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.
Previous Book Selections
2022 Book selections
Son of elsewhere, by Elamin Abdelmahmoud
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
The Relatives by Camilla Gibb
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
2021 Book Selections
How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa
Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi
Indians on Vacation by Thomas King
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