CanadianContent discussion

Good morning readers!! For those of us in Southern Ontario, we have had some perfect reading weather.... WET!!! Here is hoping that April showers will bring May flowers!!

I am looking forward to hearing about everyone's book week when I get home tonight!!

My computer went down over Easter weekend so this won't be very detailed and without links.

I've been reading a bunch but my most recent book is The Break which I really enjoyed. Strangely having had parts of it spoiled and the Canada Reads discussion made me appreciate it more.

Now that I'm done all my exams I have nothing to do but read and pack. I'm finishing up The Bear and the Nightingale. Then I have to go through my shelves to figure out what I'm picking up next.

I've completed 10 squares for bingo but no lines yet. I'm one book close on a bunch of them so I'll probably have a line or two completed by the end of the month.

Happy Friday everyone!
I finished Lullabies for Little Criminals last week followed by The Girl on the Train, which I read in 1 sitting. This week I devoted my time with Commonwealth, a group read for another GR group. I pegged it at 3.5 stars for me. It's got that "everything kinda worked out at the end" feeling for me. Liked it, not loved it.
This weekend I will be working through Broken Angels for my in-person book club. I have never heard of Gemma Liviero until now.
Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has been reading.
Have a fabulous weekend!

Yes, WET!! Sopping!

I finally finished Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood this week! It was a good, solid read, and I enjoyed it. The second half was better, as the woman grew older. It sort of reminded me of The Stone Diaries or even Outline in some ways. Neat to read "retro-Atwood" now that I know she has veered into speculative fiction more than ever.

In audio I completed The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides -- or nearly finished, I should say. Library autoreturn happened, and I was okay letting it go. It was good, but I wasn't invested in the story, really.

I also completed The Tao of Pooh in audio, which was well done in this format, and an okay book. I actually read it while in university years ago, and I felt pretty much the same about it all this time later. It is a neat reflection of Taoism based on the characters of Winnie the Pooh. It is very simple, very accessible. Another similar book I read in university that had the same feel was Sophie's World, but for philosophy rather than Taoism.

This week I put down all of the books I'd been creeping through at a snail's pace and read The Calling. I enjoyed it, have book 2 in the series on its way to me in the mail, and used it to fill the Canadian Mystery square for bingo. I have 10 squares completed now!

Then I finished The Long Song. Ultimately this one was a disappointment. I appreciated learning a bit about the end of slavery in Jamaica but otherwise found this novel dull.

Yesterday I started reading The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness again. This may be the most depressing book I've ever read. It's hard to know how to fix or even just combat such a huge and broken situation. As well, I need to catch up on The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which I'm more than a week behind on on Serial Reader.

The weather in Winnipeg is still very cold in the mornings, hovering around the zero mark, still needing to scrape the care windows in the morning, and then it climbs up to the mid teens by afternoon. Very hard to know what to wear.

I am nearing the end of The Troop, it is a book that is hard to put down, but it has some really nightmare generating scenes in it. Hint: don't read while eating noodles.

I have also been listening to The Cellist of Sarajevo. While I am liking the book, I think this is one of those times where my expectations were too high going in, and it is not living up to the hype. Also the narration on the story does not seem to fit with the mood of the book.

I have also started into 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl which is a very quirky book, and I am not sure what I think of it.

Happy Friday! There's snow here in Edmonton, but the Oilers are warming our hearts with overtime wins!
I just finished reading Simple Recipes and now I'm about to start Caught.
I have my cast off my wrist, but I'm in a brace. The hand surgeon referred me to a wrist surgeon, so I'm just waiting for that appointment.

Ugh, @Megan, sorry you're dealing with all that! We're dealing with some stuff with hubby's ear/implant issues too. All I can say is, I'm so grateful for universal healthcare, for all of us Canadians!!

How did you like Simple Recipes? Another "gymnastics mother" was reading it and said it was a really great read.

I have a couple of palate cleansers on the go after the heavy train wreck that was Lullabies for Little Criminals. I really liked it but it was not an uplifting book to read! On the go are Short for Chameleon by Halifax author Vicki Grant (the YA book is set here in Halifax so it's very cool to picture all the locations!) and Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty, a character based fiction by the Big Little Lies author. I'm also reading Canadian classic Rockbound by Frank Parker Day and really enjoying it, and still picking away at Impact to Contact: The Shag Harbour Incident by Graham Simms and Chris Styles.

I finished Lullabies and also Kin Lesley Crewe which gave me two lines in my Bingo card, nice to see but I still have about a quarter or more of it yet to complete. Rockbound should fill one more.

@Allison I enjoyed it reading it. Worth picking up.

Sorry to hear about your husband's ear issues. I'm also grateful for universal healthcare!

Happy Friday!! It has been a super-exhausting week, and while I think I'll be taking work home for the weekend, at least I've almost made it there...

Not so much reading going on this week, but I did read Among Others by Jo Walton, who I hadn't realized is Canadian. It was pretty enjoyable, and it was nice reading something light and page-turny, even if I didn't love it. Now looking at a graphic novel, Rolling Blackouts: Dispatches from Turkey, Syria and Iraq, but having trouble focusing. I am looking forward to things slowing down a bit in a few weeks.

I finished The Bear by Claire Cameron this week (not to be confused with Bear by Marian Engel). The story was interesting but I struggled with the five-year-old narrator.

Yesterday, I started Lullabies for Little Criminals. I'm only a few chapters in, but I can already tell that I'll be devouring this book over the weekend. I've been staying away from the discussion thread in case of spoilers.

I'm also enjoying a chapter of One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter here and there.

On my commute, I'm listening to The Bronze Horseman and really enjoying it, I must admit. I thought I was done, done, done with World War II, but the siege of Leningrad is a new setting for me despite all the books from this period I've already read.

༺ Allison ༻ wrote: "I finished The Bear by Claire Cameron this week (not to be confused with Bear by Marian Engel). The story was interesting but I struggl..."

I felt exactly the same way Allison is was very hard to enjoy the actual story with the weird interpretations of what a five years old understands and perceives-do you know a five years old who does not know what money is?

I was enjoying The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, but it was a library e-book that expired before I finished. I have it on hold again, but about 30 people ahead of me. May have to go to the library to get the physical book so I can finish.

I did finish Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill for our monthly read. It was a dark subject, but I really enjoyed the writing and the story. Now I want to read more by Heather O'Neill.

Next up is Love Anthony by Lisa Genova. It has been on my TBR list for a while. Figured I would read it as April is Autism awareness month.

My second book box from Book Riot came in the mail today and this time the books are two short story collections: American Housewife and The Miniature Wife and Other Stories.

I'm feeling inspired to read more short stories with these new collections and hearing about @Louise's goal to read one story a day in 2017. I already own a bunch of collections of which I've only read a handful of stories.

@Megan - sorry to hear that you are having issues with your fracture and hope that you heal soon!
@Alison - hope all is well with your hubby!

As always, lots of great reading this week!!

Richard Wagamese's voice lives on through his stories and I learned more about his life in For Joshua : An Ojibway Father Teaches His Son which was a heartbreaking letter to his son who he was estranged from at the time. I also finished Son of a Trickster which I enjoyed after meeting the author. I do admit that i was almost turned off by her reading the first chapter due to the language -- i really struggle with the c word which makes me cringe -- but her great personality helped me decide to buy a copy!

On audio, I finished listening to Lion which I enjoyed... hard to imagine a 5 year old lost in Calcutta! It was an amazing memoir of a boy who was adopted to Australia and eventually finds his birth family.

I am starting The Girl Who Was Saturday Night prior to meeting Heather O'Neill next weekend with @May and began listening to The Two-Family House. I am not sure how much reading that I will get in this weekend with a swim meet and lots of stuff on the go but I am sure I will squeeze in some pages!

@Susan, you are way more prepared than I. I'm just there for the cocktail & food & watching you in action at an event!

LOL - there will be no interactive Dancing for me but I am looking forward to a cocktail and some great food too!

Congratulations to the 2 who dealt with equanimity losing the ebook they were reading, yanked by the library. Another reason never to go that path for me.
To those dealing with heath issues (or family members health issues), may it all sort itself out happily. Megan, do you use Arnica?
To the 2 going to meet Heather O.....I am so jealous

Today is actually a gorgeous day and Earth Day Celebrations may actually have a sunny parade tomorrow.

Currently reading Joan Haggerty who I may get to see tomorrow, if i have the energy. Quickly read The Invitation: A Memoir of Family Love and Reconciliation which is quasi autobiographical. and now engaged with The Dancehall Years which is a lot slower, also based on family history.

I am impressed with Wislawa Symborsky and the only book of hers I could obtain, Miracle Fair: Selected PoemsAlso reading another book of autobiographical nature, listed as poetry but not really, thats Hard Light by Michael Crummy. Its a bit of a stretch. Reading about gutting fish is definately out of my comfort zone.

Still reading Embers every morning, and Field Notes on the Compassionate Life: A Search for the Soul of Kindness It certainly is elusive.

Finished Just Pretending by Lisa Bird-Wilson and Americanah byChimamanda Ngozi Adichie Both of them were knockouts.

May the earth be blessed

Happy Friday everyone! I finally completed the short story compilation Just Pretending. Some of these stories are quite emotionally disturbing in their content of poverty, racism, sexual abuse, violence. The author is a Metis writer from SK and I appreciated the recommendation from here in the group.

I raced through Lion and what an emotional ride this was- I am eager to watch the movie now. What an amazing story and incredible journey. I am still impacted years after reading Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity- highly recommend both of these non-fiction books.

Has anyone else read The Nightingale Won't Let You Sleep? I have been reading this in small bits but struggling a bit and just looking for others thoughts. It's the sort of book that is making me feel self-conscious about my own intellect or to be more blunt, it is making me feel rather dumb. But yet I want to keep on with it.

I am just getting into The Virgin Cure for my library book club and am enjoying it as much as I did The Witches of New York, wish I would've read this one first as per the character Moth being in both.

Wishing sunshine for each and all!

@Magdelanye- just saw that we both read Just Pretending- was it you that had recommended it me in the first place? I started it back in February, took me awhile!

@Wanda - I totally agree about both Lion and Behind the Beautiful Forevers - they are books that stay with you and make you appreciate our lives in Canada!

Okay, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity now stacked onto the TBR mountain, as I loved A Long Way Home (Lion, in another version).

With regards to libraries yanking ebooks, do you ever find this doesn't happen if your reader is in airplane mode or offline? This hasn't happened to me in a long time but I have a library book on my Kindle right now that is still there despite the fact that I got an email days ago saying it had expired. This used to happen a fair bit but I figured they'd perfected the technology by now, so this has been a surprise. I even checked out a physical copy of the book because I knew I wouldn't finish the ebook on time!

Ooooooo! Interesting, Susan! I didn't know this little trick! Thanks!

@ Wanda - guilty as charged. I recommended Just Pretending in Friday Spine Crackers to the group in general at the end of January and to you specifically in mid February when you mentioned wanting to read more Metis writing. I was pretty impressed with Lisa Bird-Wilson's talent. I indicated she was a Manitoba author and you were smart enough to point out my error - that she was a Saskatchewan author. Pleased that you enjoyed the recommendation.

I too thought Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity was a great non-fiction read and quite enjoyed The Virgin Cure. Hope you do too.

@ Magdelanye glad you thought that Just Pretending was a knockout. Hope you're rebuilding strength and healing. Am a big homeopathic fan, including Arnica myself.

More to post later.

@Wanda "The Nightingale Won't Let Me Sleep" was in my Giller Lite Bash gift bag. I haven't gotten to read it yet though. My dad did and he enjoyed it.

Lucky me!! Friday was dry here except for a few quick sprinkles. Got all the down pour yesterday.

Like others like Shvaugn have shared, I have a lot of Bingo Squares completed but no complete lines but am on the brink.

@ Susan, as mentioned in the last Friday thread am glad the mystery series you’re reading is breaking your reading slump. Have you also considered putting dark reads like The New Jim Crowe on hold for a bit? In my experience, reading a number of dark books concurrently or in short time frame definitely impacts my psyche and outlook.

@ Heather - what to wear??? Layers!! Take off. Put on. Lol. 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl was not one of my favourite reads though I did enjoy The Cellist of Sarajevo. Totally get having a book disappoint if you read all the hype.

@ Megan - just finished February, my first Lisa Moore novel. Think her writing is terrific. Hope you enjoy Caught. Heal quickly.

@ Allison - hope your hubby’s implant issues heal as well. BasedA Tale for the Time Being on your recent book about Taoism, I was going to recommend A Tale for the Time Being but see you listed it as a dnf. Maybe later when the timing is better.

@ Susan - have For Joshua : An Ojibway Father Teaches His Son and am looking forward to it. Was a bit disappointed in Trickster, thought parts were quite good.

To everyone else, if I haven’t commented, you’re way ahead of me and reading books that I’m now considering adding to my “reading opportunities.”

Rain or shine.....have a great reading week!!!

My reading this past week:

I read Bad Medicine: A Judge's Struggle for Justice in a First Nations Community by John Reilly. It was an easy to read non-fiction written by a judge about the mis-management of band funds for personal reasons by the leadership of the Stoney Reserve in Alberta. I chose it because it was "banned in Canada" not elsewhere. There's no doubt it was banned because of the direct accusations, none of which have ever been prosecuted. Recommended because the author does such a good job of synthesizing tons of information into very understandable issues. While not necessarily true of all reservations, it's quite possibly a significant problem that is causing government money being misappropriated and not being spent as intended.

I also read February by Lisa Moore for an in-person book club. Moore's writing was pretty special. Didn't really connect with the primary character but am glad I read the book. Will read more of Moore's work based on high calibre of her writing in this novel. Fyi, I was in the minority. All members, except for 1 other, mentioned how moved they were by the book and its insight into loss and grief.

Nice to see all the comments about February! I too enjoyed it and have a couple of Lisa Moore's other books on my shelves waiting to be read! Perhaps I will pick one up for my BINGO square relating to a province I would like to visit!

I am a little late to this week's party....sorry!

So last Friday night was our in person bookclub for The House We Grew Up In - which I managed to finish 1 hour after the start of book club. I never do that! :( It was an ok read for me.... it seems too much like a giant laundry list of dysfunction. We did have a pretty decent discussion on it.

I finished The Fire by Night this week - real quick read. It wasn't bad.... Historical Fiction light in my opinion but sometimes you need that.

Now I am into Dragon Springs Road - enjoyable but so far it is not as good as Three Souls. Glad I am reading it though. I am about 2/3 through so we'll see how it ends today or tomorrow.

Thinking about The Gilded Years next....or maybe The Women in the Castle

@magdalyne of course arnica! I forgot about it. I'll pick some up asap.

I watched the movie version of The Calling last night, and it was pretty bad. A lot was changed and some of it just made no logical sense unless you'd read the book. I'd seen online that the movie had bad reviews so wasn't expecting much. It's always interesting to see how things are changed, though.

But this made me realize I hadn't considered putting this book in the Book Made into a Movie bingo square, so I decided to move it and then I can use book 2 in the series for Canadian Mystery. Yay!

Also, I was strong all weekend but just broke down and ordered 4 Canadian titles from Book Outlet before their sale expires. It IS World Book Day, after all. ;-)

Hello everyone! I haven't been reading much over the past couple of weeks.

@Allison: I finished The Marriage Plot and think the same as you. I didn't get invested in the characters' stories and don't think about the book now that I've finished it. It was "okay".

@Allison: when I finished reading The Bronze Horseman, I read a bunch of 1-star and 5-star reviews. It seems, from these reviews, that people read the story in 2 ways and one either loves or hates the book. The stories mentioned in the reviews are so different. I'm on the 1-star side of the read and am always fascinated in people's reviews of this book and hope their reviews tell me which of the two stories they read. I'm not sure if that makes sense.

Over the past couple of weeks, I've only finished two books:
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and Brave New World. While I enjoyed both while reading enough to enjoy the experience, in the end, both ended up as 2-star reads for me because I think they fell flat.

Today I started The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane and I'm really enjoying it so far. Lisa See is an enjoyable author.

I'm still on my Proust project and have started the third book, The Guermantes Way. I'm not far into it yet.

@Petra, I've noticed this seems to be the case with reviews of The Bronze Horseman. I'm only about halfway through and, as of yet, undecided which camp I'll fall into.

No time to read on weekends these days. But I keep up during my commute.

I finished the fun short stories about Math used in court cases: Math on Trial: How Numbers Get Used and Abused in the Courtroom. To anyone who likes numbers and how it fits into the real world - you'd enjoy this.

The other book I read was Making History. It's not something I'd recommend to this group. The dialogue was well done but it's just a light read.

For the book near my birth date I'm reading The Invention of the World. So far so good - though I've only just begun.

For shorts I'm reading Stones. I admire Timothy Findley so much I'm just trying to read everything he's written. This collection of short stories does not disappoint.

@Talie, every time I get back to Timothy Findley I wonder why I leave it so long.

I read Making History about three years ago,, it is interesting reading my review now, because I don't have any actual memory of most of my comments in my review. I gave it 4 stars, so I must have enjoyed it!

@ Heather (Gibby) Nice to hear you enjoyed Making History - have you read anything else by Stephen Fry. He's an intelligent witty writer with great dialogue.


@Allison YES! Once again our tastes are aligned. :) Timothy Findley has a great background in psychology that he applies to his characters which makes them more real and readable to me. Ahh the depth their neurosis-es gives them.

Hello Readers!

I haven't posted an update for a few weeks, but I am a slow reader so it won't be long.

1. I read Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore which I loved. Loved. Loved.

2. I finished "Undermajordomo Minor which was ok. There were things I liked about it, but quite frankly, it was kind of weird.

3. I finished "Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling and it was fantastic. Exactly what I want in a non-fiction. But it was lengthy, and it took me forever to get through it. I am so glad I read it prior to visiting the Sistine Chapel. Seriously, I think I might be the only person to visit with written viewing notes of things to look for, LOL. Our tour guide said she had never seen anyone do that before.

4. Last night, I finished The Enemies of Versailles, a historical fiction set during the reign of Louis XV. I like historical fiction, but I like it to give some additional illumination into what was happening and why. This one was just OK.

I was going to read Lullabies for Little Criminals with the group, but I cannot find my copy anywhere, so I must have lent it out and not got it back. I'm pretty good at keeping track of my books, so I don't know how that happened. I enjoy seeing what others are reading. Stephen Fry and Timothy Findlay are two faves mentioned this month.

I am currently reading Pachinko because I won it in a Goodreads give-away and I owe them a review!

@Talie - have you read How to Lie with Statistics? it reminds me of your description of Math on Trial. I read it for a stats course years ago and it certainly gives a different perspective of how to present numbers to build your case!

@CynthiaA - i have had Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hr Book store on my list for a while...

@Susan -- that was printed a long time ago and many of the examples appear in textbooks. I tried reading it and found it lacking. Thank you for pointing it out nonetheless.

The next 24 Hour Readathon is this weekend!!!

www.24hourreadathon.com

My 12 year old daughter and I have a quiet day planned, so I think we may participate for some of it. I guess we'll post on her Instagram account...? I'm not on any other social media besides GR! Eek!

Anyone else in??

༺ Allison ༻ wrote: "@Petra, I've noticed this seems to be the case with reviews of The Bronze Horseman. I'm only about halfway through and, as of yet, undecided which camp I'll fall into."

I'll be waiting to hear, Allison. :D

Talie wrote: "For the book near my birth date I'm reading The Invention of the World. So far so good - though I've only just begun. ..."

Talie, I very much enjoyed Jack Hodgins' books many years ago. I've thought about rereading one to see if it holds up.
I hope you enjoy this one.

Allison wrote: "The next 24 Hour Readathon is this weekend!!!

www.24hourreadathon.com

Thx Allison - I had a look at the website and I am not quite sure that I get the whole plan. is it to raise money for book causes while reading all weekend?

I don't think it's a fundraiser, no, just a fun weekend to bring together readers. There are contests and prizes and lots of online encouragement to read all weekend. :)