#IMWAYR December 11, 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. Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers host the kidlit rendition. These are fabulous places to start your search for what to read next.


This is what I have been working on in my sewing life. I've finished three mice and  sewn, but not yet stuffed, three more. I've finished up a few outfits and hope to have at least two for each mouse by Christmas. 

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.

CHAPTER BOOKS

Last week I asked Earl Dizon @ THE CHRONICLES OF A CHILDREN'S BOOK WRITER for some help choosing books for my six year old grandson. This is one that was on his list. I downloaded and devoured it. Then I ordered it and the other books he recommended (except for the ones I already purchased for him) from my local bookstore. 
Ever since losing their mother, the two Ratso brothers, Louie and Ralphie, try to be tough just like their father, Big Lou. They do their best to get into trouble and show everyone how harsh they can be, but all their attempts end up backfiring. They try to cause trouble, but end up doing good in the world. This book is full of tenderhearted sweetness and humour, just like my grandson. I'm looking forward to reading more. 

MIDDLE GRADE GRAPHIC NOVELS

This is based on the author's experience growing up the daughter of a Jewish mother and and Muskogee (Creek) Nation father. 
Mia lives with her Jewish mother, but longs to spend time with her Native American father. She uses her bat mitzvah money to purchase a ticket to go for a visit while her mother thinks she is at a school based weekend retreat. 
Of course she ends up getting found out, but her consequences end up turning into a learning opportunity for her, all her parents and even their rabbi. 

ADULT/YA FICTION


Honestly, if you are not a Murderbot fan, you are living a deprived life. Murderbot is a rogue security unit who hacked their governor model and is now a free agent. Murderbot is plagued with the two f words - feelings and friends. They are now connected to the people on Preservation Moon, a liberal planetary community in a universe mostly controlled by nefarious corporations. 

This novel continues the story after Network Effect. It's set in the same planet, but in a different community. Murderbot and friends are on a contaminated planet where they are attempting to rescue the inhabitants from future corporate slavery. Unfortunately, after their previous contamination, Murderbot is not up to par, and is experiencing strange kinds of flashbacks that might impair their ability to keep their humans safe.
While each of these novels or novelas are full of adventure and humour, it's really the character of Murderbot that keeps me coming back for more. 

4 stars

The List of Last Chances by Christina Myers 🍁 

Ever since finding her partner in flagranti delicto, 38 year old Ruthie has lost her job, been sleeping on her friend's couch and downing a bottle of wine every night. Then her friend finds the perfect job for her. Ruthie is reluctant, but applies and gets it. All she has to do is help Kay, an elderly woman, pack up her house and drive her across the country from PEI to Vancouver. She also has to keep Kay's good looking son, David, updated on their progress. Once they are on their way, Kay reveals that never mind what David thinks, she has her own bucket list of where to go and what to do along the way. 
If you like feel good novels with friendship between generations, smidgeons of romance, road tripping, and plenty of humour, then this book is for you. 

As soon as I finished listening to this, I started all over again. 
I fell in love with Brené Brown's work after reading Daring Greatly. I'm not a fan of self help books, but I find her work to be invaluable for helping me to live more honestly in relationship with myself and the people important to me. 
In this book she unpacks emotions and experiences that enable us to have richer understanding of who and why we are who we are. 
She narrates this, and it's like having her explain it directly to you. 

CURRENTLY

Take Back The Fight: Organizing Feminism for the Digital Age by Nora Loreto  🍁 I keep adding this book to my list because I started it, but I seem to have misplaced it. 

Nobody Walks by Mick Herron
 
The Black Friend: On Being A Better White Person by Frederick Joseph

UP NEXT (MAYBE)

Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon

READING GOALS 

#MustReadFiction 23/24 

#MustReadNonFiction 14/20 one in progress

Canadian Authors 55/75 

Indigenous Authors 21/20 

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 196/200 
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#IMWAYR December 4, 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. Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers host the kidlit rendition. These are fabulous places to start your search for what to read next.


The get ready for Christmas buzz has begun around here. I managed to get the advent calendar gifts wrapped and sent off to the grandkids in time. Hurrah for Canada Post! I'm working on some stuffed mice projects that I'll share next Monday. 
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.

PREVIOUS POSTS

CHILDREN'S PICTURE BOOKS

5 stars

Julie and the Mango Tree by Sade Smith & Sayada Ramdial (Illustrations) August 8, 2023  🍁

Julie really wants her mango tree to drop one mango for her. She waits patiently, cajoles the tree, and even tries trading four plums for one mango. Alas, she ends up going to bed empty handed. When a storm blows an over abundance of mangos into her yard, she has to come up with a plan for what to do with them.
I loved so much about this book. I loved the generosity, Julie's patience, and her attachment to her tree.
This book made me wish I wish I had a mango tree in my back yard. After looking at the recipes in the back matter, I might have to add mangos to my shopping list.

4 stars

Dear Polar Bears by Gabrielle S. Prendergast & Marcus Cutler (Illustrator) February 14, 2023  🍁

What happens when some penguins from the Antarctic invite some polar bears from the arctic to come for a visit?
Will they accept? How will they get there? How well will these two different species get along?
Some lines I liked. "The party will be during the day so it could go on for weeks."
It looks like there are some tense moments when the bears first arrive, but luckily, the cache of fish seems to tame them down.
There are two pages of nonfiction text related to the animals, their environments, and the seasons.
Marcus Cutler's artwork is beautiful.

CHILDREN'S NONFICTION PICTURE BOOKS


This picture book biography is created by the same people who wrote Her Courage Rises: 50 Trailblazing Women of British Columbia and Yukon, a book I wrote about last week. 
Kimiko Murakami deserves her own book. She was born in Steveston and was five when her family moved to Salt Spring Island just off the coast of British Columbia. They ran a successful farm and were integrated into their community. Kimiko grew up, got married and started a family. Then WW2 was declared, Canada passed the the Canadian War Measures Act, and the internment Japanese Canadians began. Kimiko and her family were taken from their home to live under untenable conditions. Even when the war was finally over they were not allowed to return home. Still, Kimiko was a strong woman who never gave up. She and her husband worked hard to save up enough money to return to Salt Spring Island. When they arrived they discovered that their farm had been sold without their permission. They purchased another and started to build a new life all over again.
I appreciate that this story highlights the life of one person at the same time as it educates readers about the circumstances for Japanese Canadians at this time.
Kimiko Fraser's gorgeous illustrations enhance the text and add emotional context to the experiences of Kimiko and other Japanese Canadians. 

Since I finished Forever last week, I decided to read this other Judy Blume book that has had people up in arms ever since it was published.
Reading this book was a kind of time warp for me. The most important thing about Blume's writing is how authentic her characters are. She manages to capture the essence of childhood - no matter the age of her protagonists. I'm pretty sure I went to school with the preteens she writes about here. I suspect preteens today might say the same thing.
Margaret is a delightful young girl learning to navigate her way around a new community, a new school, a new teacher, and new friends. She is trying to figure out what religion she might want to join - Christian, like the faith her mother was raised in, or Jewish like her father's side of their family. 
I loved the Jewish grandmother in this book and am sorry for the rigidness of the Christians ones. 

ADULT/YA FICTION


Reading another Thursday Murder Club mystery is like visiting with old friends and meeting new ones. Learning that they are involved in a new murder mystery - this time, one of a friend of a friend, is just par for the course. It's remarkably comforting to listen to their wild adventures because you know they will all come out ok in the end.
Richard Osman's character's are completely authentic. Just like in real life, every visit with them reveals more about their personalities. I can't help but adore them.
This novel was more poignant for me than the earlier ones. Watching a close friend deteriorate from the curse of Alzheimer's has made me more sympathetic to the plight of Elizabeth and her husband, Stephen. I ended up weeping for them, for my friend, and for myself.
I enjoyed listening to the interview between Richard Osman and Fiona Shaw at the end of the audiobook.


This novella is set in the space between Herron's second and third novel in his Slough House series.
John Bachelor, minder of aging spies, finds himself in trouble when one of his aging assets, Dieter Hess, dies and is found to have had a secret bank account. Bachelor soon discovers that Dieter Hess had a secret list of his own assets.
It was a delight to be entertained by Diana Taverner up to her usual nasty shenanigans. When she and Dieter come up with a plan to turn one of those assets, you know it's all going to go terrible wrong.
I'm always happy to see Jackson Lamb in action again and it was interesting to learn more about JK Coe's back story.
Now I can't wait to read Nobody Walks.

"Britt Wray is a science writer who focuses on the intersection of mental health and climate change."
I struggled at first with this book. I already feel anxious about the state of the planet and what kind of world we are leaving for our grandchildren. Also, when I started it, I had my grandkids visiting and reading in general is a challenge when they are around. Reading something this intense is impossible. 
I'm so glad I went back to it. 
I have become more and more aware of how my generation's descent into consumerism in all it's aspects continues to exacerbate the problem. Some days I'm wracked with guilt that I didn't do more - that my generation didn't do more, that even those of us who understand the implications of the climate crisis haven't really changed our behaviour. I feel helpless to do anything about the corporate entities who are not only responsible for the majority of carbon now spewing into our atmosphere, have also fomented the spread of enough misinformation that climate crisis deniers continue to flourish. It seems like environmentalists, scientists, and ordinary people of all ages have lost. 
Britt Wray explains what this existential dread is like for people of her generation and younger. According to research she sites, more than half of teens now contemplate not having children because of fear of the state of the planet they are growing up into. Suicide ideation among these youth is higher than it has ever been. 
I thought this book would focus on this, and while the grim reality is certainly acknowledged, this book is also about how to survive in the face of such an uncertain future. It's full of strategies for how to live your best life on the cusp of catastrophic environmental change. 
Throughout the book Wray explores her own eco anxiety with respects to her conflicts about becoming a parent. Along the way she has created a guidebook for how to use our dread as a force for good in the world. 

I've read some brilliant books in 2023, but this is the best of the best.  I'm not sure how to begin to explain it. Klein's writing is honest, sharp and brilliant. This is a comprehensive analysis that shows us that we are more connected to one another than we might want to imagine. Beginning with her personal history of being confused with Naomi Wolf, she makes profound connections across political and cultural spectrums. Ultimately she shows us that the polarization we see around us at a macro level, exists also at the micro one.  
I know this will be a weird connection for some people, but there were numerous times when I couldn't help but think about Tiffany Aching, my favourite Terry Pratchett protagonist. While learning to be a witch she must strive to act ethically at all times. This involves making hard decisions which entails layers of thinking. She has her first, her second, her third and sometimes even her fourth thoughts before she is finished. 
Naomi Klein reveals she is capable of at least four layers of thinking here. 

CURRENTLY

Take Back The Fight: Organizing Feminism for the Digital Age by Nora Loreto  🍁
System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries, #7) by Martha Wells 
The List of Last Chances by Christina Myers
 
UP NEXT (MAYBE)

Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon
The Black Friend: On Being A Better White Person by Frederick Joseph

READING GOALS 

#MustReadFiction 22/24 one in progress

#MustReadNonFiction 13/20 one in progress

Canadian Authors 54/75 

Indigenous Authors 20/20 

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 192/200 
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Free Verse Friday #12 December: Celebration

Last January, I joined Beverly A Baird & Linda Schueler in a "year long poetry practice – on the first Friday of each Month," when they, and anyone else who joined, wrote a poem based on the theme of the month and a photo taken relating to that theme.

You can find out more about this here.

I really enjoyed participating in this project with these two remarkable women. I appreciated the framework. I want to spend more time writing, but I have a lot of projects (of all kinds) on the go, all the time. This gave me a focus and forced me carve out time to write. I am especially thankful to not have the stress of having to do this everyday, like when I participate in the April Poem a Day challenge.

The first time I participated, I didn't get the photograph first bit. I let the theme percolate throughout the month before posting and the poem more or less wrote itself. When I realized my mistake, I sent a half decent draft of it to my partner, Randy Rotheisler, and a friend, Ron Peace, both gifted photographers, asking for images to accompany it. We continued this process, except of course for the last couple of months when they sent me images and I wrote poems based on those.  

This month I'm back on track for writing the poem first and sending it off to my two favourite photographers for an image to accompany it. 

image by Randy Rotheisler


these days, 
dark
comes early

last night
we turned
the christmas lights on

these bright bulbs
clinging to the eaves
across the seasons,
wait
to remind us that

small things
bring beauty and light
into our lives

Christmas Lights on the Spirit of Summerland 3716 by Ron Peace

In case you are interested, the above photographs can be purchased from the photographers. Let me know if you want their contact information.

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