Oct 01, 2021
Now that it is time to think about Thanksgiving, getting cozy and wearing big, bulky sweaters one’s mind may turn to thoughts of food! Food is often a feature in literature -- there’s Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg -- but food doesn’t always have to be in the title for it to be prominent in the book and bonus -- reading about food gets you all the pleasure and none of the calories! This month you can tuck into a great read that features food or feasts with a digital offering from OPL.
In English eAudio introduce your book club to the Literary Pub Mystery Series by Sarah Fox, a cozy series about food and drink as much as it is about murder. In the premiere installment, Wine and Punishment, Sadie Coleman, the owner of a charming literary pub finds her fresh start on the rocks thanks to a case of murder.
In eBook, read or reread the Canadian classic Anne of Green Gables for a delicious, hilarious, and heart-felt romp through P.E.I. And maybe try for yourself the recipes here or in the Anne of Green Gables Cookbook by Kate MacDonald
In French perhaps try a book from Marc Hervieux, an opera tenor – you may recognize him as a singer of the national anthem for the Montreal Canadiens. In Bon vivant!, Hervieux tells anecdotes and provides recipes. He says: “I wanted to share my story, my melodies, my recipes, my passions… through this love of the table that I fuse with that of music.” A second volume comes out this fall.
We have talked about cooking, so now let’s talk about wine. Aurel Timescu, consul of France in Guinea, often seizes the opportunity for a glass of chilled white wine to bear the heat. When he is not enjoying a glass on a terrasse, Aurel is solving crime – if you like this first audiobook of the series, Le suspendu de Conakry, there are 3 more that follow.
Suggestions and Resources for a successful online Book Club
In order to have your Book Club take place online you can try creating Facebook groups, or using various social media channels to discuss books. Or you could try meeting live via online video conferencing tools. The following tools are free:
- Google Hangouts provides free video/chat/voice conferencing and does not have a time limit
- Jitsi is a free open source video conferencing tool
- In French, there is a platform built by Les libraires that allows book clubs to meet online! You can request to create your own club, or there are groups that are already running that you can join.
- All book clubs, including the current book club picks and comments, are visible to anyone accessing the site Le Regroupement des éditeurs franco-canadiens is offering a monthly book club called D’un océan à l’autre – here is more information (in French only), and the books available at OPL!
Finding eBooks and eAudiobooks for your Book Club
- Always Available eAudio from OverDrive – many great Book Club reads in this list
- Books with 100 simultaneous checkouts -- this new format offered by publishers to libraries lets your whole book club borrow a book at once!
- Special Collection of Always Available eBooks and eAudio from Overdrive – a quality collection available until the end of 2021
- Always Available ebook Classics from Duke Publishing
- OPL streaming eBook and eAudio collections
- Some French publishers OPL purchases from through Cantook Station offer many loans of the same title at once. You can search the Cantook platform for these publishers and make your choice. Participating publishers include Gallimard, Actes Sud, Rivages, POL, Flammarion, and Payot
- Radio-Canada offers free “Always Available” French eAudio - stream from the ICI Première website or download the Radio-Canada OHdio app.
- D'un océan à l'autre | club de lecture 2021
Contact OPLs InfoService 613-580-2940 if you need help accessing these titles and resources
Hosting and Discussions
If you would like discussion questions for your book, here is a list of 40 Great Book Club Discussion Questions from Book Riot. They work for any book.
Here are some great tips about how to host an online book club from Bustle Magazine: 10 Tips For Hosting A Digital Book Club
If you’ve used our suggestions in your book club, we’d love to hear about it!