The St. Ann's Bay Book Club

I have been promising my book group that I would do a posting on us -- the St. Ann's Bay Book Club -- so here it is. We are serious readers -- men and women -- from a wide variety of backgrounds, with diverse interests and varied reading habits. We choose primarily literary fiction, though we have read poetry, non-fiction and speculative fiction as well. We try to choose books at least two meetings in advance through discussion of members' recommendations. These discussions are often boisterous though entirely respectful (as are book discussions -- the only book everyone has ever agreed was wonderful, was Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones and I missed that meeting) but eventually we come to a consensus. We are a rural group and most of our members live in the St. Ann's Bay area, which encompasses 77 kilometres along the gorgeous Cabot Trail. Some members travel to us. Johanna Padelt and David Martin come all the way from Port Hood, and Russell Colman and Bill Palandar, having recently moved to Sydney, are now commuting as well. We meet monthly from October to May, and we take the summer off because many of our members own or work in businesses associated with the tourist trade, and they are too busy to meet. The club is open to the community.

Members host meetings in their homes. Our last meeting, on Valentine's Day -- we appropriately read Doris Lessing's Love, Again -- was held in Sue Miller's yurt. We had expected to have to snowshoe in, but with her trail snow packed and frozen, we were able to navigate on top of the snow, except a few tottery readers who stepped off the beaten path and sank in snow up to their bums. (Most of the photos above, taken by Marion Thompson, are of Sue's yurt. Sue is the one hiding behind the book.) Up until recently, we met on a Wednesday mornings but we have changed our meeting day and time and now meet on Saturday afternoons. Libations and snacks have now switched from coffee and tea and juice with home-baked muffins and sweets, to wine and beer and whiskey toddies with cheese and crackers and nuts. (Rival Baddeck Book Club wine-drinking members, who boast holding book club on a sailboat, please take note of the whiskey toddies in a yurt.)

In May, our last meeting before the summer break, we have a potluck lunch. Each member chooses a book from which they make a dish eaten by the characters in the story, or something inspired by the book itself, ie: David Martin made stir-fried bear meat, and brought delicious baked seaweed chips in honour of Elle by Douglas Glover.

We host author readings and discussions. Frank MacDonald came to St. Ann's Bay United Church and read from A Forest for Callum and inspired Cape Breton's only arboretum, which community groups have started in the adjacent church yard. George Elliott Clarke joined us at North River Hall for an evening of readings and a discussion of his work. D.R. MacDonald attended a book club meeting and answered questions regarding various of his books including Cape Breton Road. We held a special congratulatory meeting for Russell Colman when he was short-listed for the prestigious Debut Dagger Award. And I was invited to make a presentation to the club on the writing of The Checkout Girl. We are now planning to host the North River Writers' Festival through the weekend of October 2nd, 3rd and 4th, 2009. Donna Morrissey has agreed to be our featured reader, and Douglas Aurthur Brown, Dorris Heffron and I are slated to do workshops. As plans firm up, I will make sure you know what is happening, and will include our website once it is up and running.

Here is a sampling of the books we've read: Sylvanus Now by Donna Morrissey. A Forest for Callum by Frank Macdonald. The Checkout Girl by Susan Zettell. Poetry by Al Purdy. Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findlay. George and Rue by George Elliott Clarke. Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones. Bel Canto by Ann Pachett. A choice of book by Salman Rushdie. Atonement by Ian McEwan. The Pat Barker Trilogy Regeneration. The Known World by Edward P. Jones. Our selection for March is The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill.