Book Club Discussion Schedule

October 20^th – Giver by Lois Lowry

November 26^th – Piano Man’s Daughter by Timothy Findley

December 12^th – Poetry evening, bring a poem to share as well as book exchange

January 28^th – Guernsey Literary and Potatoe Peel Society by Annie Barrows

February 25^th – Film Club by David Gilmour

March 25^th – Book Thief by Markus Zusak

April 29^th – Educating Esme by Esme Raji Codell

May 27^th – Tsarina’s Daughter by Carolly Erickson

June 24^th – Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox

Popularity: 13% [?]

ADULT  TITLES

1. Had a Glass: Top 100 Wines for 2009 under $20  James Nevison & Kenji Hodgson  9781552859377 Whitecap Books
Alongside the under $20 reviews (and a special splurge section for when you’re feeling flush), Had a Glass delivers pretty much every other morsel of information the casual, yet dedicated, wine drinker needs to know. Along with easy charts that decode varietals and offer suggestions, a glassware glossary and a section of food and wine pairings, Hodgson and Nevison even suggest wines to match your frame of mind. Where can you find a good Wednesday wine for your middle of the week blues? Only in Had a Glass.

2. Getting to the Bubble: More Stories that Shimmer and Pop  Mike McCardell  9781550174434  Harbour Publishing
Mike McCardell, the legendary Vancouver reporter who tries to restore people’s faith in living after they’ve finished watching the appalling mayhem on the evening news, is back with another collection of simple but irresistible stories: there are the ownerless shoes, sitting day after day in a washroom used mainly by big-time celebrities. There are the big cajones one daren’t mention and the magic dachshund whose poop can clear the snow off driveways.But most of all there’s the tireless reporter combing the streets of his modern big city, looking for inspiring acts of humanity amid the urban roar. And always, always finding them.

3. Tragedy at Second Narrows: The Story of the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge  Eric Jamieson  9781550174519  Harbour Publishing
Tragedy at Second Narrows unravels one of Vancouver’s great mysteries with all the appeal of a gripping detective novel. Eric Jamieson has returned to the scene of the tragedy and reconstructed the tragic event with scrupulous care, introducing the entire cast of politicians, construction bosses, engineers and ironworkers; he relives those terrifying moments when the structure began to crack and drop like the bottom was falling out of the world. In the end, readers will have learned about the fascinating world of big-time bridge building and will be left with a searingly clear picture of precisely how a great disaster took shape and plunged to its inevitable conclusion.

4. House Calls by Dogsled: Six Years in an Arctic Medical Outpost  Keith Billington  9781550174236  Harbour Publishing
“People go north for a variety of reasons, some stay for a lifetime, while others can’t wait to leave at the end of whatever term they have signed on for. The north tends to be either loved or hated with equal passion.” These are the words of Keith Billington, who with his wife Muriel, arrived in the Northwest Territories outpost of Fort McPherson, 1,700 miles north of Edmonton, in mid-September 1964. Keith, a nurse, and Muriel, a midwife, were barely into their twenties and fresh from England when they arrived, eager to put their brand new skills to work. Their clients were the Gwich’in people, who taught them how to snowshoe, choose a dog team and live off the land.

5. Beyond the Chilcotin: On the Home Ranch with Pan Phillips  Diana Phillips  9781550174472  Harbour Publishing
Pioneers Pan Phillips and his partner Rich Hobson carved their places in ranching history when they discovered “grass beyond the mountains” in the far reaches of the Chilcotin and founded some of the most isolated ranches in North America. This is the story of Pan Phillips’ youngest daughter Diana, who learned to trap muskrat when she was little more than a toddler, worked with haying crews before she was into her teens and was renowned far and wide as the only person feisty enough to best her legendary father in a slanging match. Beyond the Chilcotin is both an unparalleled chronicle of the old time rancher’s annual round and the testament of a remarkable woman.

6. The Genius of James Barber: His Best Recipes  James Barber  9781550174496  Harbour Publishing
Distinguished fans pay tribute to a nationally beloved, culinary icon, with a mouth-watering collection of recipes. We always knew James Barber played an important role in freeing us from our culinary hang-ups but it wasn’t until he passed away in 2007 that a truly astonishing outpouring of tributes from famous chefs and ordinary cooks alike made clear the full extent of his impact. In this book some of his most distinguished fans get together to collect James’ greatest recipes, from Ginger Tea to Indonesian Fish, and talk about what his art meant to them.

7. Legacy in Wood: The Wahl Family Boat Builders  Ryan Wahl  9781550174335  Harbour Publishing
Centuries before steel, fibreglass, aluminum and automation were applied to shipbuilding, early twentieth century British Columbian shipwrights hand built fish boats entirely out of wood. Legacy in Wood is an illustrated story of one of those shipwrights, Ed Wahl. With the help of his six sons, Wahl created the most successful commercial fish-boat building enterprise on British Columbia’s north coast, and one of the most well known boat shops on the entire British Columbia coast. Threaded with memories of Ed’s sons and the crew of the Wahl boatyards, Legacy in Wood provides a unique look into a family business that enabled the fishing industry to be a mainstay of British Columbia’s economy.

8. Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent  Andrew Nikiforuk  9781553654070  Greystone Books/David Suzuki Foundation
Combining extensive scientific research and compelling writing, Andrew Nikiforuk takes the reader to Fort McMurray, home to some of the world’s largest open-pit mines, and explores this twenty-first-century pioneer town from the exorbitant cost of housing to its more serious social ills. He uncovers a global Deadwood, complete with rapturous engineers, cut-throat cocaine dealers, aimless bush workers, American evangelicals, and the largest population of homeless people in northern Canada. He also explains that this micro-economy supplies gasoline for 50 percent of Canadian vehicles and 16 percent of U.S. demand.

9.  Hello Sweetheart? Gimmie Rewrite! My Life in the Wonderful World of Sports  Jim Taylor  9781550174373  Harbour Publishing
At age seventeen, Jim Taylor began a career in writing as part-time high school sports reporter. Forty-eight years, some 7,500 five-a-week columns, three times as many radio shows and twelve books later, Jim Taylor is undeniably one of Canada’s most loved sports writers. In Hello, Sweetheart? Gimme Rewrite!, Taylor looks back at half a century of sitting in on the sidelines with “the kings and queens of second-guess, the heroes of hindsight.”

10. Rowboat in a Hurricane: My Amazing Journey Across a Changing Atlantic Ocean  Julie Angus  9781553653370  Greystone Books
In 2005–06, Julie Angus rowed 10,000 kilometers across the Atlantic Ocean, becoming the first woman in the world to travel from mainland to mainland in a rowboat. She was accompanied by her fiancé at the time,
Colin Angus, who was completing a round-the-world expedition using human power only. Rowboat in a Hurricane is a gripping adventure story of a woman’s difficult and courageous journey with her partner in a cramped vessel. More important, it is a unique record of an amazing ecosystem, its fascinating inhabitants, and the many threats they face.

CHILDREN’S TITLES

1. A Field Guide to the Identification of Pebbles  Eileen Van der Flier-Keller  9781550173956 Harbour Publishing
A full colour, laminated, accordion folded, easy to use guide with over 80 beautiful photographs of pebbles from beaches and rivers.

2.  A Moose in a Maple-Tree: The All-Canadian 12 Days of Christmas  Troy Townsin  9780973774863  Polyglot Publishing
A Moose in a Maple Tree captures the imagination of readers with its quirky twist on the original Christmas classic while providing visually exciting stimuli that surprise and delight readers. The book can be sung or read aloud and is designed as a learning tool that will instigate discussion about all things Canadian. With Canadian icons, animals and activities this fun story is all set to become a year-round favourite.

3. Welcome Song for Baby  Richard Van Camp  9781551436616  Orca Book Publishers
From renowned First Nations storyteller Richard Van Camp comes a lyrical lullaby for newborns. Complemented with stunning photographs, this evocative board book is perfectly suited as a first book for
every baby.

4. Ramp Rats – A Graphic Guide Adventure  Liam O’Donnell  9781551438801  Orca Book Publishers
Fresh from his adventures in Wild Ride, Marcus is back and helping his cousin, Bounce, learn to skate. Between learning how to ollie and do a 50-50 grind, Bounce and his friends also have to avoid the skate-park goons and take on the outlaw bikers who are terrorizing the small town. Excitement, action and some radical skating tips. Hang on for another wild ride!

5.  Jessie’s Island   Sheryl Mcfarlane 0920501761 Orca Book Publishers
Jessie invites her cousin Thomas from the big city to visit her at her island home. In a time when our children’s entertainment has become increasingly formal and high-tech, Jessie’s Island reminds us of the joy of unstructured play and the pleasures to be found in the natural world around us.

* This list is compiled using data provided by TBM BookManager Ltd.

Popularity: 80% [?]

Everyone is welcome at the Misty River Book Club.  We meet at 7:00 p.m., the last Thursday of each month.  If you have any questions, give us a call  at 250-635-4428.

January:   Stone Angel

In a series of vignettes, The Stone Angel tells the story of Hagar Shipley, a 90-year old woman struggling to come to grips with a life of intransigence and loss. “Pride was my wilderness, the demon that led me there was fear.”

February:   Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea is a New York Times bestselling book by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin published by Penguin in 2006. The book describes Mortenson’s transition from a mountain-climber to a humanitarian committed to reducing poverty and educating girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He did this by co-founding the “Central Asia Institute,” which has built over 78 schools in the most remote areas of the countries.

The book’s title comes from a Balti proverb:
“The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family…”

March:   Strawberry Fields

On an idyllic patch of English countryside, a handful of migrant workers spend their days picking strawberries and dreaming of a better life … and their nights in two tiny trailer homes-one for men and one for women. All is harmonious in this cozy vale, until Farmer Leaping’s wife comes upon him and the berrypicking boss, Yola, in a compromising position. Fury ensues, the police are called, and the migrant workers pile into one of the trailer homes and hightail it out of their little Arcadia, setting off on one of the most enchanting, merry, and moving picaresque journeys since Chaucer’s pilgrims set off to Canterbury.

April:  Fine Balance

A Fine Balance is the third book by Rohinton Mistry. Set in Mumbai, India between 1975 and 1977 during the turmoil of The Emergency, a period of expanded government power and crackdowns on civil liberties, this book is about four characters from varied backgrounds—Dina Dalal, Ishvar Darji, his nephew Omprakash and the young lad Maneck—who come together and develop a bond.

Popularity: 68% [?]