Showing posts with label Heroes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heroes. Show all posts

The Great Glorious Goddamn of It All by Josh Ritter


Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this adult novel. It was released September 7, 2021 by Hanover Square Press.

At the turn of the century, from the late 1800’s on, my grandfather logged his way across the United States and north into Canada. He owned his own company and my grandmother cooked for the crew. My mother was the last of their 17 children. All my uncles were lumberjacks. Many of their male children were jacks. My father married my mother and joined their ranks. They were tough, untamed men with hearts as big as the forests they decimated.

I tell you this because I want you to know that when I tell you how authentic the voice in this novel by singer/songwriter Josh Ritter is, I know what I’m talking about.

From the Goodreads blurb:
“In the tiny timber town of Cordelia, Idaho, ninety-nine year old Weldon Applegate recounts his life in all its glory, filled with tall tales writ large with murder, mayhem, avalanches and bootlegging. It’s the story of dark pine forests brewing with ancient magic, and Weldon’s struggle as a boy to keep his father’s inherited timber claim, the Lost Lot, from the ravenous clutches of Linden Laughlin.” 
From his hospital bed, the mythic Weldon Applegate moves back and forth in time narrating the two interwoven threads of his life.

One is the story of his youth and coming of age. His father, Tom, was a lumberjack who gave up logging for his mother. Upon his mother’s death, thirteen year old Weldon and his father moved to operate a store in the small timber town of Cordelia, Idaho. Tom had inherited the Lost Lot, a treacherous timber claim on a mountain just outside the town. They hadn't been there long when the legendary Linden Laughlin showed up and connived his way into their lives. Tom was seduced into breaking his vow to his wife and headed out logging the Lost Lot with Laughlin. He died on the mountain soon afterwards. The magnitude of Laughlin’s evil becomes obvious when, in an attempt at stealing Weldon's inheritance, he terrorizes Weldon and Sohvia, the Witch woman who lived with them. Once Weldon realizes he can’t sell the Lost Lot, he returns to Cordelia, gathers supplies and courage, and heads up the mountain to work with the crew.

In the story of his later years Weldon talks about his more recent mortal enemy, Joe Mouffreau, son of the original mill owner. Joe is a greedy braggart about 15 years younger than Weldon. “A lot of people had to perish to keep Joe’s war stories fresh, but it was a sacrifice that he was willing to make.” If the two of them are enemies in life, they represent conflict on a much larger scale. Theirs is difference in world views. It's the difference between integrity and deceit. It's the difference between generosity and greed. It's the difference between preserving the natural world and destroying it. Weldon, after working the mountain in his thirteenth year, never felled another tree on his land. He ended up giving it to a Nature Preservers group. In contrast, Joe clearcut the mountain he inherited from his father. 

Ritter’s beautifully crafted words transport the reader into an enchanted forest and logging town right smack in the middle of this coming of age tale. Along with Weldon, they get to figure out just what it means to be a hero. I wish I had Ritter's way with words to tell you how brilliant this books is. Weldon is as authentic a character as any I have ever read. He could well have been any of my relatives. Reading his story brought them back to me in all their rough hewn glory.
Posted by No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Poetry Friday November 8, 2019 - Bravo! Poems About Amazing Hispanics

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Irene Latham at Live Your Poem. She shares Words of Peace and Wisdom by Native Americans and a poem of her own inspired by them.

 Don't forget to check out the links to other participants sharing poetry today.

 Last week I found this book of poetry in a library I was working in. I had to bring it home because of the author and the illustrator. Seriously, who could resist this cover?

I've read it at least three times and pored over the illustrations. The book contains poems about eighteen important hispanic individuals who lived in what is now known as the United States of America. The earliest character, Juan De Miralles, was born in the early 1700's and one of the most recent, Baruj Benacerraf, died in 2011. Women and men are highlighted. Many of them are mixes of African and indigenous peoples. Their contributions are diverse. Some, but not all of them are famous. I knew of a few of these people, but most were new to me. The back matter contains short biographies of each of them.

 The poetry is exquisite. I was already a Margarita Engle fan, but her work here is profound. If you don't know her wordsmithing, you are in for a treat. She manages to reveal much about each person with her straight forward deceptively simple free verse. The first person narrative has lines that will blow your mind.

 Here are a few snippets from the poems:
Julia de Burgos 1914 - 1953

 MY RIVER OF DREAMS

 Six of my twelve brothers and sisters
died of hunger, but my gentle mother
took me for long walks
beside a river
of beautiful dreams.

 I learned to love nature and the island,
even though we were so poor that I
had to climb into classrooms
through a window, because we
could not afford school tuition.
...
Juana Briones 1802 - 1889

 ON MY OWN

 This is a land of good herbs
and great sorrows -- the conquest
of los indios, my soldier-husband's
cruel job.
....
I survive as a rancher and healer,
curing the sick with medicinal plants,
and healing myself
with independence.


Rafael López' art is as gorgeous as the poetry. Each portrait reveals information about the individual's character. Other details hint as to their time and place.

 Ever since I finished this collection, I've been thinking about my grandmother. Margarita Engle has inspired me to work on a poem about her and her life. Here is a rough draft of a beginning stanza.
When I was a young girl
I saw Buffalo Bill’s
Wild West Show.
That’s why
I learned to shoot
and how Annie Oakley
came to be my hero.
Posted by 18 comments:
Labels: , , , ,

#IMWAYR February 24, 2018


#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.
I am slowly recovering from the plague that kicked me to the curb and nearly knocked me out. Hopefully I'm done with oral steroids, for which I shall be eternally grateful.

I've been working in a school library for the last few weeks and am looking forward to continuing until Spring Break. To acknowledge Black History Month, I have been creating a display with books written by black authors and black characters. While students of all ages spend time looking at the picture books, I've been especially pleased to see older students, even if they don't check them out, reading them. I also started collecting a few books for Pink Day this coming week. I should have written a blog post about these books but had no energy or time.

Although I talked about this book last Monday, I must to give another shout out to Otis and Will Discover the Deep: The Record-Setting Dive of the Bathysphere by Barb Rosenstock & Katherine Roy. Last week I read it to groups of students from grades two to seven. All of them were enthralled, but I think the older students were more engaged than the younger ones.

In my non-reading life, my daughter-in-law and I have planned and cut out fabric for a quilt to make for her newest nephew in Korea. I've managed to almost finish a baby sweater to send to him. I just need to get some buttons to sew on. I've machine stitched the binding on two other quilts and am in the process of hand stitching those. I've started planning my next project, a quilt for my other son and his partner. I'll post photo's next week when they are finished.

 Clicking on the title of the book will take you to the Goodreads page if you want to add it to your list. 

PICTURE BOOKS

5 stars

I have heard people talk about Pink and Say, but finally got around to reading it.
It is a profound story about friendship and courage against the backdrop of the Civil War. (How can a war be called civil?)
I was even more impressed to discover that the book is based on a true story.

4 stars

This beautifully illustrated book shows one black child and one white child pondering philosophical questions of why we are who we are, and what makes us this way. It’s their coming together at the end that makes the book for me.

4 stars

I reread this book while searching for books appropriate for pink day. This one, that looks at the the consequences of bullying and articulates a possible solution, is perfect.
Susan Hughes and Carey Sookocheff are both Canadian talent!

NONFICTION PICTURE BOOKS

5 stars

This book highlights some of the freedoms that are articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Each brilliantly illustrated page interprets one of these freedoms along with a quote. World renowned authors and Illustrators are showcased on each double page spread. A section in the back matter provides a bit of additional information about each one of them. It also contains information about Amnesty International and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The book begins with a forward by Michael Morpurgo.

GRAPHIC

4 stars

This was hilarious. AJ and his friends are just starting grade six. He's sure that this year will be different until school actually starts and everything seems to be the same as before. His two best friends, Hunter and Ivy, are always competing over something. AJ has a hard core crush on Nia, the smartest girl in the school. She doesn't seem to know he exists. Things look up when their cool new teacher from England pairs them up on a research project. Because Nia is obsessed with vampires, AJ begins to take on the persona of one. This nearly ends in disaster as the real vampire in their midst makes nefarious plans.
Whitney Gardner is an author illustrator from Victoria, BC, in Canada. 


Maybe I wasn't quite as wowed by this one as I was by The Witch Boy, (which won the Cybil) but I still enjoyed it a lot. It might even be a contender next year. Charlie befriends a new girl at school, Ariel. After years of abandonment and bullying, Ariel is full of anger and distrust. Following a miscommunication, she puts a curse on Charlie, who then goes to Aster for help. I love how this series is full of magic and adventure, but at the same time, addresses issues in the real world.

NOVELS


Lucy Wu is a character I'll be carrying around with me for a while. She's authentic, complicated, and full of heart.
Grade six is supposed to be her best year ever. She is looking forward to getting her room to herself now that her sister is heading off to college. Then she learns that her grandmother, Po Po, had a younger sister, Li Po, who is coming for an extended stay with them. Lucy has to share her room with her. To make matters worse, instead of focusing on basketball, her passion, Lucy is forced to go to Chinese school. Adding to her troubles, she ends up getting bullied by Sloane, a girl at school.
Of course it all ends up fine in the end with Lucy learning a lot, making new friends, and becoming a better person.
I loved Lucy's family and friends and readers will too. My only wish is that Sloane's character was more developed.

As an aside, I got this book mixed up with another by Wendy Wan-Long Shang, The Way Home Looks Now, that is on my MustRead List this year. But it's all good because now I am looking forward to reading that one even more!


I loved this book about Else, a precocious, almost eight year old and her obstreperous grandmother. Their relationship plays out within the synthesis of an allegorical fairytale tale world, the Land-of-Almost-Awake, and their practical day to day reality. What holds it all together is unyielding love.
They live in a house full of flats. When the grandmother dies, Else discovers that the stories of the Land-of-Almost-Awake are connected to the other tenants in the building.
The book is about love and loss. "The mightiest power of death is not that it can make people die, but that it can make the people left behind want to stop living. It's also bout making mistakes and acknowledging them. Maybe seven year olds do deserve super heroes, but that doesn't mean super heroes have to be perfect. They are good enough just by being honestly who they are.

NONFICTION


Alex Colville is a world renowned Canadian Painter. I discovered his art through Horse and Train while still in high school. Horse and Train, which was used as an album cover by Bruce Cockburn in 1973, remains one of his iconic works, although apparently, Pacific, a painting of a man and a gun, sells most reproductions. Both exemplify the tension that is a hallmark of his work. 

While I was still working full time I went in search of a children's book to introduce my elementary students to his work. I found nothing then and can find nothing now. I'm still searching and might have to write one myself. In the mean time, I'm learning as much as I can about him.

The book is composed of photographs, reproductions, text and even a graphic novel component at the end. It was written to accompany an exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario. I appreciated learning how societal factors outside his quiet community influenced his work. It was also fascinating to see how his work has influenced other artists from different mediums. Although I already knew how meticulous and mathematical Colville was, I was surprised at how many studies he completed before finally finishing a painting.

The writing is nearly as stunning as the paintings themselves. There are two forwards, one by Matthhew Teitelbaun and the other by Marc Mayer. Andrew Hunter writes an introduction before the main body of the text. I found that Marc Mayer captured the essence of Colville's art with these words,
"Although his scenes were intimate, his subjects familiar, they did not necessarily offer comfort... In his unforgettably hypnotic paintings, Coville constantly questions whether we can ever know others, let alone ourselves. He reveals the false security that is often bred by familiarity."
Next I'm planning on rewatching the NFB production, Alex Colville: The Splendour of Order.
Everyone connected with this book is Canadian.

CURRENTLY

I'm still listening to There There by Tommy Orange and am searching all over for my copy of Homegoing by Yaa Gyasiy. I need to it have finished by next Monday!

UP NEXT

I'm still craving middle grade novels. Luckily, The Way Home Looks Now is in transit for me to pick up at my local library. I have Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny ready to listen to next (maybe). Depending on how much time I have, I'll start The Lies that Bind: Rethinking Identity by Kwame Anthony Appiah.

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS

#MustReadIn2018 4/25

#MustReadNFIn2018 4/12

25 Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 5/25

25 books by Canadian Authors 16/25

Goodreads Reading Challenge 71/333


Posted by 17 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

#IMWAYR January 7, 2019


#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.



New Years Day my partner and I headed off to our Okanagan house for a few days of rest and relaxation. I planned to go on long walks but slammed my foot into something and ended up damaging one of my toes. It made wearing shoes impossible. Wool socks with flip flops worked to go visiting, but isn't conducive to wandering outside in winter. We arrived safely back in Vancouver late Sunday after a bit of a harrowing journey through sections of snow and icy highway. 

One of my plans this year is to highlight books by Canadian authors. We are so close to the USA that our brilliant writers can easily get overlooked. I'm also wondering if I should actually try to read less. It's hard to keep track of even the best books with so many to remember. My rememberer doesn't work as well as it once did. How do you all keep track?

BLOG POSTS LAST WEEK



PICTURE BOOKS

4 stars

I read this and was so awed I put the book down to come back to it again. I think it was better the second time round. Frané Lessac's art is spectacular. This book does two important things. First it shows us modern indigenous people living lives steeped in their culture. Second, while focusing on those aspects of their lives that they are grateful for, it reminds all of us to be thankful for the ordinary as well as the extraordinary aspects in our own lives. Cherokee vocabulary is integrated into Traci Sorell's text. I appreciated the pronunciation guide at the bottom of the pages. 

4 stars

This is a multilayered book about overcoming our fears. Jo is afraid of what lives beneath the surface of the ocean. When her father is too ill to deliver bottles full of messages, she has to take on his job. Not only does she overcome her fears, she discovers that many of them are imaginary and makes new friends.
Cale Atkinson is Canadian author. He makes his home in the beautiful province of BC. 

5 stars

A young boy accompanies his father while he works as a janitor at a school. Lyrical is the best word to describe the gorgeous writing in this book. Karen Hesse's words are breathtaking.
We pull into our space.
Dad hauls out a ring of keys
as big as the rising moon.
He opens the door,
and the building sighs.
Come, it whispers to us.
G. Bryan Karas' grey toned illustrations capture both the ambience of the night and the loving relationship between the two of them.

4 stars

I'm glad I don't have to decide what I like best about this series: the illustrations or the stories themselves. I love how Woollvin twists these traditional tales wherein strong women and girls vanquish evil. I also love her artwork. It's mostly black and white with one other color. In this case it's the yellow of Rapunzel's hair.

NONFICTION PICTURE BOOKS

5+ stars

This was my first nonfiction picture book of 2019. It sets a very high bar for the rest of them to meet.
Matthew Forsythe's illustrations are beyond stunning. They are mesmerizing. I want a framed copy of the page that shows Ken Nedimyer as a young boy sitting on the beach staring out at the golden ocean. I love how Nedimyer has captured the essence of this young boy with his hair whorl and ears sticking out. His art unites with Kate Messner's lyrical text to create a spectacular book that is both informative and inspirational.
I wonder if they can collaborate on a new book explaining why the sea urchins died and what is being done about this.

4 stars

Each two page spread begins with the question, Do you see my tail? This is followed by a brief description and another question, Guess who I am? Lifting the flap on the next page reveals the animal. I like this book and think that my grandchildren will too. I'm reserving the right to change my evaluation of this book depending on what they think.

3.5 stars

This is a fun informative toon book that introduces readers to snails. It provides detail about their biology, their predators and reproduction. I liked the use of comparisons to other animals to show how fast they move. I had no idea that snails make mucus roads that other snails follow, but that does account for why some of my plants get devoured before others.

NONFICTION

3.5 stars

Back in the 1960’s and 70’s my sister and I sang along to our treasured Joni Mitchell albums. We knew all the lyrics. These days when I run into another fan we often end up crooning our favourites together. I feel as though I have met a soulmate if they can join me in Twisted.
Thus I was excited to see this biography. I enjoyed Xe Sands’ narration and appreciated learning the backstory that led to the different albums. 
It's just, sometimes you don’t want to know exactly everything about your idols. You want them to maintain their mythic status. You don’t want to learn about their pettiness and flaws. You don’t want them to be human.
I would be lying if I told you I loved this book. I almost abandoned it at one point, but didn’t and am glad I finished it. It turns out that it’s ok to see that people you admire are just human after all. It made me appreciate Mitchell’s genius even more.
I especially appreciated my Spotify account so I could go and to listen to the music I was reading about. Being able to listen in conjunction with the book turned out to be a brilliant way to appreciate her music and life more deeply. It’s what enabled me to continue when I was ready to give up. In retrospect I think it would be better to have the music in the background while reading the book with my eyes. I recommend it if you decide to give this a go. 

NOVELS

4 stars
This is the first in a charming series with animal characters. It’s for readers moving into longer transitional chapter books. The Heartwood hotel is a hollow tree in a forest that is run by different animals for the benefit of other ones.
It centres around Mona, a spunky mouse, who comes upon the hotel by accident ands stays to work as a maid.
I’m off to find the next in the series.
Kallie George is not only Canadian, she lives in my city!

4 stars

This book took me WAY out of my comfort zone. It's told in two parts. One part is the story of a girl name Sadie, who is searching for her sister's murderer. The other part is the transcription of a podcast about the two girls and what happened to them. It's a dark thriller that brings awareness of child sex abuse and highlights why so many girls go missing.
Courtney Summers is Canadian author who lives in Ontario.

GRAPHIC

4 stars

I loved the story, the world building, the art and the characters in this science fiction graphic novel. I loved that it is entirely populated with individuals who are women or nonbinary. It showcases many different aspects of love within fully authentic relationships. Across the span of the book they all grow and change. Walden's artwork: the buildings, the different parts of the universe, and the boarding school are atmospherically gorgeous. I really appreciated the contrast between the expansiveness of her universe juxtaposed with the intimacy of the connections between the characters.
However, the font is nearly minuscule and unless I was sitting in front of window with the sun shining through, reading the text was an exercise in frustration.

CURRENTLY

I've downloaded and plan to start listening to The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny. I'm reading What If It's Us by Adam Silvera & Becky Albertalli. I've just started The Witch Boy by Molly Ostertag.


UP NEXT

I've got a couple of graphic novels to read, Aquicorn Cove by Katie O'Neill & Illegal by Eoin Colfer. I hope to start Odd One Out by Nic Stone.

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS

#MustReadIn2018 1/25

#MustReadNFIn2018 1/12

25 Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 0/25

25 books by Canadian Authors 3/25

Goodreads Reading Challenge 8/333
Posted by 24 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)