Showing posts with label Canada Reads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canada Reads. Show all posts

#IMWAYR February 13, 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 fighting another respiratory tract infection. After two weeks I finally called the doctor and started antibiotics. The upshot is that I have not been able to focus on much of anything, never mind my reading. I especially haven't been able to handle anything that makes me anxious!

I almost passed on this weeks post, but next week is Family Day here in British Columbia, and my sons are arriving with their kids. It will be glorious mayhem, but given that they leave on Monday, there will be no writing time. 

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

5 stars

Loujain Dreams of Sunflowers by Lina al-Hathloul, Uma Mishra-Newbery & Rebecca Green (Illustrator) February 8, 2022

Loujain, a young girl, yearns to fly. She longs to see the colours of the world only available to those who can. She is told that this is something only boys can do. Eventually her father breaks tradition and teaches his daughter. This in turn leads to other girls getting wings.
This book is a metaphor for the real Loujain's experiences. When the book was written, the author's sister, Loujain al-Hathloul, was still in prison in Saudi Arabia for campaigning to lift Saudi Arabia's ban on women driving. A note in the back matter reveals that she has been released from prison but lives under extreme constraints.

4.5 stars

Pretty Perfect Kitty-Corn by Shannon Hale, LeUyen Pham (Illustrations) March 8, 2022
I love the feminist messages in this book about friendship, about not needing to be perfect, about being good enough just as you are. I read the digital version, but plan to have a hard copy here from the library when my unicorn crazed granddaughter arrives next weekend. LeUyen Pham's illustrations are delightful as usual.

"Rooted in the historical displacement and relocation of members of the Chemawawin First Nation from their ancestral homeland, The Move is a bilingual story of two Cree Elders adjusting to life in their new environment."
In this illustrated short story, an elderly couple are moved from their abundant homeland to a barren landscape. Over time and help from the spirit world it is gradually transformed into a landscape populated with trees and berries that enable them to live the kind of life they once did. In turn they teach their grandchildren about the old ways.
I didn't rate this because my library only had a digital book. It sucks compared to the actual hard copy. In the digital book the illustrations look like tiny inserts. It's really a shame because Alyssa Koski's artwork in the actual book is gorgeous!


GRAPHIC


4 stars

Crunch by Kayla Miller by August 30, 2022

Olive is the kind of person who gets excited about new ideas and ventures. When she ends up taking on too many out of school projects, she gets overwhelmed. Eventually she learns to let go of those things she isn't passionate about, ask for help with other endeavours, and focus on what is important.
These are important thing to learn at any age!

 ADULT YA NOVELS


When I discovered I had not read this Rivers of London novel by Ben Aaronovitch, I was absolutely delighted. I very nearly swooned to discover that the audiobook version, narrated by the absolutely brilliant Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, was available at my library. 
I am probably such a fan of this series that I'm incapable of any kind of rational review.
Peter Grant is an ordinary constable who joins a special unit in the police department where he becomes a magician's apprentice. He and his mentor, Thomas Nightingale, solve crimes in London and other regions in England that are beyond the ken of regular policing. This literary world is populated by river Gods and Goddesses and all manner of otherworldly creatures. In this novel, Peter's former work partner, Leslie, in a heist gone wrong, has unleashed some kind of avenging angel. This creature is targeting and murdering people in London. Not even Peter's boss, Thomas Nightingale, has the power to stop her. Peter has to come up with a plan to stop her ASAP since Beverly, his River Goddess partner, is about to give birth to their twin daughters.
Now I just have to wait for June when the next in this series will be ready!

CURRENTLY

Half Bads in White Regalia by Cody Caetano ๐Ÿ
I am gobsmacked by the writing in the this one. Yet at the same time as I am in thrall of the word-smithing, I'm horrified for the characters. 

Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye ๐Ÿ
This is not a book for escapist enjoyment. It's bloody, brutal and full of tension. I was too sick this week to handle the intensity of it for more than a bit at a time. 

UP NEXT 

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia ๐Ÿ
Greenwood by Michael Christie ๐Ÿ

READING GOALS 

#MustReadFiction 5/24

#MustReadNonFiction 0/20

Canadian Authors 10/75

Indigenous Authors 4/20

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 41/200


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#IMWAYR February 6, 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.

Both fabric arts workshops I attended the last couple of Mondays were brilliant. I learned a lot! I'm now working on a project of my own inspired by the paintings of Alma Thomas. 

Life was busy last weekend and last week so I didn't even try to come up with a post. Instead, I got a caught up on my reading and today I'm sharing two weeks of reading. 

I've decided to join Beverly A Baird & Linda Schueler in their Free Verse Fridays. On the first Friday of the month, we post a poem written on a theme. You can read my February contribution at the link below. 

Even though the shortlist has been announced, I'm still reading books from the longlist of Canada Reads. For those of you who don't know what this is, you can read more about it here. Essentially a number of books, authored by Canadians, are chosen to represent a theme. This year the theme is one book to shift your perspective. Five books are championed by five different celebrities who debate them on CBC across four days. Each day a different book is voted off. 

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.

BLOG POSTS LAST WEEK

FREE VERSE FRIDAY #2 WINTER



Nathalie Dion's illustrations are glorious. Right off the bat this huge expanse of sky and a line of horizon it took my breath away.

Kumo is a small cloud who has stayed away from the spotlight. When she is called upon to provide shade, she is fearful and full of self doubt. She soon learns that closing your eyes is a bad idea, but with the help of others, manages to figure out how to carry out her responsibility. She even ends up making some new friends. 


Blanket by Ruth Ohi August 2, 2022  ๐Ÿ

Cat wakes up to a grey day. Not even the bluebirds outside their window make a difference. They hide under their blanket until a friend, Dog, arrives. Dog listens, reads, plays and sits with Cat until they feel better.
This is a profound book about sadness and understanding that just being there with someone really helps.


This is a perfect example of a picture book for adults - or at least for older readers. At first it seems like it's going to be about a child excited that their uncle is arriving tomorrow. It's not. Each page shows the child aging and waiting for the uncle who never arrives. Notes in the back matter make it very clear that this is a book about the disappeared.
 

When Gigi's grandfather comes to visit, their language and cultural differences distress her. With the help of her mother, and a grandfather eager to connect with her, they manage to bond. 


MG NOVELS


This is an intergenerational novel full of humour, worry, and love. Two children, Leo and Lizzie, end up alone with their unknown Grampa when their parents go to spend a few days a spa. While they are gone someone steals the farm's beehives. The trio end up on a wild adventure as they try to solve the mystery of the stolen hives. 
I encourage you to go and read my full review of this book. Then you should purchase it. 

5 stars

A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger, Kinsale Hueston (Narrator) & Shaun Taylor-Corbett (Narrator) November 09, 2021

It's taken me ages to finally get to this book. I've had it checked out of the library a couple of times before finally getting to it. Maybe adding it to my #MustReadList helped?
It's told from two perspectives. Nina, a Lipan Apache girl, is a story teller who believes there is more out there than just our ordinary world. Oli is a cottonmouth youth who lives in the spirit world. When a catastrophe on earth causes one of his friends to become deathly ill, he and some friends visit in an effort to find a cure.
That summary doesn't come close to explaining how subversive and smart, and how brilliant and beautiful this book is. If it's not on your list, go and add it now! It is really neither a MG, YA, or an Adult read. It's a story for everyone!

 ADULT YA NOVELS

4 stars

Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin & Ulka Simone Mohanty (Narrator) April 13, 2021 ๐Ÿ

I probably wouldn't have finished this except that it was on the Canada Reads Longlist. 
I had a hard time getting into it because I thought it was going to be a romance along the same lines as the movie, "You've Got Mail." I worried that it would be full of angst. 
There is some of that here, but oh so much more! Readers are introduced to aspects of history of the Southeast Asian diaspora - especially as it pertains to the role of women. We see what it's like to deal with Islamophobia and racism.
What I mostly adored were the characters. Even the secondary ones have personalities, backstories and their own problems. The romance, when it really happened, was just lovely. 
I'm glad I read it. 

Nina Totenburg's memoir integrates the story of her own life with that of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ruth was the same age as my mother and Nina is about 10 years older than me. I remember the struggles these trail blazers had to endure as professional women in a male dominated culture. Despite the very real challenges women and girls face today, our lives are much easier because of them. 

CYBILS GRAPHIC


I am unable to comment on these right now, so I'm just sharing quotes the from GoodReads blurbs. As soon as the winners are announced, I will post my reviews of them. 


Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice by Tommie Smith, Dawud Anyabwile & Derrick Barnes September 27, 2022

"On October 16, 1968, during the medal ceremony at the Mexico City Olympics, Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the 200-meter sprint, and John Carlos, the bronze medal winner, stood on the podium in black socks and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice inflicted upon African Americans. Both men were forced to leave the Olympics, received death threats, and faced ostracism and continuing economic hardships."

"An epic sci-fi graphic novel romance between two non-binary characters as they find one another through time, distance, and war. An amazing story that explores the complexity of human nature and what brings us together."


Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas May 17, 2022

"Bree can't wait for her first day at her new middle school, Enith Brigitha, home to the Mighty Manatees--until she's stuck with the only elective that fits her schedule, the dreaded Swim 101. The thought of swimming makes Bree more than a little queasy, yet she's forced to dive headfirst into one of her greatest fears. Lucky for her, Etta, an elderly occupant of her apartment building and former swim team captain, is willing to help."


"a must-have graphic novel about five very different students who are forced together by their school to complete community service... and may just have more in common than they thought."


"A little girl arrives, excited for a beach vacation with her Lao Lao. The girl and her grandmother search for shells, chase crabs, and play in the sea, but when the girl finds an exquisite flamingo feather in her grandmother's living room, her vacation turns into something fantastical."


The Woman in the Woods and Other North American Stories by Kate Ashwin (Editor) et al April 5, 2022

"Tricksters? Rabbits? Rougarou?
Shapeshifters so frightening you shouldn't speak their name? That's just the start of this collection of folklore from the Indigenous people of North America, retold in comic form."

Aiza has always dreamt of becoming a Knight. It's the highest military honor in the once-great Bayt-Sajji Empire, and as a member of the subjugated Ornu people, Knighthood is her only path to full citizenship.


"It’s the first day of sophomore year, and now that Winifred’s two best (and only) friends have transferred to a private school, she must navigate high school on her own."

CURRENTLY

Half Bads in White Regalia by Cody Caetano ๐Ÿ
Crunch by Kayla Miller
Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye ๐Ÿ

UP NEXT 

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia ๐Ÿ
Greenwood by Michael Christie ๐Ÿ

READING GOALS 

#MustReadFiction 3/24

#MustReadNonFiction 0/20

Canadian Authors 9/75

Indigenous Authors 3/20

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 36/200


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#IMWAYR February 7, 2022

Welcome readers! 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. 

Recently, reading anything except news has been hard. 
If you are not Canadian, you might not be aware of what's going on here in our country. It's distressing.
A group of truckers and others (99.9%white) with organizers connected to right wing, white supremacy, occupied our capital city. The citizens of Ottawa are tortured with noise and diesel fumes twenty four hours a day, and harassed for wearing masks. Roads are blocked so that ambulances can't get through. Other cities learned from the errors made in Ottawa, so this weekend, convoys planned in other large centres were thwarted by police and local protestors. On Sunday, more than a week after it began, Ottawa declared a state of emergency.

I am hoping that by the time you read this, the worst of it will be over. 

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

5 stars

Bright Star by Yuyi Morales September 07, 2021

This book is is visually absolutely stunning.
My heart swelled at the beauty of the illustrations of the natural world of the Sonoran Desert. At the same time it aches because of it's destruction by the stupidity of some humans.


Dreamers by Yuyi Morales September 4, 2018

I reread this book after finishing up The Last Cuentista. 
I've gone through this book at least four times. Each time I find something I missed and end up loving it more. It's an homage to the power of libraries, of stories, but even more, its overflowing with the power of love.

GRAPHIC NOVELS

These days I've been reading graphic novels for the Cybils awards. By the time this is posted, we will have decided the winners. As soon as it becomes official, I will create a post sharing my thoughts on all of them.

I finished this last week.


NOVELS


I started out listening to this book but then it became so tense I downloaded an ebook and finished it that way. 
No wonder this won the Newbery. What a story! I am not a huge dystopian literature fan (I get easily terrified) but this book grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go until I finished it. I was deeply, emotionally connected to Petra Peรฑa. 
A comet is headed towards earth and Petra and her family leave the planet on a spaceship. They have been chosen to be part of a group who will survive and continue the human race on a new world. Unfortunately the ship has been infiltrated and taken over byThe Collective, a political group who think that everyone must be the same in order to avoid the conflict that made life on earth dangerous. In their efforts to achieve this, art and storytelling have been banned. 


I'm kind of gobsmacked by this adult book which is a fictionalized account of true events. In 1615, Johannes Kepler's mother was accused of witchcraft. Kepler ended up taking a year off his other work to defend her against these charges.
Aspects of this book are hilarious if you are a fan of black humour. It all seems so absurd until it isn't anymore.
Katharina Kepler was a somewhat cantankerous, illiterate old widow who was left well off after her father's death. People envied her for this and for her son's success. One aspect of this book that distressed me is how financial gain became a factor in why people made the claims they made against her. When she was finally imprisoned, her property was sold to cover the cost of her captivity. Her detractors then complained that there would be nothing left for them.
This book is terrifying in what it shows us about modern day witch hunts and the capacity for people to be riled up over rumour, lies and misinformation. It shows us the consequences of living in the middle of a world of scientific illiteracy and absence of logical and critical thinking. 
But then, I guess we don't need to read a book to figure this out.

CURRENTLY

Spรญlexm: A Weaving of Recovery, Resilience, and Resurgence by Nicola I. Campbell

History Smashers, Plagues and Pandemics by Kate Messner

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy by Anne Ursu

UP NEXT 

Solimar by Pam Muรฑoz Ryan
and whatever else strikes my fancy

READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 3/24 

#MustReadNonFiction 1/18 one in progress

Canadian Authors 8/100 one in progress

Canada Reads shortlist 5/5

Indigenous Authors 2/25 one in progress

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 38/250
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#IMWAYR September 20, 2021

Hello everyone. It's #IMWAYR time again, when readers share what they have been reading and find out what others have been up to in the past week. 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. Whatever you are looking forward to in your next great read, these are fabulous places to start your search.

Today is election day here in Canada. I will get around to reading everyone's posts as soon as the excitement dies down. 

I'm sharing a couple of weeks worth of reading because family events last weekend took precedence. I'm going to be away the next couple of weekends so I figured I better get a post in this week. Next Sunday I will be heading off for a week with women friends. We usually get together on the May long weekend, but the pandemic put it on hold for two years. I am very excited. The following weekend I will be with my grandkids. 

Hope you are all doing well. In spite of getting through a number of books, I am still having a hard time staying focused when reading with my eyes. I appreciate Kelly and Shaye helping me articulate that I've just lost the joy in reading. It feels like work. On Sunday I began sorting through the piles of books from the library. I'm going to return everything that isn't on one of my must read lists or isn't a Canadian author. Thankfully I still enjoy listening to books and I enjoyed the few picture books I did read. 

We had a lovely outdoor birthday tea party for my partner on Thursday. Nobody drank tea, but whatever we imbibed was sipped from fancy teacups and saucers. He enjoyed the home made socks I knit him even if they were not really a surprise. He is now as old as me again. 

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.

RECENT BLOG POSTS


Cary Fagan 

PICTURE BOOKS

5 stars

Watercress by Andrea Wang & Jason Chin (Illustrator) March 30, 2021

Right off the bat, this book reminded me of my mother. She also had eyes "as sharp as the tip of a dragon's claw." Wild asparagus was her speciality.
Like this family, when she spied it, we all climbed out of our car and set off picking bags of it. I'm now thankful that our foraging wasn't fraught with the conflict and history of Andrea Wang and her young protagonist. I will now be keeping my eyes peeled for wild watercress growing in ditches around here.
Jason Lin's artwork is an homage to combining cultures as he brings these memories to life.


A hungry young T Rex has to learn that eating your classmates is a bad idea. It's full of humour, but is also a sweet story about learning to get along with other people, no matter how delicious they look.

4 stars

Peter & Ernesto: A Tale of Two Sloths by Graham Annable April 10, 2018  ๐Ÿ

This is a delightful graphic novel for beginning readers. It's a story about friendship, about opposites attracting, and about moving out of your comfort zone. It's full of humour and sweetness.
It reminds me of Sergio Ruzzer's work.


I had to read this a few times to fully appreciate this board book. I ended up loving both the poem as well as the glorious artwork. It celebrates the different animals found in this part of the world. Poetry doesn't always work in picture books, but this one, with it's repeated refrain of I am Dreaming, the rhythm and rhyme made me want to read it out loud to my grandkids. They aren't here so I read it to myself.


I adore Dena Seiferling's vintage style illustrations almost as much as I appreciate the book's message of accepting who you are without judgement or comparison with others. Check out my full review to find out more and see examples of the art. 

CHAPTER BOOKS

5 stars

Charlie & Mouse Outdoors by Laurel Snyder,  Emily Hughes (Illustrator) March 03, 2020

I'm such a fan of this series. It tells the story of Charlie & Mouse and their parents on a camping trip. It's a celebration of the power of imagination.

SHORT STORIES 


"Set on five continents and spanning nearly a century, We Two Alone traces the long arc and evolution of the Chinese immigrant experience. A young laundry boy risks his life to play organized hockey in Canada in the 1920s. A Canadian couple gets caught in the outbreak of violence in Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The consul general of China attempts to save lives following Kristallnacht in Vienna. A family aspires to buy a home in South Africa, during the rise of apartheid. An actor in New York struggles to keep his career alive while yearning to reconcile with his estranged wife."

I loved this collection of short stories. They took me far away from my small town in the middle of nowhere. I followed the Chinese diaspora across a hundred years of time and space. Many of these stories were heartbreakingly uncomfortable to read, (or in my case, listen to.) I am enriched and enlightened by all of them.

NOVELS


A young girl plans for a secret sleepover at her absent grandparent's home. It ends up with her being left behind when her community and the surrounding area are evacuated. The neighbour's dog becomes her companion. As the years stretch on, she deals with looters, wild animals, fires and floods.


Malian, a young Wabanaki girl, is quarantined at her Grandparent's home during the Covid 19 quarantine. A stray dog makes its home with them during her stay there.
I liked a lot about this book. I liked the community that looks after one another and the stories by her grandparents that help Malian become more rooted in her culture. I loved the intergenerational relationship.

ADULT NOVELS

This is an exquisitely written debut novel about a Nigerian family. Kehinde and Taiye are twins who, after a bad thing happened, have grown apart. The story moves back and forth in time unravelling what happened, detailing their lives as they travelled the world. They return to Lagos to be with their mother, Kambirinachi, who believes that she is an Ogbanje, a non human spirit who should have died, but stayed alive out of love for her human family. Together the family finds a way to be at peace with themselves and each other.
The descriptions of food in this book are probably some of the finest I've ever read. I was hungry nearly all the time. #CanadaReads


I picked this from NetGalley because, thanks to my sons, I am a fan of Josh Ritter as a singer/songwriter. I am now an enthusiastic supporter of his work as an author. 
Weldon Applegate could well have been any one of my many uncles who followed their father into the wilderness to cut down ancient trees. I see many of them in his character, but especially my Uncle Harry, who had tears in his eyes when he took my father and our family to see the new technology of helicopter logging. Check out my full review here to find out more.


This might be my favourite of the series. It integrates reality and fiction. Yes, there is a murder mystery, but there is so much more. It's set at an imaginary end of the Covid 19 pandemic when everyone is vaccinated and everyone is safe. It asks the question, can we ever justify killing? It examines how love can be a motivation for murder. It addresses the lack of morality around our treatment of the aged and disabled. Gamache is haunted by the conditions he found in care homes in Quebec during the outbreak. I am wondering if the research he is gathering will be dealt with in a new book. 

CURRENTLY

The (Other) F Word: A Celebration of the Fat and Fierce by Angie Manfredi 
The Great Bear by David A. Robertson
The Silence of Bones by June Hur

UP NEXT

Flight of the Puffin by Ann Braden
A huge pile of picture books

BLOG POSTS PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK (Hopefully)

The Great Bear by David A. Robertson
Gemma and the Giant Girl by Sara O'Leary

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS

#MustReadIn2021 25/25 

#MustReadNFIn2021 9/12

#MustReadPBIn2021 54/100 

Big Book Summer Challenge 9 

Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 31/25

Books by Canadian Authors: 89/100

Canada Reads 2021 5/5 

Discworld Series 41/41

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 333/333 

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