#IMWAYR April 3, 2023

Welcome! 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.

Last week was the exciting Canada Reads Debates. Alas I didn't get all the books read, but I enjoyed watching the conversations about books. It helped that of the ones I did read, Ducks, the one I thought best fit the bill for changing Canadian perspective, won. You can find out more about this annual celebration of Canadian literature here.  

My husband and I went out for dinner Saturday to celebrate our anniversary. My sister reminded me it was 46 years, not 45. We enjoyed the good enough french food, but since both of us are pretty good cooks, (especially him) it was really only the crème brûlée that wowed us.

 

I meant to write a post last week, but we had been away in the big city of Vancouver, BC, for a vacation of sorts and I got my days all mixed up and thought Monday was Sunday. 

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

Walter Had a Best Friend by Deborah Underwood & Sergio Ruzzier (Illustrator) October 18, 2022

Walter and Xavier were best friends, and then they weren't. Walter grieves the loss of this relationship until he realizes that he has to go on with his life. He sets out on a new path and finds a new best friend.
I really like that this book doesn't minimize the hard and painful feelings Walter experiences, and at the same time, leaves the reader full of hope at the end.
I am a hard core fan of Sergio Ruzzier's illustrations and hope these two do more work together.

Hot Dog by Doug Salati May 24, 2022

I'm not really a dog kind of person, though I like other people's dogs well enough. Still, this didn't stop me from appreciating this book. Through poetic language and gorgeous artwork, readers experience a busy city and a peaceful beach from the perspective of a pup. In turn it shows the rest of us how to appreciate nature and the small blessings in our own lives. 

CHILDREN'S NONFICTION

Good Eating: The Short Life of Krill by Matt Lilley & Dan Tavis (Illustrator) January 11, 2022

I knew that krill were a keystone species in the Canadian Arctic, but it wasn't til I read this book that I realized how significant they are globally. While I appreciated the information and illustrations in this book, there is nothing in it about how they mate. In the back matter it tells how egg laying females swarm together, but nothing about how they end up producing eggs. As a retired teacher librarian, who worked with young researcher, all the details are important.

MG FICTION

City of the Dead by James Ponti & Lisa Flanagan (Narrator) February 7, 2023

I sometimes forget how satisfying a good middle grade novel can be. I needed this book in my life as a break from the intensity of the rest of my reading life. 

In this, the 4th in the City Spies series, the team of teen spies ends up in Egypt in search of a computer hacker. Their stepfather's son unexpectedly shows up. He seems to be very helpful, but whether or not he can be trusted is another matter entirely. 

ADULT NONFICTION

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich May 8, 2001

Barbara Ehrenreich left her well paying job as a journalist to see if she could survive working at a minimum wage job in three different cities around the United States. While she was cushioned from the full assault of poverty because she was white, proficient in English, started out with some seed money, and didn't give up her car, she was still unable to make ends meet.
She reveals the dark underbelly, almost dystopian reality that is the life for working class people, (mostly women) who work and live below the poverty level. This was written at the end of the 1990's. I fear that life for people  today is probably even worse. 
As a Canadian I couldn't help but reflect that people here working at these kinds of wages, don't have to worry about paying medical bills. Their lives are still impossible, but they have one less thing to fret about.
This is a book to enlighten those of us who live comfortable lives, that if someone like us, with all the advantages, can't survive on minimum wages, how can we expect anyone else to?

The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in A Toxic Culture by Gabor Maté & Daniel Maté (coauthor and narrator) September 13, 2022 🍁

"Over four decades of clinical experience, Maté has come to recognize the prevailing understanding of “normal” as false, neglecting the roles that trauma and stress, and the pressures of modern-day living, exert on our bodies and our minds at the expense of good health."
This reads like the author's magnum opus, a synthesis of his previous writings on addiction and physical and mental health. I appreciated that he integrates his own experiences into the rest of the narrative.
Reading this book was unsettling. It opened up wounds I though were healed over. At the same time, it helped me think about aspects of my life today through a new lens. 
It should be required reading for all health and education professionals.

CURRENTLY

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

All the Seas of the World by Guy Gavriel Kay 🍁 

UP NEXT 

The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by  Jenny Ferguson 🍁

READING GOALS 

#MustReadFiction 6/24

#MustReadNonFiction 4/20 in progress

Canadian Authors 15/75 1 in progress

Indigenous Authors 9/20 

Canada Reads Finalists 3/5

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 62/200