Today is a big day here in Canada as we are voting to elect a new federal government. Not only to I have to get out early and vote, I have to pick up and prepare food for book club at my place at 1:30. I'm also booked to go and help get out the vote for the candidate of my choice after that. All this means that I will try and read everyone's post later this week. Keep your fingers crossed that we will end up with a progressive government.
Titles with a 🍁indicate this is a Canadian Author.
Clicking on the title of the book will take you to the Goodreads page of the book.
RECENT BLOG POSTS
Poetry Friday October 11, 2019
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| 5 stars |
A lion finds a wounded bird. He nurses it back to health. The next spring the bird flies off with the rest of it's flock. The lion, missing the bird, goes on with his life waiting and hoping. While this book is about friendship, it also reminded me about parenting. It's nearly wordless. The illustrations are breathtaking. Dubuc is the queen of how to use empty space. She reveals so much emotion and story in her images. I'm not even sure it needs the sparse text that's there.
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| 5 stars |
This is a delightful story about friendship, cooking, and trying new things. Anoosha Syed's bright art highlights a community very much like the one I live in. On top of that, there is a recipe at the back of the book.
Guess what we are having for dinner tomorrow?
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| 4 stars |
While there are some humorous aspects to this book, ultimately it's a serious book about dealing with anxiety. While I doubt anxious children will suddenly recover from their worrying after reading this book, it might help them realize they are not alone. What it does well is provide an opportunity for building empathy and understanding in others.
Debbie Ridpath Ohi is Canadian. 🍁
NOVELS
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| 4 stars |
I appreciated so much about this book. There is a lot going on. It begins with a betrayal between two best friends. Our protagonist, Coco, and her mother own El Corazón, a chocolate shop that is losing money and will soon have to close. She enters a contest to win a trip to the Amazon where she plans to track down a special mother tree and find a treasure. Leo de la Cueva, her former best friend, also enters the contest. It's a tie so both of them, their mothers, and their elderly landlord take off on a journey into Ecuador. They end up to a remote Huaorani village in the heart of the Amazon. There Coco discovers that there are many different kinds of treasures.
Young readers will appreciate this story of redemption and forgiveness while they learn what devastation of the rainforest means to indigenous people. They will also learn a lot about chocolate making and how it makes everything better! I especially loved the magical realism aspects to the story that integrates science and wonder.
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| 5 stars |
The first book in the series made me want to own my own flock of chickens. Living in the city makes that difficult. Upon finishing this one, I’m seriously contemplating moving to the country just so I too can be a poultry farmer.
In this book Sophie learns how to hatch unusual chickens. For the rest of us, it’s a lesson in how to hatch regular ones. It turns out that one of her chicks has truly unusual powers. Will Sophie get to keep it after a visit from the unusual poultry inspector? Read the book and find out!
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| 4 stars |
This is an action packed novel full of monster fighting and narrow escapes. Rowan, queen elect turned monster hunter, doesn't always think things through. This lands her into all kinds of trouble. If she is to take on the mantle of the Royal Monster Hunter, she going to have to kill a gryphon. Luckily she manages to find friends in unlikely places to help her.
I was ok with all the monster chasing, subterfuge and betrayal, but nearly stopped reading when monster spiders entered the story. Why did their have to be spiders? I pretty much skipped that section.
This is the first in a series but comes to a satisfying conclusion none the less.
I couldn't help but make connections to Tamora Pierce's Alanna series, only this one is for a younger crowd.
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| 4 stars |
I was nervous about this adult novel. As soon as I started listening I realized I had started it before. I must have picked it up, started it, and then left it. I'm not sure I would have continued with it this time except I had a lot of work to do and this was the only audiobook I had to listen to.
Somehow, I became fascinated with this dysfunctional family. I couldn't stop listening.
It's the story of a divorce and six step siblings who learn to get along with, and even love one another. There are a lot of characters - some of them seemingly despicable. Yet Ann Patchett fills them all with humanity and tenderness. These are not caricatures. These are people - children and adults dealing with their circumstances and surviving.
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| 5 stars |
This is another adult novel. It celebrates the treasures and pleasures of being a reader. It’s loaded with romance, mystery, and even parenting tips. It highlights that we are made up of stories. It’s about love in all its many facets.
“There is only one word that matters.... We are what we love.. We are that we love.”
My eyes leaked a bit.
NON FICTION
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| 4 stars |
This is an appropriate middle grade resource for learning about death. It's certainly an interesting read. It provides a broad spectrum of information about many aspects of dying, death and grief. I like the multicultural nature of the book. I liked the layout. You could read it cover to cover, or just browse through it reading a section that interests you. It includes ample captioned photographs, diagrams, side bars, and fact boxes. The headings are highlighted in different colours. A life expectancy map shows where people have the longest life span. A chart shows what happens to a body after death. The back matter contains a resources list, a glossary and an index.
My only quibble is not so much that the font is small, although for my eyes it is, but that often text on photographs blends in making it challenging to read.
I would definitely purchase this one for my elementary or middle school library.
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| 4 stars |
This is a book that needs to be shared again and again with people of all ages. It tells the story of one undocumented worker in the United States and introduces readers to others. The author's note at the end provides additional information.
I worry about the accordion fold format of the book. Published in the ancient Mixtec codex that represents this worker's background, I fear for it's durability in a school library. I also found some of the font difficult to read against the background.
CURRENTLY
I've just started listening to Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett. I'm in the middle of The Ghost Collector by Allison Mills. I've barely finished What the Eagle Sees by Eldon Yellowhorn, a Netgalley title, and will be writing a blog post about it this week. I made no progress on The Creativity Project by Colby Sharp or The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago because I left them in Vancouver. Sigh...
UP NEXT
I'm trying to decide between Wherever She Goes by Kelley Armstrong, and Wicked Fox by Kat Cho. Laurie Hnatiuk has recommended I read the scary novel, Button Hill, by Canadian author, Michael Bradford. I did check out a digital copy from my library, but I'm still trying to dig up enough courage to start it.
PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS
#MustReadIn2018 23/25
#MustReadNFIn2018 11/12 - one in progress
25 Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 22/25 - two in progress
25 books by Canadian Authors 74/25
Big Book Reading Challenge 10/4
Goodreads Reading Challenge 338/333
I really enjoyed The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. I loved Ann Patchett's Bel Canto, but Commonwealth was just okay for me. I recently read her newest The Dutch House which is also about a dysfunctional family and is a little different, but good. I also like The Tree of Dreams. It's one of those books that I think more people should read because I don't hear much about it.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Bell Canto too, but my favourite of Patchett's work is Truth and Beauty. Have you read it? I agree with you about Tree of Dreams. We might know about the Amazon deforestation, but this outlines the human cost of it.
DeleteI will definitely have to find Undocumented. I really enjoy reading work by that author/illustrator. The Tree of Dreams sounds very interesting. What a beautiful cover!
ReplyDeleteI too will read anything written by Duncan Tonatiuh. The Tree of Dreams is full of magical realism. I will read almost anything in that genre!
DeleteLots of new to me books here - one of the few I've read is AJ Fikry and I loved that one too - so many lines stuck to me in that beautiful novel!
ReplyDeleteHoping all goes well in the vote today. Looking forward to ours next year....
Looks like you are doing really well with your mustread lists!
What a busy week, now day, you have, Cheriee. I hope you enjoy your day & that the votes come in for your candidates! I loved The Lion and the Bird and Undocumented, and a favorite adult book I recommend often is The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. It is the sweetest story. I'll look for Tree of Dreams, have Commonwealth, maybe a good book to read soon? Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI need to try to read The Storied Life of AJ Fikry. I read some of it right after having my daughter, and the plot about the small child was a trigger for me at the time, so I set it aside. I know so many people love it, so I'll give it another try!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear about your cousin.
I think you will enjoy The Storied Life of AJ Fikry eventually. It's interesting how different books work at different times of our lives and not at others.
DeleteMy cousin's life was rich and long and he was ready to leave us. Thanks .
Wonderful assortment of books. I hope your election goes the way you want it to. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteI waiting and watching as the results start coming in. I hope it does too!
DeleteI'm so sorry to hear about your cousin, Cheriee, and glad you were able to be there to celebrate their life. I wanted to tell you that I appreciate your exploration and advertising of Canadian authors. I'm sure I would have heard of some if it weren't for your suggestions. It's neat that you're noting them with a leaf, now! Also, I just looked up The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry and see it's on my list, but what was most astonishing is that Goodreads says 46 of my friends have posted about it already. WOW! And I see that it's currently available through Overdrive. Thanks for all these lovely shares and I hope you have a great week!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words Shaye. I hope you enjoy A.J. Fikry! It was a wonderful audiobook.
DeleteMy husband prepared the recipe from Bilal Cooks Daal. It was interesting, but be sure to have plenty of Pepcid on hand. 😉
ReplyDeleteLOL We eat a lot of lentils and spicy food of all kinds so I hope our bodies can handle this!
DeleteNice selection of books. I enjoyed the Royal Guide to Monster Slaying. I"m watching the election news here in California. My weekly update
ReplyDeleteDid you even enjoy the spider bits? Shudder. Sometimes by the time our results show up here in BC, there is already a winner.
DeleteMy condolences on the loss of your cousin.
ReplyDeleteThe Storied Life of A.J. Fikry is a such a delightful book, I would like to read Wherever She Goes
Wishing you a great reading week
I have such mixed feelings about Wherever She Goes. It's not what I usually read!
DeleteCondolences on your loss.
ReplyDeleteYour mailbox is a mixed genre one which should make for good reading.
Have a good week.
I do my best to read all over the map!
DeleteI'm sorry to hear about your loss. Condolences.
ReplyDeleteYou got a lot of great books! I hope you will enjoy them all. Happy reading.
Nina@Adventurous Reader
Thanks Nina. He was ready to leave us.
Delete