The Roncesvalles Quiet Book Club #9

16 juin

The Roncy QBC #9 was on June 9, 2026!

Two people booked their spots, one of them cancelled, and 8 people showed up. Djizoss, what has Eventbrite done to you?

I started writing this post the morning after QBC #9, and I was pretty sure I'd finish it in one sitting, but nope. I quit after two sentences, only to come back to it on the night before QBC #10 with the task of remembering what the hell happened on June 9, knowing that I never take any notes during these events. Every week, I'm pretty sure my post will be alarmingly brief since I've probably forgotten most of what happened, and every week, I surprise myself with all the details I manage to put into that written recollection.

And with my neurodivergence, I struggle with priorities. So priority was given to putting all those Facebook posts on my own website (after being banned from Twitter and Instagram, it will come as no surprise if I end up being banned from FakeBoob as well. Please don't ask me why I'm banned; the "banners" themselves wouldn't care to tell me). So, since Sunday, June 14, you can now relive these QBC sessions on jogust.in/news. Isn't that great?

OK, now, time to remember what happened on Tuesday, June 9, 2026.

(As I was typing that last sentence, I noticed that my landlord had finally replied to the plea I texted her a week ago, begging her to let me stay in the apartment, at least until I find employment. If I open it now, I might not be able to finish this post. So maybe I don't struggle with priorities after all!)

What mood was I in on the morning of June 9? Ugh, no clue. Maybe I should turn off the iMessage app for a while. The red notification is distracting me.


A few moments later...

All the apps are closed on my laptop, and it's decided: I won't open that text until AFTER QBC #10 tomorrow!

I can't remember what happened last Tuesday. Maybe a picture of my outfit will jog my memory?



A few moments later...

It did! Oh yeaaaaah! OK, OK, now I remember, haha! That morning, I decided to dress up to show those faceless employers out there what they're missing out on by not letting me interview for a single job. Looking this good is good for the morale of the rest of your employees. Plus, I'm a walking piece of art. You're missing out on art.

It's a black velvet outfit made up of a short-sleeved top and harem pants with ridiculously deep pockets (from the waist to the knee), intended to be filled when I travel by plane. And when those pockets are full, let me tell you that running to the airport also means coming this close to seeing my heavy pants drop down to my ankles. It’s an outfit I designed myself and had sewn in Cameroon. The takeaway is that you should always make sure your pants can be worn with a belt—especially when the fabric is as heavy as velvet.

When I went to SAVA carrying the QBC, I made sure my pockets were empty. My future in this neighborhood is already hanging by a thread. I shouldn't give myself any reason to leave Roncesvalles; now is not the time to lose my pants (again) in the middle of a busy avenue. (Happened when I was 11. Twice.)
Because of that empty-pocket necessity, I had to put things in the QBC box that would normally have been in my pockets. I looked at my QBC box, packed to the brim, and thought,

“This is ridiculous. The box is much larger than the first two, yet it seems like no matter how big it is, it'll never be big enough. Half the things in the QBC box right now aren't even required for the QBC!”

I started taking stuff out: half of the freebies, half of my own books. Then, with my arms full and without checking the time, I carried the slightly lighter QBC box to SAVA. And while I was walking, I noticed every single look people threw at me and thought, You're welcome. Free art in the public space. A great way to start your day is by seeing my swag.

Arriving at SAVA...

Okay, now I don't remember who was already there when I walked in. I believe Alba was there? Unsure. Anyway, whoever it was complimented me on my outfit, and I said thank you. It was just the first compliment in a long series.
Oh yeah, Alba was there indeed, and so was Colleen! The night before, I had sent Colleen the PDF file of the quote and vocabulary cards (QVCs), since I was already running out of them. Colleen handed me the sheets of paper she had printed at home, and I thanked her. She also gave me a loaf of homemade bread as a late birthday gift! For your information, I don’t like being hugged, but when someone gives me food, I feel what people who love hugs feel when they’re hugged.

I put Colleen’s hug away in my totebag. As I was setting up my QBC table, Alba asked if I needed help.

Without hesitation, I said, "Could you please cut out these QVCs?" as I handed them the stack of paper and a pair of scissors I had preemptively added to the QBC box that morning. I also gave them the QVC box, a small white box where I put all the QVCs, the Roncesvalles Writer’s Mantras, and the golden thingies that hold them up straight. Alba did a great job and I am relieved to have enough QVCs until at least the end of August, when I’m supposed to leave this apartment (again, I haven’t opened someone’s text yet).

Olivia arrived and complimented my outfit. I couldn’t wait to tell them:

"I think I know where I saw you before: weren’t you on stage at Theatre Passe-Muraille or at Fringe festival at one point?"

She said:

"I wish, but no. But I used go to theatre a lot, maybe you saw me one of those times?"

I said:

"No, that’s not it. I can’t know the name of every person I come across when I go see a play. I know your name from somewhere."

So yeah, my familiarity to Olivia’s name and face remains an enigma (I still called them Olive when I first saw them that morning, as I wasn’t 100% sure of their name. In my defence, Olive is less risky than Olivia. You can call an Olivia Olive, but you can’t call an Olive Olivia.)

Dear recruiters, please take this as evidence of my ability to think on my feet and make informed decisions in high-pressure situations.

Olivia needed an outlet for their laptop, so they sat at the table behind me, where Colleen and Alex tend to sit when they’re not at the big table. Which makes me wonder: since Colleen arrived before Olivia and chose to sit at the big table, do people sit at the big table when they’re in the mood to socialise or something? (The big table is meant for a group of four; I’d never sit there on purpose. I’m already requisitioning one whole table just for me and my QBC stuff. Extroverts.)



Dear recruiters, please ignore my previous sentence. I would like to clarify that I am a highly capable team player and enjoy working with others. My occasional solitude is strictly cafeteria-based and not indicative of my collaboration style.

Zahra, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, arrived as well. I was so glad to see her again. She was the reason I kept carrying my own books in the QBC box, since she was interested in buying one of them. And she showed up on the morning I had just lightened my QBC box by removing half the books. I showed her what was left; she immediately showed interest in Ah Sissi, il faut suffire pour être française ! — the one she had wanted since day one. She asked me how much it was, and I blanked (I hadn’t sold a book in a while; I needed to redo the math).


Dear CRA inspectors, kindly note that this matter contains no material findings requiring your attention.

Ann (whom Zahra comes to visit whenever she comes to the book club) arrived too. I was expecting Buffy, with whom I had remained in touch via email. She had been abroad for personal reasons, and I knew QBC #9 was supposed to be her big comeback. Quiet time was just about to start, and still no sign of Buffy. Bummer.

I read the welcome speech; it was brief because no new members had joined the club. When I finished, a new member arrived, smiling at me: “I finally made it!” she said. I didn’t know the backstory, but I assumed she had been trying to join the Roncesvalles Quiet Book Club for a while, and that there was always next Tuesday—you know how life is…

Her name’s Shannon. In my memory, Shannon sat on the exact same chair as Olivia, but unless one of them was sitting on the other’s lap, that can’t be true. I considered reading the long version of the welcome speech to Shannon alone, but I didn’t. She still received her first (and last) welcome dance though.

Colleen made a speech about something we had discussed the day before: collecting donations during QBC sessions. Accepting money from individuals and not companies is something I am still struggling with—when it’s not a thank-you gift for existing, but a payment for my services. I still haven’t figured out what mental block lies underneath, but there is one for sure. That’s also why The Roncesvalles Quiet Book Club is the only #FunnyBrainyRoncy event I’ve launched so far. Because the other events are not free, and I have no idea how to say, “Please come to this, but only if you give me money.” No matter how people try to explain this logic to me, I still don’t fully get it. I’ll keep living life, and hopefully, down the road, it will finally make sense to me too.

So anyway, Colleen made a speech and pulled out a cute little drawstring pouch meant to collect donations. I was so close to dying of embarrassment, but I remember Olivia’s encouraging smile when I met their eyes during the speech, and I felt instantly better. That’s how I didn’t die.

Honestly, I don’t remember seeing anyone put anything in that pouch. I even messaged Colleen later that night:

“I’ve just found money in the drawstring pouch! It doesn’t feel like mine. Did people put it in there? Did you forget to empty it before giving it to me? I’m a bit confused.”

She just reacted with a heart emoji. The mystery remains. I haven’t dared to move the contents of the pouch to my wallet yet.  I didn’t even count how much money was in it.



Once again, dear CRA inspectors, respectfully, there is absolutely nothing happening here and we would like to keep it that way.

I launched quiet time, set the alarm and took place under my blanket to read a philosophy book. I wasn’t interrupted by amazing quotes the way I was when reading BROKEN FICTION at QBC #8. But I did find some noteworthy passages. While I was reading, someone approached the QBC table next to mine and helped themselves with something. I thought it was Buffy, but it was Gemma, the literary agent who had joined the week before!
When the alarm softly rang at 10:45 AM, I still wanted to finish reading that paragraph/chapter, I did, and once I was done, I looked around, everyone was still reading.

"Maybe you want to finish that paragraph or sentence?" I asked very gently.

But everyone just closed their books and looked at me with smiles of anticipation. Cool. The floor was mine. I took a deep breath and felt it in my stomach muscles:

"Colleen here gives a yoga course every Monday at noon at Sorauren Park. I went yesterday and I think I did my first abdominal exercises of the year then, so suffice to say that right now, even yawning hurts."

Colleen

I grabbed the signup sheet. It started with Colleen, actually, who had come to read BREATH by James Nestor, about the marvels you can achieve by just controlling your breath. I said:

"There’s a bestselling French author among my Facebook friends who only writes about breath. I had to unfollow her because I was getting too jealous of her achievements"
"Oh that’s interesting! Remember to give me her name."

Colleen read her favorite quote from the session:

"… some of these researchers were showing that many modern maladies —asthma, anxiety, ADHD, psoriasis, and more— could either be reduced or reversed simply by changing he way we inhale and exhale"

Alba

Next on the list was Alba who read YESTERYEAR by Caro Claire Burke. If my memory serves me right, they said it was about a modern trad wife who wakes up in the past, back in those years when every wife was expected to be a trad wife.

"At any point, does she know she is full of shit?", I asked.

"I don’t think she does!", Alba replied after a moment's thought.

They retired a new vocabulary word, "BEATIFIC" from the phrase "an expression of beatific exhaustion on her face".

Let’s find out what Merriam-Webster has to say about it:

BEATIFIC (adj.): 1) of, possessing, or imparting beatitude 2) having a blissful appearance

Alba also retired a quote:

"I could practically see his insipid prayers float past me, in little Comic Sans thought bubbles."

Lol.

Olivia

"Next is… Olivia! I hadn’t noticed until I wrote last week’s report, but Olivia puts a smiley face next to their name, and many exclamation points next to the mention of what they’ll be doing. They did it again today. At the question 'what are you writing/reading today?' Olivia wrote on the sign-up sheet 'the same play, exclamation point'. And they added 'hopefully'. So did you do it?"
"I did!"
"How did it go?"
"I actually like it!"

We were all glad.

Zahra

"After Olivia, we have Zahra, who comes all the way from east end. And today she read THE COMPLETE COSMICOMICS by Italo Calvino."

[Oh, I didn’t realize that it was by Calvino! I listened to an audiobook of Six Memos for the Next Millennium, last winter]

The book was recommended to her by her girlfriend, it was a collection of absurdist short stories, the narrator was shape-shifting, everything changed in an unlinear pattern, and the author kept giving people strange names impossible to pronounce.

Zahra hadn’t retired any quotes or new words, but because she had already written down the date and the book title on the QVC, I didn’t want that piece of paper (kindly printed by Colleen and cut by Alba) to go to waste, and I asked her to write down some of those weird names:

"Maybe there’s a code to crack behind the choices of letters."

So these are the names that ended up on Zahra’s QVC:
- Gid(w)n (with the n in superscript)
- Qfwfq
- Kgwgk
- Ph(in)Nko (with the o in subscript)

If any of you readers, strangers from the future or extraterritorial time travellers know what those mean, please get in touch with me preferably before my 111th birthday. Later than that, I won’t be available on this time-space continuum.

Shannon

Then I moved on to Shannon, who came to read and write. The book she brought was THE BEGINNING COMES AFTER THE END: NOTES ON A WORLD OF CHANGE by Rebecca Solnit. Shannon had left her QVC blank, and to present the book to us, she read a sentence from its back cover:

"We inhabit and inherit a world that has changed bit by bit, in ways so vast and so varied, in so many spheres of everyday life, that the transformation has hardly been described."

I discretely pushed her QVC towards her with an assignment: "Can you please write it down?" and she did, and now you all know what quote stood out to Shannon! You all got to have a small bite in that piece of art.

Ann

Next on the sign-up sheet was Ann, who came to read INTERIOR CHINATOWN by Charles Yu. I recognized the title from a previous session. And I had already mentioned the TV show INTERIOR CHINATOWN that time, so I didn’t do it again.

"Do you read several books at the same time too? Because I’m pretty sure you already brought this one weeks ago."

"Oh that’s because sometimes I borrow books from the library, so I prioritize the ones I have to finish by a certain date", Ann explained.

These are the new words in her vocabulary:

BAH-CHANG: "The word you've entered isn't in the dictionary. Click on a spelling suggestion below or try again using the search bar above." says Merriam-Webster.

So I asked the Chimbridge Singlish Dictionary and here is what it says:

bak chang /bak˥˩.t͡saŋ˩/ —> Min nan: 肉粽 poj: bah-chàng
(n.) a tetrahedral dumpling of glutinous rice wrapped in flat leaves (usually bamboo), typically stuffed with meat and/or other ingredients. It can be savoury or sweet, and comes in various forms depending on culture, such as Nyonya, Hokkien, Hakka, Cantonese, etc. It is commonly eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival, but is also enjoyed as a popular dish or snack throughout the year.

Merriam-Webster did have a definition for the following words though:

CORRIDO (n.): a Mexican narrative folk ballad usually on a topical subject
SRO: 1. (n.) a house, apartment building, or residential hotel in which low-income or welfare tenants live in single rooms
- 2. (Abbreviation) standing room only
  
  (is it a room where it's strictly forbidden to sit or lie down? Sounds like some Guantanamo sh!t)
PHYSIOGNOMY (n.): 1. the art of discovering temperament and character from outward appearance

2: the facial features held to show qualities of mind or character by their configuration or expression

3: external aspect
also : inner character or quality revealed outwardly

Ann was worried that her favorite quote from the session would be too long for her to share with the group. I encouraged her to read it anyway (I love Ann’s quotes), and she did:

"A teenager turns on some music.
Once that gets going, doors start opening until they’re all open. The whole building buzzing until sunrise, as if nothing matters because nothing does matter because the idea was you came here, your parents and their parents and their parens, and you always seem to have just arrived and yet never seen to have actually arrived. You’re here, supposedly, in a new land full of opportunity, but somehow have gotten trappe in a pretend version of the old country."

After hearing something so incredible, anything that will follow will be mundane and insipid. And I knew it was a quote to meditate on, even to philosophize about (hopefully one day, at the Roncesvalles Philosophy Club?).

Gemma

Gemma, the literary agent, had come to read queries. She apologized and promised to bring an actual book next time. I can’t remember if I made it clear that there was nothing to apologize for. Reading queries is a legitimate activity for The Roncy QBC! The welcome speech does say « If your goal of the session is to knit a scar, knit a scarf. » This is a get-shit-done book club, remember that. About that, many times, these past week, I’ve wanted to do some collage during the roncy QBC. But I have a collage box, I can’t carry both the QBC box AND the collage box when I walk to SAVA.

Zahra took this one. She’s the one who picked the angle, the location... I like it.

Jo fuckn Güstin

I was up next, with the book I THINK, THEREFORE I DRAW. I told the clubbers that it was a book I had found on one of those websites for second-hand books, when I was trying to get the minimal amount for free shipping. I ordered the book from the library because I wanted to find out if it were a comic book explaining philosophy or what-not. It was what-not. It was a book explaining the philosophical concept behind a given cartoon. Each chapter was short and started with a cartoon by a famous cartoonist and was followed by a philosophical analysis of that cartoon. Gemma expressed her interest in that book, she’s into philosophy, and I had fun having a mini preamble to The Roncesvalles Philosophy Club right then.

I started with the vocabulary entries. One of them was "SEMINAL" and I said it was one of these words I’ve seen a thousand times, but never checked the definition, and it reminded me of "semen" (and rightly so, apparently):

UNSEEMLY (adj):
a: not according with established standards of good form or taste

b: not suitable for time or place : INAPPROPRIATE, UNSEASONABLE
DICTUM (n.): (plural is DICTA) 1. a noteworthy statement: such as
a: a formal pronouncement of a principle, proposition, or opinion

b: an observation intended or regarded as authoritative

2. (law): a judge's expression of opinion on a point other than the precise issue involved in determining a case
SEMINAL (adj.):1. of, relating to, or consisting of seed or semen
2. containing or contributing the seeds of later development : CREATIVE, ORIGINAL
HAPLESS (adj.): having no luck : UNFORTUNATE
ZINGER (n.): 1: something causing or meant to cause interest, surprise, or shock
2: a pointed witty remark or retort
HUMDRUMNESS (n.):
Well, this one is not in the dictionary, but they do have HUMDRUM, mainly as an adjective, but also as a substantive (so maybe “Humdrumness” is a language incorrection from Thomas CATHCART or Daniel KLEIN or whomever proofread their manuscript)
HUMDRUM (adj.): MONOTONOUS, DULL
WAG (n.):1: wit, joker
2: obsolete : a young man : CHAP
NIFTY (adj.): informal : very good: such as
a: very attractive or appealing
b: very pleasant or enjoyable
c: very interesting or clever : ingenious
d: well-executed
TO CROON: intransitive verb
1: chiefly Scotland : BELLOW, BOOM

2: to sing or speak in a gentle murmuring manner
especially : to sing in a soft intimate manner adapted to amplifying systems

transitive verb
: to sing (something, such as a popular song or a lullaby) in a crooning manner

I had retired that verb from the expression “Crosby crooning ’Hava Nagila’” and with no idea of who/what Crosby or crooning or Hava Nagila were, I knew I had to write that down.

Many clubbers noted that the words I retired from that book where mostly used in the UK. How could I know? As a Francophone, English is English. That’s why I’ll write “favorite” and not “favourite” because said out loud in French, “favorite” feels right. Not because I know which one is or isn’t used in Canada.

Speaking of favorite, here are my favorite quotes:

The book cited the Italian philosopher Giacomo Leopardi:

“In all climates, under all skies, man’s happiness is always somewhere else."

I referred to Shannon’s book about change by bringing up Parmenides, a philosopher mentioned in the pages I read during the session. I explained that Parmenides didn’t believe in change, because it meant that something that existed had stopped existing and something that never existed had started to exist, and to him it was impossible to conceive nothingness, where would these things that stopped existing go? And where were the new things before? Everything must have been there this whole time.

"For Parmenides, time was a logical impossibility. (…) Enter the Father of Flux, Heraclitus, a contemporary of Parmenides (but then, to Parmenides, everyone was contemporary)." (Philosopher's humor)

I’m glad the room found it funny too. Someone (I want to say Ann?) pointed out that change seemed to be the recurring theme of the session: from Zahra’s book, Shannon’s book and my book. Seems about right, judging by the next quotes I shared:

"Humans, too, are inconstant flux. In other words, it’s not just snowmen who are fluid, so to speak"

Even though they had already laughed, I still felt the nee to explain that quote by saying that the cartoon introducing the chapter showed a snowman trying to get a loan at the bank, and the caption said: "How do I know you’ll still be around in a year?" (A cartoon by Harley Schwadron) It made everyone laugh. The same way it had made me laugh.
Look up "Harley Schwadron + bank + snowman" online, if you want a good laugh too.

My last quote from that session was about the concept of butterfly effect, that was introduced by American meteorologist and chaos theorist Edward Lorenz:

"Generalized, the butterfly effect postulates that over time, a small event in one place can generate big changes in other places, and it happens all the time. Think about that next time you sneeze."

I told the gang that when I read "a small event in one place", I couldn't help but think about The Roncesvalles Quiet Book Club, not a sneeze. And I was happy to imagine that this “small event” I put together every week could “generate big changes in other places”. On her way out, Gemma took a picture of the book I THINK, THEREFORE I DRAW. What else happened? Oh right, I asked Zahra to take a picture of me. I first asked Ann, but she has a flip phone, get outta here! I respect that though. My equivalent of having a flip phone is not being on Instagram and Tik Tok. How badass.

I’m finishing this post on June 16 at 6 PM, which means 5 hours after the end of The Roncy QBC #10! Does it matter though, when I post these things? I don’t know. But some people seem to be expecting them, and I love writing them, and I am once again impressed by the details a person could remember of any day, if they put their mind to it.

I can now open my landlord's text.

A few moments later...

She said no.
I'm alright.
I think.

So that was the post!

Normally I would say "See you at The Roncy QBC #10", but it happened this morning. So… See you at the Roncy QBC #11, next Tuesday, June 23 at SAVA Crepes and Coffee! Doors will open at 9:00 AM, I’ll arrive when I arrive, quiet time will start at 9:30 AM and, at 10:45 AM, we’ll discuss! Sounds good?

Bisous !

#FunnyBrainyRoncy #Roncesvalles #RoncesvallesVillage

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This post was also published on Facebook.

All the books mentioned here can be ordered on anotherstory.ca or borrowed from the Toronto Public Library.

Book your free spot at the next Roncesvalles Quiet Book Club here (donations are welcome): https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-roncesvalles-quiet-book-club-tickets-1986008762671

The Roncy QBC#FunnyBrainyRoncy

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