#IMWAYR June 19, 2023

Welcome! 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.

My husband and I went out for curry dinner last night to celebrate Father's day. We brought home enough leftovers for a couple more meals. Hope all the dads out there had a wonderful day. 

What the heck happened to summer? It was so cold yesterday that I finally gave up and turned on the furnace! It was only 9°c this morning! The good thing about this weather is that I have been able to get the garden weeded. I've been harvesting cucumbers and radishes and yesterday I picked the first zucchini. The raspberries are coming on and wow are they delicious! 

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.

CHILDREN'S NONFICTION PICTURE BOOKS

4 stars

Mary Wears What She Wants by Keith Negley January 29, 2019

Mary Walker was an exceptional woman who wore whatever she wanted. She was an abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war and surgeon, and the only woman to ever receive the Medal of Honor.
I enjoyed reading about her but wish more people had accepted women and girl's right to wear long pants before I went to school in the 1960's.


I was already a gushing fan of Isobel Greenberg's graphic novels and illustration, so I was predestined to love this feminist, graphic retelling of the myth of Gaia. I wish so much that I was still working in the library so I could purchase this book and share it with readers.
The first part of the book introduces readers to the different gods and goddesses with both an illustration and a write up. The rest of the book is the story of these characters told from Gaia's perspective.
I am looking forward to reading more work by this duo. 

MIDDLE GRADE FICTION
Miriam Brockman and her family have moved to a small town to run, what they soon discover to be, a very run down motel. Miriam is left looking after her little brother while the family is busy working to get it halfway decent for guests. In spite of this, Miriam makes friends with Kate, whose grandmother owns the diner next door. She also connects with Maria, the young adult housekeeper who works at the inn.
When it looks like both the diner and the motel are going to fail, Miriam and Kate come up with a plan to save them all. Whether or not it is ethical, no matter how successful it becomes, is an issue neither of the girls really wants to deal with.
There are other side issues - Miriam is terrified of water but her uncle, who is helping out at the inn until school starts in September, is helping her learn to swim. There are some differences between Miriam's Jewish family and the Christian community, but mostly they adopt a few of each other's foods and get along. When antisemitism raises it's head, and a near tragedy occurs, the family are supported by the rest of the community.

5 stars

Spell Sweeper by Lee Edward Födi & Sandy Rustin (Narrator) November 30, 2021 🍁

I have been meaning to read some Lee Edward Födi for ages. Now I wish I hadn't waited so darn long.
Cara Moone attends a prestigious school for wizards - but her family can't know what they do because magic is kept a secret from ordinary people. Unfortunately Cara failed the wizard aptitude test and is stuck in the spell sweeper department. She and her mates are left to clean up residual dust, leftover when their classmates and teachers perform magic. Because of her job, she's on the spot when a monster shows up  and reveals a rift in the fabric of magic. To fix the problem, Cara ends up working with her arch enemy, Harlee Wu, to stop the people causing it. 
This book is full of important messages for ordinary, non wizardly people about accepting and valuing ourselves for who we are. It highlights how important it is to challenge our biases and assumptions about other people and species. 
This was a really good read. I sure hope that this is not the end of Cara Moone's story. 


When her brother, Devin, heads off to university, Riley Henderson is bereft and bewildered. He took care of everything for her, including introducing her to dungeons and dragons. Over time Riley finally makes new friends and starts up a new D&D group. When her brother drops out of school and returns home, he wants things to go back as they were, but Riley and her mother have learned to cope just fine without him. Riley realizes that it's time for her to be the one to look after her brother.
I loved the relationships between Riley and her friends. I loved how they helped and supported one another.

4 stars

The Island of Monsters (Spirit Hunters #2) by Ellen Oh & Amielynn Abellera (Narrator)

This is about the level of horror I can manage. It begins with a spirit eating demon devouring Harper Raine's ghostly friends. Working with her grandmother they manage to find and destroy it. Then when the family is on vacation on a tropical island, they come upon a nest of the creatures. They are devouring the souls of living people and have marked her little brother. Harper's grandmother can't come to help her, so it's up to her to save him and destroy these evil creatures. 

The first book in this series, Ancillary Justice, is the only book to have won the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and the Arthur C. Clark Award.

I adored this book even more than the first. 
It is the second in the Imperial Radch Series, staring Breq, a soldier who used to be a warship. Breq is now captain of her own ship. She ends up at Athoek Station where her goal is to protect the family of a lieutenant she once knew and was forced to kill.
The Rache are a nongendered culture. What we would call feminine pronouns are used for everyone. 
"Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy has become one of the new classics of science fiction. Beautifully written and forward thinking, it does what good science fiction does best, taking readers to bold new worlds with plenty of explosions along the way." 

5 stars

Ancillary Mercy (Imperial Radch #3) by Ann Leckie  & Adjoa Andoh (Narrator) October 6, 2015

I downloaded this book as soon as I finished the second, but forced myself to  listen to other audiobooks that would expire first. I finished one of those, but couldn't wait any longer. I just had to start listening to this one. I needed to be back in Ann Leckie's world. I kind of wish I never had to leave it. I adore her multidimensional characters. I relish the way my mind was bent trying to grasp what it would be like to be both an individual and part of a unit of cognitively connected mind - and what it would be like to lose that connection. I love that this book takes a deep look at what it means to be human, to have personhood, to what Leckie calls, have significance. 

CURRENTLY

Gut by Giulia Enders & Jill Enders (Illustrator)

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong

Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin

The Secret Pocket by Peggy Janicki & Carrielynn Victor (Illustrator) April 11, 2023 🍁

UP NEXT 

Glass Town by Isabel Greenberg

Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca & Priya Ayyar

Hoops by Matt Tavares

READING GOALS 

#MustReadFiction 10/24 one in progress

#MustReadNonFiction 8/20 one in progress

Canadian Authors 23/75 

Indigenous Authors 9/20 

Big Books Summer 2023 - 1/5

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 90/200


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#IMWAYR June 5, 2023

Welcome! 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 while since I last posted - just over a month. I started writing a number of times, but life just got in the way. I am determined to write at least every other week!

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.

MOST RECENT BLOG POST


PICTURE BOOKS

I downloaded this book to read with Ellis, my dinosaur crazed three year old granddaughter. There isn't much about dinosaurs in it, but it is a fun, alphabet, rhyming book about what animals can't do. Then in the back matter there is a bit of information explaining what each of the animals can do! Ellis wasn't to interested in it, but her six year old sister was fascinated. 

CHILDREN'S NONFICTION PICTURE BOOKS


I nabbed this book from the library because I am a ginormous fan of Isabel Greenberg, the illustrator of this. Am I ever glad I did.
It is a book to help us (children and adults) grasp the enormity of large numbers. I say help, because really, how can anyone come close to making sense of a number like 100,000,000,000,000,000. Most of us can't really grasp 1,000,000,000.
I really appreciated that these massive numbers were written in words at the bottom of the pages where they were mentioned. My favourite page explains that the 10,000,000,000,000,000 ants that live on this planet weigh as much as the 7,500,000,000 people who they share it with.


I started reading this because of Isabel Greenberg's artwork. I ended up loving all of it.
This book makes connections that show how how important the ocean is to our lives, even if we live a long distance from it.
Did you know that seven out of every ten gulps of air you take contain oxygen created by ocean plants?
It's full of fascinating tidbits information about ocean creatures.
I especially appreciate the end of this book where it cycles back to us, revealing the many ways human actions affect the oceans.
Author's notes in the back matter expand on the information in the book.

These underwater photographs are just stunning.
They give the reader a glimpse of the world under the sea just off the coast of South Africa. It reveals a multitude of creatures who inhabit that realm.
While an octopus is shown, I expected a bit more about it. I think this is just because of the author and the text on the bottom of the cover.

YA FICTION


This is the story of a Metis teen who is the child of rape. Her biological father, just released from jail, is stalking her, claiming he will financially support her eduction goals if she will add his name to her birth certificate. 
This book is all about being 'the other.'
It's a story of romantic and sexual love. It shows a family working together to make a better life for each of it's members. It's about friendship and how important it is to be there for and stand up for the people we care for. 
It's also kind of terrifying. 

5 stars

The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill February 28, 2023

There I was with a group of women friends. They were outside in the sunshine, drinking wine, chatting and laughing while I was inside, totally absorbed by this weird and wonderful feminist retelling of The Crane Wife. 
I always loved Kelly Barnhill's children's books. I am now a hard core fan of her books for adults. Ok, since the protagonist here is a 15 year old girl who is trying to keep her brother safe and her family together while her mother works on her artwork, it's probably a YA book - or maybe it's just a book for readers of all ages. Things get extremely dark when her mother brings home a large crane, and she seems almost unaware of his brutality.

ADULT FICTION

4 stars

A Lethal Lesson by Iona Whishaw & Marilla Wex (Narrator) April 27, 2021 🍁

Lane ends up working as a substitute teacher after discovering the existing teacher  unconscious from a beating. This book addresses issues of abuse for women and children. 

4 stars

Framed in Fire by Iona Whishaw  & Marilla Wex (Narrator) April 26, 2022 🍁

When Lane goes to visit her friend Peter Barisoff in New Denver, she meets up with Tom, an indigenous man, who is looking for traces of his ancestors. They find Peter working in his garden where the three of them unearth a body. 
This book reveals a bit about the history of the indigenous people who once inhabited the West Kootenays. It also addresses issues of racism and prejudice. 

I was enthralled by this story of two friends, Fabienne and Agnès, growing up a small community in France after the war. The two thirteen year old girls write a novel. (Fabienne tells the story while Agnès transcribes it.) They get the local postmaster to help them get it published, with Agnès presented as the author. Her life is changed because of this. Ultimately this book is about about how much one of them will sacrifice to improve the life of the other.
I will reading more by Yiyun Li. Her writing is beautiful. 

While this book is fiction, it is based on true events and the characters are, in many ways, composites of the lives of real women. 
It's the story of the prochoice abortion movement. It connects women across time - from the abusive maternity homes and deadly backroom abortions of earlier years, to the women and men who provided safe (but still against the law) abortions with the help of different kinds of underground networks, and finally to today, where in Canada at least, abortion on demand is still, theoretically at least, available. Finding a nearby clinic is impossible in some parts of the country. It's also about motherhood and what women go through to achieve it. 
Ultimately, it's about choice. 

I especially like the way Leckie deals with gender in this book. In the protagonists culture, everyone is a she, whereas in other cultures she often errs and misgenders people. We never really know what (if any) gender she is. I'm fascinated by her imagining of AI in a future world. I liked a lot about this book and am now reading the next in the series. It might even be better than the first. 


There are few things as satisfying as finding yourself lost in a book. I had no real idea of what I was in for when I started this, but ended up being fascinated by Elizebeth Smith Friedman's life and the times she lived through. She was brilliant. If she was alive today, I suspect she would have been one of the world's finest computer programers.
Not only did I learn more about codes, I learned about the their use and abuses across the span of her life. It was fascinating to learn about how the different aspects of government interacted.
Elizebeth and her husband were both code breakers and makers. As is usual in these cases, it was he who garnered most of the credit while they were alive. Her life is remarkable given that she was a woman born 1892. Getting an education was no mean feat. Becoming one of the countries foremost code breakers of her time is an especially remarkable accomplishment.


I worried this would be harder to listen to, but Yeonmi Park is almost dispassionate about some of the horror she and her family experienced. By North Korean standards, her family, at least until after her father was arrested, were privileged. Following his incarceration for smuggling, things changed drastically. 
Park and her mother's escape from North Korean to China is a story of sexual abuse and slavery. With the help of a missionary group, she eventually ended up in South Korea where she became involved in the human rights movement. She now lives in the USA. 

CURRENTLY

Gut by Giulia Enders & Jill Enders (Illustrator)
VenCo by Cherie Dimaline 🍁
Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
The Secret Pocket by Peggy Janicki & Carrielynn Victor (Illustrator) April 11, 2023 🍁

UP NEXT 

Roll For the Initiative by Jaime Formato

READING GOALS 

#MustReadFiction 6/24

#MustReadNonFiction 8/20 one in progress

Canadian Authors 21/75 

Indigenous Authors 9/20 

Big Books Summer 2023 - 1/5

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 82/200


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FREE VERSE FRIDAY #6 JUNE SOLSTICE

I've decided to join Beverly A Baird, Linda Schueler and others in a "year long poetry practice – on the first Friday of each Month," when they, and anyone else who joins, will be writing a poem based on the theme of the month and a photo taken relating to that theme.

You can find out more about this here.

This month it felt like Spring was writing her story through me in this poem. I wonder what Summer will have to say?

The first time I participated, I didn't get the photograph first bit. I let the theme percolate throughout the month before posting and the poem more or less wrote itself. When I realized my mistake, I sent a half decent draft of it to my partner, Randy Rotheisler, and a friend, Ron Peace, both gifted photographers, asking for images to accompany it. We have continued this process. Both have remarked that this poem is dark and that finding images was challenging. In case you are interested, both these photographs can be purchased from the photographers. Let me know if you want their contact information. 

Moses by Ron Peace

Solstice

early on 

i two stepped 

lightly across the land 

now my feet, 

heavy,

drag across it


the season has been hard

harder than usual

Winter ignored the equinox,

threw white flurried tantrums well into April

now Summer,

always impatient,

blasts heat

well before her time


i’ve heard rumours 

those two are getting weird messages from the sun

a story about atmospheric interference 

too much carbon or something 


frankly, i’m too tired to care

i just want it to stop 


under these conditions 

it’s exhausting, 

almost impossible

to keep

my delicate charges alive,

never mind thrive


thankfully, 

my shift 

is almost over


soon i get to let go


soon


just as soon 

as the solstice arrives


it will be

someone else’s

turn to 

worry 

about 

the world


Descent by Randy Rotheisler
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FREE VERSE FRIDAY #5 MAY FLOWERS

I've decided to join Beverly A Baird, Linda Schueler and others in a "year long poetry practice – on the first Friday of each Month," when they, and anyone else who joins, will be writing a poem based on the theme of the month and a photo taken relating to that theme.

You can find out more about this here.

In my mind I have a vision of Spring waking up flowers to join in a wild and raucous celebration of the return of the sun.  I started working on it, but it is unwieldy and wants to go on and on. I thought I better prune it down (pun intended) and focus on one aspect of it. 
It's blossom time in my neck of the woods, and it is glorious indeed. Unfortunately this poem kept too kept growing. On my walks I keep noticing flowering shrubs and trees that I had overlooked in my poem. I swear they scowl at me and ask, "Hey, What about me?"

The first time I participated, I didn't quite get the photo part right, so I sent a half decent draft of my poem to my partner, Randy Rotheisler, and a friend, Ron Peace, both gifted photographers, asking for images to accompany it. It was fun and they are keen to continue, so that's what we are doing. 

Randy Rotheisler


oh so lovingly
spring tickles blossoms
from reluctant trees and bushes

forsythia flounces out first, 
leading the parade 
in yellow frills, 

on the wild slopes 

saskatoon branches 
adorn themselves in 
delicate wisps of white corolla

antelope bitterbrush 
burst out in 
halos of cream clusters 

stately dogwood 
announce their presence 
in cascades of four petal splendour  

citrus sweet clusters 
of mock orange 
arrive 
just in time 
for bridal bouquets

in the tamed valley, 
fruit trees explode
in florescence 

apricot arrives
in a fuss of blush  
 
apple, cherry, pear and plum 
hustle bustle around 
arrayed in shades of alabaster  
  
cheeky peach  
preens and pirouettes
in a profusion in pink

in the gardens and yards of local folk
 
crimson camellia 
carry on with the

magnolia cousins,
strutting their stuff
in sprays of white stars  
and marvels of magenta

while lilac arrives
quietly, 
in perfumed panicles 
of delicate florets

blessed indeed 
are we humble creatures 
to witness 
this divine spectacle of
painted fragrance


Ron Peace


Maybe I should have just focused on arrowleaf baslsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata.) The hills glow golden with their flowering these days. 




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IMWAYR April 23, 2023

Welcome! 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.


I have been away. I have been busy. I did not read much. I have been writing. All this is true and why I have not been posting. I am doing my best to not get overly stressed. It isn't easy.
 
Last weekend our guild quilt show was a smashing success. As co-chair of the committee, I can't take much credit. It's because of the individual committee members that it went off so brilliantly. Since it was my first quilt show, I did a lot of worrying. I am really good at that.
You can read about the show here. 

My reading life has been in fits and starts. I have picked up and abandoned a lot of titles. I sent a huge pile of library books back to the library unread. After reading Orwell's Roses by  Rebecca Solnit, I thought I would reread 1984. I got about half way into it before realizing it was way too dark and only going to get darker. 

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.

MOST RECENT BLOG POST

PICTURE BOOKS

5 stars

Lift by Minh Lê & Dan Santat (Illustrator) May 5, 2020

When Iris' little brother takes over her job of pressing elevator buttons, she is seriously miffed. In retaliation she presses the button so many times that it breaks. When the repairman tosses the broken piece into the garbage, she rescues it and tapes it onto her bedroom wall. She's surprised and delighted to discover that pushing the button opens a portal into other worlds.

Just Wow! I have ordered copies of this for my two grandkids for their 6th birthday.
It's gorgeously illustrated (as is anything created by Jenkins.) Sure I'm impressed by the quality of the information, but it's how it's presented that really wows me. Each page has a paragraph explaining the tools the species is using. The simply captioned illustrations show the animal using it. I also really like the silhouetted sections that show the size of the creature compared to a human. The back matter contains additional information about the animals in the book, but really, it's not needed.


I almost abandoned this one because it seemed like it was going to end up as one of those mean girl kind of books. I continued because this is Barbara Dee, and she has never let me down before. She didn't this time either.
Haven is full of eco-anxiety. It gets in the way of her completing her school work, but after a conversation with her social studies teacher, gets an extension. In science class they discover that their local river is in trouble. Species are missing and the acid ph level is too high. With the help of others, Haven organizes a river awareness and cleanup party. When she realizes that it isn't enough, she tries to emulate her hero, a Greta Thunberg kind of character. In the end, with the help of her teachers, parents, and others, she discovers a way to make a serious difference.
I ended up really liking this story. I like that Haven's relationship with the girl she had problems with is resolved and becomes a positive one. I like that there are all kinds of students and adults working along side Haven to improve the world. I like that Haven becomes a role model herself, but I think the most important message here, is that real change can only be accomplished if we work together.

Some readers suggested that reading the previous books would help figure out all that was going on. This might be true. I did have trouble keeping track of who was who and what was happening to them. That the author inserts little snippets of life for ordinary people doesn't help. I liked Simon Vance's voice as narrator, but suspect that had I read this with my eyes, my confusion might have been less of an issue.
You might think after that little spiel, that I didn't enjoy this book. You would be wrong. In spite of being confused more often that I like to be, I got completely caught up in this fantasy. The writing is gorgeous. The world building - a combination of historical reality and fantasy is powerful and authentic. The characters are appealing and real - even the nasty ones!


I thought I had written about this when I finished it, but discovered that I didn't. I think I wanted to mull it over, but what I really wanted, was to read it with a book club. I was/am desperate to talk about it with others who have read it. 
This book made me crazy with rage. Having lived through, and grown into my teens in the 1950's and 1960's, I lived through this reality. I saw my mother struggle through it. Unfortunately, it feels all still relevant today. I would like to transform into a dragon. 

4 stars

A Match Made for Murder (Lane Winslow #7) by Iona Whishaw & Marilla Wex (Narrator) April 28, 2020 🍁

I was delighted to return to this world and these characters. Lane and her husband, Darling, are in Arizona on their honeymoon. A murder in their hotel ends up pulling them into the investigation.
Meanwhile, back in Nelson, Sergeant Ames has a murder, and a missing teen girl to deal with. It turns out that the different cases in two different countries are connected.
I liked that this one addresses the issues of domestic and sexual violence for women and girls.

What an amazing story teller!
I listened to this read by the author. It was an intimate experience - as though she was still here chatting about her life. If my library had her next book in audio format, I would have downloaded it immediately to continue.

CURRENTLY

The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li

The Woman All Spies Fear: Code Breaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden Life by Amy Butler Greenfield

UP NEXT 

The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by  Jenny Ferguson 🍁

READING GOALS 

#MustReadFiction 6/24

#MustReadNonFiction 7/20 one in progress

Canadian Authors 17/75 

Indigenous Authors 9/20 

Canada Reads Finalists 3/5

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 69/200


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