Books and Meeting 2025

This list will be updated as members choose their book choice.

January 27 - Colette's choice, Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, Marg hosts

February 24 - Betty's choice, The Nurse's Secret by Amanda Skenandore, Shirley hosts

March 24 - Sharon's choice ,  Held by Anne Michaels,  Carla hosts

April 28 - Marg's choice, Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon, Michèle hosts

May 26 - Michèle's choice,  The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb,  Linda hosts

June 23 - Carla's choice, The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer, Colette hosts

September 22 -Linda's choice, Sharon hosts 

October 27 - Shirley's choice, Betty hosts

November 24 - Beth's  choice,  Beth hosts

The Nurse's Secret by Amanda Skenandore - February 24, 2025

For our February meeting we (Linda, Colette, Betty, Marg, Sharon, Carla, Shirley) discussed Betty's book choice, The Nurse's Secret by Amanda Skenandore.  Tonight's host Shirley provided some snacks to eat along with the book discussion: sausage rolls, goat cheese topped with pistachios, fig preserves and honey, and a Bakewell cake with ice cream for dessert. 

Betty provided background on the author who has written four other books to date, including The Second Life of Mirielle West and Between Earth and Sky. Skenandore struggled with dyslexia in school and found reading difficult, but she persisted and says that even now she doesn’t read fast but reads often and wide. Coming from a family of readers and a family of professionals; she is an infection prevention nurse which gives credibility to the medical jargon in tonight’s book.

The Nurse’s Secret is set in New York in the so-called Gilded Age and is a stark depiction of the political corruption of the time, the two distinct classes – extreme wealth and extreme squalor. This was a time, 1873, when Bellevue Hospital started to train nurses instead of using convicts to staff the hospital. The main character of the story, Una Kelly, who is talented pickpocket, liar, and grifter decides to hide in plain sight as a nurse trainee when she is accused of a murder she did not commit.

This is a historical novel with a murder mystery, albeit one where the murderer is telegraphed early in the story. There were a few incredulous incidents with respect to solving the murder which was a detraction from the story. The characters, however, are well described and well developed. It was noted by some that the opening section where we meet Marm Blei held an uncommon similarity to Charles Dickens’ Fagan. The description of the medical procedures of the time were interesting as it was a time when Lister’s new concept of cleanliness was dismissed as being radical and totally unnecessary. Yikes!

Una, in her life as a loner and a thief, has set herself Rules, many Rules, to live by. Her first rule of survival on the streets was to ‘keep your head down and look out for yourself’. Over the course of the story, Una is transformed under the tutelage of her roommate Dru and begins to see the benefits of helping others.

Thank you, Betty, for introducing us to this author and this book with so many points of discussion.

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr -January 27, 2025

Present were Betty, Colette, Linda, Marg, Michèle et Shirley.  Marg had for us, a very nice variety of cheese, crackers, nuts and raisins, wine and some lovely non-alcoholic drinks. We also had a very nice baklava. 

This month's book recommended by Colette, was Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr.  We all very much enjoyed All the Light we Cannot See by the same author and we looked forward to reading this story by the Anthony Doerr that has excellent reviews.  Unfortunately of our members present only one person said that she enjoyed the book, though like other members found it a challenge to read. 

The book is a collection of 5 stories in different time periods from the 15th century to a future century and each story line has a main character and minor characters.  The stories are connected through a lost book by Antonius Diogenes.  The challenge is being able to follow the stories and trying to find a connection between the stories.  

One of our members who was not able to be present at our meeting found the book captivating and she sent her opinion of the book.  It is copied here because it can help all members better understand the stories and the connections.  Here is Carla's opinion of the book.

"I didn’t read any reviews before I began reading the book. I found myself confused as to what was going on. Eventually I realized that Diogenes Folio was the thread that tied the stories together. 

The main message as I see it is that, stories, books, can unite us, educate us , calm us, and even heal us.  The love of ,  reading  learning, libraries, and protecting books ran through all the stories. 
The characters were very well described as were their motivations which helped me keep track of them as the story jumped from one time period to another. I wanted to know what was going to happen to them and was happy with the resolution of their story lines.  Anna and Omeir were able to escape their circumstances and make a life together and have a family. 
There was redemption for Seymour ( that must have been gratifying for Linda). Konstance escaped the Argos.  Her storyline was captivating. 
I began the book being annoyed at all the jumping around but as I continued reading and got into the rhythm of the book, I was captivated. 
The book within a book was an interesting vehicle to tie the storylines and timelines together and it was challenging because the book within the book was fragmented, incomplete and needed to be not only translated but interpreted and filled in as needed."

Thank you Marg for being a lovely host on this wintery evening.  

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon - November 25, 2024

 

Present were Betty, Carla, Colette, Linda, Michèle and Shirley.  Our host was Colette.  She offered us a very nice variety of cheese and pâtés.  

The month's book was The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon, chosen by Shirley.  The Frozen River is a historical fiction inspired by the real person, Martha Ballard who was a midwife, healer and diarist in Maine during the last 40 years of the 18th century.  The principle character in the novel has the same name. Though a novel, the descriptions of country and village life, the harshness of winter, midwifery,  farming and the legal system in Maine are very realistic.  

There are many characters in the novel plus animals that have their own personalities.  Some found it took some concentration to keep the characters and their relationships and connections with others straight.  However, Ms. Lawhon gave us vivid descriptions of the mains characters, Martha and her husband Ephraim are well described, obviously a couple with respect and love. 

The story begins with a drowning death and stories of families, murders, births and a court case are all intertwined .  Martha's journals serve as record keeping of births, deaths and the history of the community. There is drama,  family activities, a court case in which Martha is a witness.  There are crimes committed. There is no down time in this novel! 

Almost all of our members enjoyed the book and found all very realistic.  Thank you Shirley for an excellent choice. 

The Day the World Came to Town 9/11 by Jim Defede - October 28, 2024

 Betty was our host for this October and she had a lovely spread of cheese, olives and pâtés.  Present were Betty, Carla, Colette, Linda, Michèle, Sharon and Shirley.

Linda presented the book for this month The Day the World Came to Town 9/11 by Jim Defede.  It is an account of the day, September 11, that all planes were diverted from American air space.  42 jetliners were diverted to the Gander International Airport and about 7,000 passengers and crew members found themselves deplaning after 24 hours on their parked planes, in the small town of Gander.  They found that the towns people had prepared meals for them and found places for them to sleep and rest.  During the 4 days that they were stuck in Gander and surrounding villages, bonds and friendships developed amongst the passengers and the townspeople.

The author Jim Defede chose to concentrate on the stories of some passengers,  crew and towns people and, after interviewing them told their experiences in Gander.  

From the stories of passengers and crew he wrote of the generosity, friendliness and community work of Newfoundlanders.  

All of us enjoyed the book, it was well organized and reminded us of the friendliness of Newfoundlanders as those of us who were lucky enough to visit found out.  Thank you Linda

Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt

We were 7 members at our September meeting, Betty, Carla, Linda, Marg, Michèle,  Shirley and our newest member, Sharon.  Welcome Sharon!  Michèle had some great vegetable and salmon sushi and a cream cheese dip with veggies.  We also enjoyed a great Mandarin orange cake made with almond flour. Of course wine, coffee and tea were also on offer.

Our book this month presented by Carla was Remarkably Bright Creatures by American author, Shelby Van Pelt.  This is Ms. Van Pelt's first novel.  It was on the New York Times Top 10 list of fictions for several months.  It has been picked up by Netflix and will star Sally Field.

The story is about a developing friendship between a giant octopus Marcellus and a woman, Tova who cleans the aquarium. Ms Van Pelt did a lot of research on octopuses before writing the book.  The main human character, Tova is an older widow who takes a night job at the aquarium after her husband dies, to keep busy.  

Almost all our members enjoyed the book.  They found the writing to be excellent, characters well developed, and the story to be charming, gentle, not a story with extreme drama but it developed well and was easy to read and follow.  Both Tova and Marcellus must deal with the fact that they are ageing and make choices to continue a pleasant life.   Many felt it was a satisfying book to read with a happy ending.  

Thank you Carla for beginning our Fall season with such a pleasant book.  

The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis - Monday June 24, 2024

Colette was our host this month.  Present were Beth, Betty, Colette, Linda, Michèle and Shirley.  We were a small group this month.

Beth presented the book The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis.   Martin Amis was born in 1949 and died in 2023.  He was the son of Kingsley Amis, a well known British author who wrote over 20 novels including Lucky Jim.   Martin Amis wrote several novels, essays, memoirs and screenplays.  Two of his novels were  nominated for the Booker Prize.   

The Zone of Interest is the area around the concentration camp Auschwitz, about 40 sq. kilometres.  The commandant Rudolph Höss and his family, live in the region along with others who work at the concentration camp.   There are several characters, however Amis has chosen to tell the story via 3 of them,  the camp commandant Paul Doll,  Golo Thomsen, who is a very aryan, blue-eyed tall young Nazi officer and the third character is the head of the "Sonders" jewish prisoners who help the Nazis, with the hope of saving themselves. Many reviewers see the story as a comedic farce with a love story included between, Golo Thomsen and the Camp Commandant's wife Hannah Doll. 

All of us found the book challenging and difficult to read.  Some found it well written giving more the prospective of the protagonists, they believed they were doing the right thing.  Some however did not like the writing style and did not appreciate the German phrases that were not translated,  making it hard to read and understand.   None of us found the story to be funny.

Though it was not a story that members enjoyed reading, it was one that brought on a discussion about the war in mideast at moment.  Thank you Beth.

May - Poetry - Monday May 27, 2024

Unfortunately because of weather and an electricity outage, we had to cancel this month's meeting .