Our July Selection

Summertime, and the living is easy...

Matchbook Book Club presents: Dear Members, I hope everyone's been staying cool this past week- my goodness, Toronto is blazing!! No complaints though- sunny days are always a good thing- but make sure to cover yourself up with sunscreen and treat yourself to a lovely ice cream or iced tea! __ Toronto is so vibrant around this time of year: there's always something fun to do, whether it's fun strolls along the beach, attending Shakespeare in High Park, or biking around the islands! Whatever it is that you do with family and friends, make it a great one! See you all very soon! Joanne Thank you to everyone who attended our recent meeting! Brunch at Antler was very lovely - we discussed our latest read, The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper which had an overall positive feedback- a charming read and a great story to pass onto loved ones! This month's theme we turn to non-fiction picks: it was a pretty clear win with this selection as there are a couple of us heading over to Scandinavia this year (And lots of us who love all things Scandinavian in general!) Enjoy! Summary: A Finnish journalist, now a naturalized American citizen, asks Americans to draw on elements of the Nordic way of life to nurture a fairer, happier, more secure, and less stressful society for themselves and their children. Moving to America in 2008, Finnish journalist Anu Partanen quickly went from confident, successful professional to wary, self-doubting mess. She found that navigating the basics of everyday life—from buying a cell phone and filing taxes to education and childcare—was much more complicated and stressful than anything she encountered in her homeland. At first, she attributed her crippling anxiety to the difficulty of adapting to a freewheeling new culture. But as she got to know Americans better, she discovered they shared her deep apprehension. To understand why life is so different in the U.S. and Finland, Partanen began to look closely at both. In The Nordic Theory of Everything, Partanen compares and contrasts life in the United States with life in the Nordic region, focusing on four key relationships—parents and children, men and women, employees and employers, and government and citizens. She debunks criticism that Nordic countries are socialist “nanny states,” revealing instead that it is we Americans who are far more enmeshed in unhealthy dependencies than we realize. As Partanen explains step by step, the Nordic approach allows citizens to enjoy more individual freedom and independence than we do. Partanen wants to open Americans’ eyes to how much better things can be—to show her beloved new country what it can learn from her homeland to reinvigorate and fulfill the promise of the American dream—to provide the opportunity to live a healthy, safe, economically secure, upwardly mobile life for everyone. Offering insights, advice, and solutions, The Nordic Theory of Everything makes a convincing argument that we can rebuild our society, rekindle our optimism, and restore true freedom to our relationships and lives.

The June Edition

Trust yourself, then you will know how to live. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Matchbook Book Club presents: The June Edition Dear Members, Is it really almost summertime already?? I am so very excited that June has arrived at our doorstep: I'm looking forward to brighter days and cherished moments where we can lay back and read our favourite titles under the sun. HAPPY 5 YEARS, DEAREST MEMBERS! We've landed a mini milestone in this little book club of ours. I'll never forget that we first met at this vegan place called Rawlicious in Yorkville, and that our first book was The Paris Wife! Many meetings later, with new faces, and author visits, we are still going strong. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for believing in this book club and making it as incredible as it is. Cheers to more good times ahead!! Jo Thank you to everyone who came out to our meeting and had a super lovely brunch at Provo! We discussed our previous pick, Restless! Overall, it was a good read by all with very intricate characters and plot- worth recommending to others.  Our next read in light of our travel theme, which was Barb's choice: Happy Reading! Summary: in this poignant and sparkling debut, a lovable widower embarks on a life-changing adventure Sixty-nine-year-old Arthur Pepper lives a simple life. He gets out of bed at precisely 7:30 a.m., just as he did when his wife, Miriam, was alive. He dresses in the same gray slacks and mustard sweater vest, waters his fern, Frederica, and heads out to his garden. But on the one-year anniversary of Miriam's death, something changes. Sorting through Miriam's possessions, Arthur finds an exquisite gold charm bracelet he's never seen before. What follows is a surprising and unforgettable odyssey that takes Arthur from London to Paris and as far as India in an epic quest to find out the truth about his wife's secret life before they met--a journey that leads him to find hope, healing and self-discovery in the most unexpected places. Featuring an unforgettable cast of characters with big hearts and irresistible flaws, The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper is a curiously charming debut and a joyous celebration of life's infinite possibilities.

Our April Selection

"A book in one hand, admiring the springtime breeze..." View this email in your browser

Matchbook Book Club presents The April Edition Dear Members, Already we're into the first week of May- and again so many incredible things have taken place: firstly including moving into my new space: which means a new potential space to host the book club in! Many of us will either be doing a bit of travel, checking out new events, rekindle a classic film noir, or perhaps explore a different part of the city on a sunny day! Whatever it is, be sure to enjoy the simple things. Speaking of travels: I wanted to give everyone the heads-up that I will be away from May 13th- May 29th and as I will be away, the book club will be taking a short bookish break for the month of May. It would be even more fun: as this coming June will be our book club's FIFTH anniversary (hooray!!) Stay tuned though as I will provide a Doodle for earlier June dates and location. Huge apologies! In the meantime, have a wonderful upcoming weekend and I will see you all very, very soon! Joanne Thank you to all who came out to our last meeting at the Drake One Fifty! We had a lovely time enjoying our brunch- some a little too much (blueberry scones anyone?!) We discussed our latest read, A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler, which I'm very proud to say that it has made it to the Man Booker International Prize shortlist! Overall, it was a very lovely read enjoyed by all, writing was well done, the story was memorable, and the characters were touching. A book that is worthy of passing on to a friend! In light of Mother's Day coming up, I figured we would play on the theme of Memorable Mothers in Literature! Thank you to all who submitted their votes. And the winner:  Summary: “I am Eva Delectorskaya,” Sally Gilmartin announces, and so on a warm summer afternoon in 1976 her daughter, Ruth, learns that everything she ever knew about her mother was a carefully constructed lie. Sally Gilmartin is a respectable English widow living in picturesque Cotswold village; Eva Delectorskaya was a rigorously trained World War II spy, a woman who carried fake passports and retreated to secret safe houses, a woman taught to lie and deceive, and above all, to never trust anyone. Three decades later the secrets of Sally’s past still haunt her. Someone is trying to kill her and at last she has decided to trust Ruth with her story. Ruth, meanwhile, is struggling to make sense of her own life as a young single mother with an unfinished graduate degree and escalating dependence on alcohol. She is drawn deeper and deeper into the astonishing events of her mother’s past—the mysterious death of Eva’s beloved brother, her work in New York City manipulating the press in order to shift public sentiment toward American involvement in the war, her dangerous romantic entanglement. Now Sally wants to find the man who recruited her for the secret service, and she needs Ruth’s help. Restless is a brilliant espionage book and a vivid portrait of the life of a female spy. Full of tension and drama, and based on a remarkable chapter of Anglo-American history, this is fiction at its finest. P.S. I picked up a copy at BMV for only $6.99! So make sure you stop by the nearest BMV location near you! I will have poetry in my life. And adventure. And love. Love above all. — Tom Stoppard, Shakespeare in Love