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Our Mens' Book Club is taking competition to a new level
© by Mike Keenan 
Aside from grabbing a beer from the fridge immediately upon arrival, the Men's Book Club has no hard and fast rules. We are laissez-faire which should not be confused with lazy, lethargic, languid, sluggish or slothful. In contrast, in the Woman's book club that Miriam belongs to, they start each session singing "Oh Canada." They also eat yogurt for their snack and never think of imbibing alcohol until the end of the meeting. We would sing "Oh Canada" if we were at a hockey game, but not before discussing books. And as for yogurt, the Men's book club would rather eat quiche.
Well into book reading season, there have been troubling signs. I blame Tony in Welland for creating the seeds of this dynamic. I know he is a retired teacher/librarian and his heart was in the right place, but Dr. Frankenstein, I think you have created a monster. It started with Kurt Vonnegut's novel, Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), which is an anti-war science fiction piece about WWII experiences and time travel by a soldier named Billy Pilgrim. We all enjoyed it because it was less than 200 pages long. When retired, time is a big issue. We do not waste it. Tony downloaded not one but two interviews with Kurt Vonnegut from YouTube and proceeded to play them on his laptop. I knew instinctively it was a bad move, but said nothing. I should mention the food issue. Yes, the Men's book club tends to get carried away with liquid libation. If it's a European book, we have imported beer on hand. That excess was acceptable. Formerly, the food component was not relevant. Chips, peanuts, other small items upon which we would nibble whilst drinking beer was fine. I do not remember who the culprit was who thought he was Julia Child, but somebody made chili for one of our meetings. Next, there was pizza, and then somebody baked a pie, and it escalated such that the host no longer has time to be part of the book discussion, confined to the kitchen, preparing lavish treats. Perhaps this explains why our club has rapidly increased in size. (as in membership)I don't think some of these chaps eat well at home. So, this week we met at Dave's in Niagara on the Lake to discuss The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, which, by the way, was discussed by the Women's book club long ago. We may be slow but we are thorough. During the scintillating discussion, I noticed a laptop hooked up to a 46-inch TV set and knew Dave was set to outdo Tony. That's the way men are. We read the Guns of August next month. I expect that the host will have several WWII vets on hand from the Canadian Royal Artillery Division, who will inspire us with amazing anecdotes about the fighting in Europe. I hope they don't make TV sets larger than 46 inches. Sure enough, after a cursory discussion (With no African beer; many of us were upset.) Dave had downloaded two interviews with the author, Lawrence Hill. The first interview was by George Stroumboulopoulos who sits in that ugly red CBC leather cube chair. The second interview was by Jian Gomeshi who had that tiff with Billy Bob Thornton. This interview included Avi Lewis who was the book's advocate during the CBC Canada Reads contest. Avi Lewis is the son of Stephen Lewis who is one of the top public speakers in the world. No wonder The Book of Negroes won the contest. We have many more books to go this season, and I'm afraid that the male competitive spirit readily seen on NFL gridirons, will catapult the Men's book club to levels that we did not foresee. The next meeting is in St. Catharines. If you hear the loud sound of canons being fired in the night, do not be alarmed. We are merely discussing The Guns of August. |
