CanadianContent discussion

Good morning readers!!! I am looking forward to reading about all the books consumed this week!!

Happy Friday! I am so in need of a weekend, and it's a long one at that. Monday is Discovery Day which commemorates John Cabot's discovery of Newfoundland in 1497. It's not a statutory holiday so some of the working public get the holiday while others do not. I'm one of the lucky ones!

I've had a hell of a week. I tore a muscle in my back on Saturday which resulted in bed rest on Sunday and Monday. I returned to work on Tuesday and I've been slowly recovering throughout the week. Garth Brooks best sums up my mental state since the injury with, "I'm much too young to feel this damn old."

As I mentioned to @Allison earlier in the week, every cloud has a silver lining and my poor physical state allowed me bunches of reading time. I plowed through Arranged by Catherine McKenzie and Nikolski by Nicolas Dickner pretty quickly. I'm now reading The Girl Who Chased the Moon (another light read) and re-reading Random Passage.

I've started Dragonfly in Amber on audio. This one should take a while as it's close to 40 hours long!

Ouch, Allison, I'm sorry about your injury! Best of luck with your recovery. Backs are so tricky.

I'm currently waiting for a giant rainstorm to let up a bit before heading to work. We have guests, so I've not read much the past few days. The reading highlight of my week was absolutely reading Homegoing, which was really good. I also finished a fantasy graphic novel, Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening, which I appreciated but which wasn't quite my thing.

I'm trying to catch up more on books I own, so I embarked on a pair of Goodreads giveaways. I just finished The Stars in Our Eyes: The Famous, the Infamous, and Why We Care Way Too Much about Them. It was good-natured but kind of lame. Lots could be written about celebrity culture, but this stayed on the surface. I'm also readjng Son of a Trickster but am not far into it yet, and starting Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril, which I've had around the house for ages.

I finished I, Lucifer for my BDA Book Club it was meh - gave it two stars. His other books are much better (This was his first).

Also finished Perfect Days - it was a recommend from Bookriot.com's Read or Dead Podcast, which is a bi-weekly show dedicated to the worlds of mystery and thriller literature = http://bookriot.com/listen/shows/read...
Loved it. Weird, creepy, disturbing and dark - ending was a surprise.

Finished S-Town serial - loved, loved, loved it. Didn't see the ending coming.

Also read for the Read Harder Challenge And Then There Were None - book published between 1900-1950.

Finished This Is Where You Belong: The Art and Science of Loving the Place You Live - gave it 2 stars - meh as well. Needed more writing, less stats.

Loved, it was fabulous - One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter - this also counted for Bingo as well - this would go for either Non Fiction or Memoir - she talks about being a brown person in Canada.

Currently reading: Ragged Company and starting A Dog's Purpose - its my BDA book clubs pick for this month.

I just bought Kit's Law for next month's read.

Yowzah! That is a lot of reading, everyone! You're all so impressive...

I'm just about finished Between the World and Me. This is a POWERFUL book, mostly, I think, because it's directed entirely from father to son. Ta-Nehisi Coates isn't worried about me, or you, or academia or the public. He's writing from his heart to the heart of his son, and so it's very intimate, very honest and yes, very painful.

I'm doing the audio version of this book, which I think is a great way to read it for the first time, as it is thick and heavy. The author reads it, which is excellent in this case. But because this book is so incredible, I've purchased a hard cover copy of it for my shelves in the hopes that all of my (white) kids read it as they grow older. Along with Native Son, I feel it's the best book I've read to get the black experience through to my own white life. It's extremely visceral and pointed, and I really believe it's time that it is read by all of us.

(I've said it before, but I REALLY feel it's time to shake up the high school English class curriculum. Get rid of To Kill a Mockingbird and put in Between the World and Me!)

I have another audio on the go: Juliet's Answer: One Man's Search for Love and the Elusive Cure for Heartbreak, which I'm using for BINGO for "published in 2017." It's light and interesting and I'm enjoying the history of Verona, Italy, which I know pretty well as my mother grew up close to there, and we have visited often.

And in paper I'm making slow progress on Minds of Winter, which I'm using for BINGO also for "place I want to visit" (NWT). I'm quite enjoying this interesting story, and look forward to meeting the author at an event next Thursday. I just need more time to read!

I've been a little AWOL from the comments, so I'll give you the run down on my last few weeks of books. It has been slower than I would have liked but life is moving quickly right now with a new job within my company and an awful lot of kids sports - lacrosse season. :)

A few weeks ago, I finished Human Acts. This book is translated from Korean, I believe as it is about the revolution in Korea. For some reason I found it a little too clinical and I couldn't get into it. I think the author intentionally tried to remove the emotion from the tale, however for me, it felt like something was missing.

Then, I moved onto The Color of Our Sky which was enjoyable. A melange of summer reading, mystery, and cultural diversity as the book takes place in India. At times predicatble but entertaining nonetheless. A good effort for a debut novel.

Lastly, I just finished The Dollhouse which I enjoyed the most out of the three books listed. It takes place in 50's NYC at the Barbizon Hotel which housed many young women who went on to be famous - e.g. Sylvia Plath. The story was very entertaining and interesting.

Next up - The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane for my book club on July 6th. Giving myself a bit of buffer to get it done since I have been so busy.

Raining and miserable here. Hope you all are enjoying a much better summer day wherever you are!

I'm away from home this weekend, visiting friends and family. My oldest niece graduates from high school over the weekend and many celebrations are planned.

This week I finished The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker, which was a much different book than I was expecting. I liked it a lot and considered giving it 5 stars but I'm too mean with my 5-star ratings. So, let's say it was 4.5 stars. It's a very strong debut novel.

I'm still reading Ghosts of Mississippi. I've made it through two hung juries and lots of info about the Klan. The third and final trial is starting to take shape and I'll be happy to see justice finally served.

I'm also reading The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I love that this book exists, that Thomas chose to write a YA novel that so directly addresses police officers murdering black people, how the media report on it, and how all of this affects the families and communities involved. It's a good read so far.

Happy Friday everyone!! Thunderstorm again enroute to work, urgh!!
@Allison, hope you have a speedy recovery!! And I'm currently reading Homegoing for my in-person book club!
Last week I finished Ragged Company. I really liked it!! I am definitely Digger with a little bit of Amelia in me. Richard Wagamese was an amazing storyteller. I was engrossed from the beginning to end!
Just started Homegoing. It's a very ambitious debut spanning multi-generation of slave trades.
I'm likely reading Nobody Cries at Bingo as my second book to read for the Indigenous Challenge after all the positive reviews and it's now available at the library.
Have a great weekend. Look forward to seeing what everyone is reading.

@May - you are in a great reading zone right now... :) loved, Ragged Company !!! Homegoing is great too. Happy Reading

@Shannon, we read a lot of the same books too!! I just bought The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane as well!!

May wrote: "@Shannon, we read a lot of the same books too!! I just bought The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane as well!!"

I also have The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane up next -- just got audio from library! Maybe we should do a Buddy Read...? Chit chat about it there?

@Rainey-that was one of my favorite Agatha Christie Reads
@May, I loved Homegoing, I listened to it as an audio, so I had to print off the family tree from Wikepedia so I keep everyone on track!

I haven't gotten any Canadian Lit in this week, I am participating in a couple of challenges, so I am reading books that satisfy those requirements right now.
I read Bird Box for a book that won a Shirley Jackson Award nominee. Horror is not usually my thing, but when a book is well written the genre does not matter as much. That is why I love doing challenges to take you outside your normal reading comfort zone.

I really enjoyed The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, Shannon and May. Hope you both do, too.

Alison, I'm sorry to hear of your injury. Hope it heals up soon.

I had a good reading week and finished 3 books:
Hag-Seed - loved this one. A retelling of The Tempest while producing a play of The Tempest. Great characters. Told with wit and insight.
As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling - a lovely, heartwarming memoir of a father. Rod Serling was a wonderful family man.
Dead Simple - the premise here was gruesome. It didn't pan out to be as good as I'd hoped.

I'm off to visit family until Wednesday and will have minimal reading time, I think. It will be fun to walk along the ocean front again.
See you all next week. Happy reading!

Morning everyone!

@Allison so sorry to hear about your back. I hope you heal quickly!!

I haveThe Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane on hold at the library, I'm excited to read everyone's reviews.

I read The Runaway which I won as a giveaway. It was just ok.

I'm currently reading Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture for my Past Canada Reads bingo square. There is some writing in this book that is over my head and there is also some that is bang on. Coupland is basically another prophet/genius of our time.

Guys, truth time. I'm returningThe Right To Be Cold: One Woman's Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet to the library today unread. There are about 75 holds on it and there is no way that I'll be able to finish it before I need to return it. Maybe I'll revisit this book at a later date.....

@Megan, there is only so much time! Don't worry -- there are better books to sink your teeth into. For sure. And it'll always be there. :)

Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺ wrote: "I've started Dragonfly in Amber on audio. This one should take a while as it's close to 40 hours long! ."

Having listened to this series (but finally gave up by book 8) on the recommendation of a friend, I actually didn't enjoy them much but was doing a lot of driving at the time so they kept me awake at least, I have to say that they really needed better editing. WAY TOO LONG for nothing.

Heather(Gibby) wrote: " I loved Homegoing, I listened to it as an audio, so I had to print off the family tree from Wikepedia so I keep everyone on track!.."

HAHAHA, I did the exact same thing! It helped a LOT. Great debut novel that's for sure.

Petra wrote: "Hag-Seed - loved this one. A retelling of The Tempest while producing a play of The Tempest. Great characters. Told with wit and insight. .."

Isn't it! Atwood is brilliant. I'm not a fan of her dystopian stuff but when she works on something else it's always brilliant.

Back from Newfoundland and back to my regular reading schedule, this week I finished Love Medicine which confirmed my theory that Louise Erdrich must be read and not listened to. Fabulous writer but it gets lost if you listen to it on audio.

I finished listening to Killers of the Flower Moon which is a very interesting true life account of the Osage murders in Oklahoma in the 20s, and the birth of the FBI.

Now I am reading The Fortunate Brother and listening to Finding Gobi (Main edition): The true story of a little dog and an incredible journey which is quite engaging right from the get-go. Strangely enough this book was recommended to me by my brother, who isn't a reader and isn't a fan of dogs either but he wants to read it so I bought him a copy :-).

@Allison, May, Megan and Petra - I need to finish Tea Girl by July 6th. If you're up to read it soon/close to then, I'd love to discuss!!! :)

@Shannon, I'm number #44 in line at the library. I'll probably be waiting a while. Maybe we can set up a buddy read for this book?

Megan wrote: "@Shannon, I'm number #44 in line at the library. I'll probably be waiting a while. Maybe we can set up a buddy read for this book?"

I will set up a Buddy Read for The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane! Fun! I'll have it done in 10 days-ish.

Allison wrote: "I will set up a Buddy Read for The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane! Fun! I'll have it done in 10 days-ish. "

I won a copy of this book in a giveaway. I should participate too!

Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺ wrote: "I won a copy of this book in a giveaway. I should participate too!"

For sure!

I've been feeling really guilty about setting up a Buddy Read for A Fatal Grace and not yet getting to it (ugh) so maybe this will help me to relive that guilt... haha.

I have this borrowed in audio, due back in a week and a half or so. I'll be starting it on Monday.

Allison wrote: "May wrote: "@Shannon, we read a lot of the same books too!! I just bought The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane as well!!"

I also have The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane u..."

It will be fun to do a buddy read with the ones who plan to read it for the summer :)

Louise wrote: "Having listened to this series (but finally gave up by book 8) on the recommendation of a friend, I actually didn't enjoy them much but was doing a lot of driving at the time so they kept me awake at least, I have to say that they really needed better editing. WAY TOO LONG for nothing. "

I agree Louise. After reading Outlander, I felt disinclined to continue the series, but I picked up the next two in an Audible sale a while back and figure I'll give them a go.

I've taken to listening to audiobooks at x1.25 speed and sometimes x1.5 (depending on the narrator) so that helps a bit.

I've only got one Canadian author this week and three from the UK, which often seems to be my second most-read country.
Rankin Inlet by Mara Feeney (wonderful book, she spent a lot of time in the north so the atmosphere and the people feel very realistic), Court of Lions by Jane Johnson (a Goodreads giveaway win, quite good, two timelines, current and late 15th century, the last Moorish sultan of Granada), The Way Back to Florence by Glenn Haybittle (Netgalley, WWII in Florence and with an English bomber pilot as well), and Gone Astray by Michelle Davies (Also Netgalley, a teenager goes missing). Am enjoying all four books quite a bit. Finished the Jade Peony by Wayson Choy earlier in the week and that was good as well.

Going to celebrate a family birthday tomorrow and I shall get to hold my wee baby great-niece!!

Allison wrote: "I've been feeling really guilty about setting up a Buddy Read for A Fatal Grace and not yet getting to it (ugh) so maybe this will help me to relive that guilt... haha."

Allison, I wouldn't worry about it too much, but I do hope you can RELIEVE your guilt and not RELIVE it. Lol. One typo can make all the difference!

Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺ wrote: "Allison, I wouldn't worry about it too much, but I do hope you can RELIEVE your guilt and not RELIVE it. Lol. One typo can make all the difference!..."

Hahahaahah! I hope you're right! Time will tell as soon as the library takes the audio back! :) :)

Aha- the light is on!! Mystery solved @ Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺ Now I know the reason for your flurry of recent postings. Bed rest at home!! You were missing your workmates and wanted to connect with your bookie friends. :) Take it easy and take care of yourself. Heal well and quickly!!

Mj wrote: "Aha- the light is on!! Mystery solved @ Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺ Now I know the reason for your flurry of recent postings. Bed rest at home!! You were missing your workmates and wanted to conn..."

Ha ha, yes. More free time than usual!

Megan wrote: "@Shannon, I'm number #44 in line at the library. I'll probably be waiting a while. Maybe we can set up a buddy read for this book?"

Now I'm intrigued and need to read this book. I'm next in line for the audiobook at my library so hopefully I can join in the discussion.

Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺ wrote: "I agree Louise. After reading Outlander, I felt disinclined to continue the series, but I picked up the next two in an Audible sale a while back and figure I'll give them a go.."

The first 3 books are the best. After that it's a slogfest on inane details that just go on forever.

Hi Everyone,

As usual - it’s great to read about such a wide variety of books and differing opinions.

Last week I completed 2 very different books and am pleased I read each of them.

As I Remember It is a memoir about a young Métis girl growing up. It was written by Canadian author Tara Lee Morin - her first published work. She is currently writing a sequel to this memoir and also writes children’s books. Tara Lee was abused as a youngster (no specifics given but evidenced by her anguish and behaviour), who
grew up in foster care, then on the streets, in and out of schools and abusive relationships. It was a tough read due to the subject matter but was filled with hope despite the bad times, Tara also found support and friendship along her journey of self-discovery. Her amazing resiliency and big heart shone throughout Tara Lee's memoir as well.

As I Remember It won second place in the 2013 Burt’s First Nations, Metis and Innuit Literary award - just behind Richard Wagamese’s first place Indian Horse. I used it for British Columbia in the Cross-Canada Challenge and for The Indigenous Challenge as well. For those looking for 2017 Bingo Squares it could fit into a number of places.

I also read Anything Is Possible by American author and Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout. What an amazing writer. Not sure if my 4.5 stars is going to be rounded up or down on Goodreads and am still mulling it over as well as my review. The book is is a collection of linked short stories that take place in Lucy Barton’s fictional
small hometown of Amgash, Illinois. The stories are all quite different but still intertwined and connected. Strout writes both descriptively and sparsely and writes with great insight into human nature and relationships. There’s lightness, darkness, mystery, melancholy and more depending upon which story you’re reading. All were of high calibre, well written and well paced. Each of Strout’s stories had me quickly engaged and wanting to read more. Highly recommended.

Have lots of books to pick from next week. Not sure which ones I’ll try.

Happy reading everyone!!

Louise wrote: "Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺ wrote: "I agree Louise. After reading Outlander, I felt disinclined to continue the series, but I picked up the next two in an Audible sale a while back and figure I'l..."

@Allison༻hikes the bookwoods༺, I agree with @Louise! I stopped after Book 5! Not sure whether I will keep going anytime soon as I have the book bundle :)

May wrote: "Louise wrote: "Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺ wrote: "I agree Louise. After reading Outlander, I felt disinclined to continue the series, but I picked up the next two in an Audible sale a while back..."

I couldn't get through even the first book of the Outlander series. I carried it with me all the way to Bangladesh and back -- that's a lot of airplane-reading time -- and I just could not see what everyone else was raving about. Oh well.

Allison wrote: "I couldn't get through even the first book of the Outlander series. I carried it with me all the way to Bangladesh and back -- that's a lot of airplane-reading time -- and I just could not see what everyone else was raving about. Oh well. ..."

I read the first one and thought - this needed a good editing and could have easily been a few hundred pages shorter. Didn't bother with the rest of the series.

Allison wrote: "May wrote: "Louise wrote: "Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺ wrote: "I agree Louise. After reading Outlander, I felt disinclined to continue the series, but I picked up the next two in an Audible sale ..."

That's funny! It is such a huge book to carry around half way across the ocean!

May wrote: "That's funny! It is such a huge book to carry around half way across the ocean! ..."

My mother-in-law insisted it was the right book for the journey! I have no idea why she thought that... :)

oh Outlander...I stopped after Book #2. The first book was pretty good. I'll just stick with watching the mini-series on Netflix.

Ooh is it on Netflix now? Last time I checked it wasn't, but that was ages ago. I'd like to watch it.

They have 2 seasons on there now. :)

I can't hide the fact that I have read all the Outlander books except the last one and rated them fairly high. part of my draw to them is that I love anything time travel related, and I just ate up anything in the book that was influenced by Claire's knowledge of the future.

I always feel late for the party on here, only just getting settled after home from work and enjoyed going through everyone's lists and comments.

If there is one book I want to highlight this week it is Better Now: Six Big Ideas to Improve Health Care for All Canadians. I am only half through but highly recommend- it has solid ideas for changing our healthcare to benefit everyone. We sure need practical solutions...

@Emmkay, I believe you had this book on your TBR and it reminded me of having heard the author on CBC earlier in the year and knew I wanted to give it a go. Glad I did!

@Allison༻hikes the bookwoods༺,- Get well soon!

@Heather(Gibby)- I loved BirdBox!

Will try and get a copy of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane- has been on my list for some time now, obviously a popular choice

before giving a s my weeks

@Allison - I hope that your back heals quickly!!

@Petra - enjoy your family visit!

@Megan - don't feel bad, The Right to Be Cold is a tedious read. it is such an important topic that I felt bad giving up on it (I rarely don't finish a book) but it needed so much more editing and there are so many great books just waiting to be read!

@Diane - what a treat - always so nice to snuggle a baby!!!

I did enjoy the Outlander series but the first book was the best, once it got into the civil war stuff, i did struggle with the detail!

@Wanda - Better Now is on my list of books to read. We are going through a big change in homecare in Ontario so the timing might be perfect!

I have had a slow reading week. I did finish reading The Underpainter. Jane Urquhart is a beautiful writer but I found this a slow read. I am almost through listening to Commonwealth and enjoying it as a light "read" or listen during my travels. It is a story about different generations of a a split (and blended) family and the impact of a kiss at a baby's christening party.

I am slowly enjoying Rilla of Ingleside and hoping to start into Keeper'n Me as my in person book club is having a theme month of Richard Wagamese.

Gave it a rest: first try was garbled message below, and 2nd try lost.
@Allison, Hope you can give yourself enough time and rest to be able to get out into those backwoods soon. Arnica capsules are good in addition to the gel.
@Emmkay, you're reading 2 of my favorite books of this year, Homegoing and Son of a T. I cant wait for sequel!
@Rainey just picked up might as well be dead and looking forward to reading soon.
@Louise hope you had a great trip. Details? I read a great story in Emma D.s short story collection featuring a couple with 3 dogs. Her name is Louise. The dogs are Mallarmè Gide and Proust. Its actually my favorite story so far.
Just finished The Nightengale won't let you Sleep by steven Heighton. wow! And heres how the library controlled my reading...I thought id be able to renew Waking Gods, the sequel to Sleeping giants but feared i would not get an extension for the Nightingale, because SH is coming to our writer's festival, so began that first. Lo, it was the reverse, and i had to put down the exquisitely written book i was loving to quickly finish a book that quite probably suffered in comparison. @MaryAnne thats another pertinent factor here re my disappointment in Waking.
Im into the idea of discussion around The Teagirl of Hummingbird Lane and will take notes because i cant renew it and so must return soon. A third of the way through and finding it fascinating.
Getting to know the poet Mark Strand through his new selected poems
and quite enjoying vicarious canoe trips every morning with Freda Mellenthin and her husband in her book Love in Northern Rapids: paddling adventures in the canadian arctic.

just a bit more to add
@Mj As I remember it is the one book that got through my resolve not to add to the tbr ÷)
@Louise, so glad you finally clicked with Erdrich!
and i just loved comments by Megan and Heather regarding the truth of your opinions regarding two different books. It endorses the curious observation that true book lovers cannot lie.🤗

I love, love, love the Outlander series! I think they've done a really good job with the tv series and if you find you can't get through the books but like the subject matter, you probably will enjoy it. It leaves out all the extra detail Gabaldon puts on the page and keeps to the story quite well.

Arriving late to the party-I have been having a really difficult time with my audio book picks. Just nothing has been working. So I thought I would try David Sedaris because everyone loves Sedaris and his pieces are short. I listened to three and I had to
(somewhat)throw it away. I find him to be so negative and so nasty that I just don't want to hear his voice anymore. I can't stand the negativity and arrogance. So no more Sedaris for me,at least not right now.
In book reading I have been reading very slowly, because I have
been having problems with my reading this year-a Ruth Rendell
crime novel called The Rottweiler. Rendell is my favourite writer,
her characters creep me out but she also makes me laugh. I can't think of any other writer in any genre that presents characters as well as Rendell does. I really hope I can polish this off this week and finally move on to Kit's Law. I have wanted to read Donna
Morrissey for years and this will be my introduction to her work.