Forty years of books and friendship
Every one of the young mothers in 1983 was a reader, attracted to ideas
Through thick and thin, the book club — which meets the last Wednesday of every month of the year except for summer and December — has been there for them, something fixed outside the day-to-day of life, three hours a month, which Janet O’brien says, are “coloured by the presence of longtime friendship.”
“I was introduced to books that I might never have read otherwise, and am thankful for that.”
Grace Paterson
It’s a long time ago now, but after some asking around, it seems that Janet O’brien first planted the seed.
She was the one, amid this group of young mothers living in central Halifax within walking distance of Sir Charles Tupper School, who said "hey, we don’t just want to just drink coffee and nibble on cake."
As her friend Gisela (no relation) O’brien also explained to me, they certainly “were not interested in gossip.”
Instead, every one of them was a reader, attracted to ideas.
And so, at that precise moment, the stars aligned, and the Tupper Book Club was born.
CLUBS ABOUND
Now, thousands of Canadians are book club members. In fact, according to Booknet Canada, the percentage of Canadian book buyers who belong to a book club or reading group doubled from seven per cent in 2018 to 14 per cent in 2019.
There are enough book clubs around that, for a brief period, I was a member of three, two of which I believe are now defunct, although it is possible that the leadership has just quietly dropped me from the group email announcing the next meeting.
It feels good to still be on the rolls of the third club. They have been meeting since 1999, which I thought was a long time ago, until someone told me about the Tupper Club, who gathered for the first time 16 years before that in Janet O’brien’s living room on Rosebank Avenue to discuss Joy Kogawa’s book Obasan.
“We’ve been through a lot together,” Sandra Nowlan, one of the original seven at the first meeting, said of the club, which next year celebrates its 40th anniversary.
Yes, they have: raising their families, finishing their own training and education, then seeing their careers — everything from documentary-making and academia to teaching, and a variety of other pursuits — unfold.
One of the original members recently died.
Illness has struck several of them.
“That goes with the territory,” said Nowlan of a group whose ages now range from 70-ish to the mid-80s.
LONGTIME FRIENDSHIP
Through thick and thin, the book club — which meets the last Wednesday of every month of the year except for summer and December — has been there for them, something fixed outside the dayto-day of life, three hours a month, which Janet O’brien says, are “coloured by the presence of longtime friendship.”
That may explain the club’s startling longevity.
They are, first off, friends who revel in each other’s company. There is an ease, too, in being among people you know well.
Among friends, it is also possible to have strong opinions on a book’s merits, without going away mad.
“We certainly do, in the end, accept that everyone has a right to their opinion,” said Gisela O’brien, “and, surprisingly, can sometimes change our mind which had been firmly made up.”
The books matter. The meeting host, who leads the day’s discussion, gets to pick the book of the month.
CANADIAN WOMEN
From the beginning in 1983, female writers — seven books by Margaret Atwood, as well as a hefty sprinkling of Alice Munro, Donna Morrissey, and Virginia Woolf have been examined over the years — are naturally wellrepresented in the club’s reading list, which skews towards literary fiction.
The emphasis has been on Canadian books: the first two years of meetings included not only works by Kogawa but also Gabrielle Roy, Spider Robinson, as well as Janet Turner Hospital, and Brian Moore, both born elsewhere but who spent large periods of their adult lives in Canada, and two each by Farley Mowat and Timothy Findley.
Atlantic literary lions like Linden Macintyre, David Adams Richards, Ami Mckay, the Bruces (Charles and Harry) and Macleods (Alistair and Alexander), of course, had their works discussed there.
So did the big literary names from afar, Nobel laureates such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Doris Lessing, Nadine Gordimer and Toni Morrison. And other immortals such as Vladimir Nabokov and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
When you have been around for 40 years, variety is important. At the same time, the club’s members have found common pleasure in the diversity of ideas, authors, and narratives.
“I was introduced to books that I might never have read otherwise, and am thankful for that,” Grace Paterson, another of the original members told me.
For Gisela Steffen, who immigrated from Germany to teach at Dalhousie University, the reading list provided an introduction to the newto-her world of Canadian literature and to her adopted country.
READING DISCIPLINE
Gisela O’brien has always liked the discipline the meetings impose, forcing her to at least read one book a month. (Interestingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, joining a book club inspires members to read more. A 2019 survey by Ipsos for Indigo Books and Music Inc. found that while the average Canadian reader spent 6.1 hours weekly devouring the printed word, book club members spent an average of 9.1 hours reading.)
Things have changed with time. The original sevenwoman club ballooned at one point to 11 members, and now stands at nine.
After teetotaler beginnings, wine was added to the coffee, tea, and other refreshments.
They now meet in the afternoon instead of the evening because the club members no longer live within blocks of each other and night driving can be a challenge, particularly when it is raining.
But after 40 years, so much is the same: the expectation that everyone will do their best to read the book; the kibitzing at the beginning of the gathering as the old friends check in to see how everyone is (“We are happy for others when life is 'up,'” said Gisela O’brien, “and sad for them when things are 'down.'”); the annual September potluck sleepover at Nowlan’s Musquodoboit Valley cottage when they map out the books and hosting duties for the year ahead.
The treats — which notably include Linda Macleod’s lemon trifle, Gisela Steffen’s forrester torte, Carolyn Slade’s nut-topped pound cake, and Nolan’s danish puff with strawberries — appear.
MEANINGFUL DISCUSSION
Sometimes the authors themselves make an appearance, including, on one memorable evening, the effusive storyteller Donna Morrissey and the reflective Sharon Butala.
Mostly, though, they are there for their own company. The club began as a few hours away from the responsibilities of life, but all these years later, it has deepened into something else.
Nowlan said that each gathering “reaffirms our friendship originally based on reading and discussing books that are meaningful to each member.”
At their next meeting, in case you are wondering, they will discuss The Lost Apothecary, a novel set in atmospheric 18th century London.
NPR describes it as “a poisonously good read,” which is well and good, although I personally would like to hear what the Tupper Book Club has to say about it before I hustle down to the bookstore to buy it.