Book Clubs

Are you part of a book club or looking to start one? Gin, Turpentine, Pennyroyal, Rue by Christine Higdon makes a great book club pick! Four working-class Vancouver sisters, still reeling from the impact of World War I and the pandemic that stole their only brother, are scraping by but attempting to make the most of the exciting 1920s. Gin, Turpentine, Pennyroyal, Rue is a love story — but like all love stories, it’s complicated … Book Club Questions Why did the author choose the words gin, turpentine, pennyroyal, and rue for the title of this book? What does the book say about “family”? How...

Are you part of a book club or looking to start one? As Little As Nothing by Pamela Mulloy makes a great book club pick! In the tumultuous year before WWII breaks out, a plane crashes on an English country lane and four people are brought together in the aftermath. The novel uses its interplay of voices to explore early feminism and resilience, the strength of new bonds, and the various ways we reinvent ourselves. Book Club Questions Instead of focusing on the war itself as so many historical novels do, Mulloy has chosen to set As Little as Nothing in...

Are you part of a book club or looking to start one? Same Ground by Russell Wangersky makes a great book club pick! A personal tale of parallel journeys separated by almost two centuries — by car, in Wangersky’s case, and on mule and foot in the case of his great-great-grandfather William Castle Dodge. Book Club Questions  Same Ground is many things — a modern-day odyssey looking for roots and belonging, a portrait of contemporary heartland America, a quintessential North American road trip. Did one aspect resonate with you most? If so, which one and why? Have you ever taken a crazy...

Are you part of a book club or looking to start one? My Road from Damascus by Jamal Saeed makes a great book club pick! Humorous, witty, horrific, and poetic, Jamal Saeed’s story is Syria’s story: surviving 12 years in brutal military prisons, an enchanted childhood, his loves, Syria’s deadly upheavals, and his family’s escape.  Book Club Questions My Road from Damascus suggests that a writer may move freely within the space of their life rather than along a chronologically arranged line of experiences, creating scenes in which childhood and old age are juxtaposed. We can say the same about sorrows, joys, despair, and...

Are you part of a book club or looking to start one? Help! I’m Alive by Gurjinder Basran makes a great book club pick! When a teen dies, four people are left spinning, each trying to deal with their grief and face the dissatisfactions of their lives. Fresh, insightful, and propulsive, Help! I’m Alive sensitively and authentically explores the challenges of death . . . and of living on. Book Club Questions Why do you think the author chose to have multiple narrators? How did that change your reading experience? How did the story change by including an adult voice along with...