August 2013

Dear Members,

As most of us are looking forward to Fall, there are certainly plenty of memories that have being made this summer- whether it's relaxing with a good read at the cottage, having a good laugh (or shriek) at the drive-in theatre, getting together with fellow members to welcome Canadian best-selling author Ania Szado at our meeting at Balzac's, or simply dancing the night away at the Beaches Jazz Festival: there were laughter and good company.

I want to thank everyone that came to our recent meeting, which took place this past Wednesday evening at Marche Restaurant. While there were a couple of members that were not able to attend (and for that we missed you lots!), I was happy to hear everyone's selections. This month's read, which was:

Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953

It was delightful to hear that everyone quite enjoyed the book! It was a light and easy read, with fascinating insight into the Sylvia before The Bell Jar, about society and women in the 1950's, and the ideas, values, and inspirations which Sylvia held. All agreed that this book is one which we would recommend to others.

As well, it was also our seasonal Book Swap! From Agatha Christie to Julia Stuart, there were books for everyone to take home! We also got into the topic of some fantastic places to eat around Toronto, and Sonya had some wonderful places to recommend (which, thankfully I had recorded for all to share- thanks Sonya!):

Libretto (located at Danforth and Logan) - fantastic pizza, I've been told!

Chino Loco (tasty good burritos)

Mercury Cafe (for great coffee)

Ed's Real Scoop (for some scrumptious ice cream before the temperature cools)

There are some upcoming events to check out in and outside the city which I am looking forward to:

Buskerfest

TIFF In The Park (free screening of films outside Roy Thompson Hall on Wednesday nights, the last screening of the season ends next week!)

Shakespeare in High Park (from Macbeth to Taming of the Shrew- there's something for everyone)

Visiting Wychwood Barns

Checking out plays such as Anything Goes (which one of our members Barbara has attended!)

Lastly, came our selections for September- as per tradition, I have carefully handpicked some great Mystery titles (and to that I am grateful for your wonderful feedback about these choices!!) There was an overwhelming majority vote for one particular title, and so our book club pick is:




Summary:
Meet Lucifer Box: Equal parts James Bond and Sherlock Holmes, with a twist of Monty Python and a dash of Austin Powers, Lucifer has a charming countenance and rapier wit that make him the guest all hostesses must have. And most do.
But few of his conquests know that Lucifer is also His Majesty''s most daring secret agent, at home in both London''s Imperial grandeur and in its underworld of despicable vice. So when Britain''s most prominent scientists begin turning up dead, there is only one man his country can turn to for help.

Following a dinnertime assassination, Lucifer is dispatched to uncover the whereabouts of missing agent Jocelyn Poop. Along the way he will give art lessons, be attacked by a poisonous centipede, bed a few choice specimens, and travel to Italy on business and pleasure. Aided by his hench woman Delilah; the beautiful, mysterious, and Dutch Miss Bella Pok; his boss, a dwarf who takes meetings in a lavatory; grizzled vulcanologist Emmanuel Quibble; and the impertinent, delicious, right-hand-boy Charlie Jackpot, Lucifer Box deduces and seduces his way from his elegant town house at Number 9 Downing Street (somebody has to live there) to the ruined city of Pompeii, to infiltrate a highly dangerous secret society that may hold the fate of the world in its claw-like grip--the Vesuvius Club.

Happy reading everyone!





“A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called "leaves") imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time ― proof that humans can work magic.”
-Carl Sagan