I've missed a couple of weeks. First I went camping with friends away from internet. We were in the middle of a forest beside a gorgeous lake. I wish I had thought to take a photograph or two, but I was too busy reading, swimming and visiting. Then we arrived home to 250 pounds of ripe tomatoes ready for preserving. It was a good thing I lazed around while camping, because I put in ten hour days canning tomatoes, making juice, salsa and sauce. Thank goodness for audiobooks!
BLOG POSTS LAST WEEK
Poetry Friday August 30, 2019: Miserable Physics
Poetry Friday September 12, 2019
#MustReadIn2019 September Update
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
And Then the Seed Grew by Marianne Dubuc
PICTURE BOOKS
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| 4 stars |
When I got over my difficulty reading this on my ipad because of formatting issues, I ended up enchanted by this book. Like all of Duboc's work, it's fascinating and a bit mind bending. Readers can spend a lot of time poring over the artwork and pondering meanings. You can read my full review at the link above.
Marianne Dubuc is a Canadian author.🍁
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| 3 stars |
This isn't my favourite Ed Vere book. It's a little bit too dark and twisted for me. While I was reading it I anticipated my 2 1/2 year old grandkids reaction to a monster coming to eat them. I don't think it will lead to sweet dreams. That said, I suspect that more sophisticated readers might find it hilarious.
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| 5 stars |
I might love this more than others will because the story fits my granddaughter's life. Her mother is Korean and her father is a mixture of all kinds of backgrounds, primarily German. Their daughter is like like the child dragon in this story, half east and half west. She is our treasure, just like Gondra is theirs.
There is too much text on the page to entertain a two year old, but the two of us enjoyed looking at the gorgeous artwork. She pointed to the little dragon and called it Ada dragon and identified the adults as Mommy and Daddy. She loved the flying images and claimed that she would fly someday. I guess that's enough for her age.
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| 5 stars |
This was a favourite of both my sons when they were young, so it was a delight to introduce my 2 1/2 year old granddaughter to it. At our first reading, she told me she was scared of monsters. The next time she made me stop reading because she didn't want to get to the end of the book. I'm certain Grover loved her for it. However, in the space of 48 hours, we probably read this book 6 times. I'm not sure if she understands it, or if it's just that she likes Grandma reading with all that expression.
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| 5 stars |
This is a picture book for all ages. Every Sunday Mrs. Badger hikes to the top of Sugarloaf Peak. One day a young cat, Lulu, approaches her and Mrs Badger encourages her to come along. During their weekly treks she schools the cat on how to live in harmony with the environment and live a rich and satisfying life. When Mrs Badger can no longer make the climb, Lulu continues without her, but always returns to tell how what she saw. Eventually Lulu is shown taking a young rabbit to the top.
I have climbed to the top of a high mountain and looked up at the world in 360 degree magnificence, and completely understand why "Lulu doesn't say a word. She's on top of the world."
This book is satisfying on so many levels. The artwork is sublime. The deeply philosophical message scratches my itch for profundity in children's picture books. It's a beautiful story highlighting the cycle of life and our responsibilities towards others.
Marianne Dubuc is a Canadian author.🍁
NOVELS
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| 3 stars |
I like this book a lot. It’s the story of a group of children who go out of their way to help a new student in their classroom. It turns out that he is a refugee who has arrived in Britain without his parents. His four new friends get themselves into a mess of trouble trying to reunite them, but fortunately it all works out in the end.
I like the message behind this book. Children are much more accepting than adults. I liked that we don’t know the gender of the protagonist till near the end. I appreciated the supportive teachers and parents these children have.
I do have a few quibbles. These characters seem very young for their age so I’m not sure how this will work for older readers. I also wonder about navigating the British cultural aspects and nomenclature for North American readers.
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| 5 stars |
This is the second in the Six of Crows series. If possible, I loved it even more than the first. All the characters are at least slightly damaged by circumstances before they became members of the Dregs, a street gang run by one of them. We learn much more about each of them in this novel. Give me good characters and I can read just about anything. This book has that and all kinds of adventure, excitement, and intrigue. I sure hope Leigh Bardugo hurries up and gets the next one written soon!
Listening to the audio has the feel of a radio play because the different characters are narrated by different actors.
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| 5 stars |
I read this with my eyes last February, but as soon as my library brought in the audio, I put it on hold. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is Peter Grant. I am infatuated with the character and his voice. Everyone I recommend this series to ends up adoring it. Give it a try!
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| 3.5 stars |
kit, deliberately spelled without a capital letter, is a young girl who is already grappling with too much. Turning into a naked mole rat when she gets stressed doesn't exactly help. I liked a lot about this quirky novel, but all the issues seemed overwhelming.
I am in the middle of writing a more detailed review, which I'll publish next week.
Karen Rivers is a Canadian author.🍁
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| 5 stars |
The most important thing you need to know about this book is that the writing is so beautiful it made me ache. These characters, as flawed and fabulous as they are, will claim a place in your heart. What more do you need in a book?
You can read my full review at the link above.
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| 4 stars |
Alba is an inspirational character for elementary aged readers. She has a goal to run the school’s annual two km run. The problem is that she’s still wearing a cast from her most recent surgery to correct her clubfoot. Her best friend, Levi, has his own issues with asthma. The two of them suspect that their teacher librarian has a wormhole in her office.
Alba works very hard to get her new foot in shape for the run and ends up being successful even if it wasn’t what she first wanted.
I loved the characters in this novel. The adults are caring and responsible. Alba’s concerns about her peers laughing at her turn out to be unfounded. On the contrary, they end up being very supportive.
Michelle Kadarusman is a Canadian author.🍁
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| 5 stars |
I sat down and devoured this in one sitting. It is a beautiful read from start to finish. It's the story of a young wolf, Swift, who ends up separated from his family. He travels a long distance before finding a new place to call home and changing his name. I love that it is told from his perspective. I appreciated the black and white illustrations.
The back matter is full of information about OR-7 the real wolf the story is based on. It also includes pages full of details about other animals, wolves in general, and the 1000 mile journey OR-7 traveled alone.
If I was still teaching I would be reading this one to my class ASAP.
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| 4 stars |
A young boy's murder sends Gamache and the citizens of Three Pines searching the past for the creator of a deadly weapon, and into the present for who might be wanting to keep it a secret.
I worried about whether or not this audiobook would work for me since Ralph Cosham, who narrated the previous books, died of cancer after finishing The Long Way Home. It didn't take long before I was believing in Robert Bathurst's voice as Gamache.
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| 4 stars |
Gamache takes a job as head of the Sûreté academy in an effort to change the way cadets are trained. He ends up dealing with a murder and moves four young cadets, who were involved with the victim, to Three Pines to protect them. By the end of the book, I was only sorry that the victim died so quickly.
I think it's pretty evident that I am addicted to this series. I'm already listening to the next one.
NONFICTION
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| 5 stars |
It's one thing to know about something in a kind of abstract way. It's a different thing completely to delve more deeply into it. Book Two brings the reader into an intimate awareness of what it meant to be a Freedom Rider. It's not easy to be there. I couldn't read this book without again and again setting it aside for a few minutes to catch my breath and let my fear and fury ease off.
CURRENTLY
I'm reading Just Lucky by Melanie Florence on my device. The nonfiction title I have on the go is This Was Logging by Ralph W. Andrews. I'm listening to Glass Houses by Louise Penny.
UP NEXT
I plan to get to Operatic by Kyo Maclear, Pay Attention, Carter Jones by Gary D. Schmidt, and Wires and Nerve by Marissa Meyer. I'm also hoping to get to another netgalley title, Beverly, Right Here by Kate DiCamillo.
PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS
#MustReadIn2018 21/25
#MustReadNFIn2018 11/12
25 Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 18/25 - one in process
25 books by Canadian Authors 53/25
Big Book Reading Challenge 10/4
Goodreads Reading Challenge 289/333
Wow to all those tomatoes!! Your camping trip sounds so wonderfully relaxing. Reading, swimming, and visiting sounds like the perfect way to spend time. I always need to have my library's catalog open when I read your blog so that I can put holds on everything! Especially excited about that new Jackie Woodson book!
ReplyDeleteI'm never ready for winter if I don't get enough camping in the wild time! I hope you don't end up with too many books to read like I do!
DeleteI recently read The Boy at the Back of the Class, and really liked it as well. I still need to read the first volume of March, I'm so behind! Have a great week.
ReplyDeletehttps://wendimlee.blogspot.com/2019/09/its-monday-what-are-you-reading_16.html
I suggest that you read the March series faster than I have been doing. It took a bit to orient myself to the history in the first book.
DeleteI'm definitely adding Red at the Bone to my list -- sounds wonderful! I hope you're able to get to Beverly, Right Here. And I'm so glad to hear you loved A Wolf Called Wander!! As I'm hearing your mention of iPad formatting issues, I'm curious -- what app do you use to read books on your iPad? My brother had a friend hand him an older iPad mini that his daughter had thrown in the trash because it had a cracked screen. So my brother took it, bought new glass, watched a Youtube video on how to replace it, then he gave it to me not too long ago. I've been so grateful for it as my Kindle was having all sorts of problems, but I've had issues with opening some books on the iPad. Just this week I found a way to load an older version of Bluefire Reader (because my Digital Editions app was having serious issues) and so far it's working quite nicely. Aaaanyway, just wondered what others use to read e-books on their iPads (especially if it's not a kindle book). Have a great week, Cheriee!
ReplyDeleteI use blue fire reader, but my ipad is ancient and full, so it's getting more challenging to open netgalley titles with it. I think this has to do with the original formatting. I've read other books on my ipad that gave me two pages at a time.
DeleteThose older models sure didn't have much space! I believe this one was the original iPad mini, which is probably why it wouldn't even load blue fire reader without us using a weird method to load it from a previous purchase for a different device. Due to such limited space, I'm having to constantly delete anything I no longer use. I can't even keep my main email account on there because it downloads too many messages. One day I'd love to upgrade, but for now it'll have to work. If you find a different app that works better, please give me a holler!
DeleteMine is so old, it's before they even had minis! I can't keep any photos and have to continuously delete photos and imessages - especially if they have pictures.
DeleteIt says a lot about Apple products when the original models (from 2010 and 2011) are still working. I have the very first iPad mini (model A1432 from 2012) with 16GB. My husband has the same one and it's the low storage capacity that's a pain for us. That 16GB just doesn't go very far if I'm using anything other than books with mostly text. But it definitely works better than my newer Kindle Fire. It would be lovely to upgrade some day. It may become a necessary investment if I keep having issues loading books.
DeleteWow - that's a lot of bookS! I loved Beverly Right Here. Can't wait to get my hands on the new Jackie Woodson book - I am already aching.
ReplyDeleteIt is a lot of books, but it is also three weeks of reading! I can't wait to get to Beverly Right Here!
DeleteI loved Up The Mountain Path, The Boy at The Back of the Class & Gondra's Treasure, & love that you are starting to read it to your granddaughter, so sweet! Glad also that you loved A Wolf Called Wander. Me, too! As I wrote on your review of Red at The Bone, I'll be getting the book and seeing Ms. Woodson present in a couple of weeks-very exciting! Thanks, Cheriee!
ReplyDeleteI'm gnashing my teeth all over again that you get to see Jacqueline Woodson! I saw her when she came to Vancouver. She is amazing!
DeleteGondra's Treasures sounds interesting. I recently read Red at the Bone, too. Jacqueline Woodson is an amazing writer and storyteller!
ReplyDeleteShe sure is! I adore her characters!
DeleteLOVED Wolf Called Wander! That one took me by surprise.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to Red at the Bone. I'm on hold for it at the library. I have not heard much about the book so far, so I appreciated reading your response!
I loved Crooked Kingdom even more than the first one too!
I hate that we will have to wait for who knows how long for the next one!
DeleteThe Monster at the End of this Book was one of my favorites as a kid! I think it's awesome you're keeping the joy of that one going. I'll have to check out the other titles on your list. One of these days, summer will end and I'll be ready to go back to my cozy spot to curl up with a big pile of books. Thanks for sharing and have a great week!
ReplyDeleteIt's a classic for sure Jana!
DeleteA true end of summer post -- camping and tomatoes. I'm looking forward to eventually having grandkids to read with. Currently I just hang out in the library and read picture books by myself.
ReplyDeleteYou look like you are comfortably on top of (in some cases overflowing) the goals you set for yourself. Good job with the Canadian authors!
Beth, I am of the firm belief that more adults should read picture books! (Especially given that so many of them don't read at all)
DeleteWow, what a great selection of books! Gondras Treasure sounds and looks very interesting. The cover looks like it has amazing illustrations so I will be adding it to my to be read list. Another one I am looking forward to add to my to be read list is A Wolf Called Wander. It honestly sounds like a book that will make me cry but that has a fantastic story. I used to LOVE The Monster at the End of this Book and am glad to hear your granddaughter is liking it so far. Six of Crows is on my list to read but is sure to be read soon now that I keep hearing the second book is just as good or better than the first. Thank you, happy reading!
ReplyDeleteThe illustrations inside Gondra, are as awesome as the outside! I suspect that A Wolf Called Wander will be one of my years favourite titles. It's a heartbreaker at times. I hope you get to Six of Crows. It's better than the first one!
DeleteA Wolf Called Wander and A Theory of Hummingbirds are both books I want to check out. You have lots of other good titles as well. The Monster At The End of the Book is one I remember reading and re-reading as a child.
ReplyDeleteHurrah for Grover who continues to entertain generations of readers!
DeleteI'll have to see if my library had Gondra's Treasure. Sounds good.
ReplyDelete