Book Club

Join the Fairfield Community Book Club

Monday, January 30th 

7:00-9ish pm (online on Zoom, unless specified)

Contact: event@fairfieldcommunity.ca for information on joining the Community Book Club.

Join our skilled volunteer facilitators as they guide participants to deepen their understanding of the issues each book presents.

What kind of books do we read?

• NEW for 2019-2020, as of July 29, 2019: Speaks—whether through fiction, science fiction or non-fiction—to a critical global issue that is affecting us now as Canadians. Provided the book meets this criterion, it may be by an author from any country.
• Contributes to (deepens and expands) our cultural understanding of this country: First Nations and Metis experiences, the diaspora from many countries, other immigrants and their descendants, other often-marginalized voices in our country
• Principally, though not solely, works of fiction written by a Canadian author
• Global issues
• Rooted in social history, preferentially, meaning works richly based on an author’s lived experience (e.g. works by First Nations or Metis authors vs. books about FN or Metis culture—also without intention to read only books that are by FN and/or Metis authors)
• Ability to access the book through multiple media (e.g., paper, eBook, audio book) and at various price points (e.g., library copies, used, paperback, hardcover)

Note: The criteria are as dynamic as our book club—and open for amendment. We encourage you to bring any books you believe are suitable!

Reading options before the event

To read the book before the meeting, there are different options available: borrow from the library or the FGCA or purchase. To reduce the impact on the environment, we prioritize books that are available at the library. You can also borrow the current and next month’s book from the community centre. After each meeting, Erin we will email the next month’s book selection and you will have the opportunity to reserve a copy of the book. You will have one week to read it before the next person on the waiting list picks it up.

Note we keep all book selections and you are welcome to borrow at anytime!

Upcoming Book Selections

January meeting- The selector of souls- Shauna Singh Baldwin 

The Selector of Souls begins with a scene that is terrifying, harrowing and yet strangely tender: we’re in the mid ranges of the Himalayas as a young woman gives birth to her third child with the help of her mother, Damini. The birth brings no joy, just a horrible accounting, and the act that follows–the huge sacrifice made by Damini out of love of her daughter–haunts the novel.

2022 Book selections 

Son of elsewhere, by Elamin Abdelmahmoud

“Sand Talk” by Tyson Yunkaporta

Tainna : The Unseen Ones by Norma Dunning

All the Broken Things by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer

On Borrowed Time by Gregor Craigie

The Strangers by Katherena Vermette

We Two Alone by Jack Wang

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

From the Ashes, My story of being Métis, Homeless and Finding My Way by Jesse Thristle 

Chop Suey Nation, The Legion Café and Other Stories from Canada’s Chinese Restaurants by Ann Hui

The Silence by Karen Lee White 

Little Fish by Casey Plett

Earle Street by Arleene Pare 

Ragged Company by Richard Wagamese

The Testament by Margaret Atwood

2020 Book Selections

Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming by David Wallace-Wells

Ellen in Pieces by Caroline Adderson

Black Writers Matter, an anthology of Canadian (black) writers, edited by Whitney French

Translated from the Gibberish by Anosh Irani

The Book of Negroes by Laurence Hill

How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

A Mind Spread on the Ground by Alicia Elliot

Noopiming, The Cure for White Ladies by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

 2019 Book Selections

This Accident of Being Lost by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

All Things Consoled: A Daughter’s Memoir by Elizabeth Hay

The Measure of My Powers by Jackie Kai Ellis 

A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza

Forgiveness: A Gift from My Grandparents by Mark Sakamoto

Homes: A Refugee Story by Abu Bakr Al Rabeeah 

The Dark and Other Love Stories by Deborah Willis 

Love From A to Z by SK Ali

Tomboy Survival Guide by Ivan Coyote

A Mariner’s Guide to Self Sabotage By Bill Gaston

Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age By Darrel J. McLeod