#IMWAYR October 1, 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.

Well I might not have gotten as much reading in as I wanted, but the birthday party celebrations are done for the next few months, and my house is clean again. These are the finished matching shirts I made for my son and his daughter. 

I'm trying to read as many graphic novels as I can these days since I am honoured to have been chosen to be a Cybil's judge in this category again this year. 

BLOG POSTS LAST WEEK

Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide by Isabel Quintero & illustrator Zeke Peña

PICTURE BOOKS

4 stars

Snow by Sam Usher

Maybe it's because I am a grandparent, but I can see my partner being just like the grandfather in this book, slow to get started but full of fun once he's there. Did I want to shake this grandfather? You better believe it! Still I am enchanted by this humorous and surprising story about a young boy's adventures in the park with his dilatory granddad.

4 stars

Rain by Sam Usher

This is my second Sam Usher book this week and I am becoming infatuated with his work and this granddad and grandson. It’s raining and the younger one wants to go out and do the usual outdoor rain stuff, like catch raindrops and splash in puddles. The elder wants to wait for the rain to stop. They wait and they wait. The grandson comes up with imaginative ideas of what he wants to do. They wait and wait until finally it stops and they head outside into a magical world.

GRAPHIC

3 stars

M.F.K.: Book One by Nilah Magruder

I’m thankful for the goodreads blurb because it helped me understand the story more clearly. Huge chunks of it are almost wordless. In the middle of a sandstorm, A young deaf girl is rescued by a young man and his grandfather. They take her home with them where she is treated by the boy’s aunt. While she is recuperating, the town is visited by godlike creatures who take food and money from the villagers.
The artwork is beautiful and brilliant. My complaint is that it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger and so I’m going to have to find the next book in the series, and it's not yet out!

NONFICTION GRAPHIC

5+ stars

Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide by Isabel Quintero & illustrator Zeke Peña

I honestly can't gush enough about this biography. It's a brilliant collaboration between two gifted artists. 
Make sure you read it!

NOVELS

5 stars

Front Desk by Kelly Yang

This book is brilliant. Mia Tang and her friend, Lupe, are characters you can't help but love and root for. While reading of her struggles at the motel, I thought of the many immigrant students I taught and how they too worked for their families.

3 1/2 stars

The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante & Hillary Huber (Narrator)

I'm compelled to continue this saga of friendship although I'm not always sure why. I loved the brutal honesty in the first book. It's here in this one too, but I can't help but wonder when these two best friends will finally realize that their jealousies and rivalries are not helping either of them. Being a strong and or successful woman still isn't easy, but it was even harder 50 and 60 years ago. This book reveals an overriding misogynistic worldview and how integrated it was into each woman's sense of herself. It's not always easy to read.

4 stars

The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny & Ralph Cosham (Narrator)

I think this is the best book in the series I've read so far. Not only is there an exciting mystery to solve, we learn a lot more about the Arnot case. This one is loaded with twists and turns and betrayal at many levels.
I appreciate the strange contradiction between the seeming love and friendliness of the village of Three Pines, and the number of murders that take place in it.

ABANDONDED

2 stars

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg

I tried to read this book twice. It carries an important message about being accepted just for who we are irrespective of our gender and sexual orientation. My problem is that it’s filled with too much teenage angst and unrequited lust. When characters start lying about who they are, you know it’s going to end badly. I was listening to this as an audiobook. If I find a hard copy, I’ll check out the end to see what happens.

CURRENTLY

I am not listening to anything right now. I'm reading a NetGalley title, Tilly and the Crazy Eights by Monique Gray Smith.

UP NEXT

I plan to get to another NetGalley title, Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier. There is also a pile of library books.....

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS

#MustReadIn2018 21/25

#MustReadNFIn2018 6/12

25 Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 19/25 1 in progress

Goodreads Reading Challenge 331/333