Hope you’re all having a great start to summer, and that you’re well into a great book or two. Scroll to the end to see the 5 books I’m recommending this month.
Welcome to our new monthly newsletter. You’ll notice a new look and format. Going forward you will receive one newsletter at the beginning of each month with all of our event happenings, book picks, and any other news we’d like to share.
We decided to move things over to Substack to streamline our communication and to better connect with our community. It’s here where you’ll find all of our newsletters and event announcements. Speaking of which, keep reading to hear about the next 3 events.
As well, I have turned on the ‘chat’ function so there is now the opportunity to meet online and continue our conversations if you so wish. I have started things off with a ‘Tell me what you’re reading’ thread - a perfect place to browse for recommendations for the summer.
The Book Lovers Club met last week at The Bruce Hotel to discuss The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout. Wow - what an incredible gathering and discussion. We had the largest group we’ve had so far for book club (almost 30 people!!) but we still created space for everyone to contribute and bring forth their ideas and thoughts. I’m still processing this one, and be on the lookout for a future post about this over at Stories from the Writer’s Life. In the meantime, if you haven’t already read this gem of a novel, I wholeheartedly recommend it. I loved it so much. It’s a book that will stay with you long after the last page.
We meet again at the end of this month to discuss Whistler by Ann Patchett, which esteemed book critic Ron Charles calls: “…that loveliest of summer gifts, a story of reconciliation, of old affections renewed, of a family’s circumference enlarged.” It is a gift of a book indeed, and I personally cannot wait to dig deep into its themes with the group.
We have 2 spots still open if you’re interested in joining us.
Tickets can be purchased here.
*Please note: Book Club will be on pause for August, and will resume in September.
The Book Lovers Club - Summer Edition
We’re reading Whistler by Ann Patchett
Tuesday July 28th - 6pm to 8pm
The Lobby @ The Bruce Hotel, 89 Parkview Drive, Stratford, ON
We are so looking forward to hosting bestselling authors and friends Molly Fader and Kate Hilton in just 2 weeks time at The Bruce Hotel for our Summer Garden Party. There will be lots of laughs, great insights, behind-the-book talk, and delicious drinks and nibbles.
You will definitely want to add their 2 hot books to your summer reading list:
Lady X by Molly Fader:
“Incendiary, cathartic and deeply satisfying.” —Heather Marshall,
The search for a notorious vigilante exposes the secrets between three generations of women in this propulsive novel of female resistance and rage, sweeping from contemporary L.A. to gritty, 1970s New York.
City of the Muse by Kate Hilton:
“Ambition, greed and privilege collide in City of the Muse, a captivating whodunit set during the Egyptology craze of the early 20th century…” - Bryn Turnbull
For fans of The Lost Apothecary, a gripping dual-timeline novel about the mysterious death of an indomitable female papyrologist during an archaeological dig in the early 1900s and an aspiring young female researcher’s present-day quest to find out who killed her.
Summer Garden Party: An afternoon with Molly Fader and Kate Hilton
Tuesday July 21st - 2pm to 4pm
Outdoor Event - on the grounds of The Bruce Hotel, 89 Parkview Dr, Stratford, ON
“Like Jackson’s popular debut, Pineapple Street, this is one of those rare books that feel both breezy and meaty, sharp but empathetic.”
—Toronto Star
An ambitious young woman insinuates herself into a tight-knit social set, shaking up friendships and marriages in a small seaside town. A frothy novel of love, money, sex, and friendship, from the New York Times bestselling author of Pineapple Street
{Note: I devoured Pineapple Street. So good! And I cannot wait to read this new one from Jenny Jackson who also happens to be the vice president and editorial director of fiction at Alfred A. Knopf.}
“Dazzling . . . both intimate and epic, playful and serious. To read it is to travel to the limits of what the novel can do.”—The Guardian
A year in the life of a family as they strike out into the unknown (aka Vermont), leaving all the comforts of home behind—a rollicking, lyrical novel from Pulitzer Prize finalist Daniel Mason, the bestselling author of North Woods and one of America’s greatest living writers.
{Note: I will read anything Emma Straub tells me to read. Her Substack newsletter is a must read. It’s also what convinced me to give Widow’s Bay a try - TOTAL RECOMMEND!)
"Witty and introspective. Bring this one on vacation."
—Booklist
Sandwich meets The Wedding People in this irresistible comedy of manners as three generations of a family—a snail scientist, a soon-to-be divorcée, her teenage daughter, a hapless con man, and their feckless patriarch—descend on a ritzy Lake Michigan vacation island.
{Note: I really enjoy Catherine Newman, author of Sandwich, so if it’s a comp to this book I’m all in.}
Finalist for the Atwood Gibson Fiction Prize
A Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year
…Two-parts Mad Men to one-part Doctor Strange, this time-travelling paradox of a novel will change the way you see the ads on your morning commute."
—The Globe and Mail
With biting wit, Aurora Stewart de Peña satirizes the creative industry she’s spent years in. From the people who brought you the invention of advertising comes Julius Julius, a rambling architectural wonder, outpost of the very first ad man of ancient Pompeii, built on the backs of generations of creative survivors who just want to lie on the floor of a conference room and cry about the lumber account without being sexually harassed.
{Note: New in paperback. I hosted Aurora last year when the book was first released and enjoyed meeting her as much as I enjoyed this book. It’s witty, it’s fresh, and it’s not like anything I’ve read before. Plus, she’s from STRATFORD!!! local alert}
“What We Found Instead is the rom-com I didn’t know I needed, with a platonic female relationship at its centre: it made me laugh, cry, and long to live in Northern Ontario. Heidi Reimer knows how to write a complicated woman to delight in even as she builds a small channel where we might pour our rage.” —Liz Harmer, author of The Amateurs and Strange Loops
A moving and compulsively readable novel about two very different women and the unlikely bond they forge in the wreckage of one man’s betrayal.
{Note: I’ve been following Heidi Reimer’s writing since her debut novel, The Mother Act. I subscribe to her Substack where she writes about books and the creative practice. I’ve had my eye on this new book by her and look forward to reading it.}
Have a great July, see you back here in August.
For author interviews and more, please visit Stories from the Writer's Life with Rina Barone
For more book recommendations, please visit:
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