Historically the Reading Circle was an extremely important part of the Muskoka Chautauqua, and it continues to be a very active and important aspect of today's Chautauqua. The Reading Circle committee generates a reading list each year, and develops programming around the chosen authors and books. The list developed in 2010 was the first one in 80 years! Check out the six books on the 2012 Reading List, chosen from the long list below (compiled from suggestions from Reading Circle members). You can also scroll down to see reading lists of the past. 

Long List for 2012
The theme for 2012 is "Our Canada: Rocks & Roots." This list was compiled from suggestions from Reading Circle members, and the Reading Circle Task Force will be meeting shortly to narrow the list down. The final reading list will be chosen by the Reading Circle Committee.

You can submit your suggestions before November 11, 2011 by e-mailing up to 5 titles with authors and a short description to muskokachautauqua@gmail.com. 

Selected Poems of E. J. Pratt, Ed.Djwa, Keith and Pollock
Poets of the Confederation, Ed. Malcolm Ross
Collected Poems, Service, Robert
Collected Poems, Birney, Earl
The Bush Garden, Frye, Northrop
Joan and Goodridge - My Life with Goodridge Roberts, Roberts, Joan
Frontlines - the Tools of the Artist, Chazalon, Andrew Wagner
Ordinary Miracles, Aspin, Diana
The Beast of Wildeor, Dearsley, Bryan
Away, Urquhart, Jane
The Stone Carvers, Urquhart, Jane
Light Lifting, MacLeod, Alexander
Dance of the Happy Shades, Munro, Alice
Halfway Man, Drew, Wayland
A Life Consumed, Sims, Diane
Ghost Towns of Muskoka, Da Silva, Maria, Hind, Andrew
Pupa (poetry), Graham, Catherine
The Backwoods of Canada, Traill, Catherine Parr
Roughing it in the Bush, Moodie, Susanna
Sisters in the Wilderness, Gray, Charlotte
The Night the Mice Danced the Quadrille, Osborne, Thomas
English Bloods, de la Fosse, Frederick
Kiss of the Fur Queen, Highway, Thomson
Rockbound, Day, Frank Parker
Keeper n' Me, Wagamese, Richard
The Gold Diggers, Gray, Charlotte
Kokum's Gift, Miller, Gord
Painters Eleven - the Wild Ones of Canadian Art, Nowell, Iris
ABC Muskoka - hand cut, line-cut images of Muskoka, McConnan, Nola
The Hidden World of Huckleberry Rock, Wagner-Chazalon, Andrew
Nothern Steamboats, Tatley, Richard
A Story as Sharp as a Knife, Bringhurst, Robert
Winter, CBC Massey Lecture Series 2011, Gopnik, Adam
Carbon Shift - how peak oil and climate change…, Homer-Dixon, Thomas
Defiant Spirits (group of seven), King, Ross
Iceberg Tea, Poole, Anneliese
The Stone Diaries, Shields, Carol
A Complicated Kindness, Toews, Miriam
Late Nights on Air, Hay, Elizabeth
River Thieves, Crummey, Michael
Three Day Road, Boyden, Joseph
The Stone Angel, Lawrence, Margaret
The Black Robe, Moore, Brian
Lives of Girls and Women, Munro, Alice
No Great Mischief, MacLeod, Alistair
The Golden Spruce, Valliant, John
The Outport People, Mowat, Farley
A Rule Against Murder, Penny, Louise
The National Dream, Burton, Pierre
Island of the Seven Cities, Chiasson, Paul
John A: the Man Who Made Us, Gwyn, Richard
The Little Immigrants, Bagnell, Kenneth
Whispering Pines: Northern Roots of Am. Music, Schneider, Jason
Tapestry of War, Gwyn, Sandra
Raisin Wine, Bartleman, James
Room for All of Us, Clarkson, Adrienne
Tommy Douglas, Lam, Vincent
I've Got a Home in Glory Land, Frost, Karolyn
Deafening, Itani, Frances
Me to We: Find Meaning in a Material World, Kielburger, Craig and Marc Kielburger
Colony of Unrequited Dreams, Johnson, Wayne
The Jade Peony, Choy, Wayson
Come Looking for Me, Cooper, Cheryl
A Fair Country: Telling Truths About Canada, Saul, John Ralston
The Friends of Meagre Fortune, Richard, David Adams
A Life in the Bush, MacGregor, Roy
Fire in the Bones, Raffan, James
Grass, Sky, Song, Heriott, Trevor
Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada, Jameson, Anna B.
The War Diary of Clare Gass 1915-1918, Mann, Susan (ed.)

The original Reading Circle was established in 1922. The intention of the Reading Circle was to introduce and advance the works of Canadian authors. It is interesting to note that the study of Canadian literature was not considered credit-worthy at the University of Toronto until after World War II, and then only as a subject of graduate study. 

Chautauqua weeks hosted famous authors of the day such as Bliss Carman, G. D. Roberts, E. J. Pratt, and Dorothy Livesay reading from their works, accessible to their readers and discussing issues of the day. Chautauqua provided inspiration and intellectual challenge for its members.

The Reading Circle was organized into 4-year cycles where suggested lists of books were given to participants, and lectures and readings would be given to enhance the assigned books. There were formal graduation ceremonies for those who read all the assigned books.

Click here to download a PDF version of the Reading List bookmark:

(80 years after the last list)

The theme for this year’s list is “cultivating a sense of spirit, a sense of place”.

The winners announced in alphabetical order are as follows:

1. James Bartleman, Out of Muskoka, 2002

I would challenge a reader to get through this book without being both touched and inspired. Mr. Bartleman’s memoir recounts his very humble beginnings in Port Carling where his family was poor and discriminated against. His adolescent escapades of the 50’s will remind many of us of another era, and when fate intervenes, James Bartleman, through hard work, a lot of talent and class, rises to the top of the diplomatic world. The book gives us a wonderful sense of Mr. Bartleman’s spirit and how his beginnings in Port Carling have always stayed with him. (Maurene Hammond).

2. Patrick Boyer, Local Library: Global Passport,  2008

You might wonder how you could construct a very hefty book about this topic, but in "Local Library, Global Passport," Patrick tells a fascinating story of how a town grew from its early beginnings in the 1860s right up to the present day.

I quote from one of his nominators: “He gives us a richly detailed account of an institution that has been and continues to be a living entity at the heart of Bracebridge and among its citizenry.” In his telling he brings the spirit of Bracebridge to life. (Maurene Hammond)

3. Wayland Drew, The Wabeno Feast, 1973

This is the only selection on this year’s Reading Circle list whose author is no longer with us. Many of us were privileged to know Wayland, as he taught at Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes Secondary School for many years. Wayland knew from his own high school years that he was a writer. He often had other careers to support his family and writing, but writing and the environment were two strong passions for him. His book "The Wabeno Feast," a Canadian literature classic, was first published by Anansi in 1973.

“The Wabeno feast, is a complex and challenging novel that tells three related stories: a historical adventure tale involving white explorers, whose journey into the interior is also a journey into the self; a post-war narrative set in a northern-Ontario industrial town called Sable Creek; and a futuristic story in which Paul and Liv Henry are shown escaping from cities menaced by an unspecified but palpable industrial disaster. It is among Canada’s few truly neglected works of literature.” Quoted from Alouette, Literary History of Canada.

It is beautifully written and in its content ahead of its time. This may be the most challenging read on this year’s list. The spirit is Wayland’s; the place is our environment. (Maurene Hammond)

4. Roy MacGregor, Canoe Lake, 2002

“A troubled American woman travels to a small Ontario town, determined to find the mother she has never known. As she searches through dusty records and stirs up old memories among those around her, three young people emerge from the mists of the past…a beautiful woman named Jenny, a shy local boy named Russell, and a dark-eyed painter named Tom, who changes the course of Jenny and Russell’s lives. Historical reality and conjecture are skilfully interwoven with intrigue and suspense as these three move unwittingly toward tragedy.”

This is an overview of Roy MacGregor’s novel Canoe Lake.

In 2005, when Roy MacGregor was named an Officer in the Order of Canada, he was described as “one of Canada’s most gifted storytellers”. Roy was born in the small town of Whitney, Ontario and grew up in Huntsville. It is natural for him to have an affinity to the story of Tom Thomson and what happened at Canoe Lake. As a journalist and story-teller, Roy, in Canoe Lake brings to life the spirit of a great Canadian artist and the landscape that inspired his work. (Andrea Binkle)

5. Eva Olsson, Unlocking the Doors: a Woman’s Struggle against Intolerance, 2001

In 1996, Eva Olsson ended a 50 year period of silence of what she had endured during the Holocaust by speaking to her granddaughter’s elementary school class. Since that day, Eva has spoken to millions of people, primarily students. She uses her life experiences to illustrate the power of hate and the importance of standing up against forces of racism, bigotry and intolerance.

In 2005, Eva was awarded an honorary doctorate by Nippissing University and in 2008, she was inducted into The Order of Ontario, the province’s highest official honour.

For Eva, there must have been a spirit of peace in Muskoka that allowed her to “unlock the doors” of her life and share her story of unbelievable adversity. (Andrea Binkle)

6. Gabriele Wills, The Summer before the Storm, 2006

Muskoka, 1914. It’s the Age of Elegance in the summer playground of the affluent and powerful. Amid the pristine, island-dotted lakes, the granite cliffs, and pine-scented forests of the Canadian wilderness, the young and carefree amuse themselves with glittering balls, lavish picnics, and friendly competitions. In The Summer Before the Storm, a cast of engaging characters vividly brings to life the idyllic lifestyle of endless summers on tranquil lakes. But their charmed lives begin to unravel with the onset of the Great War, in which many are destined to become part of the “lost generation”.

Gabriele Wills’ real love is writing fiction. She has an affinity for Muskoka and the skill of a historian to research the details that brings the past to life in the characters in her novel. She recreates the spirit of Muskoka in her novel The Summer Before the Storm. (Andrea Binkle)