The Roncesvalles Quiet Book Club #6
Socks convered in boobs, and offered to me by Rosy who knows my [loveforboobs] interest in the research on breast cancer
The Roncy QBC #6 was May 12 and I’m telling you all about it tonight, May 18, because shut up.
Not only am I breaking a record of tardiness today, but I also did last Tuesday, when I got to SAVA around 9:07-08 AM. In my defence, looking so good takes time.
I had spent 10 minutes trying to decide which pair of socks would match the t-shirt; then I found a pair of socks that matched the hair, but it was beige and pink, and I already had a black t-shirt on; so I needed to find a beige t-shirt. I realized that all my beige t-shirts were wrinkled af, so I had to put the black t-shirt back on and resume looking for black socks with pink patterns. Found them. Got to SAVA Crepes & Coffee 7 minutes late and found that my dear neighbor Colleen was already there. I hadn't seen her since QBC #1, she became a grandma recently, I gave her a big hug and a sign-up sheet to fill out.
Colleen gave me a book called THE ART OF TEACHING WRITING, and a ton of free notebooks because
she knows I'm a sucker for notebooks
in case, I felt generous enough to share with the quiet book clubbers (yes, that’s what I’m calling them now).
Which I did! I actually offered the notebooks to the gang, and I'm bringing the rest tomorrow! Seriously, where are my wings?
Coucou, Colleen!
Buffy showed up, Alex showed up, Ann and Zahra, or Zahra and Ann? (nooo I’ve already forgotten the order, I wonder if I remember anything from that day by now) Oh I realized that my friend Rosy (from QBC #3) was there too! No idea when she showed up, she was already chatting with Alex when I noticed her. I was super grateful.
She gave me a book I had made her pick up for me (FB Marketplace). I told Alex that I had asked my friends to say no whenever I’d ask them to do a pickup for me, because I have a problem, I don’t need any more books; and yet I feel loved when they say yes. The book Rosy gave me is so beautiful, it’s gigantic, it’s called GREAT NOVEL - THE WORLD’S MOST REMARKABLE FICTION EXPLORED AND EXPLAINED and I got it for—wait for it— five fckn bucks. Again: thanks Rosy!
I proudly showed everyone the new golden paper holders I had found at the Roncy flea market on Saturday, that were not even for sale. They were holding the price tags, and I thought they would be great to hold the papers (color-printed by Rosy) of the mantra and the breakdown of the day. And yes, they did a great job! I realized that I had forgotten to write a land acknowledgement (again) and I decided that I should write a whole welcome speech that I’d read between 9:29 and 9:30 AM, when the silence starts. Maybe I’ll write it right after this post, who knows? Have faith in me. Or don’t.
The staff at SAVA was unfamiliar. I had seen the cook before, he was working front desk the day I had come to count the number of chairs, pre-launch. I knew he spoke French, I didn’t know that he used to live in Switzerland. I noticed the woman working front desk much later. I had never seen her before. When I went to introduce myself, I was with Rosy, telling her all about the nightmare I had had the night before:
"I dreamt that my roommate was in my bedroom! Sitting on my bed, going through my laptop AND my iPad AND my phone! I was mortified, what an invasion of privacy! I was weeping and yelling. I think it has something to do with the manhwa I read before falling asleep: a guy decided to take revenge on his homophobic roommate by masturbating on his rommate’s bed, and the roommate caught him by surprise with a huge d0ng up his a$$. So I think my brain was like, 'what could be worse than this?' My roommate going through my stuff. That's what."
The new SAVA girl looked speechless: did I say something I shouldn't have? I didn’t get her name. Rosy guessed that she was French, so we spoke French. She was not really new, she had worked there a month, just never on Tuesday. She had needed to take Monday off, that’s why she was filling in for M. who replaced her on Monday. That’s how I found out that SAVA was also open on Mondays now.
Aaaanyway, I didn’t order. I would "normally" have a slice of pear and almond tart, but I had baked two strawberry cakes the night before for JINX fckn DAY (chapter 100 omg), and I was still brokity broke. Rosy did offer to pay, but I kindly declined. The first time. And the second time.
Alex and Rosy are sitting across Buffy (who’s not picture-friendly, but who is mega cute!)
Colleen was the first one to fill out the sign-up sheet. She wrote the wrong date: 11/05 instead of 12/05 (JINX day!), and you know what? All 6 people after her —including me— also wrote 11/05. I’ll comment with one of my favorite words in the English vocabulary: Idiots. LMAO I need a social psychology expert to explain to me what happened there.
I handed out the Quote and Vocabulary cards, and I forgot to do the writer’s mantra. My goal that morning was to write a poem in French, for the second volume of a collection of poems read to newborn babies (I’ve already said too much).
Colleen and Alex had brought some work (Alex had come all the way from her boyfriend’s in the east end, isn’t that so sweet?). Buffy had brought her manuscript. Rosy brought THE INNER WORK by Mat & Ash (some New Age Instagram influencers who wrote a self-help book —and yes, I’m judging); Ann wanted to read (INTERIOR CHINATOWN) and do some journaling (isn’t journaling great? Why don’t I do it more often? Is this journalling? Huh, I honestly don’t know!)
Zahra (who lives in the east end and drives all the way to Roncy for this quality time) had brought an architecture essay, FROM BAUHAUS TO OUR HOUSE.
Ann and Zahra’s table
Quiet time started at 9:30 AM, I asked the French girl to change the playlist and play something more chill than the current pop music; she understood the assignment and played some jazz. I think I forgot to set the alarm clock, but I had the visual timer on my table. I wonder if other people watch it. I wish I had a spot in the room to place it so that most clubbers can see it.
Zahra, who had already shown interest in my novel Ah Sissi, il faut souffrir pour être française last week, said she would like to buy it. Typing this actually reminds me to bring it tomorrow. Ann asked if she could read the poem I had written, I said it was in French, and turns out she understands a bit of French. She gave my notebook to Zahra, I can’t wait to tell them tomorrow that the publisher loved it and literally cried!
Here are the new vocabulary entries, all from Zahra’s book FROM BAUHAUS TO OUR HOUSE by Tom Wolfe: "Carillon" and "Opprobrium". I sang the nursery rhyme "Passez pompoms, les carillons, les portes sont ouvertes ; passez pompoms, les carillons, les portes sont fermées… à…. clé !" And showed how it’s done. I admitted that even though I had heard it my whole life, I had never dared to wonder what "carillon" meant. Rosy’s a professional cellist, of course she knew what it meant. Her friend played the carillon. Here are the definitions from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
CARILLION (n.): a set of fixed chromatically tuned bells sounded by hammers controlled from a keyboard
OPPROBRIUM (n.): 1. something that brings disgrace 2. public disgrace or ill fame that follows from conduct considered grossly wrong or vicious
And now my favorite part, the quotes. I’ll start with the same architecture book Zahra brought:
"So what if you were living in a building that looked like a factory and paying top dollar for it? Every modern building of quality looked like a factory. That was the look of today."
Thanks Zahra for sharing that quote!
Now the quotes from INTERIOR CHINATOWN by Charles Yu, as (s)elected by Ann, as uttered by the character Willis Wu:
"He’d played his role for so long he’d lost himself in it, before some separation that happened gradually over decades, and then you waking one day to feel it, some distance that had crept in overnight. Some formal space you could no longer cross."
I said out loud that Ann had the best quotes, and Zahra was a strong contender.
Let’s finish with the quotes that stood out to Rosy, from the page 14 of THE INNER WORK by Mat & Ash. And bear with me, because I can’t seem to read my friend’s handwriting (you think you know someone, and then you see their handwriting, lawd have mercy):
"There is no actual line at the edge of the Earth for the sun to set behind, just as there is no actual milestone, experience, place, or person [or p3n:s, I can’t read] which can give us our happiness."
"See your discomfort as the doorway to freedom. Have the bravery and courage to see all obstacles [or is it ass tales?] as only as temporary moments of realignment — always working out in your favour"
(I've just had her decipher that one for me, after trying on my own for more than 5 endless minutes)
From Carl Jung:
"Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes"
From Rumi:
"The desire to know your own soul will end all other desires"
What I love about collecting these quotes is that it feels like handing out Polaroid cameras and collecting the snaps, an insight of what your brains found beautiful.
Haul of the week
Colleen finally got to meet Rosy, even though I met Colleen at a house concert in the neighborhood, where Rosy was performing with her brother. After Colleen and everyone else left, I stuck around with Rosy, who literally started a conversation with every single stranger in the café. She introduced me to one of them, whom she had overheard speak German. (If I approached every single person I overheard speak German... Lieber nicht) Turns out he was related to the owner of SAVA.
I accepted Rosy's offer the third time and she got me a vegetarian buckwheat crêpe (I learned a new word), I had the spinach replaced by peppers (I've never liked the taste of spinach). We ended up sharing the crêpe (WHERE ARE MY FCKN WINGS?!), because she was getting hungry and wanted to go home and eat her homemade chicken curry, and I wanted her to stay longer.
She took pictures of me with my food (a historical moment, one swallow doesn't make a summer). We decided we would stop talking at 11:45 AM and go back to writing. We failed. I shared my theory of verbal fighting being good for you, and the story of my birthday last year. (Rosy had pissed me off the day before by giving the benefit of the doubt to a woman whose last name is literally Rockefeller), and why am I still typing? The QBC was over, the rest does not concern you. Bye, please come tomorrow.
So yeah next QBC #7 is tomorrow, Tuesday May 19th, 2026, and the last QBC of the month, since I’m working next week. I am still looking for a steady employment (remote or hybrid), project management, marketing, archiving, language services, training, you name it. As long as I can learn something and/or work with smart people.
If you hear of something.
If you don't, well, I'll never say no to a free pear and almond tart. At least, not the third time you offer.
In front of Don Osbourne’s paintings
#roncesvalles #roncesvallesvillage #funnybrainyroncy
This post was first published on Facebook on May 18, 2026.
All the books mentioned here can be ordered on anotherstory.ca or borrowed from the Toronto Public Library.
Book a free spot at the next Roncesvalles Quiet Book Club here (donations are welcome): https://www.eventbrite.ca/manage/events/1986008762671/