Well.
We have just had the bestest month EVER!
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First of all, we put together our very first summer reading list. L’été 2013 is not over yet, so I suggest you check it out.
We found our Niamh’s boyfriend celebrity crush Ben Affleck is staring in the adaptation of Gone Girl. Amazing.
The high-anticipated Man Booker Longlist was announced, which will no doubt be the inspiration for future picks.
And, to top it all off, you might have noticed a few new pictures on the blog today. That’s because our in-house professional photographer, Laura Kelly, generously offered to do a book club photoshoot at our August meeting/slumber party! It was the most fun many of us had had in months. Everyone looks so freakin’ fantastic. We’re in love! Thank you, Laura!
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So… as you can see, we’ve been busy!
July’s book, Lolita, was a tough one. Only a handful of the girls were able to finish it. Some adored it, calling it “beautiful”, while others didn’t quite connect with the writer’s style. Overall, I think the consensus was that it was the most challenging book we’ve ever picked. Sian wanted to go out with a bang, and I think she accomplished her goal! She’ll be bringing you a review of Lolita soon.
For this month’s book, I had the honour of picking. I was pretty excited (mostly because the opportunity to pick only comes around every 16 months or so) and I tossed around a dozen titles before finally settling on three that I pitched to the members. At one point I was considering Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald because a) it’s Nova Scotian and b) I’s read it and knew it was perfect for book club. However, it was a bit too long (just shy of 600 pages) and I decided I wouldn’t do that to the girls in the middle of summer.
The other book on the table was my great-great aunt’s 1946 Governor General’s Award-winning memoir, We Keep a Light. Those of you from Nova Scotia may have heard of Evelyn M. Richardson, who was a lighthouse keeper in Bon Portage. A former teacher, she wrote about her life raising a family on a 600-acre island. I decided to pre-read her book before choosing it, and ultimately decided it wasn’t a good choice (not everyone wants to read about lighthouse keepers in the ‘40s), but I loved learning every detail about a part of my family history I was unfamiliar with. It was pretty special!
Anyway, I went back to the drawing board. I wanted to pick something totally different from anything we’d ever read. I read some blogs about “what’s hot” in the literary world and stumbled upon The Dinner, dubbed the “European Gone Girl”. This peaked my interest.
As I investigated further, though, I learned that other book reviewers felt associating The Dinner with Gone Girl cheapened the book; they felt it was brilliant. Regardless, I knew we’d have a juicy plot and a controversial discussion on our hands… so that’s what I picked! I cannot wait to dig my teeth into The Dinner.
What hot summer reads have you gotten into lately?
Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
