Books N’ Banter Book Club 2022

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Cost: Free
Location:
Canmore Public Library meeting room, or join us via Zoom.

Books N' Banter has moved back to meeting in person as of April 2022! This will now be a hybrid in person / online program - you can still join via Zoom should you choose. Register for the book club in order to attend the monthly meeting. Meetings will be held on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 7:00pm. Scroll down to see upcoming meetings and books.

Registration Required, limit of 12 participants per meeting. We will contact you to confirm your registration.

Remaining 2022 books and dates:

A Slow Burning Fire by Paula Hawkins.

NATIONAL & NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Years ago someone lit a match...

Laura has spent most of her life being judged. She's seen as hot-tempered, troubled, a loner. Some even call her dangerous.

Miriam knows that just because Laura is witnessed leaving the scene of a horrific murder with blood on her clothes doesn't mean Laura is a killer. Bitter experience has taught her how easy it is to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Carla is reeling from the brutal murder of her nephew. She trusts no one and no thing: good people are capable of terrible deeds. But how far will she go to find peace?

Innocent or guilty, everyone is carrying damage. Some are damaged enough to kill.

Look what you started.

Peace Pipe Dreams by Darrell Dennis.

Darrell Dennis is a stereotype-busting, politically incorrect Native American/Aboriginal/Shuswap (Only he's allowed to call himself an "Indian." Maybe. Under some circumstances). With a large dose of humour and irreverence, he untangles some of the truths and myths about First Nations: Why do people think Natives get free trucks, and why didn't he ever get one? Why does the length of your hair determine whether you’re good or bad? By what ratio does the amount of rain in a year depend on the amount of cactus liquor you consume?

In addition to answering these burning questions, Dennis tackles some tougher subjects. He looks at European-Native interactions in North America from the moment of first contact, discussing the fur trade, treaty-signing and the implementation of residential schools. Addressing misconceptions still widely believed today, Dennis explains why Native people aren't genetically any more predisposed to become alcoholics than Caucasians; that Native religion doesn't consist of worshipping rocks, disappearing into thin air, or conversing with animals; and that tax exemptions are so limited and confusing that many people don't even bother.

Employing pop culture examples, personal anecdote and a cutting wit, Darrell Dennis deftly weaves history with current events to entertain, inform and provide a convincing, readable overview of First Nations issues and why they matter today.

Five Little Indians by Michelle Good.

National Bestseller; A Globe and Mail Top 100 Book of the Year; A CBC Best Book of the Year; An Apple Best Book of the Year; A Kobo Best Book of the Year; An Indigo Best Book of the Year.

Taken from their families when they are very small and sent to a remote, church-run residential school, Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie and Maisie are barely out of childhood when they are finally released after years of detention.

Alone and without any skills, support or families, the teens find their way to the seedy and foreign world of Downtown Eastside Vancouver, where they cling together, striving to find a place of safety and belonging in a world that doesn’t want them. The paths of the five friends cross and crisscross over the decades as they struggle to overcome, or at least forget, the trauma they endured during their years at the Mission.

Fuelled by rage and furious with God, Clara finds her way into the dangerous, highly charged world of the American Indian Movement. Maisie internalizes her pain and continually places herself in dangerous situations. Famous for his daring escapes from the school, Kenny can’t stop running and moves restlessly from job to job—through fishing grounds, orchards and logging camps—trying to outrun his memories and his addiction. Lucy finds peace in motherhood and nurtures a secret compulsive disorder as she waits for Kenny to return to the life they once hoped to share together. After almost beating one of his tormentors to death, Howie serves time in prison, then tries once again to re-enter society and begin life anew.

With compassion and insight, Five Little Indians chronicles the desperate quest of these residential school survivors to come to terms with their past and, ultimately, find a way forward.

Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLIST • “A masterpiece” (NPR) about marriage, divorce, and the bewildering dynamics of ambition
Toby Fleishman thought he knew what to expect when he and his wife of almost fifteen years separated: weekends and every other holiday with the kids, some residual bitterness, the occasional moment of tension in their co-parenting negotiations. He could not have predicted that one day, in the middle of his summer of sexual emancipation, Rachel would just drop their two children off at his place and simply not return. He had been working so hard to find equilibrium in his single life. The winds of his optimism, long dormant, had finally begun to pick up. Now this.
As Toby tries to figure out where Rachel went, all while juggling his patients at the hospital, his never-ending parental duties, and his new app-assisted sexual popularity, his tidy narrative of the spurned husband with the too-ambitious wife is his sole consolation. But if Toby ever wants to truly understand what happened to Rachel and what happened to his marriage, he is going to have to consider that he might not have seen things all that clearly in the first place.
A searing, utterly unvarnished debut, Fleishman Is in Trouble is an insightful, unsettling, often hilarious exploration of a culture trying to navigate the fault lines of an institution that has proven to be worthy of our great wariness and our great hope.

Is the current Zoom session full? You can't make the meeting this month? You can still participate! Read this month's book and submit your review online to have it shared with other book club members.

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You do not need a Zoom account to join us. You will need to download free software for your computer or mobile device in order to attend.

Click here to download the Zoom Client for Meetings on your computer. For mobile devices, find Zoom Cloud Meetings in the app store.

Event dates

  • Tuesday, January 25, 2022 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
  • Tuesday, February 22, 2022 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
  • Tuesday, March 22, 2022 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
  • Tuesday, April 26, 2022 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
  • Tuesday, May 24, 2022 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
  • Tuesday, June 28, 2022 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
  • Tuesday, September 27, 2022 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
  • Tuesday, October 25, 2022 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
  • Tuesday, November 22, 2022 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.