Book Club Meetings

2012
June 17th (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM (Pot-luck dinner); at Leith and Rob's.	Primary book: Arthur & George (Julian Barnes) Companion book: Franny and Zooey (J. D. Salinger)
April 15th (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM (Pot-luck dinner); at Fred and Joette's.	Primary book: Anthill (E. O. Wilson) Companion book (one of the following): Naturalist (E. O. Wilson) The Tiger (John Vaillant) Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood (Oliver Sacks)
February 5th (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM (Pot-luck dinner); no host has yet been named.	Primary book: American Gods (Neil Gaiman) Companion book: The Penelopiad (Margaret Atwood) And if you've read this already, choose another title from the Canongate Myth series.
2011
December 18th (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM (Festive pot-luck dinner); at Leith & Rob's.	There is no assigned reading for this gathering! But members are encouraged to help revive the tradition of the annual "Literary Limerick Reading Roundup" by composing limericks, haiku, and other forms of doggerel, inspired by any of the books we read in the preceding year.
November 20th (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM (Pot-luck dinner); at Leith & Rob's.	Primary book: The Adventures of Augie March (Saul Bellow) Companion book: A Sport and a Pastime (James Salter)
September 25th (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM (Pot-luck dinner); at Fred & Joette's.	Primary book: A Summons to Memphis (Peter Taylor) Companion book: Readers' choice: a southern author
June 5th (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM (Pot-luck dinner); at Jean & Michael's.	Primary book: Travels with my Aunt (Graham Greene) Companion book: Lucky Jim (Kingsley Amis)
April 17th (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM (Pot-luck dinner); at Nou & Sarah's.	Primary book: The Yacoubian Building (Alaa Al-Aswany) Companion book: The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Muriel Barbery)
February 27th (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM (Pot-luck dinner); at Fred & Joette's.	Primary book: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (Michael Chabon) Companion book: The Fortress of Solitude (Jonathan Lethem)
2010
December 19th (Sunday) @ 3:00 PM (Christmas version of the traditional pot-luck dinner); at Larrie and Suzanne's.	Primary book: Hons and Rebels (Jessica Mitford) Companion book: Brideshead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh) Members are encouraged to help revive the tradition of the annual "Literary Limerick Reading Roundup"
October 24th (Sunday) @ 4:30 PM (pot-luck dinner); at Nou and Sarah's.	Primary book: Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (Chris Hedges) Companion book: Salamander (Thomas Wharton)
May 23rd (Sunday) @ 4:30 PM (pot-luck dinner); at Leith and Rob's.	Primary book: Nikolski (Nicolas Dickner) Companion book: The Fat Woman Next Door is Pregnant (Michel Tremblay)
March 28th (Sunday) @ 4:30 PM (pot-luck dinner); at Larrie and Suzanne's.	Primary book: The Go-Between (L. P. Hartley) Companion book: Loving (Henry Green)
January 17th (Sunday) @ 5:00 PM (pot-luck dinner); at Nou and Sarah's.	Primary book: Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth (Margaret Atwood) Companion book: The Gift (Lewis Hyde)
2009
December 20th (Saturday) @ 5:30 PM (sit-down dinner); @ Jean and Michael's	The annual Special Edition Christmas Gathering of the book club – where members are encouraged to keep the annual "Literary Limerick Reading Roundup" tradition alive.
October 25th (Sunday @ 4:00pm); pot-luck dinner @ Nou and Sarah's	Primary book: Gods Behaving Badly (Marie Phillips) Companion book: The Queen and I (Sue Townsend)
August 30th (Saturday @ 4:00pm); pot-luck picnic at little Cates Park	Primary book: The Botany of Desire (Michael Pollan) Companion book: Much Depends On Dinner (Margaret Visser)
May 31st (Sunday @ 4:00pm); pot-luck dinner @ Larrie and Suzanne's	Primary book: Oleander, Jacaranda (Penelope Lively) Companion book: The Innocent Traveller (Ethel Wilson)
March 28th (Saturday @ 5:30pm); pot-luck dinner @ Leith and Rob's	Primary book: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Diaz) Companion book: The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Mohsin Hamid)
February 7th (Saturday @ 5:30pm); pot-luck dinner @ Nou and Sarah's	Primary book: The Gathering (Anne Enright) Companion book: How The Irish Saved Civilization (Thomas Cahill)
2008
December 27th (Saturday) @ 6:30 PM (appies and dinner); @ Fred and Joette's	The annual Special Edition Christmas Gathering of the book club – where members (supplemented this year by several other invited guests) are encouraged to keep the annual "Literary Limerick Reading Roundup" tradition alive.
November 23rd (Sunday @ 4:00pm); pot-luck dinner @ Larrie and Suzanne's	Primary book: Tess of the d'Urbervilles (Thomas Hardy) Companion book: Reader's choice
September 13th (Saturday @ 7:00pm); dinner out @ Café Kathmandu	Primary book: The Inheritance of Loss (Kiran Desai) Companion book: Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found (Suketu Mehta)
May 11th (Sunday) @ 12:00 (pot-luck lunch); @ Jean and Michael's	Primary book: The Recording Angel (Evan Eisenberg) Companion book: This Is Your Brain On Music (Daniel Levitin)
March 2nd (Sunday) @ 12:00 noon (pot-luck lunch); @ Leith and Rob's	Primary book: The Moviegoer (Walker Percy) Companion book: Suttree (Cormac McCarthy)
January 13th (Sunday) @ 12:00 noon (pot-luck lunch); @ Larrie and Suzanne's	Primary book: Soucouyant (David Chariandy) Companion book: The Serpent and the Rainbow (Wade Davis) and, for those looking for something additional to read, The Farming of Bones (Edwidge Danticat) has been approved by the membership as suitable.
2007
December 14th (Friday) @ 7:00 PM (pot-luck dinner); @ Fred and Joette's	The (slightly pre-Christmas) annual Special Edition Christmas Gathering of the book club – where members are encouraged to help revive the annual "Literary Limerick Reading Roundup"
October 21st (Sunday) @ 11:00 AM (pot-luck brunch); @ Leith and Rob's Vancouver residence	Primary book: Cuba Libre (Elmore Leonard) Companion book: Scoop (Evelyn Waugh)
August 19th (Sunday) @ 10:30 AM (pot-luck brunch); @ Fred and Joette's	Primary book: The Bastard of Istanbul (Elif Shafak) Companion book: The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
June 3rd (Sunday) @ 10:30 AM (pot-luck brunch); @ Leith and Rob's Vancouver residence	Primary book: To the Wedding (John Berger) Companion book(s): Race Against Time: The 2005 Massey Lectures (Stephen Lewis) and/or The Year of Magical Thinking (Joan Didion)
April 1st (Sunday) @ 10:00 AM (pot-luck brunch); @ Nou and Sarah's	Primary book: Heat (Bill Buford) Companion book(s): Kitchen Confidential (Anthony Bourdain) and/or Stanley Park (Timothy Taylor)
January 21st (Sunday) @ 11:00 AM (pot-luck brunch); @ Leith and Rob's	Primary book: Suite Française (Irene Nemirovsky) Companion book: Paris 1919 (Margaret MacMillan) Rebel "Musical Sub Club" faction's selection: One Long Tune: The Life And Music of Lenny Breau (Ron Forbes-Roberts, Gene Lees)
2006
December 29th (Friday) @ 8:00 PM (Grown Ups; desserts, coffee, sweet wines); @ Larrie & Suzanne's	The (slightly post-Christmas) annual Special Edition Christmas Gathering of the book club – where several members breathed new life into the annual "Literary Limerick Reading Roundup"
November 26th (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM (pot-luck dinner); @ Fred & Joette's	Primary book: My Family and Other Animals (Gerald Durrell) Companion book: Justine (Lawrence Durrell)
September 24th (Sunday) @ 10:30 AM (brunch); @ Nou & Sarah's	Primary book: Volkswagen Blues (Jacques Poulin) Companion book: The Bean Trees (Barbara Kingsolver) Plus a chance to talk about other books that caught your eyes over the summer...
June 4th (Sunday) @ 10:30 AM (brunch); @ Jean and Michael's	Primary book: The Satanic Verses (Salman Rushdie) Companion book: Maps For Lost Lovers (Nadeem Aslam)
March 26th (Sunday) @ 10:30 AM (brunch); @ Nou and Sarah's	Primary book: The Magus (John Fowles) Companion book: A "reader's choice" / wild card pick, something Greek- or Mediterranean- related. A general preference for something non-fiction, but this will not be strictly enforced. Suggestions include: Lawrence Durrell: Reflections on a Marine Venus (Rhodes) Lawrence Durrell: Bitter Lemons (Cyprus) Lawrence Durrell: Prospero's Cell (Corfu) Henry Miller: The Colossus of Maroussi Nikos Kazantzakis: Zorba the Greek Nikos Kazantzakis: Freedom and Death (Crete) Patrick Leigh Fermor: Roumeli (northern Greece) Patrick Leigh Fermor: Mani (southern Peloponnese) Karen Connelly: One Room in a Castle (Spain, France, Greece)
January 8th (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM. @ Leith and Rob's	Primary book: White Teeth (Zadie Smith) Companion book: The Polished Hoe (Austin Clarke)
2005
December 11th (Sunday) @ Fred and Joette's.	The annual Special Edition Christmas Gathering of the book club – including a somewhat bedraggled version of the annual "Literary Limerick Reading Roundup".
October 16th (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Nou and Sarah's.	Primary book: The Fortunate Pilgrim (Mario Puzo) Companion book: The Navigator of New York (Wayne Johnston) Feel free to supplement these two with other books on the immigrant experience in New York (eg: Call it Sleep by Henry Roth), or Canada (eg: Lives of the Saints by Nino Ricci)
August 14th (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Larrie and Suzanne's.	Primary book: Bel Canto (Ann Patchett) Companion book: Your choice of one of Isabel Allende's books...
June 19th (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Jean and Michael's.	Primary book: There Is A Season: A Memoir in a Garden (Patrick Lane) Companion book: Addicted: Notes From The Belly Of The Beast (Ed: Lorna Crozier)
April 3rd (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Nou and Sarah's.	Primary book: The Quiet American (Graham Greene) Companion book: Stupid White Men (Michael Moore) Optional additional book: The Ugly American (William Lederer, Eugene Burdick)
January 30th (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Larrie and Suzanne's.	Primary book: The Old Curiosity Shop (Charles Dickens) Companion book: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon)
2004
December 19th (Sunday) 4:00 PM or so. Pot Luck supper at Leith & Rob's	The annual Special Edition Christmas Gathering of the book club (including the annual "Literary Limerick Reading Roundup") The (scanty, but satisfying) offerings from this year's LLRR are available here.
November 14th (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Fred & Joette & Aaron's new place	Primary book: The Cunning Man (Robertson Davies) Companion book: In the Skin of a Lion (Michael Ondaatje)   or Clara Callan (Richard B. Wright)
September 26th (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM. Picnic format at Cates Park	Primary book: The Big Sleep (Raymond Chandler) Companion book: So What (John Szwed) Optional additional book: Farewell My Lovely (Raymond Chandler)
June 20th (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Larrie and Suzanne's	Primary book: Pattern Recognition (William Gibson) Companion book: No Logo (Naomi Klein) Optional additional book: Neuromancer (William Gibson)
April 25th (Sunday) @ 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Fred and Joette's	This time we're experimenting by reading on and about a theme, rather than picking specific primary/secondary books. The theme this time: the expatriate experience in Morocco (Paul Bowles, Jane Bowles, William S. Burroughs, etc, etc). A reading list has been compiled and can be read here (40k PDF).
February 8th (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Jean and Michael's	Primary book: Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books (Azar Nafisi) Companion book: Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov) Optional additional book: Lo's Diary (Pia Pera)
2003
December 12th (Tuesday) 6:00 PM or so. Pot Luck supper at Leith & Rob's	The annual Special Edition Christmas Gathering of the book club (including the annual "Literary Limerick Reading Roundup") Response to the LLRP was down a bit from the previous year. Read the 2003 offerings, now online.
November 30th (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Larrie & Suzanne's	Primary book: No Great Mischief (Alastair Macleod) Companion book: The Peppered Moth (Margaret Drabble)
September 7th (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Nou & Sarah's (postponed from June 8th)	Primary book: Under the Volcano (Malcolm Lowry) Companion book: Desolation Angels (Jack Kerouac)
April 13th (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Larrie & Suzanne's	Primary book: Year of Wonders (Geraldine Brooks) Companion book: The Plague (Albert Camus)
February 2nd (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Michael & Jean's Bring some book ideas/suggestions for the Master Book List.	Primary book: The Woman Who Walked Into Doors (Roddy Doyle) Companion book: Last Orders (Graham Swift)
2002
December 15th (Sunday) 5:30 PM or so. Pot Luck supper at Larrie & Suzanne's	The annual Special Edition Christmas Gathering of the book club (including the "Literary Limerick Reading Roundup") The response to the LLRP was overwhelming this year. The year 2002 offerings are now online for your perusal.
November 24th (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Fred & Joette's	Primary book: A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens) Companion book: The Passion (Jeanette Winterson)
September 22nd (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Nou & Sarah's	Primary book: Pilgrim (Timothy Findley) Companion book: The Living (Annie Dillard)
May 5th (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Leith & Rob's	Primary book: Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource (Marq de Villiers) Companion book: Prodigal Summer (Barbara Kingsolver)
March 3rd (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Jean & Michael's	Primary book: Cry, the Beloved Country (Alan Paton) Companion book - one of: Burger's Daughter (Nadine Gordimer) Disgrace (J. M. Coetzee)
January 4th (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Nou & Sarah's	Primary book: Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey (V. S. Naipaul) Companion book: Glass Palace (Amitav Ghosh)
December 23rd (Sunday) 8:00 PM (to allow for children to be settled, and sitters briefed before departure). Finger food and desserts at Leith & Rob's	The now-more-or-less-annual Christmas-Season Reading Event Bring 1 or 2 favorite pieces (selections of poetry or prose) to share. A suggestion was made (by someone who shall remain nameless) that we should each write one or more short poems (limeric or haiku) relating to one of the selected books from this past year... Here are the year 2001 offerings.
2001
November 4th (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Fred & Joette's	Primary book: East, West (Salman Rushdie) Companion book: Kim (Rudyard Kipling)
September 16th (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Larrie & Suzanne's	Primary book: When We Were Orphans (Kazuo Ishiguro) Companion book: Anil's Ghost (Michael Ondaatje)
July 8th (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Leith & Rob's place	Primary book: Perfume (Patrick Suskind) Companion book: Blindness (Jose Saramago)
May 13th (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Jean & Michael's place	Primary book: The Progress of Love (Alice Munro) Companion book: What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (Raymond Carver)
March 11th (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Leith & Rob's place	Primary book: Swann's Way (Marcel Proust) Companion book: How Proust Can Change Your Life (Alain De Botton)
January 7th (Sunday). Pot Luck brunch at Larrie & Suzanne's new place	Primary book: The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
2000
October 29th (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper at Nou & Sarah's new place	Primary book: The Sixteen Pleasures (Robert Helenga) Companion book: Under the Tuscan Sun (Frances Mayes)
August 13th (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper chez Jean & Michael	Primary book: The Underpainter (Jane Urquhart) Companion book: An Equal Music (Vikram Seth)
June 21st (Wednesday) 7:00 PM Chez Nou and Sarah.	Primary book: A Feeling For The Organism: The Life And Work Of Barbara McClintock (Evelyn Fox Keller) Companion book: A Scientific Romance (Ronald Wright)
April 16th (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper chez Fred & Joette	Primary book: Gulliver's Travels (Jonathan Swift) Companion book: Titus Groan (Mervyn Peake)
March 5th (Sunday) 4:00 PM. Pot Luck supper chez Jean & Michael	Primary book: Underworld (Don DeLillo) Companion book: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (Ken Kesey)
January 16th (Sunday)	Primary book: Jack Maggs (Peter Carey) Companion book: Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)
1999
November 22th (Monday)	Primary book: The Master and Margarita (Mikhail Bulgakov) Companion book: Notes From the Underground (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
September 19th (Sunday)	Primary book: The Professor and the Madman (Simon Winchester) Companion book: Birdy (William Wharton)
July 12th (Monday)	Primary book: Memoirs of a Geisha : a novel (Arthur S. Golden) Companion book: Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood (Fatima Mernissi)
May 17th (Monday)	Primary book: The Odyssey (Homer, in the Robert Fagles translation) Companion book: Barney's Version (Mordecai Richler)
March 8th (Monday)	Primary book: Stones From The River (Ursula Hegi) Companion book: The Tin Drum (Gunter Grass)
January 3rd (Sunday)	Primary book: Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt) Companion book: As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (Laurie Lee)
1998
November 9th (Monday)	Primary book: Cold Mountain (Charles Frazier) Companion book: Return of the Native (Thomas Hardy)
September 20th (Sunday)	Primary book: The Englishman’s Boy (Guy Vanderhaeghe) Companion book: Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley) Optional additional book(s): Wolf Willow (Wallace Stegner) Who Has Seen The Wind (W. O. Mitchell) As For Me And My House (Sinclair Ross) The Perfection of the Morning (Sharon Butala)
July 7th (Monday)	Primary book: Really the Blues (Mezz Mezzrow) Companion book: Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston) Optional additional book(s): Coming Through Slaughter (Michael Ondaatje)
May 11th (Monday)	Primary book: Palace of Desire (Naguib Mahfouz) Companion book: Lemprière’s Dictionary (Lawrence Norfolk)
March 9th (Monday)	Primary book: Fall On Your Knees (Ann-Marie McDonald) Companion book: Random Passage (Bernice Morgan)
January 4th (Sunday)	Primary book: The Jade Peony (Wayson Choy) Companion book: Red China Blues (Jan Wong)
1997
November 3rd (Monday)	Primary book: City of Glass (Paul Auster) Companion book: The Unconscious Civilization (John Ralston Saul)
September 7th (Sunday)	Primary book: The Cure For Death By Lightning (Gail Anderson-Dargatz) Companion book: Regeneration (Pat Barker)
July 7th (Monday)	Primary book: Alias Grace (Margaret Atwood) Companion book: The Woman in White (Wilkie Collins)
May 5th (Monday)	Primary book: Captain Corelli's Mandolin (Louis de Bernières) Companion book: Fugitive Pieces (Anne Michaels)

This page last updated April 16, 2012