Spice up your summer reading list with a brand-new month’s worth of Bright Spot book club fun, hosted by YMCA staff members and book lovers Beth Morgan and Andrea Muller.

We’ll be reading a piece of lit every two weeks, which will give us plenty of time to dig deep and get familiar with the themes, characters, and storyline. Then, we’ll share our impressions with each other over a virtual coffee or tea. As always, our intention is to build connections with all of you through our shared love of reading!

How do I join?

Sign up on this page of The Bright Spot. Once you RSVP, we’ll send a Zoom link to your e-mail. On Thursday, shortly before 1:00 pm, click on the link to connect to our virtual book club.

How will the book club be organized?

Each meeting will be moderated by Beth Morgan, General Manager of the Markham YMCA, and Andrea Muller, supervisor and individual conditioning coach at the Markham YMCA. We’ve asked people to pick a variety of books for us to read together (scroll down to see the reading schedule!). We’ll read a new book every two weeks, then get together virtually to discuss them.

What can I expect in a typical book club meeting?

The individual who chose the book will bring three discussion questions to our meeting to get the ball rolling, and then our conversation will pick up from there.

What are some examples of discussion questions?

We’re going to be pretty open to whatever comes up, but some of the questions we are thinking of using to get us started are:

• What themes did you notice throughout the book?
• How did the characters change throughout the story? How did your opinion of them change?
• Which character did you relate to the most, and what was it about them that you connected with?
• Did the book change your opinion or perspective about anything? Do you feel different now than you did before you read it?

Where can I get copies of the books we’re reading?

There are a few different ways you can get books for free online.

1. Log on to your local library’s website. If you do not have a library card, your library card is expired, or you lost your library card, your library website will have directions on how to get a new card.

2. Use the Toronto Public Library Instant Digital Card.This gives non-Toronto Public Library cardholders in Toronto free, temporary access to the TPL’s large collection of e-books and audiobooks using the code TPL2020. You need a Toronto cell phone (area codes 416, 647, or 437) that can receive text messages.

3. Subscribe to Scribd or Kobo audiobook, which both offer a free 30-day trial.

4. If you prefer audiobooks, Audible has a free 30-day trial as well.

Which books are we reading?

We already have our selection for June but we want to hear your suggestions for the coming months, too. Head over to The Bright Spot and send us your ideas through the live chat.

In the meantime, here are the June titles we’ll be digging into.

Please note: all of the following synopses are quoted directly from goodreads.com.

June 11 meeting: Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories

“In the her tenth collection (the title story of which is the basis for the new film Hateship Loveship), Alice Munro achieves new heights, creating narratives that loop and swerve like memory, and conjuring up characters as thorny and contradictory as people we know ourselves.

A tough-minded housekeeper jettisons the habits of a lifetime because of a teenager’s practical joke. A college student visiting her brassy, unconventional aunt stumbles on an astonishing secret and its meaning in her own life. An incorrigible philanderer responds with unexpected grace to his wife’s nursing-home romance.

Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage is Munro at her best, tirelessly observant, serenely free of illusion, deeply and gloriously humane.”

June 18 & 25 meetings: The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

“From the award-winning author of Station Eleven, a captivating novel of money, beauty, white-collar crime, ghosts, and moral compromise in which a woman disappears from a container ship off the coast of Mauritania and a massive Ponzi scheme implodes in New York, dragging countless fortunes with it.

Vincent is a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star glass and cedar palace on an island in British Columbia. Jonathan Alkaitis works in finance and owns the hotel. When he passes Vincent his card with a tip, it’s the beginning of their life together. That same day, Vincent’s half-brother, Paul, scrawls a note on the windowed wall of the hotel: “Why don’t you swallow broken glass.” Leon Prevant, a shipping executive for a company called Neptune-Avramidis, sees the note from the hotel bar and is shaken to his core. Thirteen years later Vincent mysteriously disappears from the deck of a Neptune-Avramidis ship. Weaving together the lives of these characters, The Glass Hotel moves between the ship, the skyscrapers of Manhattan, and the wilderness of northern Vancouver Island, painting a breathtaking picture of greed and guilt, fantasy and delusion, art and the ghosts of our pasts.”

Happy reading! We can’t wait to hear what you think of these books in our coming meetings.

What if you could travel to far-off, exciting destinations without ever leaving your living room? That seems like the ideal scenario for many of us travel lovers right now. We have the perfect virtual activity to satisfy your wanderlust! Join us for Virtual Summer Vacations every Friday at 2:00 pm starting June, 12 2020.

How do I join?

Sign up on the activities page of The Bright Spot. Once you RSVP, we’ll send a Zoom link to your e-mail. On Friday, shortly before 2:00 pm, click on the link to connect to our Virtual Summer Vacations.

How will Virtual Summer Vacations be organized?

These online activities will be hosted by a number of Y staff members who share your love of travel. You can think of them as your virtual tour guides! They’ll share their adventures to some of their favourite places.

What can I expect in a Virtual Summer Vacation meeting?

Our guides will share imagery, stories, and music with the group, giving all of us a chance to immerse ourselves in the local culture of our “destination.” We’ll talk about history, food, music, art, architecture and so much more.

How can I find out each week’s destination?

Keep an eye on the Bright Ideas page. Every few weeks, we’ll post details about our next vacation destinations! You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter, where we announce new virtual activities and share updated information on existing ones.

On June 12, we’re heading to Rome, Italy!

Your tour guides are YMCA staff members Sarah Earl and Adela Colhon. Adela says, “Taking a virtual trip to Rome will be a great start to our summer vacation adventures! We chose Rome as our first destination because of its world-famous beauty, rich history, and culture. Are you ready? Pronti? Andiamo insieme a Roma!”

Sarah says she’s particularly excited for this trip because after visiting Rome eight years ago, she made travel plans to return again this July. Due to COVID-19, her in-person trip had to be postponed. “I’m excited to experience Rome with all of our community members, virtually. And because I am hoping to visit in person again in 2021, this will be a great pre-trip planning opportunity!”

On June 19, we’re visiting St. John’s, Newfoundland.

After Rome, our guides will take us a bit closer to home. Stay tuned for more details to come.

Everyone is welcome to join our travels. Whether you’re totally new to these locales, or you’ve been before and want to share your own stories with us, we are so excited to explore these beautiful corners of our big, vast world with you!

Calling all Art Lovers! We have a new activity on our schedule called Art Club. Think of it like our book club, but instead of reading and discussing a book every week, you’ll observe the works of a well-known artist and chat about your impressions and ideas.

The YMCA’s Art Club is moderated by Dana Pelham, art lover and staff member at the West End YMCA. We asked him what people can expect from this weekly event and here’s what he had to say.

How can people join Art Club?

We’ll be meeting once a week to discuss a well-known artist’s work. Our meeting time is every Monday at 3:00 pm, starting June 8 2020. All you have to do is sign up on The Bright Spot activities page. Then, on Monday shortly before 3:00 pm, you will receive an email with a link to the Zoom session.

What would you say to someone who feels intimidated by Art Club?

Taking in art is such a personal experience for everyone. The impressions we get from each work can vary greatly from person to person, and are often rooted in the experience we have in our own lives. It’s natural to worry how others will respond to our interpretations because we feel so vulnerable sharing them. That holds some people back from expressing their ideas, but it shouldn’t! We have such a great opportunity to connect in a meaningful way during our discussions. What I’d like to tell people is that in this format, they don’t need to worry.

The first thing you can do as a participant in Art Club is sit back, relax, and enjoy the feelings that the art inspires in you. Then, share those feelings with the group.

Facts and historical details about the piece and the artist will come up in our discussions, but it’s not the first thing you should concern yourself with. What we’re really here to do is connect over our shared love of art!

How can participants prepare for the discussions each week?

Start by looking over the artwork and asking yourself a couple of basic questions:

• Does the art set a certain mood?
• What stands out to you?
• Where do your eyes travel first, second, last?
• What is it that draws your attention and why?
• Why do you think the art makes you feel the way it does?

If you want to delve deeper into technique and style, consider these questions:

• How is the artist using colour, lighting, texture, shape, perspective, form, shading, and space?
• How has the artist used these elements to create emotions and a story?
• Has it been effective?

In the end, there is no one singular understanding of a piece of art (not even the artist’s intent!). Why, for instance, did I cry, feeling the horror of the act, while viewing The Death of Innocence at the Vatican, but not when reading the story of Herod’s horrid decree? Why do Monet’s Poppies fill me with warmth and a sense of well-being? Ask yourself what it is about yourself and your personal history that influences your response to each piece of art, and you’ll be right at home in Art Club.

Starting Monday, June 8, 2020, at 3:00 pm, we will be discussing the works of Thom Thompson. You’ll get a chance to enjoy a viewing of some of his most famous pieces of work, like The West Wind. We’re looking forward to seeing you and hearing your insights and impressions!

Light up your week with another exciting activity on The Bright Spot: our online book club! You’ll get to share your love of reading, have some good chats, and meet some new people.

How do I join?

Sign up on this page of The Bright Spot. Once you RSVP, we’ll send a Zoom link to your e-mail. On Thursday, shortly before 1:00 pm, click on the link to connect to our virtual book club.

How will the book club be organized?

Each meeting will be moderated by Andrea Muller, supervisor and individual conditioning coach at the Markham YMCA. We’ve asked people to pick a variety of books for us to read together until mid-June (scroll down to see the reading schedule!). We’ll read a new book every week, then get together virtually to discuss the themes, your insights, and our impressions.

What can I expect in a typical book club meeting?

The individual who chose the book will bring three discussion questions to our meeting to get the ball rolling, and then our conversation will pick up from there.

What are some examples of discussion questions?

We’re going to be pretty open to whatever comes up in our discussion, but some of the questions we are thinking of using to get us started are:

• What themes did you notice throughout the book?
• How did the characters change throughout the story? How did your opinion of them change?
• Which character did you relate to the most, and what was it about them that you connected with?
• Did the book change your opinion or perspective about anything? Do you feel different now than you did before you read it?

Where can I get copies of the books we’re reading?

There are a few different ways you can get books for free online.

1. Log on to your local library’s website. If you do not have a library card, your library card is expired, or you lost your library card, your library website will have directions on how to get a new card.

2. Use the Toronto Public Library Instant Digital Card. This gives non-Toronto Public Library cardholders in Toronto free, temporary access to the TPL’s large collection of e-books and audiobooks using the code TPL2020. You need a Toronto cell phone (area codes 416, 647, or 437) that can receive text messages.

3. Subscribe to Scribd or Kobo audiobook, which both offer a free 30-day trial.

4. If you prefer audiobooks, Audible has a free 30-day trial as well.

Which books are we reading?

We’ve got our first four books selected, but we want to hear your suggestions, too. Head over to The Bright Spot and send us your ideas through the live chat.

In the meantime, here are the first four titles we’ll be digging into over the coming weeks.

May 21 meeting: All Things Consoled by Elizabeth Hay

Jean and Gordon Hay were a colourful, formidable pair. Jean, a late-blooming artist with a marvellous sense of humour, was exceptionally frugal; nothing went to waste, not even maggoty soup. Gordon was a proud and ambitious schoolteacher with a terrifying temper, a deep streak of melancholy, and a devotion to flowers, cars, words, and his wife. As they grow old, these once ferociously independent parents become increasingly dependent on Lizzie, the so-called difficult child. By looking after them, she hopes to prove that she can be a good daughter after all.

In this courageous memoir, Elizabeth Hay lays bare the exquisite agony of a family’s dynamics: entrenched favouritism, sibling rivalries, grievances that last for decades, genuine admiration, and enduring love. In the end, she reaches a more complete understanding of the most unforgettable characters she will ever know: her parents.

May 28 meeting: The Rooster Bar by John Grisham

Mark, Todd, and Zola came to law school to change the world — to make it a better place. But now, as third-year students, these close friends realize they have been duped. They all borrowed heavily to attend a third-tier, for-profit law school so mediocre that its graduates rarely pass the bar exam, let alone get good jobs. And when they learn that their school is one of a chain owned by a shady New York hedge-fund operator who also happens to own a bank specializing in student loans, the three know they have been caught up in The Great Law School Scam.

But maybe there’s a way out. Maybe there’s a way to escape their crushing debt, expose the bank and the scam, and make a few bucks in the process. To do so, they would first have to quit school. And leaving law school a few short months before graduation would be completely crazy, right? Well, yes and no…

Pull up a stool, grab a cold one, and get ready to spend some time at The Rooster Bar.

June 4 meeting: Need to Know by Karen Cleveland

Vivian Miller is a high-powered CIA analyst, happily married to a man she adores, and the mother of four beautiful children — until she makes a shocking discovery that makes her question everything she believes.

She thought she knew her husband inside and out. But now she wonders if it was all a lie. How far will she go to learn the truth? And does she really Need to Know?

Happy reading! We can’t wait to hear what you think of these books in our coming meetings.

According to the World Economic Forum, 2.6 billion people, or one third of all people on planet earth are currently living in some form of a lockdown. So, if you’re craving a little social connection, you’re not alone!

The good news is, in times of crisis, humans are great innovators: we get creative and find new ways to get the things we need. According to the CBC, dance parties, book clubs, and group dinners have been moved into the digital world in great numbers. Even choirs that normally harmonize in a shared physical space have taken to brushing up on their musical talents virtually.

Transitioning to an online social life can come quite easily to the younger generation, but it might not be as second-nature to older adults. Aside from learning a new set of tech tools, it can also take time and effort getting used to this new way of “meeting.” But the effort is well worth it! People are wired for social connection and our mind and body benefit greatly from it. Social connection can decrease anxiety and depression, help regulate our emotions, boost our self-esteem and empathy, and even improve our immune system.

Here at the YMCA of Greater Toronto, we want to help you find community and a sense of belonging, even while we all keep our physical distance. Our centres might be temporarily closed, but we’ve created this website as a “place” where you can feel right at home.

If you haven’t already, we’d love to encourage you to try:

• A variety of fitness classes specifically designed with you in mind
• Online “meet ups” where you can get together with others, join in on some lively conversation, and make some new friends
• Resources from other organizations we thought you might find helpful

Are you interested in trying it out, but not sure where to begin?

Start with our Activities page. All you need to join is a computer, an internet connection, and the application called Zoom. If you don’t have Zoom yet, we’ve created an easy-to-follow video guide to help you get started. We’ve also got a friendly team of staff available to give you a call and take you on a guided tour of the site if you want a little extra support.

As you begin to explore your digital socializing options, try to remember that everyone is at a different comfort level when it comes to technology. Wherever you might be in your tech journey, start with what you know and build on it. The important thing is that you’re staying in touch with other people and sharing your unique human experience. We are all in this together and we’ll all feel much better if we stay tethered to one another!

We look forward to seeing you for our next social event.