Sep 07, 2023
This month City Sounds Live takes place at venues all around the National Capital Region. Get out to listen to some free outdoor concerts and soak in those last few rays of summer sunshine. Maybe make a concert a part of your book club experience, it’s always good to keep things fresh – right? Here are some excellent reads by local authors to go along with some excellent live local music.
For listening there is Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by local author Emily R. Austin available as an Express eAudio using the cloudLibrary app. Gilda, a twenty-something, atheist, animal-loving lesbian, cannot stop ruminating about death. Responding to a flyer for free therapy at a local Catholic church, Gilda finds herself mistakenly hired to replace the recently deceased receptionist Grace. When the police discover suspicious circumstances surrounding Grace's death, Gilda may have to finally reveal the truth of her mortifying existence. Quirky and funny but with substance that satisfies. This is a great read any book club would enjoy.
In eBook try Dandelion by local author Jamie Chai Yun Liew – at the time of writing there are 4 copies available as an Express eBook using the cloudLibrary app. Winner of the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award from the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop and on the 2023 Canada Reads longlist, Dandelion is a beautifully written and affecting novel about motherhood, family secrets, migration, isolation, and mental illness. With clarity and care, it delves into the many ways we define home, identity, and above all, belonging.
These titles are excellent books by local authors to compliment your excursions to watch local musicians this September. Enjoy!
For book clubs in French, here are some titles that are sure to inspire great discussions!
Acclaimed author Joséphine Bacon returns five years after her book Uiesh : Quelque part with a poignant collection of poems entitled Kau Minuat : Une fois de plus. The poems are written in innu-aimun and French and touch on themes of nature, the seasons, and sharing the knowledge of the elders. Joséphine Bacon won the Prix des libraires in 2019 for Uiesh : Quelque part and the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize in 2023 for her significant contribution to the literary world.
V13 is written and read to you by French author Emmanuel Carrère. He followed the entire court process for the 2015 terrorist attacks and wrote about it for the magazine L’Obs. Listeners are presented with a sobering and meticulous report of the proceedings and the author’s observations of an unthinkable event.
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 Chat provides free video/chat/voice conferencing
- 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
- Book Club eAudio Ideas 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!
- 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