March 2017 Nominations

Hey everyone!

Sorry about the delay, school stress! This month's theme wasn't decided at the last meeting, so I randomly picked one: Books Under 300 Pages!

Here is the link to the Doodle, as usual.

And here are the nominations:

Still Alice / Lisa Genova

Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she’s a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her life--and her relationship with her family and the world--forever.

[292 pages]

Interpreter of Maladies / Jhumpa Lahiri

Some of these nine tales are set in India, others in the United States, and most concern characters of Indian heritage. Yet the situations Lahiri's people face, from unhappy marriages to civil war, transcend ethnicity. As the narrator of the last story, "The Third and Final Continent," comments: "There are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept." In that single line Jhumpa Lahiri sums up a universal experience, one that applies to all who have grown up, left home, fallen in or out of love, and, above all, experienced what it means to be a foreigner, even within one's own family.

[198 pages]

Euphoria / Lily King

Inspired by events in the life of revolutionary anthropologist Margaret Mead, Euphoria is the story of three young, gifted anthropologists of the 1930s caught in a passionate love triangle that threatens their bonds, their careers, and, ultimately, their lives.

[256 pages]

The Incomparable Atuk
Mordecai Richler

Transplanted to Toronto from his native Baffin Island, Atuk the poet is an unlikely overnight success. Eagerly adapting to a society steeped in pretension, bigotry, and greed, Atuk soon abandons the literary life in favour of more lucrative – and hazardous – schemes.

[192 pages]

Peril at End House / Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot is vacationing on the Cornish coast when he meets Nick Buckly. Nick is the young and reckless mistress of End House, who has recently narrowly escaped a series of life-threatening accidents. 

Something tells the Belgian sleuth that these so-called accidents are more than just mere coincidences. It seems all too clear to him that someone is trying to do away with poor Nick, but who? And, what is the motive? In his quest for answers, Poirot must delve into the dark history of End House. The deeper he gets into his investigation, the more certain he is that the killer will soon strike again. And, this time, Nick may not escape with her life. 

[287 pages]

The Housekeeper and the Professor
Yoko Ogawa

He is a brilliant math Professor with a peculiar problem--ever since a traumatic head injury, he has lived with only eighty minutes of short-term memory.  She is an astute young Housekeeper, with a ten-year-old son, who is hired to care for him.  And every morning, as the Professor and the Housekeeper are introduced to each other anew, a strange and beautiful relationship blossoms between them. The Housekeeper and the Professor is an enchanting story about what it means to live in the present, and about the curious equations that can create a family.

[180 pages]









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Feb 2017 Meeting & Movie Final Details

Here are the details for our February 2017 meeting:

Date: Thursday, March 2, 2017
Time: 6:30 pm
Place: Boardroom, Hart House (second floor)

The meeting will be from 6:30-7:30ish, and then we'll start the movie. You're welcome to stay if you like, but you don't have to :) We'll be watching The Grand Budapest Hotel!

See you then!

February 2017 Book of the Month & Pick a Movie!

Reading Week is finally here! And with it, you have the chance to relax - and, well, read. Our book of the month is...

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling.

The meeting date/time is Thursday March 2, at 6:30 pm. I'll post again about the place (which will most likely be at Hart House). 

Here is the survey for our Movie Night (also March 2, right after the meeting):

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February 2017 Nominations

Hey everyone!

February's theme is Humour. (After January's somewhat depressing book, and considering it's the middle of winter, we all need this!) 

Here's a link to the Doodle for our meeting date & time.

The February nominations are:

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole,
Aged 13 3/4 | Sue Townsend

Adrian Mole's first love, Pandora, has left him; a neighbor, Mr. Lucas, appears to be seducing his mother (and what does that mean for his father?); the BBC refuses to publish his poetry; and his dog swallowed the tree off the Christmas cake. "Why" indeed. [source]

The Sellout | Paul Beatty

Paul Beatty's The Sellout showcases a comic genius at the top of his game. A biting satire about a young man's isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court, it challenges the sacred tenets of the United States Constitution, urban life, the civil rights movement, the father-son relationship, and the holy grail of racial equality—the black Chinese restaurant. [source]

The Indifference League
Richard Scarsbrook

Sexy, racy, hilarious, and even moving, The Indifference League is a story of what happens when the starry-eyed optimism of the Greatest Generation crashes into the obsessions and fears of the New Lost Generation. 

Under the faded banner of Superman, Wonder Woman, and other heroes past steps the Indifference League: The Statistician, Time Bomb, Hippie Avenger, SuperKen, SuperBarbie, Miss Demeanour, Mr. Nice Guy, Psycho Superstar, The Drifter, and The Stunner. All archetypes of Generations X and Y, they are here to show us just how much things have changed.

Sex and love. Religion and politics. Left and Right. Right and Wrong. Can anyone be a hero in an age where the lines are so blurred? When they meet again at The Hall of Indifference for a long weekend together, The Indifference League will fight to find out. Or not. [source]

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
(And Other Concerns) | Mindy Kaling

Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck–impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence “Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I’ll shut up about it?” 

In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door—not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka. [source]

Weird Things Customers Say
in Bookstores | Jen Campbell

This Sunday Times bestseller is a miscellany of hilarious and peculiar bookshop moments: 'Can books conduct electricity?' 'My children are just climbing your bookshelves: that's ok... isn't it?'

A John Cleese Twitter question ['What is your pet peeve?'], first sparked the 'Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops' blog, which grew over three years into one bookseller's collection of ridiculous conversations on the shop floor. 

From 'Did Beatrix Potter ever write a book about dinosaurs?' to the hunt for a paperback which could forecast the next year's weather; and from 'I've forgotten my glasses, please read me the first chapter' to 'Excuse me... is this book edible?: here is a book for heroic booksellers and booklovers everywhere. [source]

Wake Up, Sir! | Jonathan Ames

Alan Blair is a young, loony writer with numerous problems. He's also quite skilled at getting into trouble. But luckily for Alan, he has a personal valet, a wondrously helpful fellow named Jeeves, who does his best to sort things out for his young master.

Our tale begins in Montclair, New Jersey, where Alan gets into a scrape with his uncle Irwin, a gun-toting member of the NRA. So Alan and Jeeves flee New Jersey and take refuge at a Hasidic enclave in Sharon Springs, New York. Unfortunately, more trouble ensues, so Alan and Jeeves again take flight, this time landing at a famous artist colony in Saratoga Springs, New York. There Alan encounters a femme fatale who is in possession of the most spectacular nose in the history of noses. Such a nose can only lead to a wild disaster for someone like Alan, and Jeeves tries to help him, but... [source]


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Snakes and Lattes Game Night

Hey Bookenders!

I have closed the poll, and the votes are in! Here are the details for our Games Night:

Place: Snakes and Lattes, College/Bathurst location (apologies for the error)
Date: Thursday, February 2, 2017
Time: 7:00pm to however long you can stay :)

Please note that there is a $5 cover charge! Also, there's a possibility that we may have to wait for seating as it is first-come, first-serve. In this case, we can try the Bloor/Bathurst location. 

Thanks for all your votes!

Best,

Taneeta

January 2017 Meeting Details

Hey Bookenders! 

Here are the details for our January meeting /

Book: Ghosted / Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall

Date: 26 January 2016

Time: 6:30-7:30 pm (time changed, scheduling conflict)

Place: Committees Room, Hart House

Also, we're thinking of doing a games night at Snakes and Lattes. Here is a Doodle for some possible dates. Please let us know if you prefer the Bloor/Spadina location or the College/Spadina location via email, the Discord app, or by replying to this post!

Best,

Taneeta

January 2017 Book of the Month

Hey Bookenders!

Hope you enjoyed your winter break (and if you didn't get much of one, I hope it happens soon!) Thanks to all of you who voted for the book of the month. Without further ado, it is...

Ghosted, by Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall.

Here is the poll for the meeting time/date. I'm hoping the place will be somewhere that's relevant to the book! Let me know if you have any ideas as we go along.

Best,

Taneeta