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'm still dealing with this ear/sinus infection and ruptured eardrum. It has made it difficult to focus and concentrate. Thank goodness for lists or I would get nothing accomplished. Other than that, life is good.
I went to a workshop last Monday and managed to get my sister's birthday present finished. Creating these mats is a brilliant way to use up fabric and batting scraps. Her birthday isn't for a couple of weeks, but I'm pretty sure she is too busy to read my blog, so I can share it with you here.
I've started and abandoned a number of books in the past couple of weeks. They just left me feeling too anxious. One of these is Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. I returned the audiobook to the library and will eventually read this one with my eyes. As you can tell from the list below, I am mostly interested in nonfiction these days, although it too can ratchet up the anxiety and ire.
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.
Knight Owl by Christopher Denise March 15, 2022
This is an important book. It's loaded with all kinds of important messages - about how to persevere to reach a goal, about how to deal with fear, about how to turn an enemy into a friend.
That it is gorgeously illustrated and full of humour just adds to it's appeal.
CHILDREN'S NONFICTION
Kapaemahu by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Joe Wilson, Dean Hamer, Daniel Sousa (Illustrator) June 7, 2022
In ancient times four Mahu, two spirited (both male and female) beings, visited Honolulu. Each of them had a special power of healing. Before they left, the people brought huge stones from the mountain to Waikiki beach. These Mahu infused the stones with their power before they vanished. Over time the stones were almost forgotten, but have been returned to a place of honour. Unfortunately, the modern retelling of the story leaves out the Mahu nature of the beings.
This book is an adaptation of animated film by the same name. The book is fine, mostly because the artwork is spectacular, but I preferred the award winning film.
ADULT NONFICTION
Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit (Author & Narrator) October 11, 2022
This is like a literary venn diagram with multiple narratives circling round and touching base at Orwell's roses. Then they meander off into new realms. The book delves into different aspects of Orwell's life, the times he lived in, and even into the story behind supermarket roses today.
It is fabulous!
The Power of Story: On Truth, the Trickster, and New Fictions for a New Era by Harold R Johnson 🍁 October 11, 2022
This is a book to savour - to read a bit at a time and let the teaching fill you up before you go back for more.
I thought I had a pretty good take on the power of story. Then I read this book and realized I had only scratched the surface.
Johnson shows us the power in both micro and macro aspects of story. It drives our most intimate relationships. "We are the stories we tell ourselves." Story also drives the kind of society and world we live in. "Both capitalist and socialist stories depend upon the exploitation of the earth's resources. A capitalist will cut down the last tree if there's money to be made. A socialist will cut down the last tree so long as the worker doing the cutting belongs to a trade union."
This book is full of guidelines for how to live a rich and satisfying life so that "Every one of our days should be good enough to die in.... We have to practise writing those days until we can fill our lifestory with pages so good that endings don't frighten us anymore."
And my favourite takeaway is this, “Giving a shit is a powerful story.”
I do have a few quibbles with bits of this, but if you are looking for a book to change the way you see the world, I'm pretty sure this is it.
CURRENTLY
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in A Toxic Culture by Gabor Maté, 🍁
UP NEXT
Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah 🍁
The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jenny Ferguson 🍁
READING GOALS
#MustReadFiction 5/24
#MustReadNonFiction 2/20 2 in progress
Canadian Authors 14/75 1 in progress
Indigenous Authors 9/20
Canada Reads Finalists 3/5
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 56/200