Showing posts with label Terry Pratchett. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Terry Pratchett. Show all posts

#IMWAYR, July 25, 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. 

Our oldest son and his family are arriving on Wednesday. We are excited. I've downloaded all the Charlie and Mouse books to introduce to Everett, our five year old grandson. I think we have enough board and picture books to keep Lydia, who is almost two, entertained. I'm not sure if I will get a post in next week (or even how much reading I will actually accomplish) since they will be here til Sunday. 

It's predicted to be hot this week with temperatures climbing to over 40 °C.  Thankfully we have central air conditioning, a shaded backyard, and our neighbours encourage us to use their pool. 

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

I started reading this only to discover the story was really familiar. I realized I had read it before, but couldn't remember how it all ended so I decided to continue reading. I'm glad I did.
There is a lot going on in this verse novel. Eleven year old Macy is deaf following a bout of meningitis when she was four. There has always been just her and her mom, but now her mother is getting married to a man with twin six year olds. Macy is not happy and does not want her life to change. Unfortunately, her life just get worse. She has no idea how to complete a family tree project. She gets in a fight with her best friend and ends up isolated at school. Her mother sends her over to help Iris, their aging neighbour, sort out her books. In the process, Iris and Macy become fond of each other. It turns out that Iris might have the key for how to get Macy's life back on track - so long as Macy doesn't do something really disastrous first.

5 stars

The Wherewood by Gabrielle S. Prendergast   🍁

Don't make a deal with the Fae. 
Salix (a Nixie) and Finola (a Faerie) have tricked Blue into going on another adventure into the Faerieland. They end up first in Wherewood, a land where lost things end up. It's a problem if you haven't lost anything, since the only way out is to find what you are missing. Things end up going from bad to worse when they eventually end up in Witherwood, a cursed land now ruled by Olea, the former evil queen of Nearwood. 
This is the second in Prendergast's Faerie Woods series from the Orca Currents collection. Imagine Holly Black for reluctant, struggling readers. Like The Crosswood, this is loaded with fast paced action and plenty of humour. I came to enjoy the characters even more and am looking forward to reading the last in the series. 

The Orca Currents collection are "are short, high-interest novels with contemporary themes written specifically for middle-school students reading below grade level. Reading levels from grade 2.0 to 5.0. Interest level ages 9-12"


The thing I enjoy most about Pratchett is that he takes well known stories and messes around with them. This book is a feminist look at war, religion, and gender roles. 
"Polly Perks joins the Discworld army to find her brother Paul. "Ozzer" cuts off her blonde braids, dons male garb, belches, scratches, and masters macho habits - aided by well-placed pair of socks. The legendary and seemingly ageless Sergeant Jackrum accepts her plus a vampire, troll, zombie, religious fanatic, and two close "friends". The best man for the job may be a woman."
When Polly Perks signs up to go to war to search for her brother, she soon discovers that the rest of the recruits in her regiment are women disguised as men. They end up rescuing the rest of the army by disguising themselves as women.
In the end, Polly reminisces, "You think you’re the hero, and it turns out you’re really part of someone else’s story."
 
ADULT FICTION


This was a book club book. We had previously read Meet Me at the Museum by the same author. Not only did everyone enjoy that one, we probably talked more about it than any other we have read together. 
I preferred the first one, but the characters in this are rich and unique. It's the story of friendship between three women from disparate walks of life. Eve has been let go from the job she worked at for 30 years. Sally has left her husband. Anastasia, the owner of the boat, has to have an operation to remove cancer. The most important thing about all of them is how they show us that we are never too old to come of age.
I found myself trying to convince my partner that we should go on vacation touring the canals of Britain. He told me that Britain is experiencing a drought and it isn't a good idea. 
I prefer the title, The Narrowboat Summer and wonder why the title of the book is changed to this in more recent publications. 

As a Jane Austen fan, this has been on my to read list since it was first published. When Bloomsbury Girls, the next in the series, became available, I went to remind myself what had happened previously. I was shocked to discover I hadn't read it. Luckily it was available immediately. I enjoyed it much more than I anticipated. Natalie Jenner has written some glorious characters. I appreciated the strong women and girls. I admired most of the men. I loved the sense of community, the love for Austen, and the multiple romances. I was shocked by the group's decision for Adam, and kept thinking it couldn't end like that. I'm still not sure I'm happy with that part of this book, but I still loved the story. 

ADULT NONFICTION


Grieving is hard work. It's triggered by places, events, and sensory experiences. For Michelle Zauner, it's H Mart, a Korean grocery store, that provokes overwhelming grief for her mother. 
This book is a memoir of her life with her Omma until she died of cancer when Michelle was only 25. It's a story of love, loss, learning, and coming as close to acceptance as we can. It's full of Korean culture and food. 
I am lucky to have a Korean daughter in law and two grandchildren from her. We have shopped together at H Mart and other Korean grocery stores. My daughter in law, like Michelle's mother, is beautiful inside and out. All this helped me to connect to her story at a personal level. I pray my granddaughters never have to go through what she did. 

CURRENTLY

Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner  🍁
The Summer We Saved the Bees by Robin Stevenson  🍁

UP NEXT

The Lucky Ones by Linda Williams Jackson
Diggers by Terry Pratchet
Forbidden City by James Ponti
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1983 by Cho Nam-Joo

READING GOALS

#MustReadFiction 15/24

#MustReadNonFiction 12/18

Canadian Authors 46/100 

Canada Reads shortlist 5/5 

Indigenous Authors 12/25

2022 Big Book Summer Challenge 6 

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 173 /250

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#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 February 22, 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 have almost finished all the characters for my Olivier Dunrea quilt. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to create the red stripes for Gideon's friend Otto (the octopus). Should I sew them, embroider them or invest in some fabric pens and colour them in? It will get figured out eventually. After a short reading break I plan to start on the rest of the little animals and plants. Sometimes I'm overwhelmed by what I've taken on, but then I remember that it all gets accomplished bit by bit. 


Aside from sewing, I worked on a book review for Naomi Klein and Rebecca Stefoff's book about climate change. It was challenging. I haven't taken that many notes while reading since I was at university. At the same time as I was reading and writing about it, I was reading Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. I also had Crossing Home Ground by David Pitt-Brooke, a title about habitat loss in my part of the world, on the go. It was all pretty grim.

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

How to Change Everything: The Young Human's Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other by by Naomi Klein & Rebecca Stefoff

#IReadCanadian: Books For All Ages

PICTURE BOOKS

4 stars
  
In My Anaana's Amautik by Nadia Sammurtok & Lenny Lishchenko (Illustrator) 🍁

This is told from the perspective of a child being carried in an amautik - a pouch at the back of their Inuit mother's parka. Connections are made from the experience of being inside it to the rest of their arctic environment. The beauty of the land is captured in both Sammurtok's words and Lishchenko's illustrations.

POETRY 

4 stars

Our Corner Store by Robert Heidbreder & Chelsea O'Byrne (Illustrations) 🍁

This sequel to Rooster Summer, is another novel in verse based on the memories of the author's childhood. It tells the story of two siblings, their friends, and their relationship to the owners of the corner store in their neighbourhood. The rollicking poetry is full of the energy of childhood. Heidbreder captures the sounds and smells of a time gone by in these delightful poems. O'Byrne's illustrations add to these memories. The collection reminded me of being sent to the store to pick up grocery orders my mother phoned in. Imagine sending a four year old a block and a half to the store now!

NON FICTION


I was nine in 1962 when this beautifully written book was published. Rachel Carson sounded the alarm about the devastation wrought by our attempt to control insects, weeds and other 'pests' by spraying toxic chemicals  I might have read this book in my youth, but if I did, I have forgotten it. I do remember a conversation with my father about the local consequences of spraying DDT. Here in our orchard/vineyard community in the Okanagan Valley, not only were the birds silenced, the mouse population went out of control and began to destroy fruit trees. The local rattlesnakes, their primary predators, had also been decimated by the poison.
Carson shows us the consequences of an extractivist worldview where humans see themselves as masters of the planet. She takes the reader through episode after episode of the destruction of the natural world and shows how we harm ourselves as a consequence. Most profoundly, we see that any positive results are temporary at best. Because of the chemical's wholesale wreaking of armageddon to ecosystems, they ended up making matters worse. She finishes the book with alternative, and much more cost effective and efficient ways of dealing with the pests in our lives. These are the methods we use in our local garden today.
I couldn't help but make a connection between the subterfuge of chemical companies then and similar tactics used by the chemical & fossil fuel industries today.


In search of pristine bunchgrass meadows, Pitt-Brooke set off to walk from Kereomas and Osoyoos in the southernmost part of the Okanagan Valley here in British Columbia, to Williams Lake in the Cariboo region of the province. Along the way he reminisces about his past and ruminates on the history of the different areas. 
 
DISCWORLD NOVELS

5 stars

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

I've read this one before and am happy to have read it again in the context of the rest of the series. It's one of a handful of best novels from the Discworld collection. It's also one of the few suitable for younger readers (aged 10 and older.) It's a twisted fairytale based on the Pied Piper of Hamelin theme. A group of rats, having eaten some kind of strange food, become sentient and start to talk and think like humans. Maurice, a cat, ended up in the same situation after eating one of them. They band together with Keith, a young flute player. The group travel from community to community fleecing the inhabitants after tricking them into believing they have a rat infestation and being saved by Keith, their Pied Piper.
Things change when they arrive in a new town where the village Rat Catchers have their own nefarious swindle going on. As nasty as they are, they are not the worse surprise for the group. A manipulative evil being gets inside and controls the mind of anyone who gets close to it.
This book is hilarious, heartwarming, and gruesome.

CURRENTLY 

The Pratchett novel I'm listening to is Night Watch. Otherwise, I am between books right. 

UP NEXT

I plan to read Twins by Varian Johnson, When You Trap A Tiger by Tae Keller and Measuring Up by Lily La Motte. I'll be reading and writing a review for a Netgalley title, The Incredible Nellie Bly by Luciana Cimino. I'm hoping to find time to start reading The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert. I've got an audiobook, On Fire: The Burning Case for A Green New Deal by Naomi Klein checked, but I'm not sure I can handle reading it in tandem with Elizabeth Kolbert's book.

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS 

#MustReadIn2021 5/25 

#MustReadNFIn2021 2/12 

#MustReadPBIn2021 13/100

Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors: 7/25 

Books by Canadian Authors: 19/100

Canada Reads 2021 1/5

Discworld Series 28/41 

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 70/333 

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#IMWAYR December 14, 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 apologise for not getting around to commenting on everyone's posts last week. I did read them all, but time was in short supply so....

I also didn't get in much reading with my eyes. I have been very busy with house painting and sewing. I'm almost finished two Christmas tree skirts for my two sons and their families. They took much longer than I anticipated. I just have to quilt them and will share pictures of them next week. I hope I get them done!

Our house is looking more festive even if we don't have a functioning main bathroom. My winter village and North Pole figurines are on display. My wonderful partner managed to get the windows full of lights. We plan to head off into the hills Monday to cut down a tree. Then on Tuesday we will decorate it. 

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

5 stars

Finding My Talk by Rebecca Thomas & Pauline Young (Illustrator) 🍁 

A couple of weeks ago I read the companion book, I Lost My Talk, by Rita Joe and Pauline Young. Rita Joe and Rebecca Thomas' father lost their language, culture and ways of knowing the world after being taken from their families and placed in residential schools.
I'm Finding My Talk is a poem about healing and recovering as much of that which was taken away as possible.
Talk is about more than language. Terry Pratchett wrote, "People think that stories are shaped by people. In fact, it's the other way around.”Words have power. Words convey meaning and provide a framework for how we see the world and connect to each other. This book is about coming home to who the Mi'kmaq people were before residential schools took it away.
Both the author and illustrator dedicate the book to their fathers. Reading these dedications nearly brought me to tears.
Pauline Young's paintings are a brilliant homage to the power of Rebecca Thomas' words.

5 stars

Mi'kmaw Animals by Alan Syliboy 🍁 

This board book showcases petroglyph style illustrations of different animals. Each creature is paired with its name on the next page. The names are given in Mi’kmaw with a pronunciation guide and in English.
The art work is just stunning!

4 stars

Blueberry Patch / Mayabeekamneeboon by Jennifer Leason & Norman Chartrand (Translator) 🍁 

First off, the art in this bilingual book is swoonworthy. I want some prints to hang on my walls.
The story shares a memory of travelling with family to the blueberry patch. Set in the late 1940's, it tells of a way of life now gone. The author's family journeyed by wagon train with other members of the community to spend a month living in tents and harvesting blueberries. It's bursting with images of nature that indicate an intimate relationship to the earth.
The pages are a wee bit text heavy even accepting that it is written in English and Anishinaabemowin. The back matter contains a list of activities to accompany the book, a recipe for bannock, and information about the two contributors.

NOVELS

5 stars

Three Keys (Front Desk #2) by Kelly Yang & Sunny Lu (Narrator)

I think I loved this sequel even more than the first in the series.
If you are looking for a book for a young activist, pick this one. Mia Tang and her friends work hard to battle racism in their school and community. It's set against the backdrop of California’s Prop 187, a law that would ban undocumented immigrants from access to health care and public schooling.


The worst thing about reading the most recent Inspector Armand Gamache Novel, is having to wait for the next one to be published. 
This story takes the Gamache family to Paris, France, where Armand's godfather is deliberately attacked by a hit and run driver. He was involved in a deep investigation of a corrupt corporation and independent security force. 
As the story unfolds, the rift between Armand and his son seems to widen. It becomes more and more difficult to determine who can be trusted, and who is out to destroy them all.

DISCWORLD NOVEL

The more I read Pratchett, the sorrier I am for people who haven't yet discovered him. 


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. 

I want to give a shout out to https://goldenaudiobooks.com/. I've been listening to many of the Discworld novels for free from here. The books have to be streamed rather than downloaded, but since I'm mostly listening to them while at home working, it's not a problem for me. 

4 stars

Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett & Nigel Planer (Narrator)

The alchemists of Discworld have developed Moving Pictures. Victor Tugelbend, a drop out wizard from the Unseen University, is drawn to Holy Wood. As unskilled as he might be, he ends up paired with Ginger Withel and both become super stars. Of course they are helped out by Gaspode the talking dog.
It soon emerges that Moving Pictures has a detrimental effect on the reality of the Discworld especially because they open up a portal into the Dungeon Dimensions.
This parody of the movie industry is both hilarious and terrifying.

4 stars

Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett & Nigel Planer (Narrator)

The Auditors of Reality decide that Death needs to be replaced since he has started to develop a personality and has lost his objectivity towards humans. He sets off to live life with the rest of the Discworld citizenry. In the process he becomes even more empathic as he learns what it means to be human and die.
All the creatures on the Discworld are left to come up with a new way to configure death. Humans are slow to do this. Consequently, their life force builds up. This makes it impossible for people to die and brings the dead back to life. This is especially difficult for the recently deceased wizard, Windle Poons, who was looking forward to reincarnation. He joins the Fresh Start club, an undead-rights group, who go on to discover that Ankh-Morpork is being invaded by a parasitic life form that hatches from eggs that resemble snow globes.

CURRENTLY 

I'm still reading Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer, a book club title. The Discworld book I'm into is Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett narrated by Nigel Planer. This is at least my third go round with this book and I love it more each time. I just started Give and Take by Elly Swartz. 

UP NEXT 

A History of My Brief Body by Billy Rae Belcourt just became available so this will be my next audiobook. I hope to get to On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous Ocean Vuong and Leggings Revolt by Monique Polak. 

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS 

 #MustReadIn2020: 24/25 - one in progress

#MustReadNFIn2020: 11/12 

Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors: 29/25  

Books by Canadian Authors: 129/100 

Discworld Series 16/41 - one in progress

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 326/333 

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