A Terrific #yegbookclub with Michael Hingston's The Dilletantes

Last night a group of readers met on twitter for an hour and chatted about Michael Hingston's The Dilettantes.  This was the first of our two summer reading choices.  It was a lively discussion with many threads and side roads and the hour flew by.  It was a great way to spend a snowy evening in September (yes, there was snow!).  The conversation swerved from favorite weird sodas, to student newspapers (comparing U of A's The Gateway to SFU's The Peak) and angst... plenty of angst.  Michael joined in and it was great to have the author chime in and answer questions. If you want to check out the conversation, use the #yegbookclub on twitter to search.  You should be able to pick up most of it.

If you want to check out the book, here's a link to find out more.

Next week we tackle our second summer reading choice, Marty Chan's The Demon Gate.  I think you have time to get it read and join in! See you on twitter on Monday, September 15th at 7 p.m.!

SUMMER READING! #yegbookclub

On May 26th we had a lively chat on twitter with author Thomas Trofmiuk about Waiting for Columbus.  It was wonderful to be able to ask questions about the characters and their possible paths and has the author answer them.  It was very clear that they all continued to live outside the book.  We begged for a Consuela sequel as she was a favorite of many of us readers. It was also great to learnt hat there is a Waiting for Columbus movie in the works.  When I read the book I was struck by how cinematic it was and, like The English Patient, I thought it would lend itself to film.

Following the discussion I indicated that there would be some Summer Reading Choice(s) for the next #yegbookclub.  I don't know about you, but I am always hard to pin down for the summer.  With holidays and day camps for the kids and, for this year, directing two Fringe Shows I thought we could have 2 selections to read over the summer and then in September we could take two evenings to chat about those books.

So (drumroll, please) the two Summer Reading Selections are:

The Dilettantes by Michael Hingston
I was inspired by the Alberta Reads panel and thought a humourous choice would make for a great summer choice.  The description and topic and the feedback from the reader made me think this would be a great book to sit on the deck and read while sipping my wine!

We'll have our #yegbookclub chat for The Dilettantes on Monday, September 8th, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. I hope Michael Hingston will be able to join us!

AND

Demon Gate: Ehrich Weisz Chronicles By Marty Chan
Perhaps this is a reaction to a recent article circulating about grown-ups reading fiction written for younger audiences, but I feel a compulsion to do so and I like the genre.  I think for summer it might be nice to check out this dimension hopping series.  Also, I have an almost 13 year old and I wanted to pick something we could both read.  He's not on twitter, but I am going to get his questions and feedback!

We'll have our #yegbookclub chat for Demon Gate on Monday, September 15th, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. I hope Marty Chan will be able to join us!

So happy reading! We'll chat in September!

Books! Books! Books! Alberta Readers' Choice Panel

The past few days, theatre was taken over by books in my life! Certainly not a bad thing, as anyone who has been to my house could easily tell you that books and reading take up a huge part of my life. 

Saturday, I attended a Writer's Corner at the Jasper Place Library facilitated by Jason Lee Norman, EPL's Writer in Residence.  The panelists were the 4 Edmonton Authors whose books were 4/5 of the Current Alberta Readers' Choice Short List.  On hand were Todd Babiak (Come Barbarians), Theresa Shea (The Unfinished Child), Diana Davidson (Pilgrimage), and Michael Hingston (The Dilettantes).  Jason Lee Norman moderated the event and the panel answered questions about research, challenges, inspiration and how it feels to have your book nominated for this award. I was invited to speak as a reader of two of the books, Come Barbarians and Pilgrimage, as those were our first two #yegbookclub selections, and there were readers for the other two books to speak about those, as well.  It was great that the two books I had not yet read could be purchased that day, so I came home with two new books which both sounded like great reads and I got all my books signed by the authors! Can you say fangirl? All in all, it was a great afternoon activity.  I am hoping to get to a few more of the Writer's Corners at the EPL, and since the next one will feature Edmonton playwright, Chris Craddock, I figure that's a double-whammy of theatre and writing for me! The date is not set yet, but once I find out when that is, I will let you know! Voting is still open for the Alberta Readers' Choice Award so click the link and pick your choice.  There is also a 5th book by Calgary author Tyler Trafford - Almost a Great Escape. 

A note: for all you writers out there - it was mentioned that Jason Lee Norman's collection 40 Below: Volume 2 is still accepting submissions.  Check it out if you have a great winter story and submit!

Next post - more books - #yegbookclub number three!