CanadianContent discussion

Greetings everyone! Welcome to March Break which I hope brings relaxation, fun and READING!!! We have had lots of conversation about Canada Reads as we prepare for the debates, read the books and enjoy all of the tidbits that the CBC is posting. What are you reading???

Good morning lit lovers! It’s been an exciting week for me as I started my new job on Monday.

On Wednesday, I finished The Break and really, really liked it. To sum it up in a few words: it’s heartbreaking, but hopeful. Now I’m reading The Wonder, which I’m excited about if only for the fact that I’m back to reading on paper! My last few reads have been eBooks and while I don’t mind them as such, hard copies are always my favourite.

I also finished listening to The Choices We Make by Karma Brown. I did not like this book. It was this month’s book club selection and not my kind of book at all. The characters where whiny and the drama played out like a soap opera. My current audiobook is The Nix, which I’m loving. It’s quite funny too, which is always good.

March Break starts here, too with a bit of snow overnight and a possibility of a storm next Tuesday night into Wednesday. We always have one more before the end of March.

I'm reading Purity by Jonathan Franzen, Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All by Jonas Jonasson and Company Town by Madeline Ashby. I'm enjoying all of them though they're all very different from each other. Finding I'm liking Company Town more than I thought I might going by some of the others who have read it. It seems to be either love or hate! I still think The Break is my favourite of the CR books I've read (all the shortlist except the non-fiction which doesn't appeal at all). This would be a close second.

Jonas Jonasson's books are all quirky and funny and almost whimsical in a way. They remind me a bit of Grand Budapest Hotel (the movie, quirky, off the wall). Purity is thick and has lots of layers to the main characters, including their pasts and presents.

I am still reading Nostalgia for Canada Reads and am enjoying it more than I thought I would.

Also still reading Here Comes the Sun for BDA book club - this one is good too.

Acts of Faith: Daily Meditations for People of Color which I am finding an enjoyable way to start my day. Very inspiring and uplifting.

and The Hate U Give - powerful.

Hi all! I finished Leave Me last Saturday for an IRL book club. It was light but kind of wore out its welcome for me.

Since then I've been slowly working my way through Harlem is Nowhere: A Journey to the Mecca of Black America and really enjoying it.

Happy Friday everyone! Let the March Break begins!
This week I finished Broken Promise by Linwood Barclay. Not bad. Just needed a palate cleanser and this was a fast read.
I'm now more than half way through Company Town and am liking it. Hwa is a tough girl and scrappy. She does whatever she needs to do to survive. And I have to say the violence doesn't bother me much. I am looking forward to seeing how this book will be defended.
I have Lab Girl and A Gentleman in Moscow to read next for the other GR groups.
@Rainey, I've heard many many great reviews about The Hate U Give!
Have a great weekend!

Good morning!

March Break always scares me! I still have to work, and yet kids will be home. Judging by history, this makes for a stressful conflict between work and mothering! Ugh. Aaaaanyway, we shall survive! I do have two half-days booked off completely.

(Funny, cause for the following week, in order to take myself alone to Toronto for the Canada Reads debates, I've booked off two full days! Ha! Priorities!)

In audio this week I finished Commonwealth by Ann Patchett, which I really, really loved. In fact, I feel like I missed out on a lot of it in that format, and am now looking for a copy of it in paper, as I'd like to read it again that way.

In paper, I read The Break. I thought it was well written -- Katherena Vermette is clearly a skilled writer. It was an engaging story, but oh, so sad. I think it was @MJ and @Heather(Gibby) who said they worry that it puts Aboriginal people and Winnipeg in a bad light, and I'd have to agree. For this issue of context, I'm not sure it's the book "Canada Needs Now."

Not because it was my "favourite" book, but because I feel it suits the debate theme best, my CR choice is Nostalgia.

Happy Friday!

This week I finished The Throwback Special on audio, and I enjoyed it. I also finished The Break, which I thought lost a little steam toward the end. But I enjoyed it overall and wasn't as depressed by it as I'd been expecting (I chose to focus on the resilient women/community aspect of the book). I also read Scott Pilgrim, Volume 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, which I found in a LFL recently! I really liked it and already have volumes 2 and 3 checked out from the library. These last two books also fill bingo squares, so I have completed 7 squares now.

I'm still reading Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?. I also foolishly started listening to Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America on audio. I thought I was ready to get back to serious nonfiction, but it's proving to be a lot for me. I will finish it but there have been many tears already. I also continue to prep for a book festival at the end of the month, and am reading Desperation Road for that. I was searching for a term to describe this novel, because "noir" didn't seem right, and discovered the terms "grit lit" and "rough South." Apparently I like this genre. I have sometimes described books like this as "people who are down on their luck make bad decisions but you can't help but like them anyway," but that's a bit wordy.

I also attended two author events this week: Meg Wolitzer and Colson Whitehead. I have a big crush on Whitehead now. :-)

Hello readers!

I'm finished Half Blood Blues and The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson. I feel the latter was un-rateable. Very complicated feelings.

I'm still working my way through H.G. Wells: Six Novels. It's very long and incredibly small print.

I've also started The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust by Edith Hahn Beer. Rather enjoying it.

Happy Friday everyone, we had a record breaking blizzard here in MB this week and will be glad for Spring to pop it's head out anytime now. I am plugging away at Company Town, finding that I am having a difficult time getting through it. I like Hwa but the writing is tricky for me to trudge through. Sci Fi is not my favorite genre and so I think this is what is not appealing to me. I have the goal to finish it off today.

@Allison Regarding The Break and placing Winnipeg and Indigenous persons in a bad light, I have to respectfully disagree on this front. Being from MB and ever exposed to the extreme poverty and social issues, I think pretending or denying that it is not happening is a main contributing factor to why it is happening.

The bad light is the ignorance that exists in our province.

Winnipeg's North End is "notorious" for it's unproportional share of poverty, crime, violence and until people start talking about it, writing about it and acting to change it, this reality will not change.

I take the perspective that books can initiate conversation and a conversation that "Canada Needs Now", is that of addressing these social concerns. All Canadian communities are effected and could benefit from social change. Katherena Vermette writes of a community she is familiar with and is passionate about improving.

I say put Winnipeg on the map as needing increased social reform! The city has wonderful assets but is far from perfect when it comes to managing it's underprivileged and vulnerable populations. My stance, "bad publicity" or a "good dose of reality" can be just as effective as good publicity. I hope for the day when there can be books written about all the fantastic social changes that have taken place where the socioeconomic issues present in The Break are part of our history, not part of the norm.

@Susan, I recently won The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley, which would fit into that genre you mentioned. I quite like your term: "people who are down on their luck make bad decisions but you can't help but like them anyway." :) My hubby is going to read it first and then let me know if it's "too much" for me, but it's getting really great reviews.

I forgot to mention that I found The Book of Awesome in a LFL this week. I've heard about it, of course, but never browsed through it. It really is awesome! I mean, who doesn't love a pull-through parking spot!? The first scoop out of a new jar of peanut butter? How about this one: " When you didn't play the lottery and your numbers didn't come up?!"

Awesome! I've just been leaving this book on the kitchen counter, and everyone in the house is reading aloud from it now and then. Talk about happy reads!

@Wanda, great points. I definitely hear you. I've only spent about an hour in Winnipeg while driving through, so I'm absolutely not one who can comment on it as a city. But your points, as you say, are pretty universal, and so I agree wholeheartedly in principle.

Overall, I think the most interesting book debates will probably come from The Break and Company Town, at least that's what I'm expecting.

@༺ Allison ༻ sorry to hear that about The Choices We Make as my book club is reading that one in May. Darn.... I wondered if it would be like that but it was voted in. OH well.

@May - I think you may want to pull A Gentleman in Moscow off your TBR... :) I read it last week and I found it a slog. Hopefully you like it better than I did. In retrospect, it probably did a good job describing the evolution of Russia over the time period but it just didn't grab me enough.

I have added The Break to my TBR pile.... may have to move it up in the order as it seems like a book I would enjoy.

This week, I am reading Foxlowe which I thought would be a quick one to rebound me from Gentleman in Moscow but unfortunately I am not loving it either. On the bright side I am just about done. Then I will have to tackle Rebecca since I have been saying that it is next for about a month now.

Feeling pretty terrible so hoping to spend all weekend on the couch with a good book. Happy Friday all!

@Shannon, I kinda have to read it as I was the one that picked the book for the group to read :) Eeek!!

@Allison, I'm looking forward to finally meeting you at Canada Reads!

I am reading When Everything Feels Like the Movies. It has some really excellent stuff in it, touching moments, vulnerability, humour, all while shocking me at times with it's crudeness, lol. I like it, even if teenagers are a little more intense than I remember. How can it make me feel old at 34?! Anyway, I think I will like it.
I am also listening to an audiobook of The Wall. It is a sort of post-apocalyptic novel? but written by a woman in the early sixties so it has a very different feel. So far I am really into it even though the sadness of a dystopian world may not be the happiest book for a drive to work!
Next I need to read Happiness as it is my book club read for March. I think it will be light so I am leaving it to the last minute.
Have a great weekend and March break if you are able to get it off! Cheers!

@Shannon, you may enjoy The Choices We Make. My book club was split on this one. My biggest complaint is that the author has the characters talk about their feelings a lot more than making us, the readers, "feel" the feelings. That ability is what makes an author great in my opinion.

May wrote: "@Allison, I'm looking forward to finally meeting you at Canada Reads!"

Me too, @May! I can't wait! @Susan too, our fearless leader!

@Wanda, thanks for your insightful comments about Winnipeg. After just finishing The Break, and never having been to Winnipeg myself, I did find myself wondering how the book "represents."

I am well into Company Town and I think it fits well into the them of What Canadians need to read now. I think it is a cautionary tale of what can happen when corporations take over the running of society, and raises some very interesting points about bioengineering, and how far are we willing to go in technological advancement.

I loved The Break, and I love my City of Winnipeg, my earlier point about it was that I would not want anyone who read the book who have never been to Winnipeg to think it is representative of Winnipeg as a whole. Yes we have some issues, but there are some really wonderful initiatives happening here. I think Katherena Vermette has told a very important story, and I think it also is a strong contender to win Canada Reads.

@Allison-Congrats on new job, how exciting.
@ Diane, the only Jonas Jonasson book I have read is The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared and I found it has a ver "Forest Gump" feel to it. A nice palate cleanser type of read.

@Kristen I have enjoyed reading HG Wells, Have you been watching Time and Again, it is a new TV show that features a young H.G. Wells before he writes The Time Machine.

I will start Nostalgia this weekend, but an still waiting for The Right To Be Cold: One Woman's Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet to come up in my library holds.

Have a great weekend everybody.

@Wanda, I really enjoyed the 5 years I lived in Winnipeg but I agree the problem of poverty/social issues is serious and needs to be addressed. I can't help feel like the legacy of how we (as Canadians) have treated Indigenous people has created a vicious cycle of social problems and poverty. I am not sure what the solution is but I think we need to address what has happened to them and help with their healing. I can't imagine how hard it is to do alone. I overheard a woman on the bus once talking about how her little boy was struggling at school and how she was trying to help him with reading exercises but she could hardly read. Her own parents were drunk/not present, coping with residential school past and had no idea how to parent her as they were taken from their parents. I could have cried. She was trying but what a battle!

This week I am listening to the audio book Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel

I am reading The Lonely Hearts Hotel, now long-listed for the Orange/Bailey's prize. I have previously read the other two Canadian titles on the list, Do Not Say We Have Nothing and Hag-Seed: The Tempest Retold

Yesterday I finished The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan. I was looking for a new Canadian mystery series, and this month am trying to read only books written by women, and picked this out of my TBR pile. Her descriptions made me want to visit the (sadly fictional) Andalusian museum and walk (carefully) the Scarborough Bluffs. A discussion provoking book club read, with the focus on resettlement issues of Bosnian refugees. This will stay with me, and I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

I have lots of Canadian novels by female authors home from the library, not sure what I will choose next.

Happy Friday everyone!

I finished reading Two-Gun & Sun, which was a quirky read but I really enjoyed it.

I'm about half way through Americanah. This book has definitely made me think about race/class issues in North America.

I've read about half of North End Love Songs. This is a beautiful collection of poetry.

I also lived in Winnipeg! I lived there for 4 years and really enjoyed my time there. I moved from a small Alberta town to the "big city" when I was 12 and it was really my first introduction to issues of race, class, poverty, etc. Winnipeg was a big learning curve for me.
My favourite novel set in Winnipeg is The Republic of Love by Carol Shields.

I loved the people in Winnipeg! Super friendly, eclectic group of people. I wish I could have moved my friends with me. :)

Barbara wrote: "I loved the people in Winnipeg! Super friendly, eclectic group of people. I wish I could have moved my friends with me. :)"

Yes Winnipeg is full of amazing people! It's too bad about the snow and mosquitoes! haha!

Happy Friday friends!

My reading in the past week has been a mix of the silly/salacious and the heavy/thoughtful.

The silly/salacious read was Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned" - I listened to the audio-book, read by the author. It was...okay. I find Lena Dunham an interesting personality. I hadn't watched the show Girls before...and I will say that after I read the book, I started watching the show and pretty much binged Season 1 in a week. I like the show better than the memoir.

The heavy was getting back to a book I've had on hiatus for months, Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Volume One: Summary: Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future. Seemed timely and still necessary. I'll keep working through.

And then the big book/chunkster that is going to keep me from getting my Canada Reads books read in time is Barkskins, because it's massive and it's a library book and I really don't want to do return it to the library unread. I liked the first part, but am less enamoured of the second part which focuses on a different character and has a lot of "look how thoroughly I researched 17th century trade and shipping" sort of stuff jammed into it. But carrying on...

Happy Friday! It started snowing in Ottawa again and I plan on not leaving my house this weekend.

Last week I finished four books.

- Ancient, Ancient by Kiini Ibura Salaam. One of the best collection of speculative fiction short stories I've read in a while. I loved almost all stories in this book and can't wait to read her latest collection.

- Nostalgia by M.G. Vassanji. I found this a pretty quick read. Not my favourite sci-fi novel I've ever read but enjoyable and I'm looking forward to the debates.

- A Secret History by Mary Gentle. A really interesting alternate history military fantasy where Muslim Africa begins to colonize Europe. I'm definitely going to pick up the later books in the series.

- Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was by Angélica Gorodischer. An Argentinian fantasy short story collection translated by Ursula K. Le Guin. It was really interesting to read a book that was written in the style of oral folk tales.

I'm currently reading The Goblin Mirror by C.J. Cherryh and Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson.

Wanda wrote: "Happy Friday everyone, we had a record breaking blizzard here in MB this week and will be glad for Spring to pop it's head out anytime now. I am plugging away at Company Town, findi..."

Wonderful post Wanda!

I've been so busy that I have found it difficult to keep up with the group lately. But hopefully things at work will start to quiet down soon, however I'm expecting a litter of puppies next week so....I might as well try to get as much Good Reads in as I can this week :-)

I re-read His Bloody Project while staying busy with my short story collections, finishing After Rain and starting on Mennonites Don't Dance. I am also reading The Light of Day for a book club and as soon as I'm done I have to get to Nostalgia which I had started but then put down. After reading the comments here, and hearing Madeline Ashby's interview on The Next Chapter, I am tempted to give Company Town another try, if I can squeeze it in, but this time by reading it because the audio version was rather difficult.

I have been on a good audiobook run. Precious and Grace because you can never go wrong with the #1 Ladies Detective Agency. Then All My Puny Sorrows which was a re-read but I enjoyed it so much I decided to read Toews' two other novels (or rather listen to them in audio): The Flying Troutmans which I loved and Irma Voth which I'm listening to now and I really like it so far.

It's going to be a brutally cold weekend so I'm hoping to get a lot of reading done by the fireplace!

slowly recovering, able to eat now! but not ready to romp yet, and so writing on the mobile from home.
I enjoyed reading all these updates, in spite of the spike to my tbr that resulted. Especially pleased to read Wanda's remarks on the Break. And love Allison's kitchen counter book being shared like that.
I am trying a new plan to keep my currently reading shelf real. I've made shelves for the first 3 months of this year, where I can place books I've finished while they wait for my review. It can be done from the phone app, time consuming, but once I'm done entering the backlog it will be easy to keep up.
At least I can read! This week its been Elena Ferrante s Frantamaglia which is an engrossing behind the scenes compilation. Two books I finished that both got mixed reviews, Women Food and God by Geneen Roth and Today I learned it was you: loved them both. Also loved Katherena Vermettes North End Love Songs, a good companion to her novel.
For short stories I've been unhappy with Patrick Lane, whose poetry I adore, but not so much this ss collection.
The biggest delight is A General Theory of Oblivion by Eduardo Aguarula, trans from the Portuguese. A little masterpiece.
I did get a friend to take me on a grocery run and managed a brief visit to the library so as not to lose my holds. I now have company town and sleeping giants for next week, after The Hidden Keys.
hoping this posts!

So, I've had the week off of work, which means that I've been able to read... dare I say too much?

So, I had a number of free books from publishers that I got through -- Goodbye Days, The Devil and Webster, and Capricious (which necessitated reading the first book, Audacious as well).

I read Brown: What Being Brown in the World Today Means, which was beautifully-written and informative. His other book, Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes, has been on my to-read list for awhile, and it's going to be bumped up now because I adore the way he writes.

I also read Short for Chameleon, which is such a sweet, funny, unexpected children's book.

I finished Half Blood Blues, which took so much longer than expected but was absolutely worth it. There's something about how perfectly she uses voice and speech rhythms throughout the book, and I'm just in awe.

I read The Right To Be Cold: One Woman's Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet. The book challenged me to take a good look at my own lack of knowledge about the arctic and the people who live there, and it's one of my favourites of the Canada Reads shortlist.

I also finished Dear Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book: An Anatomy of a Book Burning, which is a short essay by Lawrence Hill about some of the controversies surrounding his own book and issues surrounding book bannings and burnings.

And finally, I reread Fruit, and I feel like I pick up on some new touching or hilarious moment every time I reread it.

And I'm currently in the process of reading The Book of Negroes and The Break.

Slow reading week for me. I finished "The Break" last night and I thought it was beautifully written. I love the conversation about the setting that unfolded in this thread. I thought the setting was secondary and all of us who have experience in some of Canada's well-known cities know there are areas that are neglected, poverty-stricken, develop a less-than-ideal reputation or experience higher crime rates. Acknowledgement of that cannot be a bad thing if it slurs positive change. But I think a part if the strength of the book as a conversation starter on serious social issues is the universality of the vulnerability of at-risk populations. The discussions aren't limited to Winnipeg, nor are they exclusive to Aboriginal families. I read the book and thought about issues in Halifax, where I currently live, and Edmonton, where my best friend is presently an ER nurse. As Wanda so beautifully put it, we can't address the issues if we don't talk about them. The Canada Reads debate could be a terrific starting point for an important and broader national dialogue.

Next up for me is "The Right to be Cold" as it is a library loan and I'd like to finish it quickly to give someone else a chance to read it before the debates begin. I also have copies of "Nostalgia" and "Fifteen Dogs" ready to go. And because I'm rebelling a little against the "have to read" constraints of prepping for the CR debates (a holdover from returning to university as a mature student and being told what to read for five years), I'm also continuing to read "The Journey Prize Stories 28: The Best of Canada's New Writers". Loving this short story collection, and thanking Louise for the inspiration.

@Louise, I've missed your comments in the group recently, and am glad you hear you haven't abandoned us! Puppies! I hope you can figure out how to post pics.

@Magdelayne, hope you're feeling better. I didn't realize that it's been hanging on this long for you. Ugh.

Yes, supposed to be FREEEEEZING here this weekend, and it's kicked in already with frigid high winds rocking my house right now. I'm going to see Francis Itani speak tomorrow at an event, which I'm excited for. I saw her last year at the Gananoque Writer's Festival, and already own two signed books by her, but haven't read either of them! However, I'm going to support the new group in Brockville that's trying to start a new author's series. Their next event is booked for June 1 with Terry Fallis, who I've also seen. But this time I'll have more time to try to fit his books in before!

@Allison I hope you like Terry Fallis' books. I've really enjoyed all but one of them quite a lot.

Which one was your favourite, @Natasha?

Allison wrote: "@Louise, I've missed your comments in the group recently, and am glad you hear you haven't abandoned us! Puppies! I hope you can figure out how to post pics. "

I post a ton of pictures on FB. If you're on it, send me a friend request. Louise Hoelscher.

It sounds like you've got some really nice author events your way. I'd love to come out one time. Did you ever get to visit the Kingston Penitentiary? I'm hoping they will be offering visits again this year. I would be fun to arrange a day time visit and perhaps meet up with you for dinner, and take in an evening author event.

@Louise, I am one of the few remaining humans not on Facebook!

I haven't yet seen the Pen, no, and would love to! I'll let you know if I see they're selling tickets again. They seem to be very, very few and far between, and sell out really fast. But I'll definitely let you know if they come up again.

The Kingston Writer's Fest is so great, end of Sept sometime. If you want to come up for that, I'd love for us to go together! I'll be buying tickets closer to the date -- will stay in touch about that.

You can see the new Brockville series, just getting off the ground, at: http://www.brockvillelovesbooks.ca/. There is also the http://1000islandswritersfestival.ca/ which will take place in Gananoque starting this year, replacing the now-defunct Gananoque Writer's Festival. I can't believe it, but I'm actually away that weekend this year. So sad!

Allison wrote: "@Louise, I am one of the few remaining humans not on Facebook!

I haven't yet seen the Pen, no, and would love to! I'll let you know if I see they're selling tickets again. They seem to be very, v..."

Yes definitely let me know if tickets come up again and I'll check out your links.

Louise wrote: "Allison wrote: "@Louise, I am one of the few remaining humans not on Facebook! ..."

I am not on Facebook either lol.

The Nest by Kenneth Oppel is available from both Kobo and iBooks for $1.99 today.

༺ Allison ༻ wrote: "The Nest by Kenneth Oppel is available from both Kobo and iBooks for $1.99 today."

Its available on Amazon US for $3.99

I know a lot of fb holdouts, was one myself, so I respect your position if you choose against it.
I certainly am offended by much of it. But I have learned to use it, and the internet, to my limited ability, for my own purposes, ignore the ads, the hype, and treasure my connection with my scattered friends..and I spent a quiet with Richard Wagamese, looking at his fb page.
I came to this page to fill in update. Forgot to include in books read last week, Zoe Whittall s amazing tour de force and Colm Toibins Brooklyn. I think he did a credible job getting into his female protagonist's head, and I actually forgot most of the time, almost. Women are rarely so dispassionate.
I am glad to have finished Patrick Lane's short story collection. It was just relentlessly depressing.
So I am treasuring Sark's Change your life without getting out of bed.
Started Rachel Solnit's the Art of Getting Lost and Richard Wagamese One story, one song.

@Heather(Gibby), I haven't started watching (so many shows on my to watch list) but that's cool it's about H. G. Wells. Before this anthology I'd only read The Time Machine, but I like delving into his other stuff!

@Sarah, it's exciting to hear more praise for Brown. I read Intolerable and adored his writing so much.

Am late to the party but here goes.

@ Sarah - thanks for the recommendation about Brown: What Being Brown in the World Today Means @ Kristen - I also enjoyed Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes but seemed to be in the minority. Was so disappointed that it was voted off on Day 1 of Canada Reads. Unfortunately the defender didn't get much of a chance to say anything about the book. I really think if they won't add an extra day to the discussion/debate schedule, they should wait until Day 2 and then vote 2 books off.....so at least people hear more than a 3-5 minutes discussion and watch a short video about the books in contention.

Last week I finished The Break. My comments are in the Awards - Canada Reads Discussion Thread. Regarding the above conversation about Winnipeg and the book, at no point did I think the book was representing Winnipeg although am familiar with its problems as well as many other places. In my comments, I mentioned I thought it was a story that could have taken place in a multitude of impoverished places in rural towns and big cities around the world where women support each other while they become the family backbone that tries to hold their families together and keep them safe.

Pretty much finished The Postmistress by Sarah Blake and have mixed feelings about it.

After the devastating news of Richard Wagamese's death, shedding a few tears and crossing off a bucket list wish, I decided to abandon my reading plans and read an author that makes me feel good. Read Long Way Gone by Charles Martin. It was extremely moving and heart felt. Perhaps it had a bit to do with my feelings of loss and melancholy but I think much more was because it was a wonderful story about unconditional love.

My plans next week are up in the air. I have tons of Canada Reads Books and Bingo Books to choose from. Who knows?

@ Magdelanye - One Story, One Song was my favourite of Richard Wagamese's. Because it's non-fiction it doesn't fit the Favourite Novel Bingo Square.....so I've picked a reread of Ragged Company and also picked up Embers. Yay!! Some great reads ahead of my favourite author.

Have a great week everyone. Those on the East Coast and east of me....enjoy being house bound due to snow. Keep safe, warm and read lots!!

Ragged Company is one of my favourites! I may even reread that this year though I only read it last year for the first time. I read quickly so I always miss bits. A reread of a favourite book fills them in.

We're going to get the storm tonight though here in Halifax, it's due to turn to rain overnight. Parts of Atlantic Canada will get quite a bit of snow, though.