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SFU Reads is a virtual book club created to connect alumni—and the greater SFU community—with one another over the discussion of books. There is no cost to join. All you need is the book and some reading time. Check out our current book below!

Why should you join?

  1. Connect with fellow alumni—and SFU community members—across industries, generations and countries in an online social environment.
  2. Discover new books! It’s an opportunity to experience new authors and explore different genres. You’ll even get a chance to vote on which upcoming titles you want to read.
  3. Reading is good for you!  

How it works

  • Sign up for the book club—it’s free!
  • Pick up a copy of the current book and start reading. Book selections are read over eight weeks; a suggested reading schedule is provided.
  • Sign into the forum and join the discussion, guided by a moderator. Access to discussions are available 24/7—you can participate from anywhere in the world.

CURRENT BOOK: JENNIE'S BOY

Please join us as we read Jennie's Boy, a national best seller, named a Best Book of the Year by the CBC and winner of the 2023 Leacock Medal for Humour. Consummate storyteller and bestselling novelist Wayne Johnston reaches back into his past to bring us a sad, tender and at times extremely funny memoir of his Newfoundland boyhood.

READING PERIOD: March 15 - May 17

Suggested reading schedule:

  • March 15: Visit Before the Book in our forum and begin reading Jennie's Boy
  • March 29: Finish reading through Chapter 5
  • April 5: Finish reading through Chapter 9
  • April 12: Finish reading through Chapter 15
  • April 26: Finish reading through Chapter 21
  • May 3: Finish reading the book and join our After the Book forum discussion

About the book

Consummate storyteller and bestselling novelist Wayne Johnston reaches back into his past to bring us a sad, tender and at times extremely funny memoir of his Newfoundland boyhood.

For six months between 1966 and 1967, Wayne Johnston and his family lived in a wreck of a house across from his grandparents in Goulds, Newfoundland. At seven, Wayne was sickly and skinny, unable to keep food down, plagued with insomnia and a relentless cough that no doctor could diagnose, though they had already removed his tonsils, adenoids and appendix. To the neigh­bours, he was known as “Jennie’s boy,” a back­handed salute to his tiny, ferocious mother, who felt judged for Wayne’s condition at the same time as worried he might never grow up.

Unable to go to school, Wayne spent his days with his witty, religious, deeply eccentric mater­nal grandmother, Lucy. During these six months of Wayne’s childhood, he and Lucy faced two life-or-death crises, and only one of them lived to tell the tale.

Jennie’s Boy is Wayne’s tribute to a family and a community that were simultaneously fiercely protective of him and fed up with having to make allowances for him. His boyhood was full of pain, yes, but also tenderness and Newfoundland wit. By that wit, and through love—often expressed in the most unloving ways—Wayne survived.

By using this service, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the privacy statement at the bottom of the page and that you consent to the storage and access of your personal information, as described below, outside of Canada solely for those purposes.

Privacy statement

SFU uses PBC Guru, a third-party service provider hosted outside of Canada (specifically in the USA), in order to provide the Online Book Club as a service to SFU alumni. Your use of the Online Book Club is voluntary.

In order to confirm your eligibility and provide you access to PBC Guru, PBC Guru will collect your name, e-mail address, the year you graduated from SFU, the program of study in which you graduated, and a password.

PBC Guru may ask you for additional personal information, such as personal preferences to allow you to customize your user session profile, or to subscribe you to notifications, etc. It is your choice whether or not to provide this additional information, and you are solely responsible for ensuring you have read and understood PBC Guru’s privacy policy in regards to any information you have chosen to provide them.

PBC Guru may share some of the information you provide with SFU, such as your name and email address; and general categories or topics of books you are interested in. SFU collects this information under the authority of section 26(c) of BC’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA).

SFU may use your contact information to update its donor and alumni mailing lists, which are used by SFU to inform donors and alumni about University news, events and initiatives, including fundraising.

By using this service, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the above privacy statement and that you consent to the storage and access of your personal information, as described above, outside of Canada solely for those purposes.

Should you have any questions or concerns regarding the information collected and used, or the privacy and security of your personal information, please contact us alumni@sfu.ca.

 

Our partners

About PBC Guru

PBC Guru manages professional book clubs for companies, libraries and alumni associations. They will moderate our book club to help make this program a great experience for all participants. If you have any questions, please email them info@pbc.guru or visit their website at http://www.pbc.guru

SFU book club bursary

Our goal is for all SFU community members have access to this initiative. If you would like to access one of a limited number of books through our no questions asked bursary program, please email alumni@sfu.ca