Hello out there. It's #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.
Today's post is two weeks of reading.
It's been a time. We rushed around like mad last week to get the house ready for our two sons and oldest grandkids who came for a four night sleepover. I sewed matching outfits for the grandkids and me, but forgot to get a photograph of all of us together.
I've been going to physiotherapy for my knee and back. I've been stretching, exercising, and starting to take small walks. I've also been eating too much junk food.
This week I am planning for life to get somewhat back under control.
I'll probably wait to give up sugar until after April 1, when my husband and I celebrate 44 years of married life.
Titles with a 🍁 indicate this is a Canadian or Indigenous Canadian Author and or Illustrator.
Clicking on the title will take you to the Goodreads page of the book.
BLOG POSTS FROM LAST WEEK
PICTURE BOOKS
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| 4 stars |
Spring Stinks: A Little Bruce Book by Ryan T. Higgins January 5, 2021
I read this numerous times with my grandkids while they were visiting. We laughed out loud again and again.
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| 4 stars |
Hug? by Charlene Chua September 1, 2020 🍁
It turns out that there is such a thing as too many hugs. We liked this one.
My grandkids and I read this one over and over and over. It was such a hit that when they saw the ad on the last page for the next installment, they wanted to read it right away. Arlo is a cocksure crow who's just moved to the city. Pips is a little yellow bird who shows him around. We loved learning about crows in this delightful graphic novel for younger readers.
I wanted to love this more than I do. I read it with my granddaughter who was very excited to see a book about a girl, just like her, who had eyes that kiss in the corners. We had fun talking about the girl in the book having a little sister too. Maybe it was because other people distracted us, but the book didn't hold her attention to the end. Perhaps the Chinese mythology was alien to her Korean background?
I read it again by myself when she wasn't here. I appreciate the flowery, lovely language, but wonder if it was too much for my granddaughter? I would love to try it again with just her and me.
Rachel Carson and Her Book That Changed the World by Laurie Lawlor & Laura Beingessner (Illustrator) February 1, 2012
Butterflies Are Pretty ... Gross! by Rosemary Mosco & Jacob Souva (Illustrations) April 6, 2021
I've had this book on my to read list for ages and ages and am only now getting around to reading some of Erdrich's work. I wish I hadn't waited so long. My grandmother's people, the Menominee, are from around the same area. Reading this was like a glimpse into what life might have been like for our ancestors. I'm looking forward to finding out more about Omakayas so I've added the rest of the series to my list.
Fly on the Wall by Remy Lai September 15, 2020
Tired of his family treating him like a baby, Henry Khoo has a plan. He's going to sneak off and fly solo to Singapore to spend time with his father. Henry's good at keeping secrets. He's been writing a snarky cartoon blog about people at his school. Unfortunately, someone has figured out that he's the creator.
Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas & Dion Graham (Narrator) Jan 12, 2021
I pretty much adored this book. Dion Graham's narration was brilliant. If I had access to my copy of The Hate U Give, I'd start it all over again.
It seems inevitable that Maverick Carter will turn out like his father, a gang leader who is in prison for life. Maverick deals drugs to help his mother who works two jobs. Then he discovers that a one night stand has turned him into a father. When the baby's mother leaves the child with him, he has to grow up fast. A supportive neighbour gives him a job working in his store and helping out in his garden so goes straight. Being a parent ends up being the making of him. His older cousin, who's caught up in the gang life, tries to support him emotionally and financially so he doesn't have to be part of it. It's still not easy, and when tragedy strikes, things get a lot worse before they get better. Maverick is tested mightily on his journey into adulthood.
MEMOIR
Willie: The Game-Changing Story of the NHL's First Black Player by Willie O'Ree & Michael McKinley (Author) October 20, 2020 🍁
Between Joe Sasakmoose and Willie O’Ree, I’ve learned a lot of hockey history in the last month or so. Willie grew up in a middle class family in New Brunswick. He experienced racism, but it wasn't overwhelming. He played just about every sport he came across but loved baseball and hockey most. Dealing with racism at a baseball camp in the Southern United States made him decide to make hockey his game. He was blinded in one eye early in his career, but kept it a secret and still ended up playing for the NHL. Willie O’Ree now lives in California, but has retained his Canadian citizenship.
Thud! by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Briggs (Narrator) Oct, 2005
“For the enemy is not Troll, nor it is Dwarf, but it is the baleful, the malign, the cowardly, the vessels of hatred, those who do a bad thing and call it good.”
I appreciated this book much more this time than when I first read it in 2018. Maybe it's because I know the Discworld and all the characters much better. I've come to adore Duke Samuel Vimes, Commander of the City Watch, so that might have a lot to do with it. In this book Vimes has to deal with racism between trolls and dwarfs, and vampires and werewolves. When an important Dwarf appears to have been murdered by a troll, Vimes has to solve the case before war breaks out. He also has to be home to read Where's My Cow? to his young son at 6:00 pm exactly."If you could go for five minutes, then you'd go to ten, then half an hour, a couple of hours...and not see your son all evening. So that was that. Six o'clock, prompt. Every day. Read to young Sam. No excuses. He'd promised himself that. No excuses. No excuses at all. Once you had a good excuse, you opened the door to bad excuses.”
I read it again by myself when she wasn't here. I appreciate the flowery, lovely language, but wonder if it was too much for my granddaughter? I would love to try it again with just her and me.
NON FICTION PICTURE BOOKS
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| 5 stars |
Rachel Carson and Her Book That Changed the World by Laurie Lawlor & Laura Beingessner (Illustrator) February 1, 2012
Having recently read Silent Spring, I read this to learn more about how Rachel Carson became the kind of woman who would initiate an environmental movement. I was fascinated from start to finish. Interestingly, my 3 1/2 year old granddaughter came to sit beside me and wanted me to read it to her. I was sure she would be bored by the text heavy pages, but she stayed with it, even interrupting me to ask questions.
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| 4 stars |
Butterflies Are Pretty ... Gross! by Rosemary Mosco & Jacob Souva (Illustrations) April 6, 2021
If all you want to know about butterflies is that they are pretty, then don't read this book. If you wonder if you might want to know more, you can read my full review here.
Marie-Noëlle Hébert's graphic autobiography addresses her relationship with her body. It's not an easy read. Any woman who has ever dieted and or exercised to try and lose weight, will connect with much, if not all of this book. Read my full review here.
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| 3.5 stars |
Fly on the Wall by Remy Lai September 15, 2020
Tired of his family treating him like a baby, Henry Khoo has a plan. He's going to sneak off and fly solo to Singapore to spend time with his father. Henry's good at keeping secrets. He's been writing a snarky cartoon blog about people at his school. Unfortunately, someone has figured out that he's the creator.
Before the trip is over Henry does serious soul searching, makes a couple of new friends, learns to stand on his own two feet, and is ready to take responsibility for his actions.
Sunny was born in New York, but now lives in Aba, Nigeria where her parents were from. That she's albino means she can't go out into the sun, can't play soccer, and has to deal with bullying schoolmates. Luckily she has two good friends, Orlu and Chichi. They introduce her to the magical world of the Leopard People. Orlu, Chichi, Sunny and Sasha, another American Black teen, form the youngest ever Oha Coven. They are tasked with tracking down and destroying Black Hat Otokoto, an evil Leopard man who has been kidnapping and killing children in the area.
If I wasn't already a Nnedi Okorafor fan from her Binti series, I sure would be after finishing this.
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| 5 stars |
Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas & Dion Graham (Narrator) Jan 12, 2021
I pretty much adored this book. Dion Graham's narration was brilliant. If I had access to my copy of The Hate U Give, I'd start it all over again.
It seems inevitable that Maverick Carter will turn out like his father, a gang leader who is in prison for life. Maverick deals drugs to help his mother who works two jobs. Then he discovers that a one night stand has turned him into a father. When the baby's mother leaves the child with him, he has to grow up fast. A supportive neighbour gives him a job working in his store and helping out in his garden so goes straight. Being a parent ends up being the making of him. His older cousin, who's caught up in the gang life, tries to support him emotionally and financially so he doesn't have to be part of it. It's still not easy, and when tragedy strikes, things get a lot worse before they get better. Maverick is tested mightily on his journey into adulthood.
 |
| 4 stars |
Willie: The Game-Changing Story of the NHL's First Black Player by Willie O'Ree & Michael McKinley (Author) October 20, 2020 🍁
Between Joe Sasakmoose and Willie O’Ree, I’ve learned a lot of hockey history in the last month or so. Willie grew up in a middle class family in New Brunswick. He experienced racism, but it wasn't overwhelming. He played just about every sport he came across but loved baseball and hockey most. Dealing with racism at a baseball camp in the Southern United States made him decide to make hockey his game. He was blinded in one eye early in his career, but kept it a secret and still ended up playing for the NHL. Willie O’Ree now lives in California, but has retained his Canadian citizenship.
DISCWORLD NOVELS
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| 4 stars |
Thud! by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Briggs (Narrator) Oct, 2005
I appreciated this book much more this time than when I first read it in 2018. Maybe it's because I know the Discworld and all the characters much better. I've come to adore Duke Samuel Vimes, Commander of the City Watch, so that might have a lot to do with it. In this book Vimes has to deal with racism between trolls and dwarfs, and vampires and werewolves. When an important Dwarf appears to have been murdered by a troll, Vimes has to solve the case before war breaks out. He also has to be home to read Where's My Cow? to his young son at 6:00 pm exactly.
CURRENTLY
This is what I currently have on the go:
Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor (audiobook)
A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor NameyAnxious People by Fredrik Backman (a book club title)
My next audiobook will be All Our Relations, Finding the Path Forward by Tanya Talaga.
UP NEXT
I'm a week behind on my Netgalley reviews so I plan to read and review Tough Like Mum by Lana Button, The Doll by Nhung N. Tran-Davies, and Rescue at Lake Wild by Terry Lynn Johnson.
PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS
#MustReadIn2021 7/25
#MustReadNFIn2021 2/12
#MustReadPBIn2021 18/100
Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 9/25
Books by Canadian Authors: 27/100
Canada Reads 2021 3/5
Discworld Series 33/41
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 113/333
I don't know if I'll ever have the time, but I did put "Willie" on my list. I love good bios & know I would like it. There are so many great books available. I remember liking The Birchbark House but it's been a while since I read it, maybe will dig it out again. I still have it. I was not 'in love' with Eyes that kiss... although I thought a niece who is Korean would like it. I have Concrete Rose on the list, know I will get to it sometime soon. Also, the Rachel book! Thanks for every bit! Happy Anniversary to you and your husband, a special day!
ReplyDeleteI'm relieved to read your take on Eyes that Kiss. I wonder if I had such high expectations for it that it could never live up to them.
DeleteThanks for the anniversary wishes. We were wondering where to go for dinner, but restaurants here have all been shut down due to a spike in covid cases. Now we just have to choose between take out or home made.
King of the Birds is really fun! And I don't think there will be a book character I love more than Bruce!
ReplyDeleteIt really is fun, but then all of Elise Gravel's books are. Bruce is pretty special!
DeleteI don't even care about butterflies that much, but I am much intrigued by the butterfly book!
ReplyDeleteI was impressed by both the information and how it is presented.
DeleteThe Birchbark House has been on my TBR list for awhile, too. Happy anniversary in April!
ReplyDeleteThanks Earl. Birchbark House is worth the visit.
DeleteIt's great that you got to see your grandkids, and congrats on your upcoming anniversary! I'm reading Concrete Rose right now, though I have no clue when I'll have it finished, but I agree—it is excellent! (As is everything else Angie Thomas has done so far.) Eyes that Kiss in the Corners and the book on Rachel Carson both sound great, and I enjoyed seeing your grandkids' reactions as well! Thanks for the great post!
ReplyDeleteIt was wonderful to see my grandkids last week. I miss getting their take on picture books. Even if I like them, if they don't work for the target audience, it really doesn't matter.
DeleteI'm looking forward to reading what you think of Concrete Rose.
Fly on the Wall is in my pile, but I do keep pushing it off...
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read Concrete Rose. That one I own and I just haven't read it. School brain makes it so hard to read.
It sure does. I'm thankful not to be worrying about that these days, although I miss the kids.
Delete