Do you love to talk about what you’re reading? Join a book club to share your thoughts and hear what others have to say about books that spark discussion, curiosity, and debate! Discover new “Books to Talk About” and join a community of booklovers at NVDPL. Simply read the book and join us at the meeting!

Register online for the time and location that’s most convenient for you to receive meeting instructions and information in advance of the discussion! Join us every month or just for the meetings you prefer. If you miss a meeting but still want to discuss the book, you can also join us at a different time or location. Click here to see all six Books to Talk About book clubs.

Copies of the next book will be available to pick-up from Lynn Valley Library on or after the date of the current meeting. All books are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Copies are also available in other formats, such as print, ebook, audiobooks, and more. Ask staff to help you find a copy!

This group meets in the Program Room at Lynn Valley Library.

Registration is optional. Everyone is welcome to drop in to any of the discussions; register online to receive handouts, reminders, etc.

2023–2024 Schedule for the Lynn Valley Wednesday Afternoon Book Club:

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
January 10 at 2:30pm

It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church. Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers. Learn more. 

We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies by Tsering Yangzom Lama
February 14 at 2:30pm

In the wake of China's invasion of Tibet throughout the 1950s, Lhamo and her younger sister, Tenkyi, arrive at a refugee camp in Nepal. They survived the dangerous journey across the Himalayas, but their parents did not. As Lhamo - haunted by the loss of her homeland and her mother, a village oracle - tries to rebuild a life amid a shattered community, hope arrives in the form of a young man named Samphel and his uncle, who brings with him the ancient statue of the Nameless Saint-a relic known to vanish and reappear in times of need. Decades later, the sisters are separated, and Tenkyi is living with Lhamo's daughter, Dolma, in Toronto. While Tenkyi works as a cleaner and struggles with traumatic memories, Dolma vies for a place as a scholar of Tibetan Studies. But when Dolma comes across the Nameless Saint in a collector's vault, she must decide what she is willing to do for her community, even if it means risking her dreams. Learn more.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
March 13 at 2:30pm

Carson McCullers’ prodigious first novel was published in 1940 to instant acclaim when she was just twenty-three. Set in a small town in the middle of the deep South, it is the story of John Singer, a lonely deaf-mute, and a disparate group of people who are drawn towards his kind, sympathetic nature. The owner of the café where Singer eats every day, a young girl desperate to grow up, an angry drunkard, a frustrated black doctor: each pours their heart out to Singer, their silent confidant, and he in turn changes their disenchanted lives in ways they could never imagine. Learn more.

Laughing with the Trickster: On Sex, Death, and Accordions by Tomson Highway
April 10 at 2:30pm

Celebrated author and playwright Tomson Highway brings his signature irreverence to an exploration of five themes central to the human condition: language, creation, sex and gender, humour, and death. A comparative analysis of Christian, classical, and Cree mythologies reveals their contributions to Western thought, life, and culture—and how North American Indigenous mythologies provide unique, timeless solutions to our modern problems. Collected essays from the 2022 Massey Lectures. Learn more.

True Biz by Sara Nović
May 8 at 2:30pm

With sharp turns and charming characters, this debut thriller by Annishinabe author Boulley centers 18-year-old Daunis Fontaine, who loves and fits into her community but yearns for official citizenship in the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. A lover of both science and hockey, Daunis had where they'll meet Charlie, a rebellious transfer student who's never met another deaf person before; Austin, the school's golden boy, whose world is rocked when his baby sister is born hearing; and February, the headmistress, who is fighting to keep her school open and her marriage intact, but might not be able to do both. As a series of crises both personal and political threaten to unravel each of them, Charlie, Austin, and February find their lives inextricable from one another—and changed forever. Learn more.

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
June 12 at 2:30pm

Hungarian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's 1959 memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Based on his own experience and the stories of his patients, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. At the heart of his theory, known as logotherapy, is a conviction that the primary human drive is not pleasure but the pursuit of what we find meaningful. Learn more.

Location: Lynn Valley
Time:
Repeats every month on January, February, March, April, May, June, October, November on the second Wednesday until Wed Jun 12 2024.

Wednesday, January 10, 2024 - 2:30pm
Wednesday, February 14, 2024 - 2:30pm
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 - 2:30pm
Wednesday, April 10, 2024 - 2:30pm
Wednesday, May 8, 2024 - 2:30pm
Wednesday, June 12, 2024 - 2:30pm
Audience: Adults
Registration: Program

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