#IMWAYR July 23, 2018


#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.

It's been another busy week. My partner and I travelled to our house in Oliver, BC where we went to a gender reveal party for our friends' daughter. They will be having a girl. I'll be dropping off off the baby quilt at the quilters' Monday afternoon.
Other than that my brother and I travelled to go to a memorial service for one of our aunts. He didn't have any outlets that I could connect my Iphone to, so we couldn't listen to the audiobook I had picked out, (Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.) We ended up listening to the absolutely WORST BOOKS ever.

PICTURE BOOKS

5 stars
Fox & Chick: The Party: and Other Stories by Sergio Ruzzier

I loved this so much that I am in the middle of writing a blog post about it. 
It is a collection of three little stories that are perfect for fans of Elephant and Piggie and ready to move on to slightly more challenging books. It is written in a graphic format. Lovely colourful illustrations are deceptively simple. They are rich in detail and nuance. I adore the interactions between the two characters. You have to pay close attention to the facial expressions because much of the humour is revealed there.

3 stars
Fishing with Grandma (English) by Maren Vsetula, Susan Avingaq & Charlene Chua (Illustrations)

Two children go to visit their grandmother. Then they decide to go on an outdoor adventure. Readers, along with the children, will learn a lot about ice fishing. At the end of the day when they have caught more char than they can eat, they learn a lesson in generosity.
I like a lot about this book, including everything I already got mentioned. I appreciated that it is a woman taking the children to learn traditional outdoor activities. The back matter contains a glossary of Inuktitut terminology used in the book and images with accompanying information about the fishing tools used.
Th illustrations are a bit too cartoonish for my liking, but the publisher, Inhabit Media, is an Iqaluit company, so what do I know?

3 stars
Kamik Joins the Pack (English) by Darryl Baker & Qin Leng (Illustrations)

This is another Inhabit Media publication. Jake dreams of owning his own dogsled team. He brings Kamik, his dog, to visit his uncle, who is a musher and winner of many races. Jake learns that being a musher involves much more than he imagined. Then he and his uncle harness Kamik to the back of pack and take him on a run with the rest of the dogs.
I liked this for the most part. The pages are a bit heavy on the text side, but still ok. The artwork is done by Qin Leng so it is gorgeous. What I wonder though, is why an Inuit artist wasn't involved.

4 stars
Pool by JiHyeon Lee

Two children dive beneath a throng of people at a swimming pool and discover a magical underwater world. The crowd is in black and white, but this realm beneath them is abundant in colour. This is a beautiful wordless book!

3 stars
Yellow Kayak by Nina Laden & Melissa Castrillón (Illustrations)

There are specific things about this book that bring out my inner cranky old lady. First off this kayak does not look like a very seaworthy boat. Second that’s a baby out there in this tacky boat all by itself. Aside from these things, the book is visually gorgeous and I liked the poem that accompanied it.

NON FICTION PICTURE BOOKS

5 stars
Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen by Deborah Hopkinson & Qin Leng (Illustrator)

Jane Austen is my preferred author across time and space. For a number of years I would reread her books on a regular basis. I have no idea how many times I’ve read each one. Emma is still my favourite book, but have you seen the BBC mini series production of Pride and Prejudice? It is the best film adaptation! 
Obviously I had to read this. So far I’ve read it three times. Qin Leng’s illustrations are gorgeous. I love how she captures the time period and essence of these characters. Deborah Hopkins has introduced me to aspects of Jane Austen’s life I didn’t know about. Of course I loved this! Now I’m off to read it again before it goes back to the library.
I realize I forgot to mention that this book is an important inspiration for want to be writers. The back matter is also significant. There is a timeline of important events. A section titled “Jane’s Bookshelf” provides a synopsis and quotes from each of novels. There is also a bibliography with internet and hard copy resources.

NOVELS

4 stars
Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Amal is a character you can’t help but like and admire. Readers will experience vicariously how difficult it is for people in other parts of the world, especially for girls and women. I appreciated the notes at the end explaining more about indentured servitude and that many are not as lucky as Amal.

1 star
The Guns of Avalon (The Chronicles of Amber #2) by Roger Zelazny & Alessandro Juliani (Narrator)
This is one of the two audiobooks my brother had in his car. We both thought it was godawful! There were times when the similes and metaphors were so outlandish both of us would burst into laughter. When the book finally came to an end, we were both disgusted because it just left us hanging without resolving the story at all. The best thing about it was that it made the next book we listened to seem almost reasonable. Imagine my surprise when I went to look at this on Goodreads and saw that the average rating is 4.15 stars. Obviously I am not the target audience. 

2 stars
The Devil's Badland (The Loner #2) by J.A. Johnstone
Louis L'Amour would have loved this. Me, not so much, but it was better than trying to read my book and get carsick. It was palatable because it was so much better than The Guns of Avalon, but that isn't saying much. My brother will finish listening to it on his way home. I've abandoned it. This one has a Goodreads rating of 4.33. Again, I am not the target audience. 

The worst thing about this road trip with my brother was that just as we were almost home, my brother mentioned that he thought the sound system could be accessed through blue tooth. I checked and it could. Grrrrr. 

CURRENTLY

My partner and I have been listening to The Grapes of Wrath while we are in our car. Perhaps it's the contrast between this and those other audiobooks that make them seem so awful. I'm also about 2/3rds finished reading The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl.

UP NEXT

I'm hoping to get to The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya. Then I'll decide between Rebound by Kwame Alexander and Out of Left Field by Ellen Klages.


PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS

#MustReadIn2018 17/25

#MustReadNFIn2018 5/12 1 in progress

#BigBookSummer 2/4 1 in progress

25 Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 14/25

Goodreads Reading Challenge 252/333

24 comments:

  1. That Jane Austen book looks good! I was just explaining to my niece how awesome Jane Austen is and so maybe I will make her read this with me.

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    1. It is fabulous. Try watching the BBC production with her. It's sure to turn her into a fan!

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  2. Well now I really need to read Yellow Kayak. LOL!

    It seems everyone is reading Amal Unbound this week. I really need to read this soon since it is getting so many rave reviews.

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    1. I think sometimes there are books that you should wait to read!
      Amal Unbound is not one of them. It's an important read.

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  3. I also loved Amal Unbound and just picked up Lighting Girl at the library. Can't wait to get my hands on a copy of Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen! Sorry about your awful listening experiences. No fun!

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    1. I finished Lightning Girl last night. It is sooooo good! Can't wait to read your thoughts on it.

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  4. I shared Amal Unbound today, too, a wonderful story, but tough to read, too. Fox & Chick is terrific, I agree. Thanks for all, Cheriee. I like hearing about the books like "Fishing With Grandma"!

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    1. Yes, now that I am a Grandma, I am drawn to anything to do with the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren.

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  5. I have Fox & Chick: The Party on hold, locally, so I'm excited to hear how much you liked it! We're big Elephant & Piggie fans, for sure! And I'll have to add Pool to my TBR list -- I'm happy to hear of another good wordless book. I also enjoyed both Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen and Amal Unbound. I'm excited to hear you're working on Miscalculations. I hope you like it as much as I did! Thanks for all the shares this week, Cheriee!

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    1. I hope you all enjoy Fox and Chick as much as I did. I read it a couple of times just to take more time admiring the illustrations.
      I adored Miscalculations!

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  6. I have seen Ordinary Extraordinary Jane Austen a few times online, but never realized until now that the illustrator is Qin Leng. Now I want to find a copy! Fishing with Grandma looks great too.

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  7. I got a copy of Amal Unbound from the library and I am looking forward to reading it.

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    1. I'll be looking forward to reading what you think of it.

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  8. I have Amal Unbound on hold at the library - cannot wait to read it!

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    1. Hurrah! It's almost like we have a book club on the go!

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  9. I just loved Fox and Chick and believe there will be a second book coming out in the future. Amal Unbound is on my TBR since it's been chosen for The Global Read Aloud. Thanks!

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    1. I'm excited to read this news about Fox and Chick. I'm sure they will become favourites.

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  10. Yesssss to Amal Unbound! I love that book. I never did read Pool, and your post reminds me of this. I am intrigued and need to get it back in my TBR pile. Thanks for sharing these books!

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    1. Pool is drop dead gorgeous Ricki. There are too many books to read them all!

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  11. I have enjoyed the Kamik books--also thought they had WAY too much text and wondered why Qin Leng is the illustrator. I love her work, but this seems like an appropriate opportunity for an Intuit illustrator. I still need to read Amal Unbound. I'm thinking of participating in Global Read-Aloud in my Theory & Practice of Teaching Reading course this fall--though I'm also cringing at the thought of taking up so much instruction time with a read-aloud. I know, I know! I would never hesitate for a second in a K-12 classroom, but college gives you so little face-to-face time with students. We may just do the picture book read-alouds, which is what I usually choose. I'm torn!

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    1. That is exactly my issue with both of these books from Inhabit Media. There are many accomplished Inuit artists.
      I think you can accomplish much more with picture book read alouds, but maybe you can read bits from the book?

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  12. You have to immerse yourself in the world of the Amber Chronicles or it reads as super hokey. I can't imagine starting with the second book is a good way to go. And I've bounced off Johnstone books in print so I can see how it wouldn't grab someone not into the genre. Better luck on our next audio journey!

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    1. My brother actually enjoyed all of them and my partner claims that Zelazny is a good writer. It probably didn't work for me partly because neither compare to Steinbeck, and they are not genre's I'm into.

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