#IMWAYR August 29, 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.

It has been a very hectic couple of weeks. I gave up on blogging last weekend and contemplated leaving it for this one too. I decided against that because our son, his wife, and their two girls will be arriving Monday and will be here for a week. I fully expect to be exhausted next Sunday and will be desperate to do nothing. 

Because we expected to be away for a couple of weeks early September, we had to get a lot of food preservation accomplished in August. So, on the 16th I purchased 120 pounds of Roma tomatoes. They had to sit and finish ripening for a few days. Since they became ripe enough, I have canned 14 quarts of tomatoes, made 50 odd jars of salsa, 25 pints of tomato sauce and 14 jars of ratatouille. I also made a couple of quarts of dill pickles and a double batch of zucchini fritters to freeze. After all, the garden doesn't stop producing just because we are busy with other things. On Saturday, the 20th, a crew of us juiced another 320 pounds of tomatoes. We ended up with about 110 quarts of tomato juice. Only half of it is ours. 

It is very satisfying going to the cool room in the basement and looking at all the food on the shelves. 

This is our portion of juice cooling. My uncle reminded me of the good old days when we used to go and pick our own tomatoes and juice up to 1000 pounds.
We are a family that loves our red juice. 

In the middle of all that we got the message that we no longer have to be away. 

In addition to all the food processing, we have been trying to get the suite in our basement under control so my cousin can move in. Our last tenant left a huge mess that has taken a lot of work to clean and a lot of stuff to fix. I've painted the kitchen cupboards and my husband made new doors for them. I've done just about all the rest of the cleaning except the linoleum floor that I am leaving for him to look after. I am quite proud because I fixed the toilet all by myself and, after much scrubbing and half a bottle of bleach, got the bowl cleaned out. 

Needless to say, I did not get much reading with my eyes accomplished, but I made up for it listening to some brilliant audiobooks. 

I will do my best to respond to everyone's posts this week, but I'm not guaranteeing it will happen for the first few days. 

Hope you are all enjoying the end of summer. The weather the last couple of days has been a bit cooler. This hint of autumn has been much appreciated. 

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.

MG NOVELS

Me Three by Susan Juby & Justin Miller (Narrator) March 22, 2022  🍁

Rodney, his sister, and their mother have moved to a new town in a new state to start a new life. The two children start school using their mother's maiden name because of sexual abuse allegations made against their father. 

This epistolatory novel introduces us to Rodney and his family and they struggle to come to terms with what has happened and make new friends. At first Rodney thinks that the allegations must be false, but over time he comes to understand that they are true and that his father is not the man Rodney thought he was. 

I liked Rodney even if he seemed a bit young for his age. I appreciate that we see the ramifications on children when their parents are held accountable for their unscrupulous actions. I liked the complexity in Rodney's new friends even if some of their adventures terrified the bejeezus out of me. 

All the other Susan Juby books I've read have been set in Canada, so I was a bit disconcerted, and wondered why this one is set in the USA. I appreciated that one of Rodney's friends has a mother living here in BC Canada. 

The Fort by Gordon Korman June 28, 2022  🍁

I am really enjoying Korman's work these days. The Fort is the story of a group of boys who discover an underground bunker. It was built in the 1980's by a now deceased, local capitalist. They end up selling the pure silver cutlery to purchase food and fix one of their group's phone.
A couple of older bullies figure they have money and end up harassing them to get them to let them in on what is going on.
The tale unfolds through each of their voices. I appreciate how the character of each of these boys has been developed. They all have important stories that reveal the kinds of challenges that real boys today are liable to connect to. Ultimately, the important thing is how they are there for each other.

Playing the Cards You're Dealt by Varian Johnson & Dion Graham (Narrator) October 5, 2021

Anthony, (Ant) idolizes his father and want desperately to impress him. Now that he is ten and in grade five, he plans to do this by winning the next spades tournament. His older brother, his father and his grandfather have been winners of this card game year after year. Unfortunately, a lot of things get in the way of this. He and his best friend and spades partner, Jamal, end up estranged. Ant pairs up with Shirley, a new girl in school and still hopes to win. But his father's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic and strange until Ant's mother makes him leave. 

Varian Johnson has created another endearing character in Ant. My heart aches for him as he struggles to figure out how to become his own man in the middle of his father's failures. 

The Stone Child by David Alexander Robertson & Brefny Caribou (Narrator) August 2, 2022  🍁

There are two individual, but linked adventures in this novel. It begins as Morgan wakes to finds Eli near death at the base of the great tree. His soul has been stolen. To save him she has to call on everyone she trusts. She brings her best friend, Emily, from the everyday world to Misewa. Together with Arik, they travel into the dangerous North Woods, to search for Eli's soul. They are helped by an unexpected saviour. On their return home Eli realizes that another soul has been trapped inside the tree. In order to set it free, they have to destroy their portal to Misewa. 

The second part of the story involves their search for a new portal and Morgan connecting to her grandmother and deceased mother. 

I liked this a lot. My adrenalin ratcheted up while reading of their terrifying experiences in the North Woods. (At least there were no spiders.) I liked the romance that is blossoming between Emily and Morgan. I liked that the children are appreciating their foster parents more and in turn, the foster parents are doing their best for the children.  

I can hardly wait to find out what will happen to them all when they visit Misewa in the next book. 

Wings (Bromeliad Trilogy #3) by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Briggs (Narrator) January 1, 1990

I love this series so much that I've listened to each book twice. 

This quote from a wiki page explains the series much better than I can: "The main theme in the trilogy is the struggle of challenging society's accepted beliefs in the face of new information. This theme recurs through the books and includes changes in the scientific establishment, political establishment, religious beliefs, accepted history and family values of the nomes."

Wings is a companion book to Diggers in that it takes place at the same time. While the main group of Nomes are trying to deal with humans invading the quarry, this small group sneaks aboard an airplane and flies to NASA. With the help of 'the thing,' they end up contacting their spaceship, and returning to the quarry just in time to save the rest of the Nomes. 

Like the other novels in the series, this book is chock full of humour and rich commentary by the Nomes that ends up showing us ourselves. 

Some of the humour comes from how the Nomes think about the world: 

'What was that thing, Thing?’ said Masklin.
The Thing extended one of its sensors.
‘A long-necked turtle.’
‘Oh.’
The turtle swam peacefully away.
‘Lucky, really,’ said Gurder.
‘What?’ said Angalo.
‘It having a long neck like that and being called a long-necked turtle. It’d be really awkward having a name like that if it had a short neck.'

Some of it comes from how they see us:

 

'I don't think humans want to know things that disturb them.'

Nomes live ten times faster than humans. They're harder to see than a high- speed mouse. That's one reason why most humans hardly ever see them. The other is that humans are very good at not seeing things they know aren't there. And, since sensible humans know that there are no such things as people four inches high, a nome who doesn't want to be seen probably won't be seen.
  

"The other humans around it are trying to explain to it what a planet is."

"Doesn't it know?"
"Many humans don't. Mistervicepresident is one of them."

This series is deeply subversive. Don't let the book banners know anything about it. 

YA & ADULT FICTION

Huntress by Malinda Lo & Emily Woo Zeller (Narrator) April 5, 2011

I was wowed by this fantasy novel. It's jam packed full of action and romance. "Kaede and Taisin, two seventeen-year-old girls, are picked to go on a dangerous and unheard-of journey to Tanlili, the city of the Fairy Queen. Taisin is a sage, thrumming with magic, and Kaede is of the earth, without a speck of the otherworldly." They travel with the Prince and a small group of guards. 

If the sequel, Ash, had been available, I would have started it right away. 

Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manansala & Danice Cabanela (Narrator) February 8, 2022

I kind of fell in love with Lila Macapagal and her aunties in Arsenic and Adobo, the first in Manansala's Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery series. They are cosy mysteries steeped in Filipino culture. Also, the food descriptions have me salivating nearly all the way through it.  

In this one, Lila, a former beauty queen herself, is roped into being one of the judges for this year's pageant. Then someone murders one of them and Lila's cousin, Bernadette becomes the prime suspect. Lila and the Filipino aunties (AKA the gossip brigade) get to work to clear her name.

Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi March 2, 2021

So many people have praised this book that I think I went into it with unreasonable expectations. I enjoyed it well enough, but it was loaded with too much relationship angst for me. It's the story of two Korean American sisters who grew up in Texas but now live in New York. June, the older, successful sister has cancer. Jayne, the younger one is a student struggling to deal with an eating disorder and feelings of inadequacy. While the relationship between the two siblings is fraught with all kinds of tension and squabbling, it isn't the angst that arises from this that bothered me.
It's the angst that is embedded in Jayne's relationships with men that was hard for me to deal with. I expect that this is because I am more of an age to these girl's parents and after 46 years of marriage have figured out that you just have to try and be as honest and upfront as you can. Also, if someone is a jerk, you either leave or kick them out. 

CURRENTLY

The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett June 2, 2020

Stories of Métis Women: Tales My Kookum Told Me by Bailey Oster et al August 6, 2021  🍁

UP NEXT

I've had these books on my up next list for a number of weeks now.  I do mean to get to them but have to admit that they are merely suggestions.

Barry Squires, Full Tilt by Heather Smith  🍁

Cub by Cynthia L. Copeland, 

READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 19/24

#MustReadNonFiction 13/18 one in progress

Canadian Authors 52/100 

Canada Reads shortlist 5/5 

Indigenous Authors 13/25 one in progress

2022 Big Book Summer Challenge 7

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 201/250

#IMWAYR June 20, 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. 

While I'm not yet back up to my pre Covid energy levels, I am hardly coughing at all these days! My garden is almost under control. If the rain ever holds off, I'm pretty sure that I will finish weeding the out of control areas just in time to start all over again. 

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 

5 stars

A Blue Kind of Day by Rachel Tomlinson & Tori-Jay Mordey (Illustrations) April 5, 2022

This is an important book that addresses childhood depression. It is gorgeous to looks at. Tori-Jay Mordey's artwork fills readers up with empathy for Coen's experience of being blue. I appreciated the author's note in the back matter on childhood depression and helping children deal with emotions.

5 stars

The World Belonged to Us by Jacqueline Woodson & Leo Espinosa (Illustrator) May 10, 2022

This is a beautiful book that celebrates the freedom of summer holidays in the Brooklyn neighbourhood where the author grew up. Its full of joyful energy that took me back to wild carefree summers of my own youth in the small town where I come from.

NON FICTION PICTURE BOOKS 

5 stars

Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas by Jeanne Walker Harvey & Loveis Wise (Illustrations) February 22, 2022

I knew nothing about Alma Thomas (or Loveis Wise, the illustrator of this book) until reading this picture book biography. Jeanne Walker Harvey introduces readers to Alma Thomas, an African American artist who taught art to children in Washington DC. When she was 70, she began to focus on her own art. She was the first black woman to have her own show at the Whitney Museum in New York City and to have her work chosen for the White House collection. I love how Loveis Wise's artwork integrates Alma Thomas style into the illustrations for this book. 

I encourage everyone to do a google search of both their work.

ADULT NOVELS 

4 stars

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune & Daniel Henning (Narrator)

This sweetly sappy gay romance absolutely delighted me. Linus Baker, a caseworker at the Department of Magical Youth, ends up on a month long top secret assignment at Marsyas Island Orphanage. While he is there he falls in love with the ocean, the island, the children, and Arthur Parnassus, their caretaker.
While this is a satisfying light read, it's full of important messages about the consequences of othering people who are different from us.

ADULT NON FICTION

5+ stars

An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System: A Tale in Four Lives by Matt Richtel March 12, 2019

This is an intimate, conversational, overview of the evolving science of how our immune systems works. Richtel integrates the science into the stories of four individuals. 

The most important thing about this book is how readable it is.

He talks about the immune system within the contexts of the AIDs crisis, the consequences of overusing antibiotics, the role of autoimmunity and allergies, and cancer treatments.
Readers will learn a lot from this book. The most important takeaway about how to build a strong immune system is to eat food that gets dropped on the floor. Getting a proper sleep and avoiding stress are equally important. Also, smoking is bad, bad, bad. 

He shows how dangerous our overuse of antibiotics is, explaining that, "Bacteria are passing back-and-forth among themselves a genetic code that allows them to fend off attacks from antibiotics. In fact, bacteria that are under attack from antibiotics can effectively call out to their fellow bacteria for help (Send me some protective genetic material!) and the resistance can be transferred."
In the last chapter he talks about what our immune system has to teach us about living our lives. There are important messages about accepting and celebrating diversity. "Our survival, as individuals and as a species, is best served by cooperation. This may sound obvious, but civilization, even of late, has been dominated by the push and pull of our competing instincts to cooperate and alienate, to see what people share in common or prey on what divides them. The lesson of the immune system is that the better able we are to find common ground, the more allies and weapons we have to contend with a greater, common foe."
Highly Recommended!

5 stars

Rez Rules by Chief Clarence Louie (Author & Narrator) 🍁 November 9, 2021

Clarence Louie is Chief of the Osoyoos Indian Band near where I live. I read this book to learn more about him and the Syilx people, the original inhabitants of this land. In his thirty six years as Chief, he has worked hard to create meaningful, well paying jobs for his people. His business focused leadership has paid off big time.

The band website states:
"The Osoyoos Indian Band currently has 540 members. Because of their work ethic and our diversified investments, unemployment on the reserve is not only less than 3%, but 20% of these band members are in senior positions.
Over the last 6 years, OIBDC group revenues have increased 70% and now sit at $28.2M spanning thirteen different lines of business. Commercial leasing (38%), tourism (20%) and construction related services (14%) contribute the most to OIBDC’s bottom line."

Although I don't see myself as belonging to any group, my grandmother was Menomenie from Wisconsin. Because of this, I've been reading about Indigenous history here in Canada and the United states since my 20's. I only mention this because much of the history Clarence Louie writes about isn't new to me. What is new is what this history means to him and his world view. I also appreciated learning more about the specific history of Syilx here in the valley, and the Osoyoos band in particular - especially with regards to the shameful reserve debacle.
This book is about Louie's perspective of leadership and how the band has come to this remarkable measure of success. Louie believes in the healing power of work. I wondered a bit about his focus on full time employment because I have friends and family with mental and physical health problems who can't manage this - it ends up making them sicker. Yet I see a lot of validity in his thinking - especially with regards to his statement that when you hit a certain age you should either 1. have a full time job, 2. be going to school, or if you can't do either of those, 3. be in counselling. After finishing this book I'm pretty sure that he would be able to make accommodations for people like my friends.
I have a few other quibbles where his focus seems to be one sided, but absolutely none of it takes away from what Clarence Louie has accomplished. Ultimately he's become a master of manipulating business and capitalism on behalf of the people he loves. It's a remarkable legacy.

CURRENTLY

Satellite Love by Genki Ferguson  🍁

The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton

UP NEXT 

Worser by Jennifer Ziegler

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel  🍁

READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 12/24 

#MustReadNonFiction 11/18 

Canadian Authors 32/100 one in progress

Canada Reads shortlist 5/5 

Indigenous Authors 12/25

2022 Big Book Summer Challenge 2  

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 141 /250

#IMWAYR July 26, 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.

The world is on fire. At least, our part of it is. As of Sunday, we have 1,217 fires burning in our province. One of them is raging across the valley from where I live. So far it has burned 6,871.8 hectares (16,980.6 acres) It's moved from the grassland areas where people live into the treed area above it. On Sunday evening we sat on our front lawns with friends. Looking through our binoculars, we watched trees candling. I wept. 

 

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

A Boy Like You by Frank Murphy & Kayla Harren (Illustrator)

This book features a diversity of boys engaged in all kinds of activities. They all focus on positive attributes. The books works to eliminate toxic masculinity from boys and men.

4 stars

Story Boat by Kyo Maclear & Rashin Kheiriyeh (Illustrations) 🍁

A family of refugees makes their home in different places on a daily basis. It’s the small things: a special cup, blanket, or light, that comfort them.
Rashin Kheiriyeh’s lovely artwork “was created with the coloured pencil and watercolour, oil and acrylic paint and painted paper, with additional natural materials including wood, wall and cut paper.”

4 stars

Escape Goat by Ann Patchett & Robin Preiss Glasser (Illustrations)

When this adorable goat decides it wants to see more of the world, it ends up getting accused of all kinds of things it didn’t do. I loved Robin Preiss Glaser‘s detailed artwork. She used ink and watercolour to create these illustrations. Many thanks to Shaye Miller for turning me onto this book.

4 stars

The Rock from the Sky by Jon Klassen 🍁

This is dark and weird and screamingly hilarious.

NON FICTION PICTURE BOOKS

4 stars

The Bat by Elise Gravel 🍁

Elise Gravel creates absolutely delightful nonfiction titles for younger readers. They are so much fun, you hardly know you are learning. She proves that bats are fascinating in this one. I appreciate that she even mentions how we humans are threatening bats with extinction.

5 stars

Nicky & Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued by Peter Sís

I knew about the kindertransport, but this similar story is new to me. Nicolas Winton was a young man in 1938 when he arranged for 669 Jewish children to leave Czechoslovakia before the German invasion. Vera is one of the young girls he saved. This beautiful book, that celebrates the good that an ordinary person can do, gave me shivers.

CHAPTER BOOKS 

4 stars

Jo Jo Makoons: The Used-to-Be Best Friend by Dawn Quigley & Tara Audibert (Illustrations) 🍁

Jo Jo is a first grade Ojibwe girl. Her first best friend is a cat. She’s not sure about Fern, her school best friend. At the same time as this book is delightfully funny, it also deals with the important topic of how to be a friend.

Jo Jo reminds me of Junie B Jones.

Tara Audibert is Canadian. 

NOVELS

4 stars

Ways to Grow Love (Ryan Hart, #2) by Renée Watson

There is less cooking in this second Ryan Hart novel, but that's because Ryan has so much going on in her life! Her pregnant mom is on bed rest so she spends more time with her Grandma. She's busy reading books from the library for their summer reading program. There is the excitement of summer camp with her best friends. It isn't until the end of the book that we see this young chef cooking up a storm again.
Ryan learns a lot about caring for all your neighbours, even the ones you don't know. She comes to understand forgiveness. At the end of the book, Ryan discovers the overwhelming love of a baby sister when she arrives.

5 star reads

Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon & Bahni Turpin (Narrator)

Every time I read something by Nicola Yoon, I fall more in love with her writing. If you add Bahni Turpin's narration into the mix, you get about as close to perfection as is possible.

I thought this would be a light fun romance. I needed it after all the intense adult nonfiction I've been reading. It has many of the aspects of a fun filled romcom. It's even got a bit of magic.

Ever since Evie Thomas caught her father kissing another woman, she doesn't believe in romance. Then she developed the ability to read the past and future of kissing couples. None of them have had happy endings. This new ability of hers led her to a dance studio where she ended up partnering with X, a gorgeous young man. The two of them enter a dance contest. Of course they fall in love. It seems perfect until Evie has one of her visions while the two of them are kissing.

What suprised me about this book is how deeply it looks into the nature of love. It's a lot about forgiveness, living for the moment, and embracing the love you get for however long you are lucky enough to have it.

5 stars

If I Tell You the Truth by Jasmin Kaur 🍁

This book deals with sexual assault.

Kiran Kaur was raped by her brother in law to be, a police officer, when she was still in Punjab. She left to go to Simon Fraser University, and didn't tell her mother about her pregnancy til she had safely arrived in Canada. Her mother doesn't believe her. 

Kiran was lucky to make a good friend, Joti, at university. Kiran moved into their house and Joti's family became Kiran and her daughter, Sahaara's family. 

Kiran remained in Canada as an undocumented immigrant while Sahaara grew up. When Sahaara was eighteen, Kiran was picked up by border officials. This is when Sahaara learned about her mother's history.

This book tells the stories of Kiran and Sahaara. At first Sahaara wonders about who her father was, and then when she finds out she struggles with hating herself. 

This is written in both poetry and prose. It's intense - so intense that I could only read it in bits and pieces. It's an emotionally hard read that speaks authentically about the reality of sexual assault and it's ramification for survivors. It's a story of love, survival, and speaking your truth. 

NON FICTION

5 stars

Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert & Rebecca Lowman (Narrator)

“This [is] has been a book about people trying to solve problems created by people trying to solve problems.”

We are living in the Anthropocene age. In our meddling with ecosystems, we always end up making things worse. We have destroyed our planet to such an extent, that we have put our species at great risk. A review in the New York Times states, "Leaving the natural world to repair itself isn’t an option anymore — or, at least, it’s not an acceptable one, considering the death and suffering that would inevitably ensue."
Kolbert writes about different mega projects either in the works, or in the research stage, in an effort to mitigate the worst of the damage. All this just so we can save ourselves from ourselves. She shows us an electrified river created to keep the voracious Asian Carp out the the great lakes water system. She talks about the terraforming attempts to return land to the areas around New Orleans. There are attempts to remove carbon from the atmosphere and turn it into rocks, ideas for seeding the atmosphere with diamonds, and projects to genetically modify coral polyps in hopes of saving the Great Barrier Reef. It isn't very hopeful.
As I finish this we have another wildfire burning out of control across the valley from us. It's the fourth fire in our vicinity this year. We haven't even reached the traditional fire season yet. While Kolbert didn't talk about fires in her book, I can’t help but make the connection between the constant roar of the helicopters and airplanes in the air here trying to keep us safe and what it's costing us to cope with this aspect of the climate crisis.

CURRENTLY 

Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon with Barrie Kreinik & Peter Ganim (Narrators)

The Disability Experience: Working Toward Belonging by Hannalora Leavitt 

History Is Delicious by Joshua Lurie

UP NEXT

 

The Fabulous Zed Watson! by Kevin Sylvester & Basil Sylvester

Bruised by Tanya Boteju

I'll continue to work at getting the picture book pile under control.

BLOG POSTS PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK

A Kid Is a Kid Is a Kid by Sara O'Leary
History Is Delicious by Joshua Lurie

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS

#MustReadIn2021 20/25 

#MustReadNFIn2021 8/12

#MustReadPBIn2021 48/100 

Big Book Summer Challenge 5 one in progress

Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 24/25

Books by Canadian Authors: 76/100 - one in progress

Canada Reads 2021 4/5 

Discworld Series 41/41

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 276 /333 

In The Wild Light by Jeff Zentner

5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. It will be released August 10, 2021 by Penguin Random House Canada.

Here's the Goodreads blurb:

"Life in a small Appalachian town is not easy. Cash lost his mother to an opioid addiction and his Papaw is dying slowly from emphysema. Dodging drug dealers and watching out for his best friend, Delaney, is second nature. He’s been spending his summer mowing lawns while she works at Dairy Queen.

But when Delaney manages to secure both of them full rides to an elite prep school in Connecticut, Cash will have to grapple with his need to protect and love Delaney, and his love for the grandparents who saved him and the town he would have to leave behind."

Jeff Zentner is a master storyteller. A magical word weaver whose characters find their way into your heart. His writing is so fine and so lyrical I found myself reading and rereading passages just for the pure pleasure of experiencing them again. I wept in the first 10% of this book. Tears welled up more than once throughout the rest of it. Emotional engagement like this is the gift of brilliant writing. 

Cash Pruitt is the kind of wounded hero it’s easy to love. His best friend is the brilliant Delaney Doyle. They went to school together but became friends after meeting at a Nar‑Anon meeting. Both their mothers were addicts. Both are damaged from this. The trauma is real. The guilt that's carried for being unable to save people is real. In Zentner's book the protagonists go to therapy. We need more examples of how to survive this stuff. I'm so glad this book is here. 

At their new school, the duo become a quartet. Cash meets Alex, a Korean American student, on the rowing team. He is on a scholarship as well. Viviani Xavier is Delaney's wealthy Brazilian room mate. The four friends become inseparable. 

Cash is lucky to have a poetry teacher, Dr Adkins, who 'gets' him. She encourages him to write his own poetry. Cash's moving poems reach into you and make an already brilliant book even better. His poem, Laundry Boys, celebrates his friendship with Alex. 

This is a novel about loss and grief: a sorrow so sharp edged and heavy it threatens to drag a wounded heart deep down under until it forgets to believe in the sun.

This is a novel about love. It’s about love for the environment and animals around us. It's about love for family and friends. It's about old loves, new loves, and discovering a true love that was there all along.

Ultimately this is a book about becoming the best person you can be. Sometimes you need to leave home to figure this out.  

Preorder your copy now. 

IMWAYR October 19, 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 am busy quilting and knitting like crazy these days (as well as helping out with renovations and taking care of the house while my partner does the majority of the reno work) Finding time to sit and just read with my eyes is hard. 

A while ago, through IMWAYR, someone recommended I listen to Terry Pratchett: BBC Radio Drama Collection. I found it, downloaded it, and was delighted. It introduced me to novels from the Discworld series that I haven't read so I decided to delve into the whole collection. I'm listening to as many of them as I can while working on my many projects. 

Today's post is three weeks of reading. 

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

5 stars

Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang 

Yup, this is as good as everyone says it is. I love so much about this book: the focus on individual team members, the way Yang puts himself into the narrative, the backstories of the characters, and the history of the game across different cultures. I wish there had been some mention that James Naismith, the creator of the game, was Canadian. What jumped out at me was the difference between public schools here in Canada and the Catholic private school in the story. Maybe it's just the difference between the focus on funding athletic programs in general between our two countries.

4 stars

All Together Now (Eagle Rock #2) by Hope Larson 

I enjoyed this. I read a number of negative reviews so I was a bit worried going into this. I mean, I just adored All Summer Long and was worried this wouldn't work as well. Thankfully it did. I ended up loving Brina even more than I did before. This girl has ethics and class. She takes the high road after her new best friend betrays her. I especially appreciated her mixed feelings about the possible romance with her next door neighbour, best friend, who happens to be a guy. (Having eventually married the guy who was one of my best friends and gone through an awkward time, I can attest that this is pretty realistic.) I'm looking forward to where Hope Larson takes us next in this series.

5 stars

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking up With Me by Mariko Tamaki. 

Toxic relationships exist no matter your sexual orientation. Getting out of them isn't easy. In this book, Freddy has to figure out what she gets out of her relationship with Laura Dean and what she gives up. 

I love, love, love Mariko Tamaki's art! It's so easy for the reader to see what's going on before Freddy does.

NOVELS 

3.5 stars

10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon

I thought I wrote a review for this when I finished it, but apparently, wrote in only in my head, or on a scrap of paper somewhere.

I didn't enjoy this as much as the other Dimple novels, but it was ok. It reminded me of a harlequin novel with the trope of fake boyfriend and couple who can't stand each other. I admit that by the end I did end up enjoying it.

4 stars

Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis & Traci Sorell  

Based on the author's experience, this story tells the tale of a fictional family from the Umpqua people. The federal government terminated their status in the 1950's. Regina and her family ended up moving to LA where her father went back to school and ended up getting a good paying job. In many ways they became 'American.' They soon discovered that to the rest of the nation they would always be 'Indian,' and not good enough.

My grandmother's people, the Menominee, were also terminated in 1954 (although by then she was living in Canada with my grandfather who was not indigenous.) Her nation's status was restored in 1973. The Umpqua did not get their status restored until the 1980's.

Here in Canada an attempt was made in 1969 to dissolve the Indian Act and terminate all Indigenous treaties and status. Thankfully it was quashed before becoming law.

Prior to that and for many years following, if a man married a non Indigenous women, his wife and their children acquired status. Preversley, if a woman married a non indigenous man, she, and all her children, lost their status. It wasn't until 2019 that this was fully rectified.

4 stars

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness (The Wingfeather Saga #1) by Andrew Peterson & Peter Sandon (Narrator)

I was delighted by this fantasy novel about a group of children who live with their Mother and Grandfather in a land overrun by Goblin like creatures. (The beginning of it reminded me of a Pratchett novel.) When they come under the scrutiny of the evil creatures at the Dragon Festival, their lives take a terrible turn for the worse. They can't understand why the adults in the family don't just turn the family treasure over to the nasty monsters so they can get on with their lives.

I listened to this, and if my library had only had the second as an audiobook, I would have jumped right into the sequel.

4 stars

We Dream of Space by Erin Entrada Kelly & Ramon de Ocampo (Narrator)

This book haunted me while I listened to it. It haunted me when I was doing other stuff and not listening to it. It continued haunting me for a while after finishing it. 

Erin Entrada Kelly highlights a dysfunctional family. The three children are struggling to make sense of who they are and what kind of people they want to become. This happens in the context of fighting parents. Many years ago when I was a university student, I learned that a sign of a family that functions well is that they eat meals together. The family here does not. It's such a simple thing that shows how fragmented and alone they all are. 

All this is set against the backdrop of the launch of the Challenger space shuttle. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I was still caught up in Bird's excitement around it.

I ended up weeping buckets. 

I loved that the children managed to come together at the end of the novel and it ends with hope for all of their futures.

DISCWORLD NOVELS

3.5 stars

The Colour of Magic (Discworld #1) by Terry Pratchett & Nigel Planer (Narrator)

This was was my introduction to Rincewind. It started out slow, but eventually I was fully engaged in the adventures. I enjoyed Pratchett's wicked sense of humour and the way he pokes fun at the real world. The Luggage is probably my favourite magical object/character in all the fantasy I've read. 

4 stars

The Light Fantastic (Discworld #2) by Terry Pratchett & Nigel Planer (Narrator)

Rincewind, an incompetent wizard, is perhaps the least expected character to save the Discworld. Terry Pratchett's world building continues to awe me in this second novel in the series. Nigel Planer's narration is brilliant.

5 stars

Equal Rites (Discworld #3) by Terry Pratchett & Celia Imrie (Narrator)

Pratchett's Witches series (including the Tiffany Aching ones) are my favourites. This is a reread for me. It is our introduction to the world of witches within the Discworld. Satire and parody are words thrown around when talking about Pratchett's work. This is some of the finest poking fun at misogyny around. It begins with an aging magician transferring his magic to a babe he and his father assume is the eighth son of an eighth son. By the time they realize their mistake, it's too late and all that power has been transferred to Esk, a baby girl. Granny Weatherwax makes her entrance into the series. The powerful woman she will become is hinted at here.

I loved Celia Imrie's narration.

4 stars

Mort (Discworld #4) by Terry Pratchett & Nigel Planer (Narrator)

We are introduced to Death in the earlier novels, but in this one, he comes into his own. Death sets out to hire an apprentice on account of having an adopted teenage daughter who's future he needs to see to. Mort becomes his apprentice because no one else wanted him. When Death lets Mort  handle a few reapings on his own, he ends up screwing it all up. Meanwhile, Death is too busy experiencing life to pay attention to what is happening.

CURRENTLY 

I'm listening to Internment by Samira Ahmed and Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett. With my eyes I'm reading War Stories by Gordon Korman. I'm reading and writing a post about Saturday at the Garage by Nancy Hundal. 

UP NEXT 

I'm hoping to get to Sourcery by Terry Pratchett, but none of my libraries has it as an audiobook. Hopefully I will take a break from sewing and knitting to read the pile of books I have checked out from the library. Waiting for First Light by Roméo Dallaire, one of my #MustRead titles is there so I will make a concerted effort to get to it. 

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS 

#MustReadIn2020: 20/25 

#MustReadNFIn2020: 9/12 

Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors: 21/25

Books by Canadian Authors: 110/100 one in progress

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 276/333