#IMWAYR June 27, 2022

Welcome readers! It's #IMWAYR time again, when bloggers share what they have been reading and find out what others have been up to. 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. These are fabulous places to start your search for what to read next. 

It's been mostly a better post Covid week. Although my energy levels come and go, I have managed to get the garden under control (for now at least.) 

On Sunday my brother and I celebrated our birthday at his house with a wonderful meal and wonderful company. 

A number of years ago I read Glory O'Brien's History of the Future by A.S. King. I thought it wasn't realistic because I couldn't see American women putting up with losing their hard won right to control their own bodies. 

To all my American friends and family, I ache for you. 

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.

PICTURE BOOKS 

Bear and the Whisper of the Wind by Marianne Dubuc 🍁 March 1, 2022

I am a hardcore Marianne Dubuc fan. Her soft illustrations, rendered in pencil, coloured pencil, and watercolour, take me into worlds of enchantment. This one fills me full of ideas for a quilted wall hanging.
Although Bear lives a comfortable satisfying life, one day he gets the the urge to leave and explore the world. Along his way he makes new friends. He also experiences terrifying events before he finds a new place to settle into again.
In a note from the author, Marianne Dubuc writes, "Sometimes life forces us to move, whether physically of mentally. It's important to let ourselves be guided by this ebb and flow, remembering that everything will be fine in the end and that there is always a comforting corner of the world to find."

Abuelita and Me by Leonarda Carranza & Rafael Mayani (Illustrator) 🍁 April 12, 2022

Just Wow. Thanks to Lisa Maucione @Literacy on the Mind for introducing this book to us. I picked it up because I thought it would be a lovely feel good story about a grandparent/grandchild relationship. It is, but it doesn't shy away from darkness either. A young girl and her abuelita have wonderful times inside, but when they go outside, they experience racism in many different ways. After one scary incident on the bus, the girl doesn't want to leave the house. Abuelita helps her to process the experience until she is strong enough to take the bus again.
This book packs an emotional wallup!

NOVELS

Worser by Jennifer Ziegler January 1, 2022

Kirkus calls this "A lexical story of emotional evolution." I wish I had come up with that line for this book. 
Give me a character I can love with my whole heart, and I will love that author forever.
I read Worser in one sitting. William Wyatt Orser, named Worser in his primary years, is a nerdy kid with a passion for words and wordplay. His life has recently fallen to pieces. His mother had a stroke and his artistic, creative Aunt Iris, the antithesis of his academic mother, has come to stay and look after all of them. The last straw is when the school library is closed after school due to budget cuts and Worser has no place to go for respite. 

Luckily Worser discovers a used book store near his home and makes a deal with the grouchy proprietor so he can hang out at a back table and work on his 'masterwork,' a collection of his thoughts on words. Because of the closed library, the school Literary Club ends up needing a place to meet. Worser negotiates with the owner to give them a home at the book store. Worser's acceptance by the group is the beginning of a new life for him. In the end he ends up with a new nickname, Worder. 

If you like books that are full of heart, you will love this one. 

I've been thinking about why this book resonated so much with me. I think it's because I had to learn to live with family members who faced traumatic injuries and never returned to the people they were before these events. Although I was much younger than Worser when my father was injured, and my mother was still around, this book shows authentically what it is like to learn to grieve for what has been lost and deal with this new person in your family. 

The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton & Khadijah Khatib (Narrator) May 3, 2022

Thanks to Kellee Moye @ Unleashing Readers for the heads up about this one. I read that it is similar to Jessica Townsend's Nevermoor series and since the next one in that series won't be available til 2023, I thought I would give it a go. 

There are a lot of similarities! Ella Durand is the first of her kind to attend the Arcanum Training Institute because she has the unique power of conjuring. She has to face outright racism and micro aggressions because of this. Morrigan Crow from Nevermoor also attends a magic school  and faces discrimination because of her power. 

I liked The Marvellers well enough. By the end of the book it looks like Ella might have overcome most of the resentment of students and staff because of her differences. I liked the strong family relationships. I liked her friendships with Brigit and Jason. I liked the incidental diversity of the school. I like how this book has a satisfying ending, but hints at what is to come in the sequel. As a knitter myself, I was entranced by Brigit's magically inspired knitting. As a quilter, I couldn't get my head around that these were called quilt blocks. Dhonielle Clayton's world building is remarkable. I can see potential prequels to elaborate upon the bits of history that are introduced here.
I wish I had felt more emotional connection to the characters. They are people I like and even admire, but I never felt invested in them. Maybe my attachment to them will grow in other books in the series. 

ADULT NOVELS 

Satellite Love by Genki Ferguson 🍁 March 2, 2021 

"Satellite Love is a heartbreaking and beautifully unconventional debut novel about a girl, a boy, and a satellite--and a bittersweet meditation on loneliness, alienation, and what it means to be human."
This blurb is a good overview of this book, but doesn't come close to acknowledging the complex and multilayered weirdness of it.
It's set in Japan in 1999. The girl is Anna. She's been bullied for years by classmates at school. She lives mostly alone with her grandfather who has some kind of dementia. The boy, Soki, is new to school. He is the only person in the book Anna has some kind of real conversation with. She has a crush on Soki, but he has a crush on another girl in their class. So, all of that is within the realm of the ordinary. 

Then it gets weird. One night while stargazing Anna chances upon a satellite and focuses her attention on it. The satellite in turn seems to be infatuated with Anna. At one point in the novel, Anna manifests the satellite into Leo, a kind of invisible friend.
The story is told through the perspectives of these three main characters.
I tried at first to listen to the book, but that format just didn't work for me. I began to read it, but got Covid and for two weeks couldn't focus on much with my eyes - especially not something as unique as this book. When I started reading again, I ended up skipping ahead to read the ending. After than I had to read the whole book. It's not an easy read. I agree that it is an examination of loneliness, alienation, and what it means to be human. It's also a dark descent into madness. This could by a YA title. 

CURRENTLY

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel  🍁

Zero Repeat Forever by Gabrielle S. Prendergast  🍁

UP NEXT 

The Boy Who Failed Show and Tell by Jordan Sonnenblick

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

The Body by Bill Bryson

READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 12/24 

#MustReadNonFiction 11/18 

Canadian Authors 35/100 one in progress

Canada Reads shortlist 5/5 

Indigenous Authors 12/25

2022 Big Book Summer Challenge 2, one on the go 

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 146 /250