Book Club: Alyssa Polinsky
Hello fellow isolators! I hope you are all doing well this fall. It is sad and a bit scary to see how the numbers of new infections for this virus we’re all trying to avoid are climbing around the world again, especially here in Alberta where I live and in my home province of BC. So, what better time to have a second socially-distant book club meeting?
As usual, I was joined by a special guest and a live studio audience on Zoom for an evening talking about reading, stories, and all things books: Alyssa Polinsky, my friend and former boss. Alyssa and I worked together for a year when she came in and covered a parental leave when I worked with the BC Museums Association. We had a great time working together, starting new programs for the sector and eating far too much chocolate, she really was a bad influence on me.
Alongside being a great supervisor, Alyssa is also a great communicator, which is actually what she does for a living. Alyssa is a freelance communications consultant who is currently Acting Director of Communications for the Greater Victoria Public Library. She is also on the Board of the Story Studio Writing Society, a charity that inspires, educates and empowers youth through storytelling and that received the Council of the Federation Literacy Award for BC in 2020. Alyssa is also the President of the Victoria Book Prizes, the organization that annually awards the best adult and children’s books created by a Victoria-based writer.
Alyssa Polinsky
…And some of her many books!
My conversation with Alyssa explored how storytelling helps youth find their voice, which builds confidence and presence in their community. We also talked about how to pick a good book, which is key to the multi-genre Victoria Book Prizes, but how it means something different to each reader.
The books Alyssa recommended are:
Dear Evelyn by Kathy Page
A Complicated Kindness and All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
Sweetland by Michael Crummey
Can We All Be Feminists? edited by June Eric-Udorie
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Thanks again to Alyssa Polinsky for joining me for the second meeting of the Well That’s Cool Book Club. It was great to re-connect on a personal level, I miss our chats, and even more fun to hear all about her reading and views on the importance of storytelling.
Story Studio website screenshot
If you want to learn more about the organizations we discussed, visit StoryStudio.ca and VictoriaBookPrizes.ca, or visit Alyssa on Instagram at @redheadreader.
I hope you’ll join me again on December 10 for the next club meeting. I’ll be talking with Mark Zuehlke, an award-winning author generally considered to be Canada’s foremost popular military historian. Mark’s Canadian Battle Series, which you’ve likely seen in your local book store, is the most exhaustive recounting of the battles and campaigns fought by any nation during World War 2 to have been written by a single author! I’ll be asking Mark what it’s like to write about such detailed and yet expansive history, how research shapes non-fiction writing, and about what makes him also an award-winning mystery writer. You can register for the conversation here. Also note the slightly earlier time, Mark will be joining me at 6:30 p.m. Mountain Time on December 10.
As for books I’m reading, I’m still working my way through A History of Scotland by Neil Oliver, and I think I might pick up a science fiction read for my next book like Mechanical Failure by Joe Zieja. The Oliver book is slow going - I can’t help reading it in the voice of the great TV presenter himself, but get a bit hung up on the Scottish phrasing and the confusing web of Scottish royal characters - but I am enjoying it and have finally reached the Mary Queen of Scots episode. That era is one of my favourites, which you can see here.
Do you have any book recommendations for me? You can get in touch with the podcast on Facebook at wellthatscoolpod or on Twitter at @well_thatscool, or by sending me an email at wellthatscoolpod@gmail.com.
Thanks as always to Ron Yamauchi for the theme tune and to Anna Schroeder of Annather Design for the cool podcast logo, check out her work at annatherdesign.com. Other music heard during this episode and all the other podcast stuff is done by me, Ben Fast.
Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts! Speaking of which, the show is now available on Spotify and Google Podcasts!
Until next time, stay well, and happy isolation reading!
Friends of the Podcast…
Are you a fan of pub quizzing? To provide some fun distraction during the new lockdown I’m hosting a friends and family Zoom trivia night, 7:30 p.m. Mountain Time on Thursday, December 3. As a valued friend of the podcast I invite you to join me! Teams of 1-3 work best, organize your group call or chat on a separate channel, and get your thinking caps on!
