usual, is the book list which sums up all the titles presented and discussed within the group. Each reader offers capsule reviews – positive or negative, always constructive. Our list as I present it here has no rating system, just a link to either publisher information or generally positive reviews or informational pieces. The list is not inherently a list of recommendations, just a record of what we discussed. The list continues to reflect a diverse and vibrant range of subjects and genres that might spark the interest of anyone keeping up with our club.

After our hour of silent reading, we wrapped up today’s meeting with something new. Some members read aloud brief selections from their recent reading. Today’s selections included poems from 40 Sonnets by Don Paterson and Tell – poems for a girlhood by Soraya Peerbaye, a poem found online with no author attribution about the allures of Africa, and the opening lines of the introduction to A Brief History of the Amazons : Women Warriors in Myth and History by Lyn Webster Wilde. It’ll be interesting to see if this becomes an occasional or regular feature of our gatherings.

As always, you can enjoy our previous silent book club meeting reports and book lists here.

Our silent book club was included in a late 2018 feature about silent book clubs in the international news publication The Christian Science Monitor. Enjoy the article here. San Francisco-based Silent Book Club founders Guinevere de La Mare and Laura Gluhanich are featured in the February 2019 issue of O, the Oprah Magazine, describing the club’s genesis and extolling its virtues (if we haven’t done that enough here!) as the concept and clubs spread worldwide.

If you’re interested in starting your own silent book club or are in the Toronto area and perhaps interested in checking ours out, please feel free to contact me for more information.

As winter blasts in, silent book club too engrossed in reading to notice …

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Winter returned to Toronto with a frigid vengeance this Saturday morning. Us silent book clubbers didn’t notice it at the time, mind you, so wrapped up were we in the company of other readers and our wonderful books, in cozy book/coffee shop Press. I’m confident silent book club is going to see us through a harsh winter, if that’s what we now have before us, judging by today’s meeting’s record attendance, which included four new participants.

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Today’s recap was a nice blend of revisits with books that are making their rounds from reader to reader – again, testament to the trust in tastes and recommendations this group has fostered – with a cavalcade of new and varied titles. So let’s get right to the book list which, as always, encompasses all titles presented and discussed within the group. Each reader offers capsule positive, negative or mixed – always refreshingly constructive – reviews. Our list as I present it here has no rating system, just a link to either publisher information or generally positive reviews or informational pieces. The list is not inherently a list of recommendations, just a record of what we discussed. The list continues to reflect a diverse and vibrant range of subjects and genres that might spark the interest of anyone keeping up with our club.

I can hardly wait to see who joins us – books and people – next meeting!

As always, you can enjoy our previous silent book club meeting reports and book lists here.

Our silent book club was included in a recent feature about silent book clubs in the international news publication The Christian Science Monitor. Enjoy the article here. San Francisco-based Silent Book Club founders Guinevere de La Mare and Laura Gluhanich are featured in the February 2019 issue of O, the Oprah Magazine, describing the club’s genesis and extolling its virtues (if we haven’t done that enough here!) as the concept and clubs spread worldwide.

If you’re interested in starting your own silent book club or are in the Toronto area and perhaps interested in checking ours out, please feel free to contact me for more information.

What, where and how I read in 2018

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As I confessed recently, 2018 was a challenging reading year for me. I read some great books and attended some memorable readings and book events, but how I read (mostly books, sometimes on screen) and my normal reading tempo was impeded by vision problems. My vision deteriorated in an alarmingly short period of time due to the swift and severe onset of cataracts. (I didn’t mind being told I was too young to be experiencing this problem so acutely, but that was the only meagre comfort at the time.)

For a time, I didn’t know if these vision problems would be protracted or even permanent. If it was, I knew I had to accept changing how I read and would have to adapt accordingly. Other readers read in other ways, and I could too if I had to. As it turns out, surgery and support from excellent professionals means I’ll be able to continue casting my gaze on the printed page, my preferred way of reading. I’m grateful I have that option, and have heightened respect for those who come to the written word with patience and resourcefulness in other ways.

Because I was tussling just to read, I didn’t write about my reading much this year – except, as you may have noticed, about our beloved silent book club. Still, I did my best to share a few thoughts on my reading as I went along, and managed to put up some snippets on Goodreads, Twitter and even Instagram. Sometimes those wee comments sparked a bit of conversation with fellow readers, which was nice and some continued reassurance that not all of social media is a relentless dumpster fire.

I continued my commitment in 2018 to a daily devotion to at least one poem … and usually more, as friends on Twitter continued to generously share their poem choices and reflections via the #todayspoem hashtag. I’m now heading into my eighth uninterrupted year of poetry tweets. In 2017, I gathered up all my tweets here. I’ll try to do something similar with my 2018 #todayspoem tweets in the near future.

Another reading practice that sparks joy (ahem) as I navigate through books is that of #sundaysentence, tirelessly championed and curated by author David Abrams. Seeking a weekly gem seems to sharpen my attention when I’m reading, and I love discovering new works through the #sundaysentence choices of other readers.

An important milestone this reading year just past is that my treasured but admittedly battered, over 35-year-old book of books got a much needed restoration.

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My husband arranged for the book (in which I’ve recorded my reading since I graduated from university in 1983) to be beautifully rebound, by bookbinder Don Taylor. If you need something that further sparks reading joy, get yourself a gorgeous book in which to record your reading – you won’t regret it.

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Here are the books I read and read aloud in 2018, with a few recollections of where I was when I was reading them.

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  1. Stranger, by David Bergen
  2. The Left-Handed Dinner Party and Other Stories, by Myrl Coulter
  3. Cat’s Eye, by Margaret Atwood … here too

    4. This was the only book I reread this year, but it was a splendid one to revisit. As I remarked at the time, it’s a moving, intimate and instructive look at how women can be each other’s best allies and worst enemies.

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  4. Scarborough, by Catherine Hernandez
  5. The Finest Supermarket in Kabul, by Ele Pawelski

    6. This book was good company during my subway travels.

  6. Quantum Typography, by Gary Barwin
  7. The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas
  8. Still Life, by Louise Penny

    9. I very much enjoyed this introduction to Louise Penny and Chief Inspector Armand Gamache thanks to enthusiastic recommendations from my silent book club friends.

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    Still Life … with beagle-basset …

    A post shared by Vicki Ziegler (@vzbookgaga) on

  9. Loop of Jade, by Sarah Howe
  10. Wisdom in Nonsense – Invaluable Lessons from My Father, by Heather O’Neill
  11. Studio Saint-Ex, by Ania Szado
  12. Seven Fallen Feathers, by Tanya Talaga
  13. Sun of a Distant Land, by David Bouchet, translated by Claire Holden Rothman

    14.  

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  14. This is How You Lose Her, by Junot Diaz
  15. Antigone Undone, by Will Aitken

    16. Not only was the book captivating, but it was great to hear about it firsthand from Aitken and Anne Carson (gasp!) about a month later at the Toronto Reference Library.

  16. Winter’s Bone, by Daniel Woodrell

    17. This stunning book was a Little Library find!

  17. Magenta Soul Whip, by Lisa Robertson
  18. French Exit, by Patrick deWitt
  19. I have to live. by Aisha Sasha John
  20. This Wound Is a World, by Billy-Ray Belcourt
  21. A Death in the Family, by Karl Ove Knausgaard
  22. Kudos, by Rachel Cusk
  23. The Built Environment, by Emily Hasler

    24. I enjoyed both Kudos and The Built Environment at silent book club.

  24. The Bleeds, by Dimitri Nasrallah
  25. Warlight, by Michael Ondaatje
  26. Dreampad, by Jeff Latosik

    27.  

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  27. Collected Tarts & Other Indelicacies, by Tabatha Southey

    28. My husband and I read this book aloud. Much, much laughter …!

  28. Ties, by Domenico Starnone, translated by Jhumpa Lahiri
  29. Muskoka Holiday, by Joyce Boyle

    30. My husband and I read this book aloud at the cottage. I remember quite vividly that this was when my vision was just about at its worst, about a month before the first of two eye surgeries. I was pleased to be able to read this book, though, because of its large print.

  30. On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood, by Richard Harrison
  31. Chicken, by Lynn Crosbie
  32. Deer Life – A Fairy Tale, by Ron Sexsmith
  33. The Deserters, by Pamela Mulloy

    34. If you’ve read them both, you might not think Lynn Crosbie’s Chicken and Pamela Mulloy’s The Deserters have much in common. I gathered notes for, but my weary eyes never allowed me to complete a review comparing the two books on the theme of troubled relationships.

  34. Wade in the Water, by Tracy K. Smith
  35. The Outlaw Album, by Daniel Woodrell
  36. Heartbreaker, by Claudia Dey
  37. Beartown, by Fredrik Backman, translated by Neil Smith

    38.  

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  38. Transcription, by Kate Atkinson

    39. As I remarked when I finished it, Transcription‘s Juliet is an endlessly fascinating creature – who, of course, we still don’t entirely know in the end – and her adventures and dilemmas are absorbing and, at times, horrifying. This incredible book was a favourite amongst the readers in our silent book club, and a bunch of us went to here her read from it and converse with Rachel Giese at the lovely Church of the Holy Trinity in downtown Toronto.

  39. The Blue Clerk, by Dionne Brand

    40. Both a stunning book and a gorgeous book object, this was one of the most pleasurable reading experiences of my year.

  40. Split Tooth, by Tanya Tagaq
  41. God of Shadows, by Lorna Crozier
  42. Sugar and Other Stories, by A.S. Byatt
  43. If They Come For Us, by Fatimah Asghar
  44. Zolitude, by Paige Cooper
  45. The Game, by A.S. Byatt
  46. The Mobius Strip Club of Grief, by Bianca Stone
  47. Stereoblind, by Emma Healey
  48. Dear Evelyn, by Kathy Page
  49. Theory, by Dionne Brand

    50.  

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  50. My Private Property, by Mary Ruefle
  51. Virgin, by Analicia Sotelo
  52. No Good Asking, by Fran Kimmel
  53. Liminal, by Jordan Tannahill
  54. The Library Book, by Susan Orlean

    55. We read this aloud – voraciously and with immense delight – and finished it on New Year’s Eve, which felt rather perfect.

In 2018, I read a total of 54 works: 33 works of fiction (novels and short story collections), 16 poetry collections and 5 works of non-fiction. I reread one book, read 4 works in translation, and read 36 works by Canadian authors. My husband and I read three books aloud to each other this year and have another one in progress as we greet the new year.

I also kept track this year of the publication dates of the books I read. In 2018, the oldest book I read was published in 1953, and I also read books published in 1967, 1987 and 1988, fulfilling last year’s intention to read some more older books. Exactly half of the books I read in 2018 were published in 20 18.

Currently in progress, heading into 2019:

  • Milkman
    by Anna Burns

  • Voodoo Hypothesis
    by Canisia Lubrin

  • Wuthering Heights
    by Emily Brontë
    (reread and … read aloud!)

For yet another year, I’m looking back fondly on my 2018 reading, looking forward eagerly, with anticipation and even some curiosity to my 2019 reading, I’ll simply conclude (as I always do) …

It’s not how many you read that counts. It’s that you read that counts.

Who knew bleak could be this much fun … eh, silent book club friends?

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Halfway through the lively reading recap during our almost standing-room-only silent book club gathering, someone remarked that as a group, we sure do seem to read a lot of bleak books. A scan of any of our recent book lists might indeed bear this observation out … but that doesn’t seem to deter us from gathering so eagerly every month (and in fact, even more frequently, since this was a bonus holiday gathering), does it? Somehow, the sometimes challenging and yes, regularly troubling or solemn subject matter is transcended and made very worthwhile by the thoughtfulness, passion, good humour and collegiality with which this ever blossoming group shares their reading enthusiasms.

And hey, there was nothing bleak about the latest beautiful bouquet of books spread before us for consideration and consumption today!

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In addition to the bright cornucopia of books, today’s gathering welcomed several new voices to our booklovers’ chorus. As the group grows, so do the opportunities for each member to broaden reading horizons and gain new insights and revelations.

What follows, as always, is the list of the books we read and discussed at our latest silent book club meeting. Each title is presented and discussed within the group with readers’ capsule positive, negative or mixed – always refreshingly constructive – reviews. Our list as I present it here has no rating system, just a link to either publisher information or generally positive reviews or informational pieces. The list is not inherently a list of recommendations, just a record of what we discussed. Still, I think you’ll agree it’s an eclectic and intriguing selection that might spark the interest of anyone keeping up with our club.

As always, you can enjoy our previous silent book club meeting reports and book lists here.

Our silent book club was also included in a recent feature about silent book clubs in the international news publication The Christian Science Monitor. Enjoy the article here.

If you’re interested in starting your own silent book club or are in the Toronto area and perhaps interested in checking ours out, please feel free to contact me for more information.

The best kind of silence to take us into the holiday season

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csmonitor-logoI’m thrilled to share with everyone that our Toronto-based silent book club, held monthly at PRESS books. coffee. vinyl, is included in a lovely feature in the international news publication The Christian Science Monitor. Congratulations to all who have made this club such a success, in person and online. Enjoy the article here.

Did I mention that the night before a silent book club meeting, it feels like Christmas Eve? How wonderful then to be packing my book bag this month in the light of our little Christmas tree.

How wonderful, too, to have a group of reading friends who concur that the holidays aren’t always wonder and joy … and so we’ve agreed to pencil in an interim silent book club meeting between Christmas and New Year’s, as a companionable sanctuary amidst the demands of the season.

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Thank you, Press on the Danforth, for having our table set up and extra scones awaiting as we all arrived, eager to spread our books out on the table and start sharing them. That sharing has evolved from the engaging discussions about we’re reading to, almost as a matter of course now, a passing of books across the table to the next eager reader. In just over a year, such trust has developed that if someone from silent book club had recommended it, we’re all willing to roam beyond our reading comfort zones and try new things.

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What follows, as always, is this month’s list of the books we read and discussed at our silent book club. Each title is presented and discussed within the group with readers’ capsule positive, negative or mixed – always refreshingly constructive – reviews. (We segued briefly in today’s discussions into the drive-by, non-constructive book “reviews” often encountered via Goodreads.) Our list as I present it here has no rating system, just a link to either publisher information or generally positive reviews or informational pieces. The list is not inherently a list of recommendations, just a record of what we discussed. Still, I think it’s a pretty diverse and intriguing selection that might spark the interest of anyone keeping up with our club.

One book club member’s reading choice for this month – A Book of Silence by Sara Maitland – was inspired by some lovely book club cross-pollination. In addition to promoting our silent book club meetings on social media, I’d recently tweeted about Literary North’s Slow Book Club, one of our silent book club members saw my tweets and she signed up for that club’s thoughtful consideration of a book per season. I’m joining, too, with their first reading choice for the new year, and am very much looking forward to this complement to our monthly silent book club. (Slow Book Club, you might see a few more sign-ups from Toronto in the near future!)

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A couple of meetings ago, one of our silent book club members mentioned that for her 70th birthday, she was asking everyone to share with her the gift of stories and storytelling. She had an excellent and generous response to her request, and she is now gradually posting the story gifts she received on her blog. Take a look at jofacilitator.ca/.

At the end of today’s silent book club gathering, the other readers indulged my request to read aloud a poem from my recent reading that I found particularly striking and moving – “Migration” from The Mobius Strip Club of Grief by Bianca Stone. We’ve decided that at our next get-together, everyone will be given the opportunity to share a poetry or prose excerpt. It is so gratifying and heartening to see how our group and what we share has evolved.

As always, you can enjoy our previous silent book club meeting reports and book lists here.

If you’re interested in starting your own silent book club or are in the Toronto area and perhaps interested in checking ours out, please feel free to contact me for more information.

Finally, I just want to offer my gratitude for our silent book club’s special sense of community and, in its way, almost a type of gentle worship that I know has seen me through a somewhat trying year. I hope what almost palpably radiates from our quiet, bookish gatherings takes us all (those who assemble around the coffee/bookstore table, and those following along with us and/or building their own groups of readers) into a new year filled with every kind of happiness, bolstered by the books that buoy us and bring us together.

Chuckles and the rustle of pages turning

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Several of my silent book club friends are also my neighbours. It’s nice to be able to say “See you at silent book club” when I run into them around the neighbourhood between meetings. Now some of us are suggesting that maybe a month between meetings is too long. Hmmm …

The night before a silent book club meeting, it feels like Christmas Eve. I’m already planning which books I’m going to bring, reviewing the books I read over the past month to share observations on with the group, checking if there are additional books I need to bring to lend to other book club members, getting out my book bag and coffee mug … and in the morning, I get extra help to ensure that everything is packed.

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I left early, wanted to take my dog …

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… and when I got to Press on the Danforth, some silent book club members were already there, ordering their beverages and treats and getting settled in. So, I have the feeling I’m not the only one eagerly anticipating each meeting …

Have you ever heard folks describing what they don’t like about the book clubs of which they’re a part, or which they are reluctant to be a part, or which they’ve abandoned? One thing I know I hear a lot is that the book club is devoted to the book in question for a mere few moments, and then the get-together becomes a gossip session or otherwise goes decidedly off-topic. In the year that we’ve been enjoying this club, we have our usual go round the table to share recent reading delights and disappointments (always constructively couched), and we don’t typically stray too far from the subject of books. Even today, when we did stray a bit, the subjects were still bookish. We all chimed in on a discussion of childhood reading pleasures, some guilty, some forbidden, all adored: Nancy Drew! The Hardy Boys! The Bobbsey Twins! Swallows and Amazons! Puffin Books! Trixie Belden! Nurse Sue Barton! We all chimed in again to sing the praises of Little Library boxes, with which our east end Toronto neighbourhood seems to be particularly blessed.

Here, as usual, is this month’s list of the books we read and discussed at our silent book club. Each title is presented and discussed within the group with readers’ capsule positive, negative or mixed reviews. The list as I present it here has no rating system, just a link to either publisher information or generally positive reviews or informational pieces. The list is not inherently a list of recommendations, just a record of what we discussed. That said, it’s still a rich, varied and thought provoking collection that I think might spark the interest of anyone keeping up with our club.

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As always, you can enjoy our previous silent book club meeting reports and book lists here.

If you’re interested in starting your own silent book club or are in the Toronto area and perhaps interested in checking ours out, please feel free to contact me for more information.

A few good words about a few good books

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bookcover-zolitudeTruth be told, 2018 has not been a good reading year for me. Not that I haven’t read great books and attended some memorable readings and book events, but my normal reading tempo has been impeded by vision problems. Not to dwell on it too much, but my vision deteriorated in an alarmingly short period of time. For a time, I didn’t know if that change would be permanent. If it was, I knew I had to accept changing how I read and would have to adapt accordingly. Other readers read in other ways, and I could too if I had to. As it turns out, surgery and support from excellent professionals means I’ll be able to continue casting my gaze on the printed page, my preferred way of reading. I’m grateful I have that option, and have heightened respect for those who come to the written word with patience and resourcefulness in other ways.

Because I was tussling just to read, I didn’t write about my reading much this year – except, as you may have noticed, about our beloved silent book club. Still, I did my best to share a few thoughts on my reading as I went along, and managed to put up some snippets on Goodreads, Twitter and even Instagram. Sometimes those wee comments sparked a bit of conversation with fellow readers, which was nice and some continued reassurance that not all of social media is a relentless dumpster fire.

For what they’re worth, here are a few good words about a few good books …

Happy first anniversary to our mighty fine silent book club!

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The weather in the Toronto area went from excessive humidex values to verging on windchill, essentially in the span of a day. It definitely looks and feels like autumn now. I was reminded that one of the best antidotes for that chill in the air is a warm gathering of booklovers. Then I was reminded that there was quite a chill in the air when this particular group of booklovers, or the start of this group, first met – a year ago. How time flies when you’re immersed in great books, enthused about your reading and eager to share it with others. So yes, we toasted – with upraised chai lattes and our rendition of this – how this group has grown and evolved in a year.

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Before we settled in with beverages, treats and much anticipated books for an hour of quiet, concentrated reading, we had our usual go round the table to share recent reading delights and challenges. As well, one of our fellow readers shared a lovely new reading journal she is inspired to use to augment the reading lists and ideas she’s acquiring through this group. Another reader announced something very special that she is planning next month for her 70th birthday: she wants everyone to share with her the gift of stories and storytelling. I hope she won’t mind that I’m sharing some of her words describing what prompted this idea and how it would work:

“Over the last year, and particularly the last few months, I have experienced deep despair about the future of the world. Constant negative news about economic, political, cultural, environmental events and forecasts have had a huge impact on me. And when I talk with others, there is a near universal response of ‘I’ve experienced the same thing’. Many of the events we hear about seem to be beyond our control.

At the same time, every so often, stories crop up of something that ordinary people are doing in their communities or beyond, that make a significant difference in people’s lives. Many have huge ripple effects. These give me hope, and are the antidote to despair. The more I look for them, the more I see and hear.

… So as my gift to the world, I propose to host a birthday party event … that is a storytelling event. It can include people who can physically attend, as well as all my friends, colleagues, and family globally who can participate virtually by sending their stories to me.

… Here’s what I’m asking of you to do as a gift to me and this process: look everywhere for stories of where ordinary people are making a positive difference in others’ lives, and capture them. Tell the stories in your own words, and write them down.”

She goes on to say that the captured stories can range from the local to the international and ones in the headlines. I’ve come to see the silent book club as an oasis and respite from all the news and noise that creates the anxiety and despair she mentions here. Her brilliant idea is another way of harnessing the power of storytelling to immensely positive effect, don’t you think?

Here is this month’s list of the books we read and discussed at this latest edition of our silent book club. As I’ve mentioned previously, each title is presented and discussed within the group with readers’ capsule positive, negative or mixed reviews. We do have cases of diverging opinions about some books, but the discussion is consistently interesting and respectful. The list as I present it here has no rating system, just a link to either publisher information or generally positive reviews or informational pieces. The list is not inherently a list of recommendations, just a record of what we discussed, for good, bad or indifferent. That said, I think each list brims with rich and eclectic offerings, and you could indeed use it to spark and expand your own reading.

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As always, you can enjoy our previous silent book club meeting reports and book lists here.

If you’re interested in starting your own silent book club or are in the Toronto area and perhaps interested in checking ours out, please feel free to contact me for more information.

Exuberant, brimming over, not-so-silent book club

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We returned to our comfortable coffee/book shop Press for the latest edition of our silent book club. Our usual table near the back of the top was full, including new members and another guest, this time from Red Deer, Alberta.

Everyone was clearly eager to share their recent and current reading – both the delights and the challenges – with the group. Another interesting evolution in the group since we started it almost a year ago is that we now share not only what we’ll be reading at the meeting, but what we’ve read since the last meeting. (One member who couldn’t attend this month sent along a list of her recent reading and I presented it to the group.) In fact, most of us bring a stack of books and happily distribute recommendations to fellow book club members.

A delicious dilemma arises from this enthusiasm. Our silent book club meetings are regularly scheduled on Saturday for two hours, from 10 am to 12 noon. The first hour is devoted to discussing what we are and have been reading and to exchange books, and then the second hour is for focused, silent reading. The idea is that by finishing by noon, people still have a chunk of Saturday to do regular Saturday errands and activities. We discovered at this latest meeting that we got into such a lively discussion in the “what we’re reading” portion of the meeting that we abbreviated the actual silent reading portion. I do think we want to ensure we have an hour for reading in future readings, but what do we do to still accommodate people’s Saturdays and finish by noon. Start earlier? Somehow limit the discussion before the silent reading portion? I don’t think we want to discourage that. Like I said, it’s a nice problem to have. I’ll report back on how we decide to resolve it.

We had a brief but very interesting side discussion this meeting about authors who seem more noticeably performative in terms of how they present their work. The thought was not that this was a necessarily bad thing, as many authors who seem to be this way can be very entertaining. One book club member made the distinction in thought provoking fashion: “people who write for an audience and people who just write.” Bookish food for thought, eh?

Here is this month’s list of books read and discussed. Each title is presented and discussed within the group with readers’ capsule positive, negative or mixed evaluations, and we do have cases of quite differing opinions amongst members. Note, though, that the list I capture from each meeting has no rating system, just a link to either publisher information or generally positive reviews or informational pieces. The list is not inherently a list of recommendations, just a record of what we discussed, for good, bad or indifferent. Does that make sense?

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As always, you can enjoy our previous silent book club meeting reports and book lists here.

If you’re interested in starting your own silent book club or are in the Toronto area and maybe interested in checking ours out, please feel free to contact me for more information.

On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood, by Richard Harrison

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bookcover-harrison-on-not-losingRichard Harrison’s wise and approachable poetry collection On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood has the satisfying cohesiveness of linked short stories. His meditations on mortality are grounded in rueful realities, from the collection’s titular tragicomedy to the telling observations of lovers, children and even golfing partners. Those meditations become transcendent as and because they take the body as their humble starting point, as in the poignant “With the Dying of the Light”:

“It is here now, what that hand held when it held itself up,
the lull before the poem begins,
the surrender when it’s done.”

You can sense Harrison’s craft and thought in every line and stanza. He often muses in his poems about writing poems and about others being aware that he is framing and composing as he is experiencing. That doesn’t come across as forced or pretentious, though, but as disarmingand self-effacing.

The concluding poem of the collection, “Haiku”, captures beautifully Harrison’s process and his wry consciousness of that process.

                                          It demands haiku,
                                       bee within chrysanthemum.
                                          Damn, I got nothing.

But that quits the moment
     and the moment is too much a moment to quit –

With that, we’re given simple encouragement to not quit our own moments, whatever we’re striving for, so we don’t miss out on moments of quiet discovery and resolution such as …

                                          At last the man sees
                                       the poem is the woman’s hand
                                          resting in his own.

On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood by Richard Harrison (Wolsak and Wynn, 2016)