#IMWAYR December 6, 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.

Whoot whoot! I accomplished another of my reading goals this week!! I've read 25 books by Canadian Indigenous authors. (I might end up reading more since I have three titles in a pile from the library)

Our house renovations continue. Now that the electrical stuff is dealt with in our main bathroom, my partner is busy mudding and sanding. As soon as this is done I will go in and start painting and get the tile in while he works on the medicine cabinet. If the Gods and Goddesses are with us, we should have it all finished by next week. After this we will clean the house and take a break until after the winter holidays are over. 

I've just started making some Christmas placemats to give away for Christmas, (if they turn out.) They are supposed to be a fast project. We shall see. 

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. 

PICTURE BOOKS

4 stars

Eric by Shaun Tan

This is a sweet story from Shaun Tan's Tales from Outer Suburbia collection I read it from Netgalley. Now I want to read them all. 

It is about a family that hosts a foreign student. Eric, (his real name is too hard for them to pronounce,) is a lovely little character even if he doesn't fit into the family's expectation of normal. Any contrast to their way of knowing the world is attributed to cultural difference. Readers are only aware of Eric's perspective through the images. 

I've read this through at least three times and am still struggling to come up with words to explain the aching emotional response I'm left with.

GRAPHIC NOVELS

5 stars

Flamer by Mike Curato

This is heart wrenchingly brilliant! Mike Curato is a well known picture book author and illustrator for the Little Elliot series. He grew up in a Catholic home. This fictional graphic memoir, inspired by his own life, is about coming to accept being queer, for which, according to the church, he would burn in hell.

This book resonated in me for all kinds of reasons. From the cultural references I assume that Aiden would have been about the same age as my sons. I came to love this character as much as I loved my sons' friends.  I grew up in a Catholic household so I understand the religious references all too well. I abandoned the church for all kinds of reasons, but for me it was primarily when, as a teen, I discovered feminism. My mother and mother in law used to ask me if I would ever come back to the church. I would respond, "When women become priests and my queer friends can get married in it."

NONFICTION

5 stars

Turtle Island by Eldon Yellowhorn and Kathey Lowinger 🍁

This book tells the history of the people in North and Central America centuries before Europeans arrived. Readers learn about these people  through the results of different kinds of archaeological research, artwork, myths, oral storytelling and imagining. 

It includes different origin tales from across the different regions and peoples. I knew there were a great many different nations living on this land, but I really appreciated learning more about who they were and how they survived. I was fascinated by the canals of the Hohokam who created verdant gardens out in the desert. I had no idea about the city of Cahokia on the Mississippi River. The inhabitants of Cahokia, the largest city north of Mexico, created numerous clay mounds that were used for multiple purposes.

Did you know that the people of Mesoamerica wrote books? When the Spanish arrived they burned whole libraries of them down.

The latter part of the book deals with the tragedies following first contact with Europeans after 1492.

This should be in every school library across the continent. 

NOVELS

5 stars

Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend & Gemma Whelan (Narrator)

I adored this book so much. I don't have the self discipline that Shaye has to savour it in small amounts. I devoured it. That said, no sooner did I finish it, I started it all over again. 

It feels eerily prescient to our present day circumstances given that Nevermoor is in the middle of a pandemic and that a certain group of citizens face racism. 

Jessica Townsend's world building is bloody brilliant. The Gobleian Library is probably not a place I would want to work in, but I sure would love to stay at the Hotel Deucalion. 

Now that I'm done I'm left with so many questions careening around in my head. I want desperately to have a conversation with someone about this. What is going on with Ezra Squall? Is he really as evil as Morrigan has been led to believe? Does he have a new strategy to get Morrigan to be his apprentice? With the corruption and manipulation of community leaders, what is the real truth behind what happened a century ago? 

If you are looking for a series to give to a kid in your life, look no further.

4 stars

From Me to You by K. A. Holt.

Sometimes I forget how much I adore really good realistic MG fiction. Then I read a title like this, experience the satisfaction of a tale well told, and remember all over again.

Amelia Peabody's older sister died in a tragic boating accident three years earlier than this novel takes place. She's still struggling with grief when she ends with a letter written by her sister outlining her goals and dreams. Amelia decides to accomplish them for her. The goals are pretty ordinary, but in the process of achieving them, Amelia initiates changes in her life. She ends up making new friends, gets to understand her old ones better, and starts on the road to healing.

The adults in this novel are realistic individuals who do their best to support the young people in their care. I especially appreciated Amelia's parents who struggle with their own grief, but are there for her when she needs them. 

DISCWORLD NOVELS

The Discworld collection is a compendium of mini series set in Pratchett's world. I recently found this image for helping keep track of them all. 

 4 stars

  
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett & Nigel Planer (Narrator)

When a secret society conjures up a dragon in Ankh-Morpork, it's up to Vimes and the rest of his City Watch crew to figure out how to get rid of it. In the middle of it, romance blossoms. 

I am infatuated with these earlier works of Pratchett. I read Thud (a later book in this mini series) ages ago, but now I'm now looking forward to reading more books about Vimes and the rest of the City Watch.

CURRENTLY 

I'm listening to Three Keys by Kelly Yang narrated by Sunny Lu. I'm rereading Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer, a book club title. I've also got The World of Poo by Terry Pratchett on the go. The other Discworld book I'm into is Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett narrated by Nigel Planer.

UP NEXT 

My next audiobook will be A History of My Brief Body by Billy Rae Belcourt. I'm planning to read On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous Ocean Vuong and Leggings Revolt by Monique Polak. I also hope to get to Give and Take by Elly Swartz so I can complete another of my reading goals. 

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS 

#MustReadIn2020: 24/25

#MustReadNFIn2020: 11/12 

Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors: 25/25  

Books by Canadian Authors: 125/100 

Discworld Series 14/41 - two in progress

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 319/333