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.
My life is very busy these days. Picking raspberries and trying to keep the weeds under control in the garden takes at least two to three hours a day. In spite of this, I've managed to get some creative projects completed!
Thank goodness for audiobooks!
Here are two baby quilts my sister and I finished for the most recent babies in the extended family.
I started this little bird in a workshop at the end of June and finished it the next day. I was inspired by the humble little house sparrows who live outside my kitchen window.
I made this rug for my brother who shares a birthday with me.
These days I am in the middle of taking apart the recliner that we inherited from my husband's parents. I'm hoping planning to reupholster 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.
MOST RECENT BLOG POST
This is a true story of young girls at residential school. While the horrors of the school are there, this focuses more on how their lives at home and what they learned there, afforded them with resilience and skills that enabled them to survive the school. In this case, the girls used the sewing skills they learned at home to sew secret pockets into their uniforms. With them they were able to pilfer food from the kitchen to feed themselves and younger children.
GRAPHIC NOVELS
Matt Tavares' "graphic novel dramatizes the historic struggle for gender equality in high school sports." It's based on a true story of a girls basketball team in Indiana. He tells the story of the Wilkins Regional High School girls’ basketball team. In 1975, the rookie team, without any support from the school, ended up winning the first state championship. Thanks to Linda Bai for introducing me to this wonderful book. While girl/women's leagues have come a long way, they still don't have the same stature as boys/men sports - even when they play better games.
MIDDLE GRADE FICTION
I thought this would be more of a tear jerker than it ended up being, but it still isn't easy to read. It is the story of Reha, a young girl who's mother ends up with Leukemia. It's also much more than this. It's the story of a daughter of Southeast Asian immigrants trying to make her own way while she straddles being American on the one hand, and maintaining her cultural roots on the other. It's a tale many immigrant children will relate to.
ADULT/YA FICTION
I wanted to love this more than I did. I listened to it while I was out working in the garden or taking my recliner apart. It's full of excitement and danger. Sometimes I was totally engaged in Sunny and her friends magical adventures, but other times I couldn't stay focused.
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| 5 stars |
The Theory of Crows by David A. Robertson (Author and narrator) & Megan Tooley (Narrator) September 13, 2022 🍁
Essentially, this is the story of a father and teenage daughter finding connection and healing while on the land. When the father/grandfather dies, the two of them travel to the bush to find his old trapline and what remains of the house he grew up in. It's a journey fraught with danger and near disaster.
I don't have anxiety issues, but it's obvious that Robertson is intimately acquainted with them.
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| 5 stars |
Provenance (Imperial Radch #4) by Ann Leckie & Adjoa Andoh (Narrator) September 26, 2017
I was so excited to find another book in Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch series! It turned out to be a book set in that world, rather than a continuation of the stories of the characters in the the first three books. I didn't really care. I was just happy to be there. Ingrid/Ingray, is a fascinating protagonist full of contradictions. In a difficult situation, it's a toss up whether she will cry, or act decisively. She is liable to do both. She and her brother are adopted. Both of them are in competition for their mother's affection and inheritance. Ingrid comes up with an audacious plan to free a thief from a prison planet. Not only does it all go wrong from the start, she finds herself mixed up in messy political intrigue and machinations.
ADULT NON FICTION
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| 5 stars |
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong (Author & Narrator) June 21, 2022
I don't say this very often about a nonfiction title, but I didn't want this book to end. Not only is it fascinating, Yong's writing is a pleasure to read (or in this case, listen to.)
I have been thinking about living in a democracy of all living things but not really understanding what this might mean. Ed Yong, by helping us understand the concept of umwelt, and what this means for different species, has enabled me to broaden my understanding of what it entails. At the end of the book he shows us how our activities can harm and or destroy different kinds of animals because we are so unaware of what their worlds are like.
Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin
Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
UP NEXT
Patient Zero by Lydia Kang
READING GOALS
#MustReadFiction 12/24 one in progress
#MustReadNonFiction 9/20 one in progress
Canadian Authors 25/75
Indigenous Authors 11/20
Big Books Summer 2023 - 5 one in progress
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 99/200