General Discussion > Likes and Comments

Starting a new trail for general discussion. :)

I was so sad to hear of Austin Clarke's passing. The Polished Hoe is such a fabulous book!

http://www.cbc.ca/books/2016/06/austi...

That is sad news.
I didn't enjoy The Polished Hoe but recognized that the writing and the basic story were terrific. That's rather an oxymoron, I realize.

The Polished Hoe is in my TBR pile as I work my way through the CBC List of Books that Make you proud of being Canadian.
@Petra - lol

Susan, do you mind if I start an obit. page where we can post news of beloved authors that we lose. I will repost my above message to the new page.

Sounds like a great idea!! A nice way to pay tribute.

Thanks to @Allison for help adding a symbol to differentiate the Susans on the site!!! i have now added a flower.

Glad I could help @Susan! There's so much traffic on here we almost need unique CB handles like the truck drivers!

I am heading to bed. My eyes are going buggy from reading all I can about the closing of the beloved CBC Books site, to getting acquainted with this one. Stopping now and will catch up again in the morning!

Again, so grateful that this site was set up, ❀ Susan, so that we can retain our friendships and relationships. I feel like I "know" everyone here, based on their love and tastes for books! I'd really be sad to lose everyone, and hope that more will join.

Goodnight!

Thanks for all the great feedback... I am blushing but so thrilled to be connected and excited about our group!

Thank you for setting this up! I was bereft!! It's always my go-to group for Goodreads. As far as the bingo challenge, I had kept my plans up to date in a google doc so i can repost it. I also have the graphic, have cut off the top where it says CBC Books and the logo. Can it be attached to a GR message for posting ?

@Diane - I am not sure if i can "top post" the graphic but if you want to send me a PM, I will try to do this tonight when I get home from work!

Oh no! The Holiday Book Exchange! It was so awesome! Do we think we can revitalize that in December??!?

Allison wrote: "Oh no! The Holiday Book Exchange! It was so awesome! Do we think we can revitalize that in December??!?"

I was thinking the same thing. Let's do it here. It was so much fun. And maybe this time we can get it organized a little sooner to give us time to prepare.

Yes, let's do it. I'll volunteer to help out with it, if you need it, Susan.

Yay, the Holiday book exchange! That was soooo much fun!!

I don't know about the Holiday book exchange. Sounds like fun!

Oh was so fun! The moderators of the CBC group asked anyone interested to sign up, and send in their mailing address. Then we were each given a "Secret Santa" recipient -- you got the name and address of someone, and mailed them a book. In the end, I think it was a total success -- everyone's books arrived. It was a lot of fun choosing a book for a stranger, when all you knew about them is what they put up online in a book group!

My "friend" sent me Through Black Spruce -- such a great choice!

@Allison That sounds like a terrific idea! I'd be willing to help if we want to do it.

Hi everyone - I was not around during the Secret Santa so don't have much context but it sounds like fun. I see that there are a couple of volunteers in @Allison and @Natasha which would be great!

Wait , what happened to the CBC book club?

Ya! Holiday book exchange, that was a lot of fun. :)

Megan wrote: "Wait , what happened to the CBC book club?

Ya! Holiday book exchange, that was a lot of fun. :)"

That's the question of the day (week)!

I will take on the Holiday Book Exchange!

@Susan, @Natasha, sometime in November, perhaps we can connect to sort it out. Shouldn't be too hard. Launch mid-Nov?

♊ Allison wrote: "Megan wrote: "Wait , what happened to the CBC book club?

Ya! Holiday book exchange, that was a lot of fun. :)"

That's the question of the day (week)!"

ha! For a minute I thought I'd been kicked out of the group or something, then realised the whole thing was deleted.

@Allison Sounds good!

@Allison and Natasha - agreed - something to look forward too!

♊ Allison - you had suggested using the "challenge feature" so I have given it a try for a July CanLit Blitz. I have decided to only read Canadian for the month and 10 books might be a bit of a stretch but I thought I would set an ambitious goal since I have some holidays this month!

Cool @Susan! I will check it out.

Am wondering if we will be able to collectively see the books read for the challenge? This might be a bit of an experiment... but I am feeling extra patriotic today!!

I would love to join such a challenge sometime, but this month is a bit too soon! I have too many commitments to non-CanCon books right now.

no worries @Laurie, I am sure that we will have more in future. if you have any challenge suggestions, feel free to add to the feedback section. :)

An American list of 13 Canadian Authors Everyone Should Read.

http://www.bustle.com/articles/170335...

It's very interesting that most of the authors on that list are either Immigrants or first generation after immigrant parents. I bet you wouldn't see a list like that for current American authors, they'd all be American born and bred. That's not to take away from them, there are some very good American authors currently being published that deserve to be on a top n list but I wonder how many of them on such a list would be First Nation or Immigrant.

A list of Canadian non-fiction. I have lots more reading to do! I have had a lot of these on my TBR mountain, but I haven't gotten around to many though I love non-fiction.

http://www.cbc.ca/books/mobile/touch/...

@Natasha - me too - I have only read 6 of these and have a few more in my TBR pile!! check out our more fulsome discussion on book lists called CBC true stories. :)

@Susan Great! I haven't made it here yet. Taking a book-fueled sanity break. I wasn't sure where the list belonged - just wanted to share it. I'll happily move it if you like.

no worries at all... it is already there. :)

@Susan Thanks! Found it! I really need to take a closer look around as soon as the move is complete. :)

@ Natasha and Susan...fun list!i missing some favorites tho, like John Valiant Golden Sprice I've only read 12 on the nf list...but of 100 novels listed I've read 49, with another half dozen or so on top of mt. tbr
I got 2 bookshelves at a yard sale on Sunday: one is dedicated to Canada! in the book bag sale I also grabbed Outlander by Rachel cusk because of rave reviews here, Ru by M they and yes! i found the tenderness of wolves in my own cache of fiction.

Not totally group specific, but Goodreads changed my homepage and now I can't see my group overview. Anyone else have this happen? Can I customise my home page to see my "discussions" again??

I find if i've been looking at the update stream, the next time i go in, GR shows me that instead of discussions so then i browse the discussions "stream" and generally it will go back to that. Hard to tell really.

Megan wrote: "Not totally group specific, but Goodreads changed my homepage and now I can't see my group overview. Anyone else have this happen? Can I customise my home page to see my "discussions" again??"

I think they're still working on the new homepage and the "discussions" page is expected soon.

Megan wrote: "Not totally group specific, but Goodreads changed my homepage and now I can't see my group overview. Anyone else have this happen? Can I customise my home page to see my "discussions" again??"

You may have accidentally switched to the new (in-progress) home page. There should still be a link in the footer to switch you back to the "Old Site." If you're on a desktop browser with maximized screen, the footer actually shows up at the bottom of the righthand column. Otherwise, it's at the bottom of the lefthand column.

Thanks I'll check it out. Discussions is what I check first so I'm frustrated with the new homepage.

I'm not sure in what category to put this in, but I did want to reach out and let the members here know that Book Club for Inmates is looking for volunteers, right now in particular they need:

a compassionate and dedicated volunteer to join our group of two co-facilitators of the book club at Kwikwexwelhp Healing Village in Harrison Mills, BC
Please visit our website and submit the Volunteer Application Form if interested!
http://www.bookclubsforinmates.com/vo...

Hi @Lousie, thanks for posting!

I started donating to them monthly to help with book costs. :)

Hopefully they start up a club in Edmonton in the future and I can volunteer.

I am making inquiries about volunteering as a *reader*, those who read books and come up with the suggested list. That would also be lots of fun and doable from a distance.

@Lousie, keep me posted! Maybe I will email them anyway. I'm so happy that we found this charity!

Megan wrote: "@Lousie, keep me posted! Maybe I will email them anyway. I'm so happy that we found this charity!"

There is a volunteer form you can fill out on their website and you are asked:

Which of the following opportunities interest you?

Book Club Facilitator
Pen Pal with an inmate
Circle of Support for a released inmate
Reader to produce annual book list


So there are some things you can do from afar, such as the Pen Pal and the Reader.

Thanks for sharing all of this Louise - it is inspiring!! It makes me think of all the ways that we are sharing a love of reading and inspiring others and think I will add a thread on "sharing a love of reading" to group this great information together as a way of encouraging us all in ways to share the love of books!