THE REVIEW

BOOK REPORT


Jason, Ellie, Bob, Jim and I were all at Wednesday’s meeting. Margaret hurt her back and was unable to attend. Gemma couldn’t make it, either. And we don’t know where Anne Berrie is these days. If Bob signs up with his wife to take a course in playing Bridge, he will miss the next three meetings.

I started by recommending that everyone read “Sunray: The Death And Life of Captain Nichola Goddard”, in honour of our upcoming Remembrance Day. And I strongly believe it should be required reading for all Canadian high school students. My reasons are several. As I writer, I found the book easy to read and very informative about the military setting here and in Afghanistan. As a Canadian, I think Nichola Goddard has more than earned status as a true Canadian hero we should all be familiar with and be proud of. And because Major Sonny Hatton and his wife Chantal Hatton, both pictured and mentioned in the book, are my son and daughter-in-law. I know they were close friends with Nichola and her husband, Jay, and Nichola’s death was devastating to them.
The book is a new release and is authored by Valerie Fortney, a journalist with the Calgary Herald, and is published by Key Porter Books. I borrowed the book from the Murrayville branch of the FVRL. My brother has purchased a copy from Hemmingway’s Book Store in Abbotsford. Unfortunately, Chapter’s Langley did not have a single copy in their store as of today’s date.

Jason is working on his novel’s rewrite with his wife, and says they are on a roll with it. He thinks reading bits and pieces to the group is too disrupting for his writing process. There aren’t enough meetings to keep up with all the chapters.

Ellie read a personal story about kayaking off Crescent Beach early one morning and encountering two grey whales. She had heard they pass that way migrating north and was astounded at how lucky she was to see them, one only 4 feet away from her kayak. She found the experience surreal and felt blessed by the encounter.

Bob re-read a piece he had written in 2003. It was from his history of jewellery manufacturing in B.C. The first manufacturer appeared in 1893, and Jacoby Bros. was established in 1909. We learn about the early processes of making jewellery and that some equipment came from New York, by ship, down around the Cape of Good Hope.

I read a short story titled “Busted!” about a teenaged girl with a crush on her school’s star basketball player. He embarrasses her at school at the beginning of grade 10. She applies herself to her studies but still thinks about him. In April he invites her to a party at another friend’s house. She attends, but is horrified at the wanton behavior of her peers and leaves just before the police show up. Years later she remembers that night as she flicks through her Yearbook and realizes that’s why she never became a party girl with the in crowd. The men who listened to me read this thought the descriptive detail I used could have been eliminated, but Ellie thought it worked with the story. Men and women want different things when they read, apparently.

Jim read Chapter 12 of “Coventry Ghosts” where Leanne and Sara, the cat, are at the coffee shop with other ghosts, cleaning up the mess after the explosion. Leanne sees that John, who works there, has a gambling problem, and Sara agrees to follow him and try to keep him out of trouble. Jim told us he’s received several rejections on this novel from multiple submissions to agents that he had sent out. But they all wished him good luck in placing his work.

Margaret’s book “Blow Up The Castle”, being published by West Pro Publishing, is almost ready for release. Her publisher has asked Margaret to do a book signing at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference on Saturday, October 23rd, 5:30 – 7:00p.m. Isn’t that exciting? So if you’re there, be sure to drop by and support Margaret that day.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, October 6th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Look forward to seeing you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

BACK TO CLASS?


August gave us a nice break, so out meeting on September 1st felt like the beginning of school again. Ellie Halcrow joined us for the first time and she said she enjoyed herself and we certainly enjoyed having her here.

Bob read first, a personal piece called “Summer Time”, about the summers he spent as a child during the late ’30s and early ‘40s. There was a lot of rich detail about Boundary Bay and Crescent Beach during those years.

Ellie had two unique pieces to read. Her “Lips Of The Spider” was a piece in first person telling of a sensual first date that has the mood shattered when she ends up with a dead fly on her lips from the wine she was drinking. There was fantastic setting of mood here, and we all chuckled at the ending. Ellie’s second reading was a powerful poem called “Good Loua Be With You Child”. It’s a vivid description of the devastation from the earthquake in Haiti as seen by a young child.

Margaret read the next chapter in “Coffin And Dye”. We see Coffin at the grand piano in Handel House playing “Jesus Loves Me” with one finger, when he hears a muffled voice saying “I am Sam and want to come down.” Coffin runs away, but the voice was from Sam the handyman who was stuck in the attic. Coffin writes his report and says the ghost turning the pages of music was Handel, and there were other apparitions of noted individuals there as well. The result of this is that the Handel Society is pleased to have such renowned ghosts and they decide not to have them exterminated and consequently do not hire Coffin & Dye.

At my request, Jim read “Poached Trout”, a very funny short story he wrote about a man seeking to impress a woman he wants to bed. He offers to cook something she’d like, and she requests poached fish. Thinking poaching means stealing, the young man goes out at night in a small boat on Deer Lake and throws dynamite in the water and then collects all the dead fish. He spends the rest of the night cleaning them, grabs a quick nap and then barbecues the fish for the young lady. He does win her over when she learns of all the trouble he has taken to please her.

I read a piece called “Nigel Wingate Is Dead”, which is the beginning of a murder mystery. I don’t know at this point if the story will be a long short story, or will become a novel. And I’m not certain if I will continue writing it in first person or switch to third person, which would give me more leeway in telling the story. But everybody at the meeting liked it as it was, in first person, so will take that into consideration.

Gemma emailed that she was unable to attend on Wednesday. And Jason said he was planning on a romantic evening with his wife before a vasectomy scheduled for Thursday morning. We wish him speedy recovery. Although, as Susan can attest from conceiving her fifth child after her husband’s vasectomy, there are no guarantees!

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, September 15th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. May you all be plagued with a proliferation of written words like fallen leaves on your lawn. May you gather them and contain them and let them explode on your page. And then bring them to the next meeting for the rest of us to wonder at. See you then.

Lisa