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A place to post feedback and discussion so that we have a friendly, transparent group that works for us all and provides a spot to share our love of books!

I was wondering if it would be a good idea to have a genre section that would include threads like the short stories one instead of placing them in general. This way there's a place if people want to post recommendations and inquiries about specific formats of writing and genres, like memoirs, non-fiction, short stories, sci-fi and fantasy, historical fiction, classic literature, etc.

Thanks and great idea @Shvaugn - I have added a Genres folder and moved the short-story thread there. We can add in other threads as we go. I think the organization and building the group will be a work in progress!

Thanks and great idea @Shvaugn - I have added a Genres folder and moved the short-story thread there. We can add in other threads as we go. I think the organization and building the group will be a work in progress!

❀ Susan wrote: "Thanks and great idea @Shvaugn - I have added a Genres folder and moved the short-story thread there. We can add in other threads as we go. I think the organization and building the group will be a..."

Thanks! I've already jumped the gun and added a sci-fi fantasy thread to the section. I'm excited to see what kinds of discussion we can drum up in there.

@Shvaugn - awesome!! :)

❀ Susan wrote: "Thanks and great idea @Shvaugn - I have added a Genres folder and moved the short-story thread there. We can add in other threads as we go. I think the organization and building the group will be a..."

I wonder if anyone is interested in a mystery genre? There are quite a few really good mystery writers in Canada. A recent one I discovered is Inger Ash Wolfe (Michael Redhill) Inger Ash Wolfe. The Calling was made into a movie with Susan Sarandon and that is how I discovered the series.

In would be @Mary Anne. About 40% through Peggy Blair's "The Beggar's Opera" and I'm loving it! There's also Louise Penny's series featuring Inspector Gameche.

I will add one @ MaryAnne :)

❀ Susan wrote: "I will add one @ MaryAnne :)"

Thank you so much.

Natasha wrote: "In would be @Mary Anne. About 40% through Peggy Blair's "The Beggar's Opera" and I'm loving it! There's also Louise Penny's series featuring Inspector Gameche."

I loved both of these series!

how about a poetry thread? poetry is a genre that gets overlooked but we have tons of wonderful Canadian poets.

Magdelanye wrote: "how about a poetry thread? poetry is a genre that gets overlooked but we have tons of wonderful Canadian poets."

That is a great idea . Do we get in copyright trouble if we quote poetry here?

Also, what about Young Adult books or children's books, which could all be in the same topic. I know in "the other" group, they were not at all the focus but for YA books at least, there are some very good ones. And I've got on my night table a new copy of The Secret World of Og by Pierre Berton that i've wanted to find and reread since i was a kid!

@Magdelayne - I will add a thread for poets.
@Mary Anne - I have no idea but sure don't want to have copyright issues here - anyone have any feedback?
@Dianne - i will add this too. There are some great YA novels including The Book Thief. I try to read a few of the same books as my daughter so we can discuss.

Mary Anne wrote: "Magdelanye wrote: "how about a poetry thread? poetry is a genre that gets overlooked but we have tons of wonderful Canadian poets."

That is a great idea . Do we get in copyright trouble if we quot..."

Copyright in Canada lasts for 50 years until the end of the calendar year after the authors death. Anything in the public domain can be republished or posted without permission. However copyright is different from permission, in which you ask the author permission to publish their work.

To work around this though we could post links to poetry that's already been posted online on any of the numerous poetry websites, or deal with public domain poetry. There's a lot of good public domain poetry by Canadian's that is forgotten about since it's so old.

I'm interested in having something similar a the daily poem thread and would be willing to help run it. It doesn't have to be daily though since this group is so much smaller. Weekly might be a better fit.

@ Shvaugn There is some great older Canadian poetry that would be out of copyright and as you mentioned there is lots of poetry online and if we make sure to give credit to the author and publisher hopefully it will be seen as promoting the poetry and not stealing it.

@ Mary Anne Project Gutenberg is a great resource for out of print poetry that would be useful for our cause. There's also Project Gutenberg Canada which focuses solely on Canadian works.

In most groups, the monthly reads are posted on the groups main page. I have never been a moderator, so I am not sure exactly how this is done, but I think it is helpful to do this.

re poetry, I believe as long as you credit the source, it is fine. I agree that once a week would probably be sufficient.

Thx @Heather(Gibby) - thanks for the suggestion. It took me a bit of time to figure it out but hope it appears when you open the group page now. :)

Since there appears to be some interest in poetry at least once a week, is there anyone who's interested in helping run it? I'm cool with doing it by myself if no one else is interested. There's a number of public domain Canadian poetry books that I'm planning on reading and could to a little write up about.

Some of the threads are getting fairly long in the authors by province section. Susan, would it be possible for you to periodically update the first post with a list of the mentioned authors (ideally with links) as a reference?

gee, it seems you have taken my suggestion and topped it, as in a perfect world. :-)
in fact, I can visualize a poetry thread with 3 folders: one for recommendations, that is poets name, book title
2 could be for actual poems. maybe a moderator needed for that but what if everybody who wanted took turns posting a poem they liked with a little bio maybe or maybe not, I've always been curious as to what extent people are influenced by a poems reputation. a poem should be able to stand alone.
well, there's a 4th folder: discussion of poetry
and the third one of course could be our poetry, stuff we've written. any closet poets or professional poets or performance artists, songwriters in this bunch?

@ Magdelanye You're description of the poetry section sounds really good. I'm not sure how having only one thread for posting poems with bios would go. I feel it would get really unwieldy after a while. But that's something that could be changed with consensus.

Laurie wrote: "Some of the threads are getting fairly long in the authors by province section. Susan, would it be possible for you to periodically update the first post with a list of the mentioned authors (ideal..."

I have no idea how the shelf feature works in groups, but maybe it could be possible to create a shelf for each province that books could be continually added to and that people could browse.

Laurie wrote: "Some of the threads are getting fairly long in the authors by province section. Susan, would it be possible for you to periodically update the first post with a list of the mentioned authors (ideal..."

If you look along the right side of any discussion thread, it lists all the books and all the authors that have been mentioned in the entire discussion. All summarized in one list.

@Allison - Thank you! That's very helpful!

@Allison - somehow I never noticed this and am glad you have a solution as i have been pondering @Laurie's suggestion and how to manage it :)

In reviewing a few of our threads we sure have discussed/suggested many books. It is no wonder our TBR piles are growing so quickly!!

With all the horrific, current news surrounding #BlackLivesMatter, I can't get out of my head how helpless I am, and so completely ineffective I can actually be about enacting Real Change in the world on the matter from my tiny, rural Ontario, 99%-white corner of the world. It can get me down! Wouldn't I do anything to enact positive change on the matter!? But where to start!?

So I'm wondering if we could address this through literature here somehow. Can we make a space to hear Canadian perspectives on #BlackLivesMatter? Or even less specifically about the formal cause, but give voice to hear the stories from this population (like our Pride section, for instance)? Can this be made into a Genre section (Black Canadian Authors?), or could we do a challenge like July's challenge, but it be to focus on black Canadian authors?

I just feel like maybe it can help me think/do/act/understand at an intense time when we need so much more of all this (or have we always needed it, and will we always?)

@ Allison, I so hear you!
in fact, I have felt this way for some while now, and while its tempting to put my head in the sand, in fact, the thing that's more important to me than reading is getting to world peace. your suggestion is exciting. i hope we can come up with something to please everyone.

@Allison Amazing idea!!

@ Shvaugn Is the sci-fi, speculative genre gone? I could not find it in the genre list.

I was going to post a site that a list of the Sunburst shortlist winners for 2015 and 2016 as well as the long list for 2016.

......
The Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic is a juried award which recognizes exceptional writing in three categories: adult, young adult and short story. The awards are presented each fall to the best Canadian speculative fiction novel, book-length collection, or short story published any time during the previous calendar year.
Named after the first novel by Phyllis Gotlieb (1926��2009), one of the first celebrated writers of contemporary Canadian science fiction, the award is a cash prize of $1,000 for each of the Adult and Young Adult categories, and of $500 for the short story category. All three awards are presented with the distinctive Sunburst medallion. The awards are presented in the fall of each year.

Good idea. Maybe a future monthly group read could be chosen from a handful of black authors. There are certainly some excellent ones out there. I went to school with this man, , and while he's not an author of novels or of non-fiction books, he's a poet, playwriter, and artist and was instrumental in establishing and promoting Black History Month and has been extensively involved in many youth oriented groups here.

Magdelanye wrote: "@ Allison, I so hear you!
in fact, I have felt this way for some while now, and while its tempting to put my head in the sand, in fact, the thing that's more important to me than reading is getting..."

Then of course we could consider lists of other Canadian perspectives, incase anyone is looking for them -- Aboriginal writers (we don't have this list yet, I don't think?), Canadian immigrant writers, others?

Mary Anne wrote: "@ Shvaugn Is the sci-fi, speculative genre gone? I could not find it in the genre list..."

Only the threads with the most recent activity for each folder appear on the group home page. Click on the folder name "Genres" or the "Showing 5 of 6 topics" link to view all threads under Genres.

CluckingBell wrote: "Mary Anne wrote: "@ Shvaugn Is the sci-fi, speculative genre gone? I could not find it in the genre list..."

Only the threads with the most recent activity for each folder appear on the group home..."

thank you!

Allison wrote: "Magdelanye wrote: "@ Allison, I so hear you!
in fact, I have felt this way for some while now, and while its tempting to put my head in the sand, in fact, the thing that's more important to me than..."

@Allison - i think it is a great idea to read multiculturally as this is the fabric that makes up Canada but have to be honest, I am unsure about possible sensitivities about labeling the genres. Thoughts or suggestions from the group? i wonder if we do this if we can coordinate it with another month (i.e.. Black history month or the pre-existing Indigenous reading month or holidays/celebrations)? I would appreciate suggestions and love to read all points of view.

I was also wondering if there would be interest in targeting our september read as "back to school" and read or reread a book that has typically been in the school curriculum?

mulling on this, I am wondering if what we are looking for here is less focused and more thematic: rather than focusing on a specific group, would it be feasible ( and of interest) to explore the themes of displacement and settlement, alternative responses to social injustice and inspiring examples of social activism.
we don't want to box ourselves in we want to expand our horizons,eh?.

Magdelanye, I like that idea to broaden the idea to themes rather than focus on a specific ethnic group or race. And I also like the idea of arranging a group read for Black History Month.

❀ Susan wrote: "@Allison - i think it is a great idea to read multiculturally as this is the fabric that makes up Canada but have to be honest, I am unsure about possible sensitivities about labeling the genres. ..."

I get it. I really do. And I understand your reluctance as a moderator too. What to do!? It's a big, wide, complicated world.

For September, I'd love to read a classic Canadian book. An early work by, perhaps, Timothy Finlay, Robertson Davies, Mordechai Richler,

For September or other month I suggest we read a Canadian book that has been banned from schools in Canada and elsewhere such as Margaret Laurence's The Diviners, or Such a Long Journey, or Allah, Liberty and Love: The Courage to Reconcile Faith and Freedom.

@Mary Anne That is a fantastic idea!

is a report from Prince Rupert Library about banned books, most are not Canadian but they have been banned in schools and libraries.

another site of banned books.

@Mary Anne - LOVE the idea of banned Canadian books for September - perhaps we should compile a list of 5-8 books and I can do another poll.

I agree it would be feasable and good to go Long with the establishment this time: we have black history month indigenous month Ramadan...And banned go ks sounds great.

we have a short story thread under Genres :)

Louise wrote: "Oh we definitely need a short story thread too. In fact I would love adding a short story to our monthly reads. Instead of reading a whole collection of short stories, we could just choose one stor..."

There's already a short story thread in the genre section. It might not be visible if it hasn't been recently commented on.

❀ Susan wrote: "we have a short story thread under Genres :)"

Oops. I thought we did but when I looked I didn't see it, but I just noticed that I had to click on "showing 5 of 6 topics" to see it.