It's been a packed couple of weeks. Last Monday I attended a quilting workshop and worked half a day. I ended up working three days last week, but managed to get the flimsy finished. I think I will send it off to be quilted. I worked more on my unicorn paper pieced quilt, and made more shoes for mice. I also spent time learning how I might make cowboy boots....
I did not get much reading with my eyes accomplished in the last couple of weeks.
I asked my partner to take some photographs of the two mice I created specifically for someone. The next thing I knew, we were having a photoshoot. I've posted some of those images onto the above page, Stuffed Mice. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoy making them. I might consider taking orders for them....
MG FICTION
ADULT/YA FICTION
It took me a while to get into this one. It's a ghost story, but it's also about loneliness, friendship, love, grief, and figuring out who you are.
Winifred Blight and her father live in an apartment above a crematorium in a cemetery. Her Indigenous mother died when she was born, and is buried in the graveyard there. She and her best friend, Jack, grew up playing in and around the gravestones, even trying to photograph ghosts. As they entered their teen years, they remained connected, but he moved on to a wider group of friends. When they have a falling out, Winifred ends up being haunted by Phil, a real ghost.
What I appreciated most about this book (and all of Dimaline's novels) is the richness of her characters. Each has a credible backstory. We are filled with empathy for all of them, especially Phil, who is one of the murdered and missing Indigenous women.
In some ways I liked this book even more than the first in the series. Emily really comes into her own as a strong, independent, indomitable heroine. I wished there had been more of Wendell Bambleby, but then, he has been poisoned and isn't really up to much of anything. I liked that in the last book, Wendell has to save Emily. This time round, it's Emily who is doing the rescuing. The important thing about their relationship, is that Wendell loves Emily just the way she is, and she, in spite of the dangers inherent in loving one of the fae, returns his regard.
This series is kind of like brain candy. It's a charming fantasy involving faerie worlds. There is enough adventure, terror, and just the right amount of romance to make for a satisfying read. It's a wonderful break from the complex nonfiction and more intense novels I've been reading.
I hate that I now have to wait until 2025 for Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales.
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| 4 stars |
Junie by Chelene Knight & Nneka Elliott (Narrator) September 13, 2022 🍁
Hogan’s Alley was a thriving Black and immigrant community located in Vancouver’s East End. Junie is a girl growing up there in the 1930's. It's the story of her relationship with her mother. It's about enduring friendships and coming to terms with one's sexuality.
I confess that I did not finish this book. My failure to finish is all about me, and certainly not about the quality of the writing or the importance of the narrative.
I don't deal well with scary of any kind, especially when it can result in terrible things for a child protagonist. I find that listening to a book is worse than reading with my eyes. When I am reading with my eyes I can skim these sections. It's much more intimate and terrifying when the story feels like it's being streamed into your head through your ears.
ADULT/YA NONFICTION
This a profound book about "how and why the rest of us abide poverty and are complicit in it." While Desmond shows us how so many extremely wealthy people and organizations can get away with not paying their fair share of taxes, he also articulates how and why the rest of us, mostly middle class folk, benefit from keeping the poor in poverty. It's not for the faint of heart. Be prepared to take an honest and clear eyed look at where your money comes from, and where it goes.
This book is primarily about America, and while he mentions some of the positive aspects to the Canadian perspective, (our higher unionization rate has kept salary rates higher for all workers - and we have a single payer medical system) much of this applies equally to us.
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| 5 stars |
Truth Telling: Seven Conversations about Indigenous Life in Canada by Michelle Good & Megan Tooley (Narrator) 🍁
In this collection of essays, Good introduces readers to historical and modern aspects of Indigenous life. She examines racism, broken treaties, cultural pillaging, the disregard for Indigenous lives, and the importance of Indigenous literature. She shows how colonialism underpins modern social systems that continue to have devastating effects for Indigenous people today.
If readers want to really understand the full history of what it means to be Indigenous here in Canada, I encourage them to read this one and Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation by Andrew Stobo Sniderman & Douglas Sanderson.
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| 5 stars |
Unearthing: A Story of Tangled Love and Family Secrets by Kyo Maclear 🍁
After her father died, a DNA test revealed that Kyo Maclear's father, was not her biological parent. As her world unravelled, she learned that both her parents were keeping all kinds of secrets.
While this memoir is about the unveiling of those secrets, it's also about being the child of immigrant parents, of being a biracial child and a member of the Japanese diaspora, and about caring for aging parents. It's also about gardening.
I suspect that as we age, we all learn to know our parents in new ways on an ongoing process. This is partly what this book shows, but it specifically addresses the last years when life for them begins to unravel.
Her attempts to discover more about her biological father are hampered by her mother's reticence to talk about her life, and by her increasing dementia.
What took me unawares, was is how deeply I connected to Maclear's experiences. There are pieces of it that are windows into a reality I've never encountered. Other parts are mirrors that reminded me of discovering my own parents secrets. I most profoundly related to the reality of looking after a brain addled and aging parent in the last years of her life.
Did I mention yet how exquisite the writing is? Seriously, huge chunks, if not all of this, are like listening to poetry read out loud. No wonder it won the 2023 Governor General's Literary Award for nonfiction! It's just stunning!
If you want to know more about this book, you can listen to Shelagh Rogers interview Kyo Maclear here.
CURRENTLY
The Faint of Heart by Kerilynn Wilson June 13, 2023
UP NEXT (MAYBE)
Besties Work It Out by Kayla Miller
Slough House by Mick Herron
I will deal with the picture books pile this week or else!
FEBRUARY READING UPDATE:
books read: 19
graphic novels: 3
nonfiction: 3
nonfiction picture books: 2
adult/ya novels: 7
MG novels: 0
Chapter books: 1
Picture books: 1
Indigenous Authors: 3
Black Authors: 1
Canadian Authors: 4
READING GOALS
#MustRead2024 3/25 one on the go
NonFiction 7/24
Canadian Authors 8/50 one on the go
Indigenous Authors 4/25
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 36/200
Hi Cheriee, each book really sounds like a gem so I put them all on my list. I haven't read the first of Emily Wilde's books so put that one on, too. I think the top one for me will be Poverty in America. I think I need to read it whether I will like what it says or not! (I left a comment on your mice post - so darling!) Happy Reading this week!
ReplyDeleteI just looked further about Poverty, By America (wrongly written above) & see that Desmond also wrote Evicted which I've read, another book full of knowledge we may not know otherwise. Thanks, Cheriee!
DeleteI have a hold on Evicted. I think that Evicted is more about bearing witness.
DeleteYou reminded me that I never finished the audiobook of Poverty, By America. The part I did listen to was interesting. I need to go back to it.
ReplyDeleteI read Evicted and that was thought provoking. Also, I didn't realize Kyo wrote adult books as well.
ReplyDeleteI just realized the Heather Fawcett also wrote Grace of WIld Things which was an amazing book I read with the Cybils (I think it won its category). So now I want to read her Emily books.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up about this. I've just put a hold on it.
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