#IMWAYR May 24th, 2021

Hello everyone. 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.

It's Victoria Day Weekend here in Canada. For the past thirty odd years I have been getting together with a group of close women friends at a large cabin on the ocean. For the last two years it has been cancelled due to Covid 19. We have rescheduled this year for the end of September when we anticipate everyone will have had their second vaccination. I miss the intimacy and joy of being with my cherished friends. I miss the respite of being away from ordinary life. I don't miss long weekend ferry traffic. 

My garden is almost in. We just have to plant the basil seedlings and then it's weed, weed, weed, until harvest begins. It won't be long since the beans and zucchini are flowering and my raspberries and tomato plants have green fruit! 

I have been complaining that it feels very very dry this year. There have been attempts at rain, but it hasn't been much more than pretend. I decided to see how this year compares to previous Mays. The local average for this month is 58 mm (2.3 inches) of precipitation. So far this year we have had 1.9 mm (.074 inches). No wonder the earth is dry as a bone. I was digging in areas we don't water and discovered that there is not a hint of moisture for at least 25 centimetres. I hope we get plenty of rain in June (but not in the cherry season) because as it is, this sets us up for a very nasty fire season. 

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 LAST WEEK

Constellation of the Deep by Benjamin Flouw

We Are All Under One Wide Sky by Deborah Wiles

Barnaby by Andrea Curtis & Kass Reich (Illustrator)

PICTURE BOOKS

4 stars

Feel the Fog by April Pulley Sayre September 15, 2020

Stunning photographs pair up with poetry in this picture book about fog. Like other books by Sayre, the end papers are full of scientific information that connects to each page in the book. I had a bit of trouble with the poetry in this one. The rhythm and rhyme didn't quite work for me. I kept having to go back searching for a pattern that wasn't really there. I would like to have just read it as a poem.

4 stars

Weekend Dad by Naseem Hrab & Frank Viva (Illustrations) August 1, 2020 🍁

When a young boy’s parents separate, he spends the weekends with his father. This book details his first experience of this. At first it’s uncomfortable and scary, but then he and his Dad do the same things they always do on the weekend. Two achingly sweet bits make this book noteworthy. First, the boy leaves his stuffy behind so his father won’t be lonely. Second, the father gives his son a letter reminding him of his love. The muted artwork by Frank Viva has a graphic novel vibe.

5 stars

Constellation of the Deep by Benjamin Flouw June 8, 2021

A fox takes a fantastical journey across the world's oceans in search of a rare aquatic plant. The labeled diagrams provide information about real underwater plants. Check out my blog post here to read more and see images of the artwork.

5 stars

We Are All Under One Wide Sky by Deborah Wiles June 15, 2021

The rhyming poetry works like a charm in this counting picture book. Not only will readers learn numbers, there is also a message here about acknowledging and celebrating the ways in which we are both different and the same. Check out my blog post here to read more and see images of the artwork.

5 stars

Barnaby by Andrea Curtis & Kass Reich (Illustrator) April 15, 2021 🍁

This book has hidden depths that I overlooked initially. At least for me it did. I discovered a kind of darkness beneath my first impression of it being a metaphor for sibling rivalry. If I was still doing critical literacy workshops with picture books I would add this one to my collection of titles. Check out my blog post here to read more and see images of the artwork.

NOVELS

4 stars

Love Is A Revolution by Renee Watson Feb 2, 2021

I had a hard time at the beginning of this book when Nala, the protagonist, pretended to be someone she wasn't, just to get a boy's interest. I have known women who do this. So I cheated and read the ending. I liked the way it turned out so I decided to go back and read it all to find out how it got there. Some people think doing this is a travesty, but for me, life is too short to read a book I won't like.

Ok, so this is Renée Watson and I should have known better.

Nala is a character I came to adore. She's got lots to teach all of us at any age about how to love ourselves. I love her positive attitude towards her big body. I love her relationships with her grandmother and the other folks at the center where they live. I liked that this book celebrates being who you are, and that you don't have to be a specific kind of person. I adore the depth Renée Watson gives to all her characters.

This is probably a YA title, but because there is nothing more than kissing in it, I would happily purchase it for grade six and seven students to read.

MEMOIR

4 stars

Becoming Duchess Goldblatt: A Memoir by Anonymous July 7, 2020

I had never heard of Duchess Goldblatt before someone recommended this for our book club title. I doubt I would have picked it up otherwise, but I'm glad to have read it. You know how sometimes, when you finish a book, your heart feels full? This is one of those. 

It integrates the life of the imaginary character of Duchess Goldblatt with the author's own life. 

NON FICTION

4 stars

Field Notes from a Pandemic: A Journey Through a World Suspended by Ethan Lou  🍁

Ethan Lou, a Canadian journalist, set off to visit his dying grandfather and other family in China for the 2020 Lunar New Year Celebrations. It in was supposed to be the first leg of a vacation that would take him travelling around the world. He got caught up in the beginning of the Covid 19 epidemic. Travelling through Asia and Europe, he writes of the virus' impact at both a personal and societal level. He references previous world pandemics like the Black Plague and the Spanish Flu and shows how each one transformed the world. 

Since Covid has led to a paradigm shift in how diseases are spread, some of the science he writes about has changed, but aside from that, this is a fascinating read. 

DISCWORLD NOVELS

4 stars

Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Briggs (Narrator)

 November 7, 2013 

I finally finished this, but I took so long to read it that I decided to start over again and listen it without so many interruptions.

I like that so many characters from across the Discworld (aside from the witches) make an appearance in it. I like that even here at the end of his life, Pratchett introduces a new character, Dick Simnel. Dick is a self taught engineer who  invents the steam locomotive. Sir Harry King, the wealthy sanitary entrepreneur, pairs up with him to develop the railway. The development of it in the Discworld parallels many of the same issues as the development of the railway in the real world. There are difficulties crossing different kinds of terrain. There is even the pounding in of the last golden spike upon completion. There are issues of job losses as one kind of technology supplants another. There are worries about wildlife and farm animals on the tracks. 

At the same time as the railway is being developed, the king of the Dwarves is having problems with a fundamental sect who are trying to stop the rest of the Dwarves from moving forward. The group engages in numerous terrorist attacks culminating in a coup at the Dwarf palace while the king is away. The railway, even though it is unfinished, is enlisted to get him home to deal with the uprising as fast as possible. While this novel is full of adventure, battles, and political intrigue, it highlights the folly and danger inherent in letting any kind of fundamental religious faction have power over ordinary citizens. 

This is the last book published before Pratchett died, and the second to last in the Discworld collection. In it Pratchett shows us how much the Discworld has progressed from the beginning. Immigrants, (trolls, dwarves and goblins) are not just there to do the jobs that the rest of the population don't want to do. They are are considered people integrated into and influence the rest of Ankh Morpork society. 

CURRENTLY 

This is what I have on the go:

Bloom by Kevin Panetta

Harvey Comes Home by Colleen Nelson

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl

UP NEXT

Kid Gloves by Lucy Knisley

Pine Island Home by Polly Horvath

BLOG POSTS PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK

Anne's School Days by Kallie George
Lentil Soup by Carole Tremblay, & Maurèen Poignonec

Bad Sister by Cherise Mericle Harper

 

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS

#MustReadIn2021 14/25

#MustReadNFIn2021 5/12 

#MustReadPBIn2021 32/100 

Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 16/25

Books by Canadian Authors: 53/100

Canada Reads 2021 4/5 

Discworld Series 40/41 

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 196/333