#IMWAYR September 18, 2017

#IMWAYR time again, when readers share what they have been reading and find out what others have been up to in the past week. Kathryn hosts the adult version of this meme at Book Date. Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers host the kidlit rendition. Whatever you are looking forward to in your next great read, these are fabulous places to start your search.

The tomatoes are finished! We now have 71 litres of tomato juice, 36 litres of canned tomatoes, 41 half litres of tomato sauce, 34 half litres of salsa, and 10 litres of tomato soup to get us through this year. Hopefully most of it will last a couple of years, b.ut I'm not holding my breath. 

I've spent this last weekend with four fabulous teacher librarian friends on Pender Island in a spacious glorious house. There were walks and talks, lots of time to read, fabulous food and a few bottles of wine. Saturday we headed off to the local farmer's market where unfortunately the gluten free vendor didn't show up. I suppose that is fortunate for my waistline. We explored the community thrift shop and then went in to explore the local library. Almost all of us headed straight to the children's department. I sat down and read the following couple of picture books before browsing the MG and YA novels. They have a remarkably fine collection of relevant books! 

PICTURE BOOKS

4 stars

The Tin Forest by Helen Ward & Wayne Anderson (Illustrations)

This is a kind of steampunk picture book. It's the story of an old man who lives in a semi dystopian world next to a garbage dump. One day he is inspired to start creating art from metal refuse. He fashions flowers, trees and animals. Eventually he creates a world that attracts real animals and his artificial garden is transformed into a real one. Anderson's illustrations are richly detailed and gorgeous. Just look at the following illustration!

4 stars

Fossil by Bill Thomson

If you remember Chalk by Bill Thomson, you will have some idea of what this book is like. The illustrations are jaw droppingly stunning! In this wordless book a young boy is walking on a beach with his dog. He breaks open a rock and a fossil of a fern is revealed. A prehistoric fern appears. Then as he breaks open another fossil and finds a fossil of a large dragonfly, a huge prehistoric dragonfly begins flying around him. When he breaks open the fossil of a pteranodon, he and his dog are in serious trouble. 

ADULT & YA NOVELS

4.5 stars

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

Imagine the future, 40 years from now, wherein climate change and global warming have caused the polar ice to melt. Massive storms continue to destroy coastal landscapes and the earth has responded with its own kind of the destruction: earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Corporate entities have poisoned the water supplies and sucked dry what fresh water was left in Northern Canada. White people have lost their ability to dream. They send out recruiters to capture indigenous people and bring them to  schools where their dream marrow is harvested. 

In the story we follow French, a young indigenous man, and the small group he has banded together with as they flee into the far reaches of the Northern Ontario wilderness in an effort to escape from the recruiters. They are unaware of the power they bring with them. 

There are direct connections between this book and residential schools of our past. I highly recommend this profound book to adult and YA readers. I would love to read it with a book club. 

4 stars

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau & Elizabeth Morton (Narrator)

In this futuristic dystopian novel the world has been nearly decimated by nuclear war. Cia Val, and a few others from their small community of Five Lakes, have been chosen to participate in 'The Testing', a process to determine who will get to attend university. It turns out to be a cutthroat endeavour. Cia is an admirable character with strong moral fibre. Her biggest challenge is to determine who she can trust. Fans of The Hunger Games will probably like this. I might even go on to read the next in the series. 

4 stars

I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo

This is a sweet coming of age romantic fiction that follows the formula set out in romantic Korean dramas. Teen romance is not my favourite genre, but I ended up enjoying this anyway. Thankfully there isn't excessive amounts of angst or heavy breathing. The diverse collection of characters is endearing in spite of, or perhaps because of their flaws. The only somewhat snarky relationship ends up getting resolved positively. I adored the relationships between Desi Lee and her father, and you will too.  

CURRENTLY

I'm in the middle of Lumberjanes: Unicorn Power! by Mariko Tamaki. I've just started reading Midnight Without a Moon by Linda Williams Jackson and listening to Textbook by Amy Krause. I'm plugging away at The Inconvenient Indian.

UP NEXT

Democracy by Nancy MacLean will be my next audiobook. Other than that I'll just tackle what's in the pile and try to get my netgalley collection under control. I have to work on finishing up and posting a mess of reviews!

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS

#MUSTREADIN2017 25/36

#MUSTREADNFIN2017 7/12 1 in progress

50 Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 28/50 1 in progress

Chocolate Lily (CL) 51/51

Big Book Challenge 4/6

Goodreads Reading Challenge 292/333