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 don't think we’ve ever had so much company in one summer. It seems like the house is barely empty, and then another crew arrives. This week looks pretty quiet until Friday when we will have more house guests!
The garden is out of control these days. Not only do we have more cucumbers, eggplant, beets, tomatoes and Swiss chard than we know what to do with, the weeds are doing their best to take over. I'll be using the down time this week listening to audiobooks and trying to get it under control!
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
I adored Willodeen! If I love a character, I end up loving the book. I loved Willodeen, but I also loved the two older women who took her in after a disaster left her an orphan. I loved Connor, the friend she didn't think she needed. I suspect that when we admire characters, it's much easier to take in the important messages an author sneaks into their novel, and this novel is loaded with them. It's so much more than about a brilliant character coming of age and belonging. It's loaded with important lessons about moving beyond first impressions, acceptance of difference, learning to speak out for what's important, ecological interdependence, and the scientific method.
‘Western Lane is a mesmerising novel about how silence can reverberate within a family in the aftermath of grief. The story unfolds on a squash court; the reader quickly learns how sport can act as a balm for the living. It is also about sisterhood, and about the love that remains after a devastating loss. The language in this novel is truly something to be savoured. Western Lane contains crystalline prose that also feels warm and tender, which can be a difficult balance to strike.’ (Booker Prize)
I was completely invested in eleven-year-old Gopi's world. Since her mother's death, it's been a world of squash, sisterhood, and grief. I know knew nothing about this sport before reading this book, but feel intimately connected to the game now.
"In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known in the neighborhood as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Causeway Housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and in front of everybody shoots the project's drug dealer at point-blank range."
James McBride writes the most brilliant characters. His work is hilarious, heart wrenching, and full of sweetness and hope. I fell in love with his writing in The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. I'm now on a mission to read everything he writes.
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| 3.5 stars |
The Right Sort of Man by Allison Montclair & Sarah Nichols (Narrator) June 4, 2019
I enjoyed this story of a two women from different backgrounds who have opened up a matchmaking business. When one of their clients is murdered, and another is accused of the crime, Miss Iris Sparks and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge are certain the police have it wrong.
This is a great historical mystery series that I plan to read more of.
I am the kind of reader who mostly needs characters I can fall in love with. This is one of those kinds of books. I love the integration of four generations of people coming together to save their community centre and each other.
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| 3 stars |
Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies Catherine Mack & Elizabeth Evans (Narrator) April 30, 2024
This was a mostly fun cosy mystery with a lot of suspects. I appreciated the humour and moments of honesty between the characters.
CURRENTLY
A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver
Lightning Strikes the Silence by Iona Wishaw May 7, 2024 🍁
The Secret Library by Kekla Magoon
I Am Woman: A Native Perspective on Sociology and Feminism by Lee Maracle (2nd edition September 1, 1996) 🍁
UP NEXT (MAYBE)
Betty: The Helen Betty Osborne Story by David Alexander Robertson & Scott B. Henderson (Illustrator) April 27, 2015 🍁
READING GOALS
#MustRead2024 13/25
NonFiction 20/24 one on the go
Canadian Authors 43/50 two on the go
Indigenous Authors 22/25 one on the go
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 145/200
