The Joy of Book Clubs

One thing that always makes me happy is meeting with my book club. There’s nothing like catching up with friends and talking about books. Last month, we started meeting online, and while I missed the food, I was happy to see that even through the online environment, we still connected, laughed and talked for over an hour and a half.

For those of you who are wondering how to keep your book clubs active in these times, Regina Public Library has eBooks and eAudiobooks that can be signed out on demand by your entire group at the same time. By using Hoopla, you can choose books for everyone, and they are always available. We have come up with some suggestions we hope you enjoy.

Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club Set during a Newfoundland blizzard, this bleak and moody debut novel features a cast of complex characters where two women confront the traumas of their past. Shortlisted for the 2019 Giller Prize. 

The Hour I First Believed After surviving the Columbine school shootings, a husband and wife relocate to a family farm in Connecticut and discover a cache of family memorabilia dating back five generations that reveal unexpected truths about painful past events.

The German Heiress An immersive, heart-pounding debut novel about a German heiress on the run in post-World War II Germany. 

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark Soon to be an HBO docuseries premiering on June 28th chronicling the author’s tragic untimely death and her obsession to unmask the identity of the Golden State Killer. 

Homes: A Refugee Story The remarkable true story of a young boy growing up in Syria’s war-torn streets and how he found safety in Canada.  

If you are looking for more titles, Overdrive has a collection of always available classics such as Pride and Prejudice, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Wuthering Heights.

If you don’t currently have a book club, but want to connect with other book lovers, Regina Public Library has online book clubs for adults.  Check out the Novel Idea Society hosted by CBC’s Sam Maciag on May 26, where we will be discussing the book Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan.  On June 16th, we will have the Don’t Stop E-Reading Book Club, where we will be discussing The Book Women of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson.  Both books are available in Hoopla.  

We also have some author visits coming up in honour of National Indigenous History Month where Waub Rice will talk about Moon of the Crusted Snow, and Tanya Talaga will talk about Seven Fallen Feathers.  

And don’t forget about the kids!  We have a Family Book Club for ages 8 and older in June.  The book for the month is The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle by Leslie Connor, and you can read or listen to it as a family through Hoopla.  

Register for all of these programs, or to access our online eBook and eAudio collections.