The RUC Book Club started in the fall of 2005. We have never had formal membership, as we are open to anyone who wants to join us for one or more evenings. It is also not restricted to RUC members – we welcome everyone! What we all have in common is a love of books, and a desire to discuss them in a non-structured format. We decide on titles together, which have included both fiction and non-fiction, although the majority since inception has been fiction (See previous Titles Discussed). Some are recent and bestseller titles, while others are more obscure or older. No one has to do a “presentation” on a title, and we don’t even mind if you haven’t finished the book. Rather, there is a free flow of discussion, which regularly goes off topic as themes in the books touch aspects of our own lives. We would love to see some new faces!
The Book Club usually meets on Monday nights at the church, at 7:30, although there have been exceptions.
This year’s titles:
Sept. 28, 2009 Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott
Oct. 25, 2009 Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Nov. 16, 2009
Night by Eli Weisel
A candid, horrific, and deeply poignant autobiographical account of Weisel’s survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps.
Dec. 14, 2009
Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (highly recommended by Karen Bowles among others)
In an elegant Paris apartment building inhabited by bourgeois families, the concierge is witness to the lavish but vacuous lives of her numerous employers. She discovers a kinship with a twelve-year old girl who has decided to end her life on her 13th birthday. Both hide their true talents. This is a moving, funny, triumphant novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.
Jan. 11, 2010
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society by Marian Shaffer
The novel revolves around a small group of disparate Guernsey Island residents who read and discuss books during the German occupation, and a London writer who discovers their story after the war. The story is revealed entirely through letters between the characters.
Feb. 8, 2010
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Another book about the transcendant power of literature during horrific times. On a war-ravaged tropical island, deserted by teachers, a white man reads Great Expectations to the local children.
Mar. 8, 2010
The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
Winner of 2009 Canada Reads and several other awards, this novel follows the life of a young African girl who is abducted into slavery, sent to America, liberated, then finds her way to Nova Scotia, and back to Africa.
April 12, 2010
Winter Vault by Anne Michaels
Profound loss, desolation and rebuilding are the literal and metaphoric themes of Michaels’s second novel, after Fugitive Pieces. Set mostly in Egypt at the time of the building of the Aswan Dam, and Canada in the 1960s. “A tender love story set against an intriguing bit of history is handled with uncommon skill.” (Publishers’ Weekly).
May 10, 2010
A Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
Describes how a small Derbyshire village copes with the appearance of the plague in the 17th century.
June 14, 2010
Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis * pot luck dinner – location tbd
A well-deserved winner of the Stephen Leacock award for humour with hilarious insight into the political world of Ottawa, the story follows the fictional federal election campaign.
Questions? Suggestions? Contact Caroline Duncanson cduncanson@sympatico.ca
See previous Titles Discussed.