It was such an enjoyable lunch and book chat today, with varied discussions and a bevvy of books! The photo shows some of them, although the one on the left with the lavender book mark was not read, even though the author was at the table. That’s because this is the Ukrainian language edition of Marsha’s novel, Stolen Girl! Jean, our resident historian, brough three fascinating older books, shown above: Man and his world, which we all remembered from high school, Herstory III and a charmingly illustrated book called Still Glides the Stream. Norah told us about the book she’s reading, pictured above, called Lady in Waiting, and she’s really enjoying it. Our newest participant, Jeanne, had an eclectic and interesting variety:

As did Marsha:

We have fast walkers and slow walkers in our Tuesday morning walking group. We have some who arrive late but jog to catch up and some who take their time and take pictures along the way or identify each bird call as it sounds. Some revel in the rain while others bring umbrellas. No matter what your thoughts are on a perfect walk, ours are all about friendship and exercise and great conversation. None of us is perfect, but we are all interesting and interested.

Meeting of Monday Reading Group, April 17/23

Marsha S, Norah O, Marion W, Leslie L

Marsha: 1) “The Everlasting Meal Cookbook-Leftovers A-Z” A wonderful new cookbook by Tamar Adler.
Marsha found this was “preaching to the choir” as she already uses many of these strategies in her own kitchen, however she has enjoyed sitting down and reading it as opposed to just using it as a recipe book.
2) “Next -Generation Memory and Ukrainian Canadian Children’s Historical Fiction – The Seeds of Memory” by Mateusz Swietlicki
This is an academic work concerning a particular genre near and dear to Marsha’s heart. She has met the author and he has described her as a ‘kindred spirit’. His bibliography has a lengthy list of Marsha’s published works.

Norah: 1) Norah brings us another aged volume which was given to her brother as a book award at matriculation from high school (see notes from March/23). This one is an English translation of “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo-lovely to see it! (1890)
2) “The Secret Guests” by Benjamin Black. This is a work of historical fiction surrounding the supposed relocation of the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret to an estate outside of London during the Blitz for safety. Norah has this from the library and has just started it. She has found it intriguing. M. points out the typical book club cover with the children looking away from the reader towards the distant horizon.
3) “Quick Silver” by Dean Koontz. Science fiction, ‘guilty pleasure’ material.
4) “The Club” by Ellery Lloyd. Murder mystery in the vein of Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians”

Marion: also mentions a memory of accounts by Elizabeth Cavanaugh concerning her mother, a Grade One teacher in Halifax at the time of the Halifax Explosion(s) (dramatic!)
1) “Shadowlands- A journey through Britain’s Lost Cities and Vanished Villages” by Matthew Green
She received this as an Easter gift and has enjoyed this exploration.

Leslie: 1) “Old Babes in the Wood” by Margaret Atwood. A wonderful new collection of short stories. Three sections-first ‘Tig & Nell’-memories of a marriage, family events, little details evoke the emotional connections within the family. The last section is ‘Nell & Tig’ which returns to the same characters/family but includes parents, in laws, siblings and memories of loss. Processing grief is a prominent theme, perhaps influenced by the author’s own loss of her husband to dementia in 2019.
The middle section ‘My Evil Mother’ is made up of 8 more stories-quite a variety! L. specifically noted one story in which the soul of a snail has arrived in the mind of a woman employed as a customer service representative for a major bank (working remotely from home, post COVID). (“Metempsychosis”). The snail has to learn to adapt to his/her new body and adjust language to suit the new role-very humorous! (What an imagination!) Another worthy of mention concerns a visiting alien passing the time with anxious human captives narrating a fairy tale without the vocabulary or context to understand it. This also generates chilling fear but also humour! (“Impatient Griselda”)

Submitted L. L. April 19/23