The Book Club With Such A Generous Heart

The book club with such a generous heart is today’s topic. Sit up and take note, book clubbers!

Yes, I’ve met yet another special book club. Allow me to introduce the members of the Westwind Book Club of Richmond, British Columbia.

How’d they select Never, Never, Hardly Ever as their book of the month?

Here’s the short and snappy version: I booked a session with Jenn Wint – a local PR specialist.

A thoughtful and innovative soul, she gave a copy of NNHE to her mom, Lesley. Lesley’s book club agreed to read it.

I knew this group was special when Lesley shared the location. In good weather, the Westwind Book Club meets outside, on the grounds of the Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site in nearby Steveston. Located on the banks of the Fraser River, a cluster of buildings still exist from the days when it thrived as the center for fishing, canning and boatbuilding. What a refreshing experience to meet up there. I prayed for a sunny day.

Happily, my prayers were answered. Preceded by weeks of cold wet weather, Book Club Day more than delivered. It was so hot you could easily sizzle a dozen eggs on a car’s roof. Hunkering down in the shade of the Chinese Bunkhouse just steps from the river was the perfect spot for our meeting.

I Was Nervous

As per usual, I barely knew anyone. Sure, I’d met Lesley when I dropped off the books and I’d Zoomed with Jenn, but everyone else was a stranger. Would we have enough to talk about? Thankfully, yes. From the moment folks began arriving with their folding chairs, books and home baked cookies, the chitchat flowed. I was among friends.

We covered a lot of material over the next hour and a half. Among the nuggets? Why I changed the names of some of the book’s characters and not others, how pediatrician Geoff, my late dad, came to moonlight as “Fred,”our shop’s handyman, and perhaps most curious of all, how I learned to tolerate the many facets of Mom’s personality. Hello, Madame Wasabi, The Sensei, Mamasan Frankie …

The Book Club With Such A Generous Heart

Okay, so why do I bang on about the book club with such a generous heart?

Because every year they purchase a set of books to donate to the book club section at their local library.

Guess what book they chose this year?

I’m honoured to reveal that thanks to the generosity of the Westwind Book Club, ten copies of Never, Never, Hardly Ever are now available at the Richmond Public Library in Richmond, British Columbia.

I cannot love this idea more. I urge you and your book club to consider donating a set of books to your library. It’s genius. The library wins, other local book clubs win and the chosen book gets more eyes on its pages.

If you’re able to get the author to attend the meeting in person, remember to ask them to sign the copies.

A fun side note of this special book club: One of the members shared she’d taken a course from Francine.  I’d forgotten that years before running Frankie Robinson Oriental Gallery (FROG), Francine (Mom) taught a distance course on the art of Latin America through the University of British Columbia’s Fine Arts Department. As a busy young mom herself, Joanne was grateful to receive the course material through the mail. Working at her own pace, she sent in her papers for grading and only had to go to campus to write the final exam. She passed with flying colours.

What an unexpected bonus. How often do you get to chat with a complete stranger who knew your late mom? Someone who related stories that you’d forgotten or never known? It’s yet another special ripple I’ve experienced since publishing Never, Never, Hardly Ever.

And Francine’s guaranteed response, if I could tell her?

“Oh, Kel. Can you bring Joanne to see me? I’d love to chat about those days over tea …”

Before I Let You Go, Who Knew I talked With My Hands So Much?

This photo has me immediately thinking of Colin Firth waving his arms about and muttering, “Que peixe enorme,” during his Portuguese lesson in Love Actually. Ha. I suspect I’m nattering about the enorme mistake I made just before the book went to print. It was a doozy; capable of shutting down publication. Care to know more? Consider selecting NNHE for your book club and I’ll summon the courage to share. 

Huge thanks again, to the Westwind Book Club, for selecting Never, Never, Hardly Ever as this year’s book to donate. You truly are the book club with such a generous heart. I can’t thank you enough. May this post inspire others to do the same.