While at the festival he interviewed several other writers about a certain undercurrent he detected in the festival’s programme; what they told him makes for a fascinating update to Malachi’s podcast series “Letter from Ireland”.

Before we get to the busy month of April we want to thank Fotis for a wonderful job leading the discussion of March’s book “Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion. A sombre read on a very personal topic but the consensus was that it was handled with a great deal of skill and honesty by Didion.

Date Change

A reminder that for this month only our meeting has been moved to the fourth Thursday rather than the third, meaning that Michel will be leading us in a discussion of Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake on Thursday, April 24.

As mentioned in last month’s post, the change was made to accomodate a book reading by Saskatchewan author Sharon Butala at Collected Works on the 17th.

Two more events:

On Saturday, April 19, at 2.00 PM, Belfast journalist and broadcaster Malachi O’Doherty will be speaking from The Telling Year: Belfast 1972 at the Ottawa International Writer’s Festival at the National Archives building on Wellington.

I warmly invite you all to join me at this reading; I heard him at the Blue Met in Montreal a few years back and was so impressed that I contacted the OIWF and arranged to co-sponsor his appearance in Ottawa.

Here is the entry from the Festival Programme:

THE TELLING YEAR - BELFAST 1972
with Malachi O’Doherty
Hosted by the CBC’s Adrian Harewood
Sponsored by PODCO New Media

“The most subtle and astute account of the IRA campaign yet written.” — Fintan O’Toole

A young man’s first experience in journalism begins in the horrific year of Bloody Sunday. He returns home at night to streets ruled by Provo gunmen where the army and IRA hold fire to let his mother walk to work between them. One of Northern Ireland’s best-known and most respected journalists shares his experiences of Belfast on the verge of civil war.

Tickets: $12 General / $10 Students & Seniors / Free for Festival Members

Day Pass: $30

And WSR friend Ottawa writer Frances Itani has sent this invitation for an April 30 event along via Hannah:

DATE: Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
TIME: 7 p.m.
FEE: $10 (proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity)
EVENT: Book club discussion with Frances Itani about her latest novel, “Remembering the Bones,” (and possibly her other works).
LOCATION: Knox United Church, 25 Gibbard Avenue in west end (Knoxdale & Greenbank area — close to Hunt Club & Greenbank).

<http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=25+Gibbard+Avenue++ottawa&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=28.805654,82.265625&ie=UTF8&ll=45.326444,-75.774336&spn=0.012461,0.040169&z=15&iwloc=addr>

CONTACT: Lynn Colfer at lynn.colfer@rogers.com or Phone Lynn at: (613) 728-2636 to let her know you are coming. She will arrange to set aside a ticket at the door.

********************

A reminder that May’s title- our final bookfor our anniversary season - is Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill. The email address of the person who I thought was leading the discussion has bounced back so I’m having trouble confirming who will lead - so if they are managing to read this despite missing the email, please contact me to confirm that you are indeed still leading the discussion.

That’s it for this month’s update - see you all on the 24th, if not at Sharon Butala or Malachi O’Doherty first.

A reminder that March’s pick is The Year of Magical Thinking by essayist Joan Didion, to be led by Fotis. The third Thursday is the 20th.

Big news in April as we are being bumped for the first time ever! At least, as far back as this blogger’s memory runs to, and I go back to 1999.

Yes, our meeting to discuss Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri – introduction by Michel– is being rescheduled for the 24th to make way for a reading by Sharon Butala, a marvelous writer whose work evokes the mysterious canyons and badlands around the magical area of southwestern Saskatchewan bisected by the Frenchman River valley. I definitely plan on hearing Sharon speak, and I encourage everyone to join me.

We hope to record the event as well, so who knows, your intelligent questions may make it on to the podcast and live on for posterity!

Our thanks to Robin for resourcing a fascinating discussion on Chinua Achebe’s landmark novel; one of the very first works of fiction recognized as “post-colonial” literature.

The book is set in many university courses and was familiar to several readers; as is so often the case what is fascinating about re-reading a book 15 or 20 years later is that we as readers are different people this time around, with belief systems that have moved on - and this necessarily re-shapes our reactions to a novel rich in moral implications.

Or not! Some of us appeared to be as set in our beliefs now as we were then, and argued well for the immutable nature of the book’s strengths and weaknesses.

And still others expressed an appreciation for some of the subtle subversions at play in the novel, with the figure of the story’s female “shaman” coming in for particularly close scrutiny.

A very intriguing talk.

Thanks to Richard for sending in the name of our book for March.

I love email.

Twenty-one ( 21!) of us crowded the back room of the bookstore yesterday to discuss “The Other Side of the Bridge” by Mary Lawson.

I think it’s fair to say that we’ve rarely had such a hallelujah chorus for a book; minor quibbles apart, everyone seems to have enjoyed the novel very much.

For those who weren’t able to attend, the discussion was introduced by cribbing some details from this online interview with the author.

On February 21 we’ll be marking Black History Month ( the shortest month of the year one as one WSR member annually reminds us ) with a discussion of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Robin will be presenting.  We’ll also be choosing books for April and May at that meeting, so bring your suggestions.

As to March’s book, I had the name in my mind as we left the meeting last night but the wonderful post-meeting hospitality at Thyme and Again’s Local Bar has played the devil with my memory.

I know some people were writing the name down as we broke up the meeting. That was exceedingly intelligent of them. If a dear WSR member would please remind me,  I’ll post it here as soon as I get it.

Enjoy the next few weeks of crisp Canadian winter, and we’ll see you in February!

Here are the upcoming books as chosen at our last meeting on October 18:

November 15: The Stone Carvers, by Jane Urquhardt, presented by Richard.

January 17: The Other Side of the Bridge, by Mary Lawson, Evan to present.

February 21 ( Black History Month): Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, Robin will be presenting.

Thanks to all that came out last month for Family Matters, by Rohinton Mistry - it was a good discussion and a well-attended after-session at the pub, as well!

On that topic, our local pubs seem to be full by 8.00 pm on Thursdays nowadays; there was some talk of reserving a table or two at the Local Bar (GCTC’s café) for our after-talk next month. We may have some news on that soon.

See you on Nov. 15th, and good reading!