Our Toronto Men’s Book Club Meeting Dates 2012

Mondays: Sept 12, Oct 17, Nov 21, Jan 9, Mar 5, Apr 16, June 11
Location: P.J. O’Brien’s – Map
Time: 6:30pm
Books:
September 12, David: The Bicycle Runner, Franco Romagnoli
Oct 17, Chris: Reckless Endangerment by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner. TPL – Amazon – Youtube – Forbes Review – Kobo, C$13.99
Nov 21, Ron: The Moral Landscape, Sam Harris
Jan 9, Art: How to Run the World, charting a course to the next renaissance, Parag Khanna
Mar 5, Mark:
Apr 16, Garry:
June 11, Vipin:

I have a book suggestion, I don’t know if our group can stretch to science fiction – I used to read a lot of it, but haven’t read much recently.

This book caught my attention and I have been enjoying it.

How to live safely in a science fictional universe, by Charles Yu

Let’s get a couple of things out of the way first. The first thing is I enjoyed the book. It’s a quick read and I read most of it on while travelling by air from Toronto to Charlotte, NC. The second thing is the author was right to warn about the content, this is not a book for your mother or your daughter, and perhaps your wife or girlfriend shouldn’t read it either. Probably not a selection for the ladies book club. Third, none of it takes place in Texas – that probably surprised me as much as anything.

Dirk McVee is the self-styled “Carpet King of Texas”. He’s on a business trip to Liverpool to speak at a carpet sellers conference and to indulge in as much drug taking and purchased sex as is humanly possible. Perhaps more than is humanly possible. All the while his business back home is crashing and burning. He knows this and is having a wild last fling before facing the music. McVee is the ugly America, totally out of control with his cowboy hat and penchant for American beer along with his coke and brass.

Jade is a lost girl whose mother thinks she is at university, but is too busy looking after her handicapped son to realize her daughter has gone from shoplifting to table dancing to out and out prostitution and has developed a taste for drugs. The taste for drugs ultimately leads her to heroin which becomes the friend she was looking for.

JJ and John are a Scouser father and son who live a life of petty crime to support their drug use – the only life they know. John has never been to school and has fantasies of being Superman while his father uses him to commit burglaries and sells him to strangers for sex.

Kennedy tells the three stories alternately, in a similar fashion to some of Ruth Rendell’s non-police procedural novels – The Water is Lovely comes to mind. We follow each of the characters as they plumb the depths of their existence knowing somehow they are going to cross paths and something will happen. It does and it is not a happy ending.

Kennedy’s writing is easy to follow and fast paced and he clearly has experienced some of the gritty lifestyle of his characters first hand. I did find the quantities of drugs, alcohol, and sex somewhat more than what I would consider to be humanly possible, but I guess if you are going to write about excess, you might as well do so excessively.

Rumor is the book has been optioned for a movie – I could easily see this being the next Guy Ritchie opus.

Dates
The 2nd Monday of the following months, except October where we will meet the third Monday because of Thanksgiving.
Sept, 13 Oct 18, Nov 8, Jan 10, Mar 14, Apr 11, June 13
Location: P.J. O’Brien’s – Map
Time: 6:30pm
Initial Book List:
September 13: David – Hippopotamus, Stephen Fry – TPL
October 18: Chris – Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali – TPL
November 8: Ron – The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien – TPL
January 10: Art – The Big Short, Michael Lewis – TPL
March 14: Mark – Motherless Brooklyn, Jonathan Lethem – TPL
April 11: Garry – The Hanging of Angelique, Afua Cooper – TPL – Globe and Mail Review – Canadian Encyclopedia Review
June 13: Vipin – Hitch 22, Christopher Hitchens – TPL – Economist Review

Nov 23 – David: The Third Policeman, Flann O’Brien
Jan 11 – Mark: Netherland, Joseph O’Neill
Feb 22 – Garry: Shakedown, Ezra Levant
April 12 – Chris: Still Alice, Lisa Genova
June 14 – Ron: Where Men Win Glory, the Odyssey of Pat Tillman, by Jon Krakauer

Gentlemen,
Here’s a summary of last night’s meeting.
Meeting dates for the coming year: Nov 23, Jan 11, Feb 22, April 12, June 14.
Book choices: Nov-David, January-Mark, Feb-Garry, April-Chris, June-Ron
Hope that’s OK.
Ron

For October I’m suggesting this book which may suitably follow ‘The Drunkard’s Walk’: Struck by Lightning Jeffrey Rosenthal.

Hello Men’s Book Club Members,
Our next meeting will be Monday, September 14.
Here are a few books to read. As agreed they are non-fiction.
I believe they are all (except the last one) available in paperback or old enough to get from the library without a log wait.
Why don’t we each choose one (or more) that interests us and tell the others about it in September?
1. King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
2. Three Cups of Tea – Greg Mortenson
3. In Defense of Food, An Eater’s Manifesto, Michael Pollan
4. The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow
5. Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller Jeff Rubin

Gentlemen,
* Great meeting on April 14! Attending: Gary Lamourie, David Eady, Mark Cannon, Vipin Bery, and yours truly
* Next meeting: Tuesday, May 12, 2009, 6:30pm
* Book for May: Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
* We meet the second Tuesday of every month, except October where we meet the third Monday because of Thanksgiving. We will not meet in July and August.
* Location: P.J. O’Brien’s Pub, 39 Colborne Street (behind the King Edward Hotel), Phone 416-815-7562, Map

Gents,
Thanks for your prompt replies!
Since the hard-core members have all answered in the affirmative, we will go ahead and change the next three meeting dates from Mondays to Tuesdays: April 14, May 12, and June 9.
Please mark your calendars!