Showing posts with label #ClimateCrisis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #ClimateCrisis. Show all posts

FIRST FRIDAY POETRY JUNE 2024

I'm joining Beverly A Baird & Linda Schueler in a "year long poetry practice – on the first Friday of each Month," when we, and anyone else who joins, writes a poem and pairs it up with a photo relating to it.

I had ideas about what to write about this month, and even managed to scribble down a line or two. Then yesterday, I took the backroad home from work.

There has been a lot of talk in our agricultural community about the devastation wrought to local farmers by the cold spell we had in January, but seeing it for myself was a painful eye opener.

The soft fruit trees have survived, although there will be no cherries, apricots or peaches this summer. The grapes, after two years of unusually extreme cold weather, have not fared so well. The annihilation of many local vineyards is nothing short of disaster for owners.


harbingers

not long ago
grape vines
flourished here

row upon row
of leafy abundance
crisscrossed
the valley steppes

now
gnarly black ghosts
haunt the landscape
miserable reminders
of a climate in crisis













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#IMWAYR MARCH 11, 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.


My sister returned from galavanting around the world, so we started working on a quilt for one of our friends. Each May we go away for 4 days with a group of the same women. We have almost finished a quilt for each of them. This friend loves birds so we asked everyone what bird they most resonated with. This quilt is really pushing us way past our comfort zones since we are making our own paper pieced bird blocks. To make matters worse, I started working on these blocks last fall, and can't remember what I was doing. I think I am spending as much time picking out seams as I am sewing. 

The great Canada Reads Debate was last week, so I tried to keep on top of that even though I haven't read all the books. 

Aside from that, I worked two days and spent one day travelling for an appointment a couple of hours away. 

All this means that I didn't finish a whole lot last week. I was almost finished What Comes Echoing Back by Leo McKay Jr. but my book expired and the library took it back. Now I will have to wait to get it again. After than I started a number of books, but abandoned them when I couldn't get into them. I ended up listening to Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands again after just finishing it. I also read, with my eyes, the scary bits of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder that I had skipped over in the audiobook. 

I contemplated just leaving off posting this week, but two of our grandkids will be arriving to stay with us for the next 10 days, and next Sunday, another two will be joining in the fray. I don't expect to find much time for reading, never mind posting about what I am reading, till they have returned home.  

Titles with a ๐Ÿ 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.

PICTURE BOOKS

4 stars

What You Need to Be Warm by Neil Gaiman and illustrators: Yuliya Gwilym, Nadine Kaadan , Pam Smy, Daniel Egnรฉus, Beth Suzanna, Marie-Alice Harel, Petr Horรกฤek, Chris Riddell, Bagram Ibatouilline, Benji Davies, Majid Adin, Richard Jones, & Oliver Jeffers October 31, 2023

Thanks to Myra @ Gathering books for the introduction to this one. 
Neil Gaiman crowd sourced memories of what it means to be warm. He took these ideas and transformed them into a poem. Each page is illustrated by a different artist. Gaiman donated the poem to the UN refugee agency. Funds from the sale of the book go towards keeping people warm. 
It's a beautiful poem full of gorgeous black and white  images with touches of reddish orange. 


All the Beating Hearts by Julie Fogliano & Catia Chien (Illustrator) January 31, 2023

I've gone through this a number of times and with each reread, I find more beauty in both the poem and the images. 




Ice Bears at Ice Edge by Robert Burleigh & Wendell Minor October 17, 2023

Thanks go to Linda Bai for introducing me to this absolutely stunning book!
This tale of a mother polar bear and her cub trapped on a disintegrating ice flow is riveting. Wendell Minor's illustrations are swoon worthy gorgeous. 
I appreciated that two pages in the back matter include additional polar bear facts and details how the climate crisis make their survival as a species precarious.

ADULT/YA FICTION


Slough House by Mick Herron & Gerard Doyle (Narrator) February 9, 2021

This is the seventh book in the Slough House series. I somehow missed it and read number 8, Bad Actors, first. This one filled in a number of gaps. Dianna Taverner, head of MI5 has got herself into a complicated mess. Because of it, a murder team from Russia is trying to kill off the Slough House agents - present and past. 

CURRENTLY

The Faint of Heart by Kerilynn Wilson June 13, 2023
Cobalt: Cradle of the Demon Metals, Birth of a Mining Superpower by Charlie Angus February 1, 2022  ๐Ÿ
The Grace of Things by Heather Fawcett February 14, 2023

UP NEXT (MAYBE)

Besties Work It Out by Kayla Miller

I will continue to deal with the picture books pile.

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: 40/200 
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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 ๐Ÿ 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  ๐Ÿ

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  ๐Ÿ

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  ๐Ÿ
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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IMWAYR September 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. 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.


I am happy to say that our neck of the woods is almost completely smoke free. A couple of fires are burning to the north but they are mostly contained.

Thank goodness for audio books! It's the time of year for canning and preserving. At the same time as I am slogging away, I am living in alternative realities. As a bonus, the shelves in our cool room are filling up with jars full of glorious colours.

Titles with a ๐Ÿ 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.

MOST RECENT BLOG POST

FREE VERSE FRIDAY #8 SEPTEMBER - AUTUMN


"The queen of chess, Judit Polgรกr, dazzled the world as a prodigy, winning tournaments, gold medals, and defeating eleven world champions, including Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen. At her peak, Judit was rated the eighth best chess player in the world."
I confess that I wanted to read this book because I adored the TV series, Queen's Gambit. I just had to learn more about a real woman chess grand master. 
Judit Polgรกr is at least as fascinating (even if the wardrobe isn't as exciting) as her fictional counterpart a couple of decades earlier. 
Judit Polgรกr was a chess prodigy who at five years old, played against and defeated players older and more experienced than she was. At age nine she was winning international tournaments. 
If you don't have this book in your library, you should purchase it now! I really wish it had been around when my school library hosted the school chess club. 

MIDDLE GRADE GRAPHIC NOVELS


Two children from completely different parts of the planet are dealing with the consequences of climate change. While reading this I couldn't help but make a connection to Two Degrees by Alan Gatz. In that book he focuses on children in North America. Eoin Colfer shows us the reality for Sami, a boy who lives somewhere in the Indian Ocean and depends on fishing to make a living. His other protagonist, Yuki, lives in northern Canada where the polar ice is melting. She is doing her best to protect the polar bears around her community.
What I really liked about this book is that, just like in Alan Gatz's book, it shows the consequences of the climate crisis at a personal level. In this case, the images make it profoundly real.

4 stars

From the Roots Up by Tasha Spillett, Natasha Donovan (Illustrator) & Donovan Yaciuk (Illustrator) ๐Ÿ

I could have sworn I wrote a review for this book just after reading it, but if I did, I have no idea where it went.
This continues the story of Dez, and Miikwan, two indigenous friends. Dez' grandmother has died and she is living in a group home. Her social worker is a bit of a nightmare, but the woman at the home seems to be a supportive person who understands that Dez is grieving.
At school the two friends attend an after school group that focuses on indigenous teachings. Linda, the elder who runs the group, doesn't question the gendered protocols she has grown up with. With the help of Miikwan's boyfriend's mother, she starts to change her thinking and comes to accept Dez being two spirit.
I like that both girls are in positive relationships with others, but their friendship is what really matters.
I adore Natasha Donovan's artwork!

ADULT/YA GRAPHIC NOVELS


This graphic novel is spectacular. I went into it expecting something entirely different: something fictional or myth. I was gobsmacked by what I experienced. This book is a time travel. It's a portal that opens a passage into the history of the Haida Gwai, an island of the coast of British Columbia. 
It begins with Indigenous life before contact with Europeans. In spectacular illustrations it reveals the horrors wrought by white colonialists, including the deliberate spreading of small pox. 
At the same time it's the story of Johan Adrian Jacobsen (JAJ), who came to the Haida village of Masset to collect specimens for a German museum.
The artwork is spectacular, a blend of traditional and modern art. It's not organized like an ordinary graphic novel. There is a brilliantly chaotic quality to how it all comes together. I learned at the end of the book that if all the panels are put together it becomes a huge mural that is on display at the Berlin Humboldt Forum. 
The following video, taken during a showing of the mural in East Vancouver, gives you a sense of the piece.


ADULT/YA FICTION


This book was a time warp for me. I remember when the local arts community in Vancouver was devastated by the loss of one creative member after another. My partner, a film maker, was much more aware of the tragedy than I was. As a teacher I was only aware of a couple of people who lost their lives to Aids. The book reminded me of listening to The Dr. Peter Diaries, on CBC radio and singing with the the choir at the Dr Peter's Center.
I was deeply invested in these characters: especially the young man, Yale. I wanted so much for him to be a survivor of the carnage around him. One by one his friends get the disease and die. 
The latter part of the book focuses on Fiona and her estranged daughter. The book begins with the funeral of her brother. It ends with her acknowledging how deeply the epidemic scarred her. 


Lucky St. James, a Mรฉtis, lives in Toronto with her Grandmother. Just as the two of them are about to be evicted from their apartment, Lucky gets invited to go for a job interview in Salem. There she is invited to join a coven of witches. She barely gets to know the other members when she is sent off in search for the final member of the group. 
It takes a while before Lucky realizes that Jay Christos, a truly evil witch hunter is chasing after her. 
On the surface this is a simple paranormal thriller. At the same time it's a deeply feminist book about friendship - about the power of women when we come together to support each other. Lucky's grandmother, Stella, is one of my favourite characters in the book. She is one spunky old woman! 
The book highlights the evils of the patriarchal system. Fortunately, Lucky St. James' mother equipped her with all kinds of indigenous magic for how to deal with it and the men who try to run it. 
I am looking forward to the sequel that I'm sure is coming!

5 stars

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus & Miranda Raison (Narrator) March 31 2022

It took me a bit to get into this book, but when it finally grabbed me, I was totally hooked. Part of the reason for this is that someone had compared it to When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill, and thought this was better. I do get the connection between the two novels, but wouldn't say either was better. Both are set primarily in the 1960's and both feature women in STEM. The anger in Lessons in Chemistry is more of a slow burn, while in When Women Were Dragons, it's a screaming rage. To be honest, this was much easier to read because of that.
It's the story of Elizabeth Zott, a scientist, who never manages to finish her degree because of being sexually assaulted. It's about not being able to pursue your career because you are a woman. It's a bit of a love story between two brilliant and odd individuals. When she is no longer able to work at her chosen profession, Elizabeth ends up working as a TV star on a cooking show where she teaches her watchers about chemistry.
I like the relationships between the women here. I like that even the one that starts out antagonistic becomes supportive. I like that there are some sympathetic men, even if they are not really effectual. I like the weird humour in this. I adored Six-Thirty, who might be one of the best dogs in fiction. 

CURRENTLY

We are Still Here by Nahid Shahalimi (Editor)

The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Witch King by Martha Wells

UP NEXT 

I have no idea.

READING GOALS 

#MustReadFiction 16/24 

#MustReadNonFiction 12/20

Canadian Authors 32/75 

Indigenous Authors 15/20 

Big Books Summer 2023 - 15 - one in progress

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 134/200 
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