Showing posts with label Korean Culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Korean Culture. Show all posts

#IMWAYR July 18, 2022

Welcome readers! It's #IMWAYR time again, when bloggers share what they have been reading and find out what others have beouten 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. 

Life is as back to normal as it gets around here. The living room has been cleaned of all grandchildren related clutter. It has been replaced by wood flooring. My partner is refurbishing the stairwell to the front door and basement. The carpet was removed a while ago and now he has replaced the banisters and is putting hardwood flooring on the steps and foyer entrance to the house. It looks gorgeous. 


I finished adding a few inches to the sleeves of this sweater and will post it this week. I made four matching ones but didn't take a picture of them before sending them off.

My neighbour gave me some chartreuse patterned fabric she had planned to sew up for her granddaughters (who are now in their late teens.) So I am working on matching dresses for the granddaughters. I have some similar fabric in a teal green that I will use to make something for the grandson. 

So far I have harvested about 25 pounds of raspberries from the patch and there are probably another 5 pounds left before I cut out those canes. Meanwhile the new canes are flowering in anticipation for the late summer harvest. Aside from making raspberry wine, I'm not sure what I will do with all these berries. Maybe I will just make more wine. 

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.

PICTURE BOOKS 

4 stars

Mommy's Hometown by Hope Lim & Jaime Kim (Illustrator) April 12, 2022

After listening to his mothers stories about growing up in a rural countryside, a young boy is surprised by the large city that has replaced it. What I found most fascinating about this book is that other than the Korean characters on the buildings, this could be a large city anywhere in the world.
The digitally created illustrations are rich in colour and light. While the differences between the two landscapes are vast, the river continues to run through it all, and the boy and his mother are still able to explore it and find treasures.

MG NOVELS


I wish Marsha Skrypuch had been around when I was a youngster learning about the history of the world. Traitors Among Us is part of her WW2 series and a sequel to her books, Don't Tell the Nazis & Trapped in Hitler's Web. I am always invested in her characters and this one is no different. 
Two Ukrainian sisters, Krystia and Maria, have managed to survive the war, and wait in a refugee camp in the American zone. Then some Red Army soldiers arrive and take them and a few other of their roommates back to a house in the Russian zone. They are to be interrogated for their activities during the war.
Right from the get go this book is hair raising. A young mother and her baby are shot by soldiers when they try to escape. The group are subject to horrifying conditions. Then they are tortured to force them to sign false confessions.
A few of them are released and helped by Brigid, who cooks for the Red Army. They manage to incapacitate the soldiers at the house with drug laced linzer cookies, and rescue the remaining captives.
A note by the author at the end of the book reveals more information about the people this book is based on, and more about the actual death camps created by the Russians after the war.


A clan of four inch nomes is forced to leave their dangerous forest home before they all end up dead. One of them, Masklin, devises a plan to try and save them. They sneak aboard a truck and end up in a department store where they are introduced to a colony of other nomes. These other nomes have developed a rich and layered society based on the goings on of the store. They believe it was created especially for them. The nomes from outside bring a sacred 'thing.' When it is surrounded by electricity, it begins to talk to them. They discover that the store is soon to be demolished. Masklin comes up with a plan for how to save them all. It just depends on a crew of nomes figuring out how to drive a delivery truck. 

Pratchett's writing goal was “to take that which is familiar and everyday and therefore no more seen, and pick it up and turn it around and show it to the reader from a new point of view, so that once again they see it for the first time.”
I think that ten year olds will enjoy this novel, but it is older readers who will truly appreciate the satire and humour and once again see the world for the first time.

YA NOVELS


Set in Joseon Dynasty Korea in 1758, this is based on the true story of Crown Prince Sado, an untouchable serial killer. 
"There are few options available to illegitimate daughters in the capital city, but through hard work and study, eighteen-year-old Hyeon has earned a position as a palace nurse. All she wants is to keep her head down, do a good job, and perhaps finally win her estranged father's approval."
Then four women are brutally murdered. Hyeon's friend and mentor is accused of the crime. To clear her name Hyeon ends up involved in a clandestine investigation with Eojin, a young police inspector. 
Their questioning sets them against a corrupt legal system that protects the royal family at all costs. The unravelling of the mystery is fascinating. The slow build up of the romantic aspect of the story is brilliantly done. 
I have become a fan of June Hur's writing and read everything she has published so far. She integrates brilliant characters into complex mysteries set against a backdrop of Korean history, religion, culture and class structure. 
The worst thing about finishing this book is that June Hur's next novel isn’t scheduled for release until 2024.

I liked this well enough. It's just that after finishing up a couple of nonfiction titles that went deep into their subjects (An Elegant Defence by Mat Richtel and Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake) I wanted more. I suspect I would have appreciated this better if I had read it first. It is a very readable, fairly comprehensive, overview of how our body works and the history behind how we have come to know what we do about it.

CURRENTLY

Three Women and A Boat by Anne Younson
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett

UP NEXT

I'm hoping to get to these two next week. Other than that, I brought a lot of books home from the library this week!
The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner  🍁
Macy Mcmillan And The Rainbow Goddess by Shari Green  🍁


READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 15/24

#MustReadNonFiction 11/18 one in progress

Canadian Authors 43/100 

Canada Reads shortlist 5/5 

Indigenous Authors 12/25

2022 Big Book Summer Challenge 5 

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 167 /250
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#IMWAYR June 7, 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.

On the weekend my partner went on a men's camping trip high up into the mountains. Yesterday and today while I write this, the weather has been so cool I finally gave in and turned the furnace on. They froze up there. 

The good thing about the cool weather is that I managed to get a lot of weeding done in the garden yesterday. Earlier in the week I planted more beets. The first ones I put in disappeared. I am blaming the birds. I'm excited that the new seedlings are poking their little green noses above the ground. 

Before this cool spell, it was so hot I had the air conditioner on. Working outside was impossible so I returned to working on my Olivier Dunrea quilts. I'm finishing up the last of the little creatures. I just need to figure out how to do a couple of butterflies. Then I'll be working on plants. 

Walls have been ripped out and the electrician arrives this week to change some wiring. My guy is building cabinets for our utility room and an island to replace the kitchen wall that's been decimated. 

I will be away camping next week and then away the following week in Vancouver visiting our grandkids for their birthdays. I'll look forward to connecting with you all again at the end of June. You can follow what I'm reading on goodreads. 

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. 


NOVELS

4 stars

Pine Island Home by Polly Horvath  🍁

I enjoyed this book. I even shed a tear or so at the end of this.
Four sisters are left orphaned after their parents die in the Tsunami in Thailand. After a year of letter writing, their great aunt in Canada enthusiastically agrees to take them. Unfortunately they arrive only to discover that the aunt died a few days previously. Still the intrepid crew do their best to survive on their own. They arrange for their cantankerous and unreliable neighbour to pretend to be their guardian when necessary.
I ended up liked the four girls and appreciated their individuality. I loved that one of them turns out to be a chef and author. I even ended up liking that irascible neighbour.


This is a profound book for how it looks at multiple levels of racism and bullying. A young American Korean girl learns how to deal with her own bullies after conversations with her grandparents about their experiences living in Korea during the Korean War. She also gets help from friends, a diversity club at school, and a good therapist. I was fascinated by the stories of what it was like to be in Korea during the war.


My brother has been bugging me to read some R.A. Salvatore for ages, so this year I asked him for one recommendation and he gave me this title to add to my #MustReadIn2021 list. I enjoyed it much more than I expected to.
The world building is brilliant. I was totally engaged in the characters. There are a number of plot lines that come together at the end. It is violent - really horrific in places, but it fit the reality of this fictional land.
Aoleyn is one of those fictional characters I came to adore. I want to know how she fares. For her alone I am contemplating reading the next in this series.


MEMOIR

After finishing this I sat down with my partner to talk about the successes and failures of the Obama presidency. 
I was mostly fascinated by Michelle Obama's story of growing up and achieving her goals. While her parents might not have been wealthy, they were a loving family who supported their children and let them know that they had high expectations. 
It was interesting to find out that Michelle actually wanted nothing to do with politics. I liked that Barack and her went to couples therapy to learn how to address their differences. 
I will never truly understand how Americans went from the Obamas to the Trumps. 

DISCWORLD NOVELS

I have completed the official Discworld novels. I'm a little bit heartbroken, but have discovered that there are many short stories set in that reality. I'm going to be trying to track them down before I say I'm done with this challenge. I've even ordered Nanny Og's cookbook. 


I first listened to this book in 2016 while traveling back and forth to the hospital where my mother was dying. It turned out to be the ideal read. I regularly pulled over to the side of the road to weep.
It deals with death, grief, making amends and continuing on. It begins with the death of the ancient Granny Weatherwax. The young witch, Tiffany Aching is called upon to take over her stead.
I appreciated all kinds of details that I overlooked the first time round. Pratchett both wraps things up and hints at what might happen in the future of the Discworld. He introduces us to Geoffrey, a young man who wants to be a witch. Tiffany hires him to help her out since it's a challenge dealing with Nanny's stead and her own. Geoffrey befriends the retired men and helps them find some purpose and autonomy by introducing them to sheds (man caves.) In the land of fairy, one of the elves, Peaseblossom, usurps the power of Nightshade, the Queen. Her wings are torn off and she is thrown out of the kingdom. Tiffany successfully manages to rehabilitate her. After limited forays into the Discworld, the elves make an attempt to invade and take control of the Discworld. The witches and old men of the community work together to deal with the invasion. Squabbles between different factions of witches are resolved.
Like the other books in the collection, this one is chock full of humour and serious messages about how to live a meaningful life. 
I wrote down this quote the first time round and it has stuck with me. It's a profound reminder of the fragility of life.
"She hadn't seen the old lady in over a week and in a week an old lady could fall through the cracks of life."

CURRENTLY 

Bad Sister Charise Mericle Harper
Ophie's Ghosts by Justina Ireland

UP NEXT

In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner
Bad Dog by Mike Boldt
The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed
also a tall pile of picture books


BLOG POSTS PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK

Anne's School Days by Kallie George
Bad Sister by Cherise Mericle Harper
 
PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS

#MustReadIn2021 18/25 

#MustReadNFIn2021 6/12 

#MustReadPBIn2021 33/100 

Big Book Summer Challenge 2

Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 17/25

Books by Canadian Authors: 56/100

Canada Reads 2021 4/5 

Discworld Series 41/41

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 211/333 

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#IMWAYR March 1, 2021

Hello out there. 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.

I am still walking at least six days a week. I'm now up to 8.5 kilometers. I plot out routes to see different parts of the community and country around our small town. I plug an audiobook into my ears and head out. I feel disgustingly healthy, but mostly I am full of joy. In rediscovering the landscape of my youth I'm connected to the planet in a way I never was living in the city. I might even learn to love the prickly pear cactus. 

Titles with a 🍁 indicate this is a Canadian Author and or Illustrator. 

Clicking on the title will take you to the Goodreads page of the book. 

BLOG POSTS LAST WEEK

Last week I had hoped to read and review a Netgalley title, The Incredible Nellie Bly a graphic novel by Luciana Cimino. It was downloaded onto my device and I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, the text was painfully blurry at best, and mostly impossible to read.

PICTURE BOOKS

4 stars

Find Fergus by Mike Boldt 🍁

This was lots of fun. I really wish my grandkids were here for me to read it with them. Fergus is a bear who at first is not very good at playing hide and seek. With a little help from the author and reader he gradually improves. Eventually Fergus ends up challenging us to find a list of things hidden in the pages of the book.


Picture books in rhyme are difficult to pull off. This one works - mostly. The structure of the first part is different from the rest and it threw me off a bit. The second time round went better. I do love the idea that when we are loved, that love is with us all the time no matter what we do and where we go. The neon bright illustrations show happy children in diverse families.


To everyone who wrote about this book, I thank you. Gwendolyn Brooks' biography is told in poetry and prose. Suzanne Slade's words are interspersed with Brooks'. Not only are they a joy to read, Cozbi A. Cabrera's illustrations are just stunning.
Reading this makes me want to read more of Brooks' poetry.

GRAPHIC NOVELS

4 stars

Twins by Varian Johnson & Shannon Wright (Illustrator)

This is delightful. When Francine and Maureen start grade six, they end up being in separate classes for the first time in their lives. As the two of them become interested in different things, tension between the two of them arises. It gets even worse when both of them end up running for class president.
I like a lot about this. I like the diverse group of friends. While the twins are Black, it's their twinness that drives the story here. I appreciate that a large component of what drives the problems between the two girls has to do with secrets the family was keeping from each other. Hopefully they all learn to be more honest with each other. This would make a great series. 

4 stars

Measuring Up by Lily La Motte & Ann Xu (Illustrations)

Cici, young girl from Taiwan, has just moved with her parents to Seattle, Washington. While Cici makes new friends, she also has to deal with all kinds of microaggressions. She misses her A-má (grandmother) terribly and comes up with a plan to win a cooking contest so she can afford to bring her to be with them on her 70th birthday. She makes a new friend through the contest and learns a lot from her. I love that she goes to the library for help with cooking potatoes and the librarian sends her home with Julia Child. (We have that book here. Potato pancakes will be on the menu this week I think.) If like me you want to try out Cici's oily rice, you can find the recipe here: https://lilylamotte.com/

NOVELS


Stories are powerful. Terry Pratchett wrote, "People think that stories are shaped by people. In fact, it's the other way around." This book is about the stories that make us who we are. It's about the stories that don't get told and the stories that do. It's how the stories of our ancestors and countries are integrated into our modern lives.
Two half Korean girls and their Mother return to the small town in Washington State where their Halmoni lives. One one of the daughters, Lily, negotiates with a giant tiger that only she can see. She bargains with it to heal Halmoni, who is dying, but tigers are tricksters who rarely give you what you think you want. In the end, they get what they need.

4 stars

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor & Robin Miles (Narrator)

The only problem with this book is that it's a novela and too short. I feel like I barely got to know Binti and it was over.
Binti, a gifted mathematician, leaves her desert home and people to go to Oomza University on another planet. On the way the ship is attacked by the Meduse, an alien race at war with these people. Everyone except Binti is killed, but she is saved by her edan, a piece of ancient technology she had brought with her from Earth. It enables her to communicate with her captors and she ends up brokering a tentative peace between the two groups. In the process, she is transformed. If the next one had only been available I would have started it right away. I immediately put it on hold. 

DISCWORLD NOVELS


This is my second time reading this. I liked it even more than the first time round. I find this is true with all of Pratchett's novels. The first time I focus on the story arc. The second time I revel in the details and humour.
On the eve of his first child's birth, Sir Samuel Vimes, commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, gets caught up in a magical storm and ends up travelling back in time. He brings with him Carcer Dun, a psychopathic serial killer. Ankh-Morpork is in the middle of a revolution and both men get caught up in it. While Vimes is trying to maintain peace, Carcer Dun joins forces with the revolutionaries.
There is a saying by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, "The More Things Change, The More They Remain The Same." That's the big idea behind this book, except that through it all, Pratchett manages to make us care about all the individuals caught up in the foibles of history, however flawed they are. (Except for Carcer Dun) The more I read about Sam Vimes, the more I come to adore him - not quite, but almost as much as Tiffany Aching.

I very nearly started this all over again as soon as I finished it. I think it's the fourth time I've read it. The Tiffany Aching series spurred me into reading more of Pratchett's Discworld collection. This one is appropriate for readers from grade 4 up.
While a Feegle is introduced in one of the earlier novels, in this one, we get to really know the 'Wee Free Men.' They are Pictsies, a kind of Gaelic fairy folk. Don't get them confused with pixies or other fairies if you want to keep your teeth. This boisterous bunch of six inch, blue skinned, kilted little people love to steal, drink, fight, and tell lies. This group, the Nac Mac Feegles, make their home in a mound on the Chalk and consider Tiffany to be the witch of the land and their big wee hag.
Tiffany, only nine, manages to rescue Wentworth, her little brother, and Roland, the Baron’s son, from the Queen of the Elves. It is a gripping adventure wherein a talking toad, the Nac Mac Feegles and an iron frying pan play important roles in the rescue.

Three years after The Wee Free Men, Tiffany sets off to be an apprentice to the older witch, Miss Level. In this coming of age tale she starts to come to grips with who she will become. She struggles to fit in with the coven of younger witches led by the bossy, bullying, leadership of Annagramma Hawkin, and ends being laughed at. Tiffany's secret trick of stepping out of her body has attracted the attention of a hiver. It manages to take control of her body and abuses her power.
With the help of the Nac Mac Feegles and Miss Level, they manage to drive the Hiver off. Then Tiffany and Granny Weatherwax work together to put an end to it. The ending is not at all what you might expect.
When the hiver has control of Tiffany, she does the kinds of things that she might think of doing, but would never actually do. When she's finally dealt with it, she takes responsibility for what happened under its control.

As an older reader reading these books, it's like watching a grandchild grow up. It took great restraint not to just start the next one in the miniseries. 

CURRENTLY 

I'm reading a netgalley title, Call Me Indian: From the Trauma of Residential School to Becoming the NHL's First Treaty Indigenous Player by Fred Sasakamoose. I've started Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen: Peril at Owl Park by Marthe Jocelyn. The Pratchett novel I'm listening to is Going Postal. I'm also listening to Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots.

UP NEXT

My partner took my copy of The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert to read last week so I'll start it when he's done with it. I hope to get to Beetle & the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne and finish up the picture books from the library. I now have a lot of audiobooks ready to listen to. The Project by Courtney Summers is next in the queue. 

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS 

#MustReadIn2021 5/25 

#MustReadNFIn2021 2/12 

#MustReadPBIn2021 14/100

Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors: 7/25 one in progress

Books by Canadian Authors: 19/100

Canada Reads 2021 1/5 one in progress

Discworld Series 31/41 

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 80/333 

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#IMWAYR August 31, 2020

Hello out there. 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.

I have big plans for what I want to read in the week, but as Robert Burns says,

"The best-laid schemes of mice and (wo)men
Go oft awry."

So it is for me. Between company and canning, by the end of the day I'm exhausted. Instead of reading I put my feet up, pull out my knitting and turn on the TV. At least I have my audiobooks during those times when I'm working and don't have other people around.

 Here are a few photographs of what we've/I've accomplished in the last few days. There is more canning but it's already on shelves in the coolroom.







Titles with a 🍁 indicate this is a Canadian Author and or Illustrator. 
Clicking on the title will take you to the Goodreads page of the book.

 GRAPHIC NOVELS
4 stars

Banned Book Club by Kim Hyun Sook, Ko Hyung-Ju & Ryan Estrada

I was fascinated and terrified by this look into the recent history of Korea. The experiences of numerous real people are amalgamated into the narrative. It tells the story of a group of young readers who meet to read and discuss banned books in 1983. You might be surprised by how dangerous reading is perceived to be under an authoritarian government. Spies are everywhere at the university campus. Many students are paid to go so they can inform on other students. Conflict with police and arrests were common.
The end of the book takes us to a reunion of the book club in 2016. They are in the middle of another protest, but this time the participants are from all ages and all walks of life. I would probably bring this into my Elementary school library for upper intermediate readers. I see it as a real world jumping off point after students have read Ban This Book by Alan Gratz.

 NOVELS
4 stars

 Parachutes by Kelly Yang, Cassie Simone (Narrator) & Karissa Vacker (Narrator)

 This is a rollercoaster of a read. It's the story of two girls from different worlds who come together because of the prestigious private school they attend. Dani De La Cruz and her mother struggle to make ends meet. To help them out financially her Mom sets them up to host an international student, Claire Wang. Claire, a privileged wealthy Chinese foreign student, and Dani seem to have nothing in common.
The story is told from the perspective of both these girls. While they come from different backgrounds, a misogynistic system of rape culture makes both of them vulnerable.
5 stars

 Audacity by Melanie Crowder

This novel in gorgeous verse is a fictionalized account of the life of Clara Lemlich. She fought hard to unionize and improve the working conditions of women garment workers in New York in the late 1900's. It follows her and her family as they leave their village in anti semitic Russia and travel across Europe to England. After a time there they manage to get steerage passage to the United States.
Shortly after arriving, Clara got a job working in a sweatshop as a seamstress. Her meager earnings supported her whole family, including her father and brothers who spent the day studying. Clara was frustrated by the unfairness of her situation. Passionate about educating herself she attended classes at night to improve her English. At one point she was offered a scholarship to go to college where she could fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor. Still the working conditions under which she and other workers toiled were so horrific, unsafe, and unfair, that she ended up having to choose between that dream, and that of helping all the other suffering women workers. In the end, in spite of the violence she endured by strikebreakers, goons, and police, she continued organizing for the union.
The backmatter contains information about Clara Lemlich and shows that she was an activist up until she died in 1982. It also includes the transcript of interviews with her children and grandchildren. There's a glossary and a bibliography. Alas, there is no recipe for the rugelach her family spoke so fondly of.

 CURRENTLY

 I'm still reading Yara's Spring by Sharon McKay & Jamal Saeed. (I'm not a fan of reading digitally) My loan for the audiobook of The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue by by Karina Yan Glaser expired before I could finish it. I'm now listening to Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! by Fannie Flagg. I crowdsourced part of my #MustRead list this year and the sequel to it was one of the recommendations so I'm reading this first. Everytime I read a book by Fannie Flag I am in awe of how beautifully she crafts her characters .

UP NEXT

 I will make time for Forward Me Back to You by Mitali Perkins. (It will be my 10th big book of the summer.) I hope to get to Monsters by David Robertson. My next audiobook will be Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi. There is a pile of picture books I need to get to as well.

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS

 Big Books Summer 2020 9/10

#MustReadIn2020: 18/25

#MustReadNFIn2020: 8/12

 Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors: 17/25 100

Books by Canadian Authors: 105/100

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 244/333
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#IMWAYR June 1, 2020

Hello out there. 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.



These days I'm thinking about all my teaching family and friends who return to their classrooms June 1st. On the one hand I understand why our public health leader, Dr Bonnie Henry, has determined that the risk of a covid 19 out break is almost nil. On the other, I understand why teachers are anxious and worried. Many schools did not have adequate cleanliness regimes or facilities for hand washing before the outbreak. I wish all of my friends and colleagues courage and good luck for the next days. I have faith they will ensure a safe environment for themselves and their students. 

 Meanwhile, around here, renovations proceed more slowly than anticipated. Mudding and sanding is a slog. Thank goodness for audiobooks to take me into a different world while I am working. Sunday we went off to purchase a fancy spray paint system. Today, Monday, my partner is learning how to use it. My job is to move stuff from the next room and start ripping off trim and wall panel in preparation for more mudding and sanding.

 I finally gave up on my old ipad air and purchased a new one. It should arrive sometime in the next week or so. I am excited, but waiting is hard. My old one had only 16 GB and was always out of memory. These days I am having to read ebooks and it's a nightmare to load them. This is especially true for Netgalley titles.

 On a positive note, my local library is opening up for pick up. I have put a few books on reserve. Soon I will get to hold real library books in my hands again! Ho

Titles with a 🍁 indicate this is a Canadian Author and or Illustrator.

 Clicking on the title will take you to the Goodreads page of the book.

 BLOG POSTS LAST WEEK

 The Eagle Mother by Hetxw'ms Gyetxw (Brett D. Huson), Natasha Donovan (Illustrations)

 NOVELS
5 stars
Banished by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch 🍁

 Seriously, is this not one of the most beautiful book covers you have ever seen?
Marsha Skrypuch is one of my favourite historical fiction authors. I especially appreciate that her novels often connect to Canada in some way. Her work opens my eyes to world events that I am unaware of. In this case it is the Armenian genocide from the time of the first world war. Her characters, Ali and Zeynep, won my heart. This is a reread for me for a book club I am in. You can read my full review of their remarkable story here.
5 stars
The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo & Emily Woo Zeller (Narrator)

When Clara Shin and her 'enemy,' Rose, end up in a ruckus at school, their punishment is to work together over the summer in Clara's father's food truck.

 While the story of enemies becoming friends and coming into who you really are might be common, Maurene Goo turns it into something fresh and unique. I became attached to these characters. I cared about them, their lives, their families, and their food truck. So will you.

 Listening to this book made me happy. It accompanied me while I worked in my garden, applied mud to drywall, and knitted on a baby sweater. I am looking forward to whatever Maurene Goo comes up with next.
5 stars
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

 This is a profound book.

 Jam is a black, transgendered, selectively mute, teen girl who lives in a utopian world without monsters. Then she accidentally brings Pet, a clawed, horned creature, into existence. Pet tells her it has come to hunt a monster who is connected to Jam's best friend, Redemption.

 Together the three of them set out to find the monster and deal with it.

 What happens after the victim and monster are identified is terrifying, primarily because all too often this is the reality for abused children. Adults regularly refuse to acknowledge that the monster exits. Thankfully, these kids have Pet on their side.

 NONFICTION
5 stars
The Eagle Mother by Hetxw'ms Gyetxw (Brett D. Huson), Natasha Donovan (Illustrations) 🍁

 The Eagle Mother is a book loaded with information about the eagle life cycle. What makes it unique is how it puts this information into a context of indigenous ways of knowing. You can read my full review and see samples of the gorgeous illustrations here.
5 stars
March: Books One, Two and Three by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, & Nate Powell (Illustrator)

 This was a reread for me for a book club that meets this coming week.
Prior to reading this series, I knew next to nothing about John Lewis except that he is a politician who enjoyed Preaching to the Chickens as a boy. Learning more about the events of the Civil Rights Movement was fascinating the first time round. It was a more profound experience now.
March One deals with the events of Brown vs. The Board of Education, the murder of Emmet Till, Rosa Parks and the bus strike, the inception of the SNCC, and the Lunch Counter Sit Ins. March Two brings the reader into an intimate awareness of what it meant to be a Freedom Rider. The violence is terrifying, but not as horrific as realizing that we haven't really come very far at all. This book culminates in the March on Washington. March Three begins with the bombing of black churches in Birmingham and takes us into the struggle for voting rights and the Selma March.
These days the news is full of George Floyd, Christian Cooper, Breonna Taylor, and Regis Korchinsky. Reading the series puts this news into perspective and reminds us that that we still have a long march ahead of us to bring real change to our respective countries. I've also come to realize that America's existing president isn't an anomaly at all. He's everything that many white supremacists see as normal.

 CURRENTLY

 I'm listening to Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo. I'm reading A Short History of Indians In Canada: Stories by Thomas King and The Case of the Missing Auntie by Michael Hutchinson. I'm also in the middle of A Portrait in Poems: The Storied Life of Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas by Evie Robillard.

UP NEXT

 I'm hoping to finish up and review a couple of Netgalley titles. I managed to find my copy of Zero Repeat Forever by Gabrielle S. Prendergast and hope to get started on it.

 PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS

 Big Books Summer 2020 1/10

 #MustReadIn2020: 10/25

 #MustReadNFIn2020: 5/12

 25 Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors: 10/25

 100 books by Canadian Authors: 94/100

 Goodreads Reading Challenge: 178/333
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