Our May Edition

The May Edition Theme: The Unexpected Dear Members, I hope everyone is doing well! While we say goodbye to the last remaining traces of snow, we can now look towards longer, brighter days. And yes, while we may face more showers the next couples of months, you know the old saying... It was only fitting that this month's theme aimed at titles that carried a sense of the unexpected. Whether it's titles you would normally overlook in the bookstore or discovering characters with bite, it's time to take a leap and see where it might lead us...for better or for worse! I'm looking forward to many events that will take place in store for us! Whether it be travel, or trying something new on your to-do list, let this be a month of fulfillment. See you all at the next meeting! Joanne Meeting Update A huge thank you to everybody who turned up to our previous meeting! Brunching at Wind Up Bird Cafe was a success! Wonderful items on the menu, and great service. A great place to go with family and friends. We discussed our previous pick, The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. What a lively discussion! Characters like Sarah and Hattie made an impact on how we felt for their lives and the horrors of slavery allowed us to gain a deeper understanding of the injustice that was taking place at the time. The book was a fast read- we found ourselves jumping onto the next chapter! Overall, everyone agreed that this was a book that we would highly recommend to someone else! Our members have voted, and this month's selection is:  Summary: Summer of 1876: San Francisco is in the fierce grip of a record-breaking heat wave and a smallpox epidemic. Through the window of a railroad saloon, a young woman named Jenny Bonnet is shot dead.  The survivor, her friend Blanche Beunon, is a French burlesque dancer. Over the next three days, she will risk everything to bring Jenny's murderer to justice--if he doesn't track her down first. The story Blanche struggles to piece together is one of free-love bohemians, desperate paupers, and arrogant millionaires; of jealous men, icy women, and damaged children. It's the secret life of Jenny herself, a notorious character who breaks the law every morning by getting dressed: a charmer as slippery as the frogs she hunts. In thrilling, cinematic style, FROG MUSIC digs up a long-forgotten, never-solved crime. Full of songs that migrated across the world, Emma Donoghue's lyrical tale of love and bloodshed among lowlifes captures the pulse of a boomtown like no other. FUTURE EVENT Our next meeting will be taking place during the middle of May. Vote here on the Doodle for best availability. For location, in light with our theme, I figured we'd try another new place:Museum Tavern for lunch! EVENTS IN T.O May 10 Lo and behold, the Toronto Flower Market returns once more! With breathtaking selections, and a beautiful atmosphere, you're sure to pick up a bouquet or two! May 2-4 Jane's Walk is a movement of free, locally led walking tours inspired by Jane Jacobs. The walks get people to explore their cities and connect with neighbors. On now (click image for more info):

Our April Selection

Dear Members, Weather-wise, it looks like we're going to be in a long hull. Never fret, for the coming of April means May, and the coming of May means June, which signifies that summer will return!!! So keep holding on, and in the meantime we've got some great Spring reads coming up, beginning with our latest book club pick. Thank you to everyone who came out for brunch at The Rivoli on Sunday. It was wonderful to catch up and to talk about our previous pick, The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner. Overall, if asked how we would like the book, we would honestly have picked the Goodreads vote of an  "it was okay" stance. Well-written, well-informed as this place takes place in the 1970s between Italy, New York City and spaces in between. Some of the characters were hard to love, while others such as Sandro's father, wished that there were more elaboration of his part. We all agreed that reading this book needed a certain mentality to sift through. The author certainly gives the book a certain personal touch, which is obvious when she writes about art, New York City, and bikes. See you next month!

This Month's Selection! Thank you to everyone who submitted their votes! It was close tie with The Good Luck of Right Now.With a very high rating on Goodreads and praise from many individuals including Oprah (it's not only her book club that's making The Invention of Wings their pick!) one things's for sure: it needs aMatchbook seal of approval! Happy reading! Summary: Hetty "Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women. Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid.We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty-five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love. As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements. Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful’s cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better. This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at a devastating wound in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment, and expression will leave no reader unmoved.

Book Swap! Our next meeting will commence this season's Book Swap! Just in time to do some Spring cleaning for your bookshelves...and acquire some new reads! I have an extra copy of Rene Denfeld's The Enchanted to give away as well as some other reads I would like to share with you all. Everyone is welcome to contribute!