Art, Literature, Humour Ten Years of Great Reading
The "BETWEEN THE LIONS" book club finished our 10th season in June. When MaryLee and I started brainstorming in 2001 about starting another book club in Lions Bay, who knew we would still be at it! None of us had been in a book club before, but we put our heads together, created our monthly meeting guidelines, then got right into some great reading and wonderful discussions. Of course with 12 women in a room, we quickly realized we needed an assigned facilitator! Usually the person who recommended the book we were discussing gets the meeting going with a background on the author, why she recommended the book and makes sure everyone gets their say. Sometimes, not an easy task! We rotate our monthly meeting between homes and each host puts out a spread of culinary delights often themed along with the book. And no, we didn't serve the chocolate pie that was read about in ‘The Help!’ But, we have had a few laughs with some of the delights.
For me, being in a book club adds a whole other dimension to reading. I have been introduced to wonderful books that I know I would not of picked up on my own, have been pleased to finish books I otherwise would of not bothered and have had the benefit of everyones perspective. Our discussions can be lively and are always interesting. And since everyone sees a book through their own lens, the more books we discussed together, the deeper we got to know each other. A true bonus!
The volunteers at our Lions Bay Library always stock our books for us and have been a great help in sourcing out what we've needed and in providing suggestions. If you are not in a book club now, and are interested in starting one, I highly recommend it and would be happy to help you out.
Listed below are most of the 90 books we've discussed so far, along with their average ratings out of 10.
Now I can't wait to know what we decide to read next! Happy Reading everyone!
Books and Ratings to Date:
Year 1: Swift As Desire by Laura Esquvel - 7, Barneys Version by Mordecai Richler -8.5, The Red Tent by Anita Diament - 8, Lambs of God by Marele Day - 5, The Pearl Earring by Tracey Chevalier -7.5, Menace by Bunny Wright - 6, Monsoon by Wilber Smith - 4.5
Year 2: The Correction by Jonathan Frazen - 8, Unless by Carol Shields - 8.4, Skipping Christmas by John Christmas - 7.1, The Last Time We Met by Anita Shreve - 8, Obison by J Kigaswa - 7 , The Hours by M Cunningham -8, Seeds of Time by Karen Dyer, 5th Quarter of an Orange by Joanne Harris -8.5
Year 3: A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlene De Blast - 6, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco - , Lucky Man by Michael J Fox - 7.5, Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks - 8, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams - 7.5, The Cunning Man by Robertson Davies - 7.5, Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe - 5, The Human Stain by Phillip Roth - 8.5, The Davinci Code by Dan Brown - 8
Year 4: The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhague - 8, Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi - 8, The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville - 7, Clara Callan by Robert Wright 7.5m Enduring Love by Ian McEwan - 7, Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards - 8, The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald - 7.5, The Rage and The Pride by Oriana Fallaci - 8.5, A Complicated Kindness by Marilyn Taves - 7.5
Year 5: Wicked by Gregory Maguire - 8.5, We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver - 8.5, Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse - 9, A Million Little Pieces by James Fry - 7, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd - 8.5, There is a Season by Patrick Lane - 8, Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner - 9, Brick Lane by Monica Ali -8 , The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - 9
Year 6: Crow Lake by Mary Lawson - 7.5, The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B by Sandra Gullard - 9, The Secret River by Kate Grenville - 8, The Lighthouse by PD James - 8, Iris and Ruby by Rosy Thomas - 9, Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse - 7, Sitting Practice by Caroline Adderson - 7.5, Saturday by Ian McEwan- 7.5, Everyman by Phillip Roth - 7
Year 7: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett- 8, There is a Season by Patrick Lane - 7.5, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, Half of the Yellow Sun by Himamanda Adichie, The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards, Lady Chatterley's Lover by D H Lawrence, The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert- 7.5, The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
Year 8: Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore - 9, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlo Ruiz Zafon - 9, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson - 9.5, Before I Wake by Robert Wiersema - 8, Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austin, Freakonomics by Steven Levitt - 7, Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay -8, Run by Ann Patchett - 7, Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall - 9
Year 9: Still Alice by Lisa Genova, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexander Fuller, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, The Bay of Love and Sorrow by David Adams Richard, The Shack by Wm Paul Young - 8.5, My Sisters Keeper by Jodi Picoult, The Elegence of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, The Book of Negros by Lawrence Hill, A Passage to India by EM Forster, Fierce by Hannah Holborn
Year 10: The Winter Vault by Anne Michaels - 8, The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway - 8, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka -8, March by Geraldine Brooks - 8, The Help by Kathryn Stockett - 9, The Golden Spruce by John Vaillant - 7.5, Sarahs Key by Tatiana de Rosnay - 7.5, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls - 8, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stroud - 8
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