Austen Delays, I Read and Fume

News bits. Jane Austen weekend is unavoidable delayed, perhaps til next year. For me, this is just as well, (although I regret any bad thing that happened to cause organizers to cancel). I forced myself to do my taxes when I wasn’t in the mood, just because the clock was ticking, and it was a disaster. This week I was set to force myself to sew two period gowns, because the clock was ticking, but I was worried I would sew badly. So the delay is a good thing for me. I am sure I will feel more ready to tackle this in the near future.

We had a lovely Bookclub meeting this week – our last of the season. At the last meeting, which is always in a restaurant and is always a giggle-a-thon, we chose next season’s books. To see what we are up to in next winter’s reading, see 2014 – 2015 Booklist. I am happy with the list. Some new fiction, some old fiction, one historical fiction, and two, count ’em two non-fiction (my favourites) and one of them my suggestion. So I get to host, which I am happy to do how that my reno is done, but where will I find enough comfy chairs for the 11 intrepid readers ? Well, I have a few months to figure that out.

I can now understand all the blogs that do not allow comments. I have gotten lots of comments submitted on my blog entries, but only one that actually had anything to do with the blog entry. All the rest were from robot people soliciting business or trying to get their SEO level enhanced by placing their website address on another site, however inappropriate the placement. Pathetic. And since all comments have to be monitored, it’s a nuisance and daily disappointment.

2014 – 2015 Book winners

These seven books won a place in our list for the 2014 – 2015 season. The links will take you to Indigo books, but we don’t care where you get your book.

Date Book Author Hostess
These are the books we chose for the 2014-2015 season
Wed, Sept. 24 2014 The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne Bess B
Wed, Oct 29, 2014 Longbourn Jo Baker Patty B
Wed, Nov 26 2014 Five Days at Memorial Sheri Fink Liz B
Wed, Jan 28, 2015 The Thing with Feathers: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human Noah Strycker Kristen G
Wed, Feb 25, 2015 The Confabulist Steven Galloway Cathy J
Wed, Mar 25, 2015 I, Claudius Robert Graves Kathy Y
Wed, Apr 29, 2015
No Relation
Terry Fallis Mandy H
May 2015 – TBA Year-End Party : Location – To Be Determined

To see the also-rans that did not make this list, look at the list of the Proposed 2014 Books, and subtract the ones on the list here.  We did a different voting procedure for the books this year, which was fun, with “secret” ballots (except we signed them, so we could get them back) and speed descriptions from those promoting a particular book. The result is a list I really look forward to reading or re-reading, as the case may be.

Books for 2014 Season

In a couple of weeks, the bookclub meets to choose its next season of books – seven of them. Several people have been suggesting titles. Bookclub members: you still have a few days to send me names and authors of the books you would like to read. Below are the books we are choosing from, listed in no particular order.

Fiction

Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish: A Novel
David Rakoff
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Neil Gaiman
The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne
All My Puny Sorrows
Miriam Toews
The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules
Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg
Stoner
John Williams
The Sea
John Banville
The Orphan Master’s Son
Adam Johnson
The Light Between Oceans
M.L. Stedman
Orenda
Joseph Boyden
Three Day Road
Joseph Boyden
The Collector of Dying Breaths: A Novel of Suspense
M.J. Rose
King Lear
William Shakespeare
I, Claudius
Robert Graves
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Confabulist
Steven Galloway
Longbourn
Jo Baker
The Return
Michael Gruber
Cutting for Stone
Abraham Verghese

Non-fiction

The Inconvenient Indian
Thomas King
Five Days at Memorial
Sheri Fink

The Thing with Feathers: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human
Noah Strycker