Book Buzz’s Comments (group member since Mar 07, 2013)

Book Buzz’s comments from the Book Buzz group.

I've been away. Sorry for not keeping up!

Do you ever stop reading a book or do you force yourself to keep going?

I do but I usually just tell my self I'm not giving up and I'll get back to it at a better time.

Do you ever mix up which books you're reading for which club?

Personally I jump right into the next book. When I was a kid I thought it was bad luck to take a reading break.

I usually plan for the next book in advance but sometimes one of my holds arrives and it moves to the front of the line.

How do you decide what book to read next?
Do you pick up another book right away or do you spend some time reflecting on the previous book?

What is your favourite place to read?

You can be as general or specific as you want.

Trying something different. I will post a new book or reading related question each week for you to consider and share your answers.

The January 4th question is:
What book would you read again for the first time?

Thank you for reminding me Tresha!
I'll do that now.

I might have been the one who suggested "A book with a long title". There are a lot of books that fit into this category so I hope you have fun with it!

New Year = New Challenge!

These are our 2024 categories:

1. A book published in 2024
2. A Lambda Literary Award winner
3. A book by an author with a chronic illness
4. A nonfiction book by an Indigenous author
5. A book by a Caribbean author
6. A book about growing up in a religious household
7. A memoir by a Canadian author
8. A book about a female historical figure
9. A book about an invention
10. A book set in a library or bookstore
11. A book about community
12. A book about a holiday

Advanced Challenge:
13. A book set in the Canadian Territories
14. A book recommended by your library
15. A book with dark humour
16. A book you discovered through an unexpected source
17. A book about playing games
18. A book recommended by someone younger than you
19. A book with a long title (7+ words)
20. A book about politics
21. A book from an animal's perspective
22. A thriller or true crime
23. A book that takes place in a school
24. A BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) Romance
25. A Canadian Immigrant story
26. A book referencing a work of art

It's so great when people can set their own "challenge within a challenge"!

What are your reading goals for 2024? Do you set a target for yourself?

Is there anything special you want to achieve in 2024? Read outside your comfort zone? Read more?

Were you satisfied with your reading this year?
What would you change?

What were your favourite books?

Did you discover any new authors?

Tell us about it.

Did you like the categories for 2023? What were your thoughts?
Which was your favourite to complete?

These are the 2023 categories:

A book about friendship
A book told from a child's point of view
A book celebrating Black Joy
A book about sports
A book written by an Indigenous author age 30 or younger
A book about a land you'd like to explore
A book by a 2SLGBTQ+ author who is also part of another marginalized group
A book about a person over age 65
A book about survival
A banned or challenged book
A book by a person living with a non-apparent disability
A book that makes you happy

Advanced Challenge:
A book with an alliterative title
A book about an optimistic future
A play or screenplay
A book set in Atlantic Canada
A book with multiple timelines
A book about a historical event you are unfamiliar with
A book with a month in the title
A book you would recommend to your younger self
A non-fiction graphic novel
A book you've read more than once
A book with a food item in the title
A book of investigative non-fiction
A book written before 1923 (for 2023!)
A book published this year

Hi everyone! This is a reminder that our next online book club meeting is this coming Thursday, April 20, at 2pm on Jitsi. We will be discussing More: A Novel by Austin Clarke, winner of the 2009 Toronto Book Award.

Austin Clarke also won the Order of Canada in 1998, when he was described as a "distinguished novelist and short story writer who has explored the immigrant experience with humour, compassion, happiness and sorrow. Through his prolific literary output he has recorded the changing face of the country, giving voice to the resilience, courage and loneliness often felt by people who come to Canada to start a new life. By his own example he has broadened the horizons for black writers, encouraging them to develop their creative talent." He was also the winner of a Giller Prize, a Commonwealth Prize, and a Trillium Award.

Clarke's novel, More, depicts a single mother struggling to raise her son in the Moss Park neighbourhood of Toronto. When he fails to return home one night, she descends into the "belly of the whale", worrying about the course of his life, and reconsidering her own life choices. It's a difficult story to read, but one I think essential for understanding the experience of many newcomers to the city. I thought Clarke did a masterful job of portraying a Barbadian-Canadian woman living on the fringes of the status quo--working at the kitchen in Trinity College, sitting in the back of St. James Cathedral, living within earshot of the bells of this church at which attend Toronto's wealthy and powerful; but also awoken at night by gunshots that ring out in her neighbourhood, and watching the homeless shuffle past her front gate to the Meighen Centre around the corner, while she is driven to steal from the local No Frills in order to feed her child. For those who like audiobooks, Robin Miles' powerful performance is equal to the writing, and brings Idora's character to life. You can find the audiobook version here:

https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/s...

If you'd still like to register, you can do so at the following link:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/toronto-i...

And finally, for those who are interested, here is a discussion guide we have created, which includes some reviews, discussion questions, historical newspaper articles, photos and Austin Clarke's letters:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a...

We hope to see you this Thursday!

Hi everyone!

This is a reminder that our next meeting is tomorrow, Thursday March 9, at 2pm (online). If you'd prefer to join us in person, we are also meeting the following week, Thursday March 16, at the Toronto Reference Library. More details about all of our upcoming meetings and how to register for them can be found at the following link:

https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/s...

This month, we will be discussing The Beatle Bandit: The Bank Robber Who Fuelled the Debate on Guns, Mental Health, and the Death Penalty by Nate Hendley. If you liked The Massey Murder: A Maid, Her Master and the Trial that Shocked a Nation, a book we read for this club last year, I really think you'll enjoy this one, too. It's so much more than a true crime story, as it uses the Beatle Bandit case as a lens through which to see Toronto and Canadian culture in the mid-1960s. And there are so many things I learned from it! Who knew that it was so easy to purchase a standard military semi-automatic rifle in a gun shop in downtown Toronto--without ID? That banks carrier revolvers and expected untrained tellers to use them to stop bank robbers? But other fascinating and troubling details also emerge, about the history of mental health care in Canada (or lack thereof), how the mentally ill are treated in the justice system, and of the abolition of the death penalty in Canada (the last two prisoners were hung at the Don Jail in 1962, just 3 years before the Beatle Bandit found himself on death row).

While one reviewer criticized the book for reading "like an extended newspaper article" (Ryan Thorpe, Literary Review of Canada), I tend to agree with a different reviewer who wrote "Hendley explains these details in such a way that you can see Smith’s descent into illness corresponding with his descent into criminal activity, and I found this strategy astute and timely, especially considering the lack of mental health care that Smith received while making his way through the Canadian justice system. If true crime is to move into a new era where the prison and justice systems are critiqued and assessed, more texts need to draw the kinds of correlations that Hendley’s text does." (Jessyka Traynor, True Crime Index)

What did you think of the book? Which reviewer do you agree with more? Were you as surprised as I was by some of the aspects of Canadian culture and law in the 1960's? Also, like me, did you think Matthew Kerry Smith was a bit like a real-life version of Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment? I'd love to hear your thoughts in one of our upcoming meetings, or feel free to leave a comment below!

Also, I've created a discussion guide which includes historic photos, newspaper articles, book reviews, author interviews and discussion questions. It can be accessed at the link below:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G...

Until next time, happy reading!

Here is the link to the discussion guide for our discussion of Steal Away Home: One Woman's Epic Flight to Freedom - And Her Long Road Back to the South: on Thursday, February 16, at 7pm at the Toronto Reference Library:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f...

My apologies for forgetting it in the previous post!

Hope to see you there,
Nick

Hi everyone,
Thanks to those who joined us yesterday for an online discussion of Steal Away Home: One Woman's Epic Flight to Freedom - And Her Long Road Back to the South by Karolyn Smardz Frost.

I'm posting a bit late this month, so apologies to those who may have missed the event. If you'd still like to discuss the book, there is another opportunity next week, when we will be meeting at 7pm on Thursday Feb 16 at the Toronto Reference Library. You can find more information at the following link:

https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/d...

If you haven't yet read the book, I encourage you to do so! It's a fascinating and detailed account of one woman's life, from which I learned so much about the history of Black communities in Canada as well as the United States: from the workings of the Underground Railroad, the Back-to-Africa movement and the resettlement of Liberia, Vigilant Associations protecting fugitive slaves, Black settlements in Ontario, Toronto's thriving 19th-century Black community, and Rochester's role as an abolitionist hub; to the importance of Black barbershops, perils of trans-Atlantic steamship travel, Liverpool's Black community, the Australian Gold Rush, the Civil War and the USCT (United States Colored Troops), and the experience of African American refugees in "Contraband Camps"; and finally the disappointed hopes in the Antebellum South, with a particular focus on the terror and racist violence of life in the post-war Kentucky countryside, the neutral state that Reconstruction missed. There were so many new things I learned from this book, through the lens of one resilient woman's storied and inspiring life.

And if you are participating in the 2023 Reading Challenge, there's many categories this book could fit into! Including both categories being discussed at the next Online Reading Challenge discussion (a book about survival and a book you would recommend to your younger self):

https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/d...

For those who are interested I have also created a discussion guide which includes historic photos and maps in an attempt to try to help you visualize 19th century Toronto as described so vividly in the book. You will also find some reviews, discussion questions, and links to other titles for further reading. In particular, I recommend From Underground Railroad to Rebel Refuge, which spends more time covering the period of Canadian slavery--a period of time in which the Underground Railroad actually ran south from Canada to free states in the northern USA--as well as Canadian support for the South and welcome of Confederate politicians, generals and veterans after the Civil War.

Also, one of our book club members suggested this documentary, about the excavation of the Cataract House Hotel in Niagara Falls, a luxury hotel where staff acted as secret Underground Railroad operatives, helping to ferry enslaved people to freedom. It looks fascinating as well, and you can watch it at the following link:

https://gem.cbc.ca/media/the-nature-o...

Finally, check out the Myseum exhibit, "1851: Spirit & Voice", a theatrical revisiting of the 1851 Convention of Colored Freemen, which took place at Toronto's St. Lawrence Hall:

https://1851.myseumoftoronto.com/

Feel free to leave a comment below and let us know what you thought of this book, or leave any other book recommendations you have on this subject! Otherwise, we hope to see you at one of our future events:

https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/s...

Until then, happy reading!

Hi everyone!
This is just a reminder that our next online meeting is taking place tomorrow, Thursday January 12, from 2:00-3:00pm on Jitsi. We will be discussing Toronto: Biography of a City by Allan Levine. If you'd still like to join us, you can register for the event at the following link:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/toronto-i...

If you'd prefer to join us in person, we will be meeting the following Thursday, Jan 19 at 7:00pm at the Toronto Reference Library. Details for this meeting are available here:

https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/d...

And as always, please don't let the size of this book intimidate you! It's hard to get through an entire work of history in one month, so whether you've read one chapter or finished all 13, I encourage you to join us.

This was a book I really appreciated reading overall, even if I thought the author might have spent less time detailing the lives of the rich and powerful Toronto elite (and maybe also the Toronto Maple Leafs), and more time focusing on the everyday lives of people. In particular, I thought more could have been done to include Indigenous peoples from the GTA in the narrative, which seems especially striking after reading Indigenous Toronto: Stories That Carry This Place and learning more about what an important cultural hub Toronto has been for Indigenous peoples. The story of Michael Leshner and Michael Stark, the first legally married same sex couple in Canada, as told so well in The Toronto Book of Love, was also notably absent.

Despite all this, I have to wholeheartedly agree with this (overall) positive review by Bill Gladstone: "Levine excels at integrating large amounts of complex information into a flowing and satisfying narrative. Although he covers an incredible amount of ground, his pen never seems to grow tired or dull — not even when he is marshalling evidence to show how Hogtown the Good was considered dull as dishwater for decades… Toronto: Biography of a City is a timely, vibrant history of our modern megacity as it comes of age — bursting at the seams even as it confronts the numerous problems (traffic congestion, homelessness, urban sprawl) that loom as never before.”

I would also add, as a relative newcomer to the city, this book helped me understand Toronto's more recent past much better. As Gladstone puts it, "for a writer like Levine, a mayor like Ford is a gift from heaven." Levine covers the rise and fall of Rob Ford in an entertaining manner, while also taking time to provide a bit of nuance and balance to the city's most controversial mayor. I only wish he could have added a 14th chapter about the John Tory era, and help bring recent developments into focus in light of the city's past.

I'll finish my review of the book with this quote from David Crombie, mayor from 1972-78, in response to a question about whether Toronto is a "world class city":

"Finally, I ask him if Toronto is a “world-class city” and he laughs loudly. “It never has been,” he says, with a glint in his eye. “It can’t be New York or Montreal or any other city. We want to be the best we can be. No one else is getting up in the morning and saying, ‘How can we make a better Toronto?’ It is only us. That’s all we need. It sounds corny. We have people from all over the world. They have seen great cities. They just want to have a place where they can raise their kids, make a living, get ahead, and enjoy life. It is not any more complicated than that.” (Toronto: Biography of a City, Conclusion)

Read Bill Gladstone's full review here:
http://www.billgladstone.ca/review-of...

I've also created a discussion guide, which includes links to historical maps, newspaper articles, and photos, as well a more reviews and discussion questions. It is available at the following link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P...

If you have any questions or comments about the book, please feel free to leave a message below!

Thanks for the comments Anita and Tresha! I've put a hold on The Sleeping Car Porter, but I'll have to wait about twelve weeks until it's available. I guess that's what happens when a book wins the Giller Prize! Maybe when all the buzz from the award dies down and there are more available copies we can schedule it for the book club.

I'm interested to see how it compares as well. I liked the political side of They Call Me George: The Untold Story of The Black Train Porters, though I know many reviewers said they would have preferred more of the personal stories of porters. I wonder if that's what The Sleeping Car Porter was trying to accomplish? It's interesting that she used Cecil Foster's book as a source.

If you're still interested in the history of Black Sleeping Car Porters in Canada, I also found this film really fascinating. It's called "The Road Taken" by the National Film Board, lots of great historical footage and interviews with porters, you definitely get a lot more stories about their everyday lives and working conditions, and it even includes some of the porters mentioned in Cecil Foster's book. You can stream it (legally!) for free here:

https://www.nfb.ca/film/road_taken/

Hope to see or hear you both at one of upcoming sessions! If you're interested, here is what we have scheduled so far:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/o/toronto-p...

Hi everyone,

For those who missed our last online meeting, I just wanted to mention that there is still a chance to meet in person this coming Thursday, December 8 at 7pm at the Toronto Reference Library. We will be discussing They Call Me George: The Untold Story of The Black Train Porters. We will be meeting in the Discussion Room on the 3rd Floor. No registration is required.

This is a fascinating story of the lives of black railway porters in Canada, the racism they faced in society and on the job, and the role they played in helping to challenge and end discrimination in their unions, workplaces and Canadian society as a whole. If you are interested in some more background and photos on the black railway porters in Canada, check out the Myseum exhibit "Derailed: The History of Black Railway Porters in Canada" at the following link:

https://www.myseumoftoronto.com/exhib...

I have also created a discussion guide with more background information, photos, reviews and questions, which can be found at the following link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y...

Our next meeting is scheduled for Thurs, Jan 12, when we will be discussing Toronto: Biography of a City. You can find more information about the sessions we have planned for the coming year here:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/o/toronto-p...

If you're a fan of fiction, stay tuned: we plan to offer more fiction titles in the New Year!

Feel free to post a comment or question about the book below. I hope to see you at one of our upcoming sessions. Until then, happy reading!