#IMWAYR JUNE 3, 2024

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.

I've missed three reading updates. 

We've been busy. The garden is in, but not making much progress because the weather has been unusually cold this year. I've had to plant Swiss chard twice and am about to give up since the birds eat it as soon it sprouts. I tried putting in larger seedlings, but they devoured those too. I wish they would eat the mallow that I am constantly trying to eradicate from my garden!

Two of our granddaughters were here for a week. Then the rest of the crew arrived on the Victoria Day long weekend. They all went home on Monday, and on Tuesday my sister and I headed off for a week away with different groups of women friends. 

I'm pretty sure this isn't all I read: I read a lot with the grandkids when they were here, but didn't make notes of any of it. 

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 BLOG POST

Late September by Amy Mattes

PICTURE BOOKS

100 Chapatis by Derek Mascarenhas & Shantala Robinson (Illustrator) 🍁

While a young boy and his grandfather await the birth of his new sibling, they make 100 Chapatis. I loved that the boy's first chapatis are not round like his Pappa's, but his grandfather tells him they are the shape of India, just like his were when he first started making them. Pappa reflects on making 100 chapatis while waiting for the boy's birth. Not only are making 100 chapatis a good way to spend time, they end up being a handy thing to have on hand after the baby arrives. 

As a grandparent, I'm predisposed to like books like this one, but I think everyone will enjoy it.

MG FICTION

The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly & Ramón de Ocampo (Narrator)

If you like time travel books that are filled with important ideas about what it means to be human and live a full and rich life, then this is a book for you.
Michael Rosario might be worried about the upcoming new school year, but in the meantime, he's surrounded by people he loves, and who love him. He's got a hardworking mom who works three jobs. He spends quality time with Mr. Mosel, the caretaker at the housing complex where they live. All of us would be better people if we followed Mr Mosel's advice, “Before you go to sleep at night, ask yourself: was I the best person I could be today? If the answer is no, do better tomorrow.” He's got a crush on his babysitter, Gibby, but their relationship is strong and she is very supportive. When the two of them meet Ridge, a stranger hanging around the apartment complex, their lives begin to get weird. It turns out Ridge is a teen of about Gibby's age who is visiting from the future. Ridge teaches Gibby and Michael about the first state of being. 

All of these people help Michael to become braver and more confident. 

The Secret Language of Birds by Lynne Kelly & Ferdelle Capistrano (Narrator) April 9, 2024

Nina is staying with her aunt and helping out at the summer camp she runs. It's a positive experience for her because she and her aunt are both avid birdwatchers, and because she finds a sense of belonging with a group of girls. When the whole cohort of older girls campers head off to a supposedly haunted cabin, they see what might be a ghost. Nina thinks it's some kind of bird, but no birds of that size are established in that area. Eventually she comes to realize that two whooping cranes have built a nest on the local lake. Nina and her friends contact wildlife officials and work together to send updates and try to identify the two birds. Unfortunately, in order to do this, Nina and her friends have to break the camp rule about heading off into the wetland area unaccompanied by an adult.
Not only did I love Nina as a character, I was fascinated by all the scientific work described in the book.

ADULT/YA FICTION

5 stars

Late September: A Novel by Amy Mattes April 13, 2024 🍁

Amy Mattes' exquisitely written debut novel has been nominated for a Giller Prize. Here in Canada, this is a big deal.

It is the coming of age tale of a Ines, a young girl from a small town in BC, who tries to escape her past by travelling cross country on a bus to Montreal, Quebec. She plans to reinvent herself, but is burdened by guilt and grief. Learning to love herself is much harder than she can fathom, but by the end of the book, despite all her tribulations, she's on her way. 

4.5 stars

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden & (Narrator)

This book follows The Bear and the Nightingale. Like it, this is beautifully crafted.  

It's set in medieval Russia, a time and place where fairytales and old mythology are at odds with ever encroaching Christianity. Vasilisa, a girl with unique powers, has decried marriage and convent. After fleeing from her small village she rescues three young girls from bandits, and ends up posing as a boy in the the Grand Prince of Moscow's court. Disaster is inevitable. It's just a matter of who Vasilisa will take down with her when she is caught. 

5 stars

Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum & Shanna Tan (Translator) January 17, 2022

I savoured this novel. It's a slow paced and comforting book about a woman who gets divorced and opens a bookshop. I learned a lot about toxic Korean attitudes towards work and success. In this book, most of the characters have eschewed those ideals (either deliberately or because they were unattainable) and are building different kinds of lives. I took this community of authentic characters into my heart and didn't want to let them go. I adored all the literary references. 

4 stars

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree & (Narrator)

I had never heard the term cosy fantasy before my niece recommended this book to me. It is the perfect definition. It's the sweetest story about starting over and finding and creating found family. 

Viv, an Orc, has decided to put her sword aside and start a coffee shop in the town of Thune. The characters she meets and employs: Cal, a hob, who helps her remodel the stable she purchased; Tandri, a succubus who helps run the shop; and Thimble, a rattkin with magical baking skills, are, like Viv herself, trying to build a new life despite what people think of them based on what they look like. I loved all of them as much as I loved how this medieval coffee shop came to be like a modern one.

4 stars

What Comes Echoing Back by Leo McKay Jr. June 6, 2023 🍁

This beautifully written book tells the story of two teens who have separately experienced horrific trauma. They connect in a music class and help each other deal with the shame and quilt as they begin to recover and heal. 

4.5 stars

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo (Author & Narrator) February 13, 2024

"Yangsze Choo brilliantly explores a world of mortals and spirits, humans and beasts, and their dazzling intersection. The Fox Wife is a stunning novel about a winter full of mysterious deaths, a mother seeking revenge, and old folktales that may very well be true."

Some people think foxes are similar to ghosts because we go around collecting qi, or life force, but nothing could be further than the truth. We are living creatures, just like you, only usually better looking . . .

I loved this book so much I didn't want it to end. It's told in two main voices: a young woman who is searching for the man who killed her daughter, and Bao, a detective with power to tell when people are lying. Bao has set off to find out who a frozen woman was and how she ended up there. Both of them are inextricably linked to the fox gods. I might have anticipated some of the ending, but other aspects were a delightful surprise.

4 stars

Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge & (Narrator)

I adored this book for lots of reasons. First, I'm a hard core fan of cosy mysteries and this one is delightful. Second, Julia Child is an important character as the best friend to Tabitha Knight, an American who has come to Paris to stay with her French Grandfather and Uncle (her two men).

After a party at the Child's house, a woman is found dead. It turns out she was stabbed with one of Julia's knives and had Tabitha's contact information in her pocket. Tabitha, with encouragement from her two men and Julia, sets out to find out who the murderer is. The handsome Inspector Merveille isn't impressed with her shenanigans. 

I really liked a lot about this book. I was absolutely engaged in the mystery and terrified with some of the foolhardy things Tabitha got up to. I loved all the cooking and food references. I appreciated the hint of romance (maybe) between the Inspector and Tabitha. 

3 stars

The Bittlemores by Jann Arden (Author & Narrator) 🍁

"On mean Harp Bittlemore’s blighted farm, hidden away in the Backhills, nothing has gone right for a very long time. Crops don’t grow, the pigs and chickens stay skinny and the three aged dairy cows, Berle, Crilla and Dally, are so desperate they are plotting an escape. The one thing holding them back is the thought of abandoning young Willa, the single bright point in their life since her older sister, Margaret, ran away."

The older Bittlemores are the poster couple for dysfunctional parents. After numerous miscarriages, Mrs Harp convinced her husband to steal a baby for her. Since then their daughter, Margaret, ended up getting pregnant at 14, having the baby, running away from home and leaving her child behind. Willa is now 14, knows about her mother, and is starting to suspect something nefarious might have happened to her. 

Harp has deteriorated into a lazy, cruel drunk who only finds pleasure when he is torturing his livestock. Mrs Bittlemore enjoys baking, but not eating. She has become obese while Mr Bittlemore remains scrawny. They are both becoming unhinged. 

A new police officer is working to solve a long list of cold cases. She's searching to find out what happened to a baby kidnapped at birth twenty nine years earlier. Margaret has decided that it is time to return home and collect her daughter. They all show up on the day the Bittlemores set out on a killing spree. 

If you like dark, twisted, black humour, then this book is probably up your alley. My sister and I listened to it while we were travelling on our way to the coast and back. 

ADULT/YA NON FICTION

4 stars

The New Climate War by Michael E. Mann January 12, 2021

Michael E. Mann is a renowned climate scientist. He is responsible for the hockey stick graph showing the earth's increasing temperature since industrialization. He has been pilloried by the fossil fuel industry, but remains positive about the potential for change. In this book he "shows how fossil fuel companies have waged a thirty-year campaign to deflect blame and responsibility and delay action on climate change, and offers a battle plan for how we can save the planet." His is a mostly positive look at where we are at with respects to the battle to save the planet from climate change. I learned a lot about how fossil fuel industry strategies work to misinform, misdirect and deflect. He talks about how industry strategists ('inactivists') obstruct any action to make change. At the same time he accuses some  climate activists of doing the same thing. I applaud Mann's work. In spite of this, I am distressed by his dismissal of those who call for a green new deal. He claims that if climate activists want to get moderate Republicans on side working to mitigate the climate crisis, then proposals for change need to be more moderate. He's not a proponent of a new green deal and comes across as frustrated because some left wing climate activists disagree with carbon tax. I wish he had addressed how the last New Deal failed BIPOC, and revealed how he meant to ensure this wouldn't happen again. I think the issue is far more nuanced than he acknowledges. 

CURRENTLY

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky May 2, 2017

More Than Money: How Economic Inequality Affects Everything by Dyer, Hadley 🍁

UP NEXT (MAYBE)

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang May 16, 2023

READING GOALS 

#MustRead2024 11/25 

NonFiction 16/24 two on the go

Canadian Authors 28/50 one on the go

Indigenous Authors 8/25

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 98/200