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.
My husband's 70th birthday celebration a couple of weeks ago was a smashing success.
I've just returned from a week away. I spent three days with three of my cousins celebrating all of us turning 70 this year. We had a fabulous time.
I spent the rest of the time in Vancouver visiting with the grandkids and hanging out with friends. Alzheimers has it's grip on one of them. I stayed to be there for her 78th birthday before coming home. It is a godawful affliction.
Titles with a š 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.
CHILDREN'S PICTURE BOOKS
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| 4 stars |
100 Snowmen by Jen Arena, Stephen Gilpin (Illustrator) November 12, 2013
I really enjoyed this book. I wish it had been available when I was teaching my elementary aged students about mathematical patterns and relationships. It took me a reread to actually identify what the pattern is, although it is laid out on the last page. (Apparently, I'm not as sharp as I used to be.) Even if kids aren't quite ready for that level of mathematics, they are sure to be entertained by the illustrations. Not only are these snowmen full of humor and sweetness, there is an almost Where's Waldo component to some pages.
What I didn't like about this book is that they are all snow men.
This continues the story of Little Wolf, an Indigenous girl learning to live in a city. In this book we meet her mother, White Raven, and learn about her experiences at residential school. This is an ideal book to read to students as we acknowledge the importance of Truth and Reconciliation. The book is somewhat text heavy, which makes it appropriate for upper elementary readers on their own. I really like Natassia Davies illustrations.
MIDDLE GRADE NOVELS
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| 4 stars |
From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks January 14, 2020
I'm late to the Zoe Washington party, but I won't be leaving anytime soon. (The second in this series was published in February of 2023.)
When she gets a letter from Marcus, her incarcerated father, she doesn't tell her mother about it. With her Grandmother's help, Zoe starts up a correspondence with him.
He asserts he is innocent of the murder he was charged with, and tells her of his alibi. Zoe and her next door neighbour end up in trouble with their parents when they set off to find her.
This book is rich with authentic characters dealing with serious issues. It's also got a lot of cooking!
I'm really looking forward to the next in the series!
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| 4.5 stars |
The Lost Library by Rebecca Stead, Wendy Mass, Christopher Gebauer (Narrator) & Jennifer Blom (Narrator) August 29, 2023
Even though I figured out a number of plot details before they were revealed, I kind of adored this book. It's told from three perspectives: Evan, a boy who is growing up in the same town as his father grew up in; AL who was a librarian assistant in the library that burned down mysteriously 20 years previously; and Mortimer, an aging cat. When AL sets up a free library, Mortimer stands watch over it. Then Evan finds books checked out by his father and a mysterious character calling himself H.G. Higgens. Evan soon figures out that his father was an intern at the library and was suspected of starting the fire and is determined to find out who really started it.
This was a book club suggestion. It was a delightful surprise! I devoured it and started the second immediately afterwards.
This sequel to Jemisin's The City We Became, is a brilliant as the first. I really appreciated getting to know the original characters better and am still fascinated by the avatars of the other cities we are introduced to here.
I will read whatever N.K. Jemisin writes!
The Good Virus: The Amazing Story and Forgotten Promise of the Phage by Tom Ireland & Ben Deery (Narrator) July 19, 2023
Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation by Douglas Sanderson & Greg Rogers (Narrator) August 30, 2022
Four Faces of the Moon by Amanda Strong June 8, 2021
ADULT/YA FICTION
It's about a group of spies who have been kicked out of the main MI5 building into a ramshackle building (Slough House) where their future is never ending desk duty. Each of them has screwed up in some way. In spite of this, they have their own particular brilliance. It's especially true of Jackson Lamb, the head of their cohort. In the end, it's the Slow Horses who rescue a kidnapped Pakistani teen who has been kidnapped by white right wing radicals.
This spy novel is populated with authentic characters and riveting plots. It is as convoluted and full of machinations as any of the John Le CarrƩ novels I have read and loved. It is also screamingly hilarious.
By the end of the second book in this series I figured out that at least one of the characters in each book was going to die. I was correct. It did not stop me from enjoying it at all. When a former spy dies under suspicious circumstances, but the pros at Regent Park (MI5 headquarters) overlook this, Jackson Lamb sets out sleuthing. It turns out to be connected to another project that two members of his team have been seconded to work on.
I'm waiting for the next one to become available. Don't you love it when you discover a series that has been around for a while and you don't have to wait for what seems like forever for the next book?
This sequel to Jemisin's The City We Became, is a brilliant as the first. I really appreciated getting to know the original characters better and am still fascinated by the avatars of the other cities we are introduced to here.
I will read whatever N.K. Jemisin writes!
ADULT/YA NON FICTION
This book is brilliantly written. Not only does Siddhartha Mukherjee make complicated topics easy to comprehend, he is a remarkable story teller. I was fascinated from start to finish and didn't want the book to end.
Aside from all the details about cellular biology, I also appreciated his references to Indian mythology and how they were integrated into the science.
Aside from all the details about cellular biology, I also appreciated his references to Indian mythology and how they were integrated into the science.
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| 5 stars |
The Good Virus: The Amazing Story and Forgotten Promise of the Phage by Tom Ireland & Ben Deery (Narrator) July 19, 2023
I have ordered this and the previous nonfiction book above, so that I have my own copies of them.
Have you ever heard of phages? I think I had, but wow, by the time I finished this I felt like I'd entered into a new and parallel world. Tom Ireland begins by introducing readers to the original discovery of the world of phages and how they were first used. He integrates their success and failure in social and political contexts. I really appreciated how he painstakingly takes us across time to finally show us what is going on today in the realm of phage research and medical use.
I've recommended this to be our bookclub read for next month. I hope they enjoy it as much as I did. I would start it all over again except that I've downloaded The Perfect Predator: A Scientist's Race to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug, another book about phages.
CURRENTLY
Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation by Douglas Sanderson & Greg Rogers (Narrator) August 30, 2022
UP NEXT
The Perfect Predator: A Scientist's Race to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug by & Thomas Patterson
I'm also going to tackle a pile of picture books
READING GOALS
#MustReadFiction 16/24 one in progress
#MustReadNonFiction 14/20
Canadian Authors 35/75
Indigenous Authors 17/20
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 148/200
100 Snowmen is a new one for me, noted! And how have I missed Jemisin's books? I put them on my list, too! There are so many I want to read! Am reading The Lost Library now so didn't read much of your review, but I'm liking it a lot! Happy October, Cheriee! Thanks for adding to the list, no matter how long!
ReplyDeleteIt's weird about Snowmen because it's been around for a while. I found it while subbing in a school library!
DeleteZoe Washington and The Lost Library are two of my favorites. All terrific authors.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely!
DeleteYay for someone else getting introduced to Zoe Washington!
ReplyDeleteI know! What an amazing story!
DeleteI loves Zoe Washington—I’m glad you did, too. I need to read the next one; do you plan to?
ReplyDeleteAnd happy birthday to your husband!
I have already downloaded it!
DeleteI love the triple 70th birthday celebration with your cousins! How fun! My husband's 69th birthday was yesterday. So sorry to hear of your friend's Alzheimer's. My FIL had a different form of dementia, but it was heartbreaking to watch him lose himself bit by bit, so I understand. Wonderful that you could be with your friend.
ReplyDeleteSo many good books! I've also been meaning to try the Zoe Washington series - I might have that one in my audio backlog. The Lost Library is appealing because I enjoy both of those authors! I haven't read Slow Horses yet, but there's an Apple TV adaptation of it that we've been meaning to try - sounds great. The science books all sound intriguing, too.
Hope you're enjoying your books this week, too!
Sue
Book By Book
The nonfiction books look fascinating -- I'm trying to carve out some time to read them.
ReplyDelete