#IMWAYR February 24, 2015

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. I'm also connecting up with the Sunday Salon. These are fabulous places to start your search for what to read next.


February has been a challenging month! I haven't been able to get much reading done. I've read a lot of news and magazine articles, but not many books. I did manage to finish up my Valentines day fridge magnets, but the grandkids told me they liked the brownies more. 

 
My Aunty Joan finally passed away so the house was full of people for a while. Isn't it fascinating to learn about early life of someone you only new as an over worked wife and mother? I had no idea that in her teen years she took flying lessons to become a pilot!

Then we headed off to Vancouver where we had tickets to see Ronnie Burkett's Wonderful Joe show. We visited with family and friends and tried to do more in six days than we would have done in a month when we were living there.

Adding to all that, the political upheaval has left me feeling worried and anxious. The following cartoon from the New Yorker describes my feelings completely.


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

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BEGINNING CHAPTER BOOKS

4 stars

The Weird Sisters: A Note, a Goat, and a Casserole by Mark David Smith & Kari Rust (Illustrator) April 15, 2022  🍁

When three witch sisters move to the town of Covenly, not everyone is happy. They open up a pet store, and their first customer is Jessica Nibley, who is missing her pet goat. Together they head off in search of the goat, and whoever is sending nasty messages to the new citizens. Thankfully it all turns out alright in the end.
I really appreciated the humour and Kari Rust's fun illustrations. I'm looking forward to reading more of this series and sharing it with my grandkids.
 
YA GRAPHIC


This is the third book in the Surviving the City series. The teens are forced to address the discovery of children's bodies buried on the grounds of residential schools. 
In the end they conclude that together they can help each other and their people heal from the injustices of the past, as well as those in the present. 
Natasha Donovan's art work is just gorgeous. 

YA/ADULT FICTION


In this third book in the Tiffany Aching series, her new mentor, Miss Treason, takes her to a dark Morris dance - a ceremony where Summer passes the world over to Winter. Unable to stop herself, she joins the dancers and the Wintersmith becomes smitten with her. Because of this, she unwittingly disrupts the passage of the seasons and begins to take on some the characteristics of Summer with greenery sprouting from her feet.
Under the direction of Nanny Ogg the Nac Mac Feegles enlist Roland, Tiffany's childhood friend, to be a hero. Once they've taught him how to use a sword, they descend into the underworld to waken and return the real Lady Summer to the world.
There's another subplot where Miss Treason dies and an incompetent witch, Annagramma, is appointed to take over for her. Tiffany and the other young witches figure out a way to help her.
This time round I was more fascinated by Tiffany's relationship with the Wintersmith, who in his effort to woo her, tries his best to become human. At the same time as he terrifies her, she is also flattered that a god is interested in her. In the end, just in time, she figures out how to stop him. It's all part of how Pratchett messes around with Story and in the process, shows us how we too are capable of disrupting them. 


I listened to this, but think it might have been better to have read it with my eyes. Perhaps it's just that I listened to it in bits and pieces and lost track of the individual stories of these remarkable teens who worked at Bletchley Park.
On a positive note, listening to this against the backdrop of current events I was reminded of the brilliance, bravery, and strength of youth and ordinary people in times of war, conflict, and disaster. It inspired me with hope for the future.


This was a book club book. It's a complicated story about being a Yemeni immigrant in Israel. There are two distinct story lines. One tells the story of a young man and woman, Saida, living in a refuge camp in the 1950's. Although the two fall in love, she is already married. The other story line, set in the 1990's focuses on Zohara, one of the woman's daughters. When her mother dies, she returns  for the funeral. While cleaning up the family home, she learns about her mother's life ends up discovering secrets about her past. In the process, she embraces what it means to be Yemeni. 
There are a lot of characters in this book and at times I got confused. I appreciated learning about what it means to be a minority Jew inside Israeli culture. 


Once a year I spend time with women friends in a cabin on the ocean in what is the traditional territory of the Stz’uminus people. On the edges of the Gary Oak forest are the remains of camas plots originally developed by them. In a small bay just north of the cabin are the remains of oyster and clam beds established by these same people. Learning about this place began to change the way I understood what it meant to live in a hunter gatherer society. 
Jennifer Grenz's book helped me grasp this more fully. It is a book meant to change the way we look at and understand the 'natural' world. She shows us that trying to heal ecosystems in North America, and maybe even the world, without knowing how the Indigenous populations lived on the land, will inevitably fail. Part of this is about realizing that these peoples had an active responsibility for shaping and caring for where they lived, but more than this, it's about how they lived and continue to live, in relationship with their land. 

CURRENTLY 

The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich

UP NEXT (MAYBE)

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer November 19, 2024

2025 READING GOALS

#MustRead2025 9/25

NonFiction 8/30 

Poetry 1/12 

Canadian Authors 15/50

Indigenous Authors 4/25

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 29/200

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8 comments:

  1. Ms. YinglingFebruary 24, 2025 at 9:04 AM

    I LOVE the Valentines! Depending on the size, I would wear one as a pin. I'm sorry about your aunt. I only have one remaining, and she's 87. I talk to her once a week. At one time, I had about 20 aunts and uncles. Bletchley is so fascinating, and I did also enjoy The Bletchley Riddle. Hope you have a calmer week!

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    1. Cheriee WeichelFebruary 24, 2025 at 2:38 PM

      I used to have 50 aunts and uncles. I'm now down to three (maybe four, but he is estranged from the family) Aunty Joan was 94. The last seven years of her life since her stroke are not ones I would wish on my worst enemy.
      These Valentines are about 3 by 3.5. I have a few left that I might turn into pins. That's a great idea!

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  2. Linda BFebruary 24, 2025 at 9:32 AM

    I, too, love those Valentines, Cheriee, and put some of the books on my list(s). I was amazed to learn that when the call went out, those "girls" told their families, and left! Not knowing what really was going on that needed them, but went anyway! Thanks for the New Yorker cartoon - needed!

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    1. Cheriee WeichelFebruary 24, 2025 at 2:50 PM

      It's really astonishing how the people who worked there kept their secrets for more than 50 years! I like to think (hope) that youth and indeed all of us, will be ready to step up if necessary.

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  3. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzFebruary 24, 2025 at 9:33 AM

    My Uncle Gene, who was married to my Aunt Joan, passed away recently. My Aunt Joan passed away year before last. It's so sad to lose family.

    Thank you for sharing both your kid books and your grownup books. I like the look of The Weird Sisters a lot!

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    1. Cheriee WeichelFebruary 24, 2025 at 2:40 PM

      It really is sad to lose family. Although I have a few aunts and uncles left, my generation is coming to realize that we are the elders in the family. It's a scary thought.

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  4. Mae TravelsFebruary 24, 2025 at 12:49 PM

    That cartoon really captures the spirit of the times.More and more, I feel as if only cartoonists can express the absurdity of our current (un)reality.
    best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. Cheriee WeichelFebruary 24, 2025 at 2:43 PM

      Thanks Mae. I agree that the cartoon captures the essence of our times. It's so overwhelming it's hard to know what is most important to address first.

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