FIRST FRIDAY POETRY JUNE 2024

I'm joining Beverly A Baird & Linda Schueler in a "year long poetry practice – on the first Friday of each Month," when we, and anyone else who joins, writes a poem and pairs it up with a photo relating to it.

I had ideas about what to write about this month, and even managed to scribble down a line or two. Then yesterday, I took the backroad home from work.

There has been a lot of talk in our agricultural community about the devastation wrought to local farmers by the cold spell we had in January, but seeing it for myself was a painful eye opener.

The soft fruit trees have survived, although there will be no cherries, apricots or peaches this summer. The grapes, after two years of unusually extreme cold weather, have not fared so well. The annihilation of many local vineyards is nothing short of disaster for owners.


harbingers

not long ago
grape vines
flourished here

row upon row
of leafy abundance
crisscrossed
the valley steppes

now
gnarly black ghosts
haunt the landscape
miserable reminders
of a climate in crisis













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#IMWAYR JUNE 3, 2024

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. Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers host the kidlit rendition. These are fabulous places to start your search for what to read next.

I've missed three reading updates. 

We've been busy. The garden is in, but not making much progress because the weather has been unusually cold this year. I've had to plant Swiss chard twice and am about to give up since the birds eat it as soon it sprouts. I tried putting in larger seedlings, but they devoured those too. I wish they would eat the mallow that I am constantly trying to eradicate from my garden!

Two of our granddaughters were here for a week. Then the rest of the crew arrived on the Victoria Day long weekend. They all went home on Monday, and on Tuesday my sister and I headed off for a week away with different groups of women friends. 

I'm pretty sure this isn't all I read: I read a lot with the grandkids when they were here, but didn't make notes of any of it. 

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.

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PICTURE BOOKS


100 Chapatis by Derek Mascarenhas & Shantala Robinson (Illustrator) 🍁

While a young boy and his grandfather await the birth of his new sibling, they make 100 Chapatis. I loved that the boy's first chapatis are not round like his Pappa's, but his grandfather tells him they are the shape of India, just like his were when he first started making them. Pappa reflects on making 100 chapatis while waiting for the boy's birth. Not only are making 100 chapatis a good way to spend time, they end up being a handy thing to have on hand after the baby arrives. 
As a grandparent, I'm predisposed to like books like this one, but I think everyone will enjoy it.

MG FICTION


The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly & Ramón de Ocampo (Narrator)





If you like time travel books that are filled with important ideas about what it means to be human and live a full and rich life, then this is a book for you.
Michael Rosario might be worried about the upcoming new school year, but in the meantime, he's surrounded by people he loves, and who love him. He's got a hardworking mom who works three jobs. He spends quality time with Mr. Mosel, the caretaker at the housing complex where they live. All of us would be better people if we followed Mr Mosel's advice, “Before you go to sleep at night, ask yourself: was I the best person I could be today? If the answer is no, do better tomorrow.” He's got a crush on his babysitter, Gibby, but their relationship is strong and she is very supportive. When the two of them meet Ridge, a stranger hanging around the apartment complex, their lives begin to get weird. It turns out Ridge is a teen of about Gibby's age who is visiting from the future. Ridge teaches Gibby and Michael about the first state of being. 
All of these people help Michael to become braver and more confident. 


The Secret Language of Birds by Lynne Kelly & Ferdelle Capistrano (Narrator) April 9, 2024

Nina is staying with her aunt and helping out at the summer camp she runs. It's a positive experience for her because she and her aunt are both avid birdwatchers, and because she finds a sense of belonging with a group of girls. When the whole cohort of older girls campers head off to a supposedly haunted cabin, they see what might be a ghost. Nina thinks it's some kind of bird, but no birds of that size are established in that area. Eventually she comes to realize that two whooping cranes have built a nest on the local lake. Nina and her friends contact wildlife officials and work together to send updates and try to identify the two birds. Unfortunately, in order to do this, Nina and her friends have to break the camp rule about heading off into the wetland area unaccompanied by an adult.
Not only did I love Nina as a character, I was fascinated by all the scientific work described in the book.


Amy Mattes' exquisitely written debut novel has been nominated for a Giller Prize. Here in Canada, this is a big deal.
It is the coming of age tale of a Ines, a young girl from a small town in BC, who tries to escape her past by travelling cross country on a bus to Montreal, Quebec. She plans to reinvent herself, but is burdened by guilt and grief. Learning to love herself is much harder than she can fathom, but by the end of the book, despite all her tribulations, she's on her way. 

This book follows The Bear and the Nightingale. Like it, this is beautifully crafted.  
It's set in medieval Russia, a time and place where fairytales and old mythology are at odds with ever encroaching Christianity. Vasilisa, a girl with unique powers, has decried marriage and convent. After fleeing from her small village she rescues three young girls from bandits, and ends up posing as a boy in the the Grand Prince of Moscow's court. Disaster is inevitable. It's just a matter of who Vasilisa will take down with her when she is caught. 


I savoured this novel. It's a slow paced and comforting book about a woman who gets divorced and opens a bookshop. I learned a lot about toxic Korean attitudes towards work and success. In this book, most of the characters have eschewed those ideals (either deliberately or because they were unattainable) and are building different kinds of lives. I took this community of authentic characters into my heart and didn't want to let them go. I adored all the literary references. 

4 stars

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree & (Narrator)

I had never heard the term cosy fantasy before my niece recommended this book to me. It is the perfect definition. It's the sweetest story about starting over and finding and creating found family. 
Viv, an Orc, has decided to put her sword aside and start a coffee shop in the town of Thune. The characters she meets and employs: Cal, a hob, who helps her remodel the stable she purchased; Tandri, a succubus who helps run the shop; and Thimble, a rattkin with magical baking skills, are, like Viv herself, trying to build a new life despite what people think of them based on what they look like. I loved all of them as much as I loved how this medieval coffee shop came to be like a modern one.

4 stars

What Comes Echoing Back by Leo McKay Jr. June 6, 2023 🍁

This beautifully written book tells the story of two teens who have separately experienced horrific trauma. They connect in a music class and help each other deal with the shame and quilt as they begin to recover and heal. 

4.5 stars

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo (Author & Narrator) February 13, 2024

"Yangsze Choo brilliantly explores a world of mortals and spirits, humans and beasts, and their dazzling intersection. The Fox Wife is a stunning novel about a winter full of mysterious deaths, a mother seeking revenge, and old folktales that may very well be true."
Some people think foxes are similar to ghosts because we go around collecting qi, or life force, but nothing could be further than the truth. We are living creatures, just like you, only usually better looking . . .
I loved this book so much I didn't want it to end. It's told in two main voices: a young woman who is searching for the man who killed her daughter, and Bao, a detective with power to tell when people are lying. Bao has set off to find out who a frozen woman was and how she ended up there. Both of them are inextricably linked to the fox gods. I might have anticipated some of the ending, but other aspects were a delightful surprise.

4 stars

Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge & (Narrator)

I adored this book for lots of reasons. First, I'm a hard core fan of cosy mysteries and this one is delightful. Second, Julia Child is an important character as the best friend to Tabitha Knight, an American who has come to Paris to stay with her French Grandfather and Uncle (her two men).
After a party at the Child's house, a woman is found dead. It turns out she was stabbed with one of Julia's knives and had Tabitha's contact information in her pocket. Tabitha, with encouragement from her two men and Julia, sets out to find out who the murderer is. The handsome Inspector Merveille isn't impressed with her shenanigans. 
I really liked a lot about this book. I was absolutely engaged in the mystery and terrified with some of the foolhardy things Tabitha got up to. I loved all the cooking and food references. I appreciated the hint of romance (maybe) between the Inspector and Tabitha. 

"On mean Harp Bittlemore’s blighted farm, hidden away in the Backhills, nothing has gone right for a very long time. Crops don’t grow, the pigs and chickens stay skinny and the three aged dairy cows, Berle, Crilla and Dally, are so desperate they are plotting an escape. The one thing holding them back is the thought of abandoning young Willa, the single bright point in their life since her older sister, Margaret, ran away."
The older Bittlemores are the poster couple for dysfunctional parents. After numerous miscarriages, Mrs Harp convinced her husband to steal a baby for her. Since then their daughter, Margaret, ended up getting pregnant at 14, having the baby, running away from home and leaving her child behind. Willa is now 14, knows about her mother, and is starting to suspect something nefarious might have happened to her. 
Harp has deteriorated into a lazy, cruel drunk who only finds pleasure when he is torturing his livestock. Mrs Bittlemore enjoys baking, but not eating. She has become obese while Mr Bittlemore remains scrawny. They are both becoming unhinged. 
A new police officer is working to solve a long list of cold cases. She's searching to find out what happened to a baby kidnapped at birth twenty nine years earlier. Margaret has decided that it is time to return home and collect her daughter. They all show up on the day the Bittlemores set out on a killing spree. 
If you like dark, twisted, black humour, then this book is probably up your alley. My sister and I listened to it while we were travelling on our way to the coast and back. 

Michael E. Mann is a renowned climate scientist. He is responsible for the hockey stick graph showing the earth's increasing temperature since industrialization. He has been pilloried by the fossil fuel industry, but remains positive about the potential for change. In this book he "shows how fossil fuel companies have waged a thirty-year campaign to deflect blame and responsibility and delay action on climate change, and offers a battle plan for how we can save the planet." His is a mostly positive look at where we are at with respects to the battle to save the planet from climate change. I learned a lot about how fossil fuel industry strategies work to misinform, misdirect and deflect. He talks about how industry strategists ('inactivists') obstruct any action to make change. At the same time he accuses some  climate activists of doing the same thing. I applaud Mann's work. In spite of this, I am distressed by his dismissal of those who call for a green new deal. He claims that if climate activists want to get moderate Republicans on side working to mitigate the climate crisis, then proposals for change need to be more moderate. He's not a proponent of a new green deal and comes across as frustrated because some left wing climate activists disagree with carbon tax. I wish he had addressed how the last New Deal failed BIPOC, and revealed how he meant to ensure this wouldn't happen again. I think the issue is far more nuanced than he acknowledges. 

CURRENTLY

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky May 2, 2017

More Than Money: How Economic Inequality Affects Everything by Dyer, Hadley 🍁

UP NEXT (MAYBE)

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang May 16, 2023

READING GOALS 

#MustRead2024 11/25 

NonFiction 16/24 two on the go

Canadian Authors 28/50 one on the go

Indigenous Authors 8/25

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 98/200  

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Late September by Amy Mattes

"Ines, a grief-stricken skateboarder beginning to explore her sexuality, leaves behind her sheltered hometown on a Greyhound bus bound for Montreal. In awe of the city’s vibrancy, and armed with a journal and a Discman, Ines sets out to find a new way, befriending April, a latex-loving goth who gets her a job as a cam-girl. In the midst of a bar fight Ines meets Max, a magnetic skateboarder, whom she quickly falls for. As summer fades to fall Ines tries to uphold the bliss of their intoxicating summer, realizing that while she has escaped the confines of her small-town life, she cannot escape her past. The city changes and their romance darkens as Ines learns that Max is experiencing mental health challenges, all while a regular at the cam studio gets threateningly close. Ines learns that loving herself first requires trial and error―and that love is not always an innocent word."

It's no wonder that Amy Mattes' first novel has been nominated for the Giller Prize. 

It is an exquisite read. Her lyrical prose is raw with emotion. At times I was overwhelmed by the heaviness of guilt and grief that permeates her words. It triggered memories of losses in my own life. I wept for Ines and myself. I ended up having to take a break from reading. When I returned, I finished the book in one sitting.

Ines' younger sister drowned when she was a preteen. Even though she's not responsible, she's taken on guilt for her death. Reflecting on her parent's grief, she says, "I took the shrapnel from their wounds and made it my own." In an attempt to escape her past, Ines leaves her small town in BC to travel across the country to Montreal and reinvent herself.

In Montreal she befriends a number of fascinating characters. There's April, a university student who pays for her education by doing camera sex work. She connects with Felix and Maria, two skateboarders who take her under their wing. Her meeting with Max, a skateboarding videographer, has an ethereal, almost mystical quality. Ines thinks she has finally found someone who can love her. While Max does love her to the best of his ability, when his mental health deteriorates, his behaviour becomes abusive.

Ines is offered a job working alongside April as a cam girl, but she's terrified someone back home will recognize her and can't handle it. She ends up quitting and getting a job in a kitchen in a French restaurant. As Max's mental health deteriorates, and Ines' drug use increases to the verge of addiction, she ends up losing that job. By the time she returns to working as a cam girl, she's stronger and has a goal in mind for her future. 

Even if you've never visited Montreal, Amy Mattes descriptions of the city will make you feel like you are there, both physically and visually. "The city was swelling with a desire to freeze, purging the clouds of light and holding in."

Ines is a character I took into my heart. I ached for her. I feared for her. I rooted for her. I wanted to take her in my arms and tell her that it gets better. But of course, she has to learn all this for herself. In this brilliant coming of age tale, she ends up starting to do just this.

Mattes claims that the book is based on her own experiences. “All the different things in there are pulled from different people and experiences in my life. It’s inspired by my pilgrimage but not an accurate representation of it in a memoir sense.” She is now working on her second novel. I can't wait to read it. 





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#IMWAYR MAY 6, 2024

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. Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers host the kidlit rendition. These are fabulous places to start your search for what to read next.

This week's post is a couple of weeks of reading. We were away in Vancouver, BC, visiting with family and celebrating one of our granddaughter's birthdays. On her birthday we took all the grandkids to Kidsbooks and let them each choose one book. We also had wonderful visits with other friends while we were there, even if it did rain everyday!

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.

PREVIOUS POST

NONFICTION PICTURE BOOKS

I read and reviewed the first of these next two books ages ago, but checked both out from my local library to take with me when I visited my grandkids. Both these books have an interactive component that breaks the fourth wall. I ended up adding a star to my review because both of my granddaughters, the four year old and the six year old, loved these. The six year old took them to bed with her to read before falling asleep. 

5 stars

Butterflies Are Pretty ... Gross! by Rosemary Mosco, Jacob Souva (Illustrator)

You can read my full review of this book here. 


This book is full of the same kind of hilarity and information as the Butterfly book.
 
5+ stars

Club Microbe by Elize Gravel 🍁 April 2, 2024

Like all of Gravel's books, this one is loaded with humour. She breaks the fourth wall and has her illustrations speak to us about her. 


She writes about five different microbe families: bacteria, viruses, fungi, protists and algae. It's amazing how much information Gravel packs into this book. There is even a section on Bacterio Phages - something a lot of adults know nothing about!
This was a huge hit with my two granddaughters! As soon as she saw the author's name, Ada, the six year old, told me Elize Gravel was her favourite illustrator. When we finished reading the digital copy, she asked me to purchase the book for her. On Sunday when we went to Kidsbooks, she got her own copy. 

CHAPTER BOOKS


This is the first of Kate DiCamillo's new chapter book series. It's a charming retelling of the Lion and Mouse fable. In this version, Orris, a rat, rescues Timble, an owl. Soon afterwards the two of them become best friends. 
Carmen Mok is an award winning Canadian illustrator. Her artwork is gorgeous! 

4 stars

Swimming into Trouble by Angela Ahn, Vicki Kim (Narrator) & Julie Kim (Illustrator) February 13, 2024 🍁

An ear infection sidelines Julia Nam just before it's time to swim for their "Personal Best Day (PBD) — the most important day for all of the swimmers. If their times are good enough, they can enter a big regional swim meet." Instead of swimming, Julia is forced to hang out at her parents’ sushi bar. It's located in the community centre overlooking the pool where she watches other members of the team practice. Julia is so desperate to be part of PBD, she ends up getting herself in an embarrassingly 'sticky' predicament. 
I appreciated a lot about this chapter book for strong readers. (It's more of an illustrated novel given the amount of text on the pages.) I loved how the different people at the community centre were like extended family to Julia and her parents. I love that Julia's parents are Korean immigrants. I loved Julia and can hardly wait to introduce her to my granddaughter, Ada, whose mother is also a Korean immigrant. 
Swimming into Trouble is the first in the Julia on the Go! series. I'm looking forward to reading more of her adventures.

Thank you Max for the heads up about this book. It is delightful.
It begins with a Rapunzel type princess, Princess Sadie, locked in a tower. Along comes Princess Amara who asks her permission to rescue her. When Amara's grappling hook slips, Sadie rescues her and the two of them end up trapped in the tower. Luckily, Princess Amara's unicorn is able to liberate them both. 
While they are escaping, Princess Sadie is haunted by negative messages in her sister's voice. Sadie thinks she should return to her tower, but Amara helps her overcome her learned helplessness by convincing her to come with her and find someone to rescue. Soon they come upon Prince Vladric, trapped in a tree. He does not want to be rescued by princesses. Amara is ready to abandon him, but Sadie reminds her of the role of the hero, "How does a hero decide who's worth saving?" After they rescue him, they find out he was thrown into the tree by an ogre. How the three of them deal with the ogre, isn't by slaying him, but rather by befriending him. 
When Sadie's sister kidnaps Amara, the other three friends set out to rescue her.
There is so much to love about this book. I love that all these royal children are dealing with gender based parental expectations. I adore they way the usual fairytale tropes are upended. On the surface this might seems like a simple adventure kind of tale, but it is full of depth and important messages about how to be a good person and live your best life with others. 

I started this and then put it aside for a bit because I thought it was just going to be a romance book. I'm so glad I went back to it. It does begin with what could be a teen romance, but then it ends up being a fabulous sports book.
Tre Brun is a young Chippewa teen growing up on the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota. Although he is only a freshman, he wants to play on his school's varsity basketball team, just like his father and older brother. 
The writing about basketball held me in thrall. Yet this book is so much more than a sports novel. 
It's about growing up indigenous and having to deal with racism when you leave the reserve and when playing basketball against white teams. It's about coming to terms with death. In Tre Brun's case, it's his older brother, but according to the author, it's all too common that Indigenous youth have to deal with the death of someone close to them. 
Jesse Nobess, the brilliant narrator, is from Winnipeg, MB, and his father’s side of the family is from Pinaymootang First Nation.

MG/YA NON FICTION


This is an important, comprehensive, sex education book for our times. 
"The 150 entries cover key ideas about identity, relationships, self-image, sex and body positivity—and no topic is taboo. From bisexuality to Kamasutra to #MeToo, Naked offers answers to questions about sexuality that teens have always had but have been afraid to ask. What is consent? What does gender fluid mean? What kind of contraception should I use? With contemporary examples, vibrant illustrations and additional information and resources for young readers with more questions, Naked is essential reading for today's teens."
Although it says it's for teens, I think this is an important reference book for all ages. I learned a lot from it, so I think it's one of those books you want to have on your shelf if you have MG and older children, or even just to have around if want to check something out for yourself. 
I contemplated getting this for my grandkids, but since the oldest of them is only six, will probably wait a while in case something even better shows up. I did tell their fathers about it. 

ADULT/YA FICTION


This was an interesting time travel novel for me since I was about the same age as these characters at the time this book was written. Given that it has queer characters (gay, trans, and bisexual) it must have been an eyeopener at the time. 

4 stars

Mindful of Murder by Susan Juby & Lisa Larsen (Narrator) 🍁

If you, like me, are a fan of cosy mysteries that are loaded with humour and heart, this is a book for you. Helen Thorpe has been a Buddhist nun, the manager of a spiritual retreat, and most recently has completed butler training. When she gets news of the death of Edna, the owner of the retreat, she has to return and finish up her former boss' plans to determine which of her nieces and nephews will take over the retreat.  
Almost as soon as she arrives, Helen notes that something is fishy about Edna's death. Soon four potential candidates arrive to partake in three courses so Helen can determine who is most worthy. Two of her fellow butler students arrive to help her run the retreat. All kinds of secrets and machinations are uncovered before Helen identifies Edna's murderer. 
Susan Juby has created a cast of wonderfully quirky characters. I enjoyed this book so much, I didn't want it to end. 

ADULT/YA NON FICTION


Klein's writing is honest, sharp and brilliant. This comprehensive analysis shows us that we are more connected to one another than we might want to imagine. Beginning with her personal history of being confused with Naomi Wolf, she makes profound connections across political and cultural spectrums. Ultimately she shows us that the polarization we see around us at a macro level, exists also at the micro one.  
This was a reread for me for a bookclub I am part of. I got much more out of it this time round. What struck me most was the pipikism - ”the antitragic force that inconsequencializes everything—farcicalizes everything, trivializes everything, superficializes everything.”

CURRENTLY

Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum & Shanna Tan (Translator) January 17, 2022

The New Climate War by Michael E. Mann January 12, 2021

Woke up Like This by Amy Lea September 5, 2023 🍁

UP NEXT (MAYBE)

Denison Avenue by Christina Wong & Daniel Innes (Illustrator) 🍁


READING GOALS 

#MustRead2024 9/25 two on the go

NonFiction 15/24 one on the go

Canadian Authors 24/50 one on the go

Indigenous Authors 8/25

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 86/200 
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FIRST FRIDAY POETRY MAY 2024

I'm joining Beverly A Baird & Linda Schueler in a "year long poetry practice – on the first Friday of each Month," when we, and anyone else who joins, writes a poem and pairs it up with a photo relating to it.

It has been an exceptional year for arrowleaf balsamroot blooms this year. The hills across the valley from us are a haze of yellow. All the photographers I know have been nearly swooning over their abundance and beauty. So have I. 

My poem today honours them and my mother. It doesn't feel finished yet, but I've run out of time. 

Photograph by Randy Rotheisler 


lesson in mortality

this spring
rivers of gold
tumble down the hills
and pool on high plains

a ceremonial display,
challenging the sun

my mother, 
who taught us to find the sacred
in the natural world,
adored our local sunflowers

after a day of roaming the hills,
we children would bring her home a bouquet

but arrowleaf balsamroot blooms
do not take kindly to being harvested,
and start to wither
as soon as they are picked

no matter what you do,
by the next day, 
they are gone

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#IMWAYR April 22, 2024

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. Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers host the kidlit rendition. These are fabulous places to start your search for what to read next.


I almost didn't post this week because I have been busy trying to get the house and yard under control before we head off to Vancouver to visit with family and celebrate one of our granddaughters turning four. We won't be around next weekend because we will still be there celebrating. I wouldn't ordinarily worry so much about the house, but some of my extended family will be staying here to celebrate one of my aunts' birthday. 

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 FICTION


Lulu lives with her sister and mother in a small community outside of Manilla, Philippines. During an earthquake she discovers that she has superpowers. Soon after that she learns that her supportive neighbourhood and best friend are not who they appear to be. Lulu discovers that she is the salamangkero, a special being born to protect the different realms. When her adopted mother is kidnapped by a wakwak, Lulu, her adopted sister, Kitty, and her best friend, Bart, a shape shifter, set off to rescue her. The trio meet up with numerous personages from Philippine mythology.
I liked the merge of ancient mythology and modern pop culture in this book. Fans of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series will enjoy this. 
The physical book includes a glossary of Tagalog mythology. The problem with listening to this book is that I didn't realize this until I finished the novel. Villanueva does a good job of introducing them and their importance in the novel, but I really could have used it earlier on to provide background knowledge keep track of them all. 


Thanks to Max for the heads up about this sweet romantic graphic novel. It's the story of two young women who become friends and then more than that. Momo Gardner is an introvert. She's a good friend, but really doesn't value her own worth. She's the kind of friend who wants to think the best of others, but is sometimes taken advantage of by them. PG is more of a flirt and an extrovert. In spite of this, she's really a private person. When she falls for someone, she falls hard.
This graphic novel addresses important issues. At the same time as it deals with the romance between these two characters, it addresses friendship, love, self worth, and being honest with oneself and those closest to us.
I enjoyed this, but I think I might have appreciated it a lot more if I hadn't picked it up after having read Mexikid.

ADULT/YA FICTION


The Future was the winner of the Canada Reads debate this year. The theme was "looking for one book to carry us forward. When we are at a crossroads, when uncertainty is upon us, when we have faced challenges and are ready for the future, how do we know where to go next?"

"In an alternate history of Detroit, the Motor City was never surrendered to the US. Its residents deal with pollution, poverty, and the legacy of racism—and strange and magical things are happening: children rule over their own kingdom in the trees and burned houses regenerate themselves. When Gloria arrives looking for answers and her missing granddaughters, at first she finds only a hungry mouse in the derelict home where her daughter was murdered. But the neighbours take pity on her and she turns to their resilience and impressive gardens for sustenance."

After her daughter's death, Gloria moves to Detroit to live in her daughter's house. As she learns more about her daughter and granddaughters' lives, she has to come to terms with who her daughter became. Even when her attempts to connect with her grandchildren go nowhere, she never gives up hope that she will be reunited with the two girls. 
I am not generally a fan of dystopian realities, yet I fell head over heels in love with this one. Even though it's got that end of the world scenario, it's mostly about hope. It's a world that seems to be populated with old people and feral children. Getting to know them was pure joy. The Future is a story about resilience, found family, community and using that community to make everyone's lives better. I didn't want it to end. 




5 stars

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (Author and Narrator) June 4, 2019

I started this book a while ago, but for all kinds of reasons, put it aside. When I picked it up again, I was in a better mental space for it. Emotionally this is a hard read. The beauty of the language only serves to emphasize the horrors experienced by Ocean, his mother, and his grandmother. I don't regret listening to this semi-autobiographical novel: Ocean Vuong's narration was profound. Yet I suspect I missed much not seeing the organization of his words. 
I contemplated writing more about this book, but honestly, nothing I could write could compare to this review on Goodreads by chai. Even if you have read the book, go and read this. 

CURRENTLY

Doppelganger by Naoimi Klein 🍁 

Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin January 1, 1978

Naked: Not Your Average Sex Encyclopedia by Myriam Daguzan Bernier & Cécile Gariépy (Illustrator)  🍁

Wolfsong by TJ Klune

UP NEXT (MAYBE)

Rez Ball by Byron Graves

Woke up Like This by Amy Lea  🍁

READING GOALS 

#MustRead2024 8/25 one on the go

NonFiction 11/24 one on the go

Canadian Authors 17/50 two on the go

Indigenous Authors 7/25

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 75/200 
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