CanadianContent discussion

Good morning readers from coast to coast! What are you reading these days? Are you joining in on our discussion (spoilers to be included as of July 15) of Kit's Law? I am bursting to talk about it and discuss my thoughts of the ending once we can talk freely! Are you enjoying the buddy read? How are the Cross-Canada Challenges coming?

Whatever you are reading, I hope that this week bring sunshine, reading and relaxation!!!

I drove to Toronto today so I finished The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow AND Ghachar Ghochar on audio. While The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow has beautiful writing, I didn't buy into the story; I tend to take things too literally and wasn't able to suspend my disbelief that the story requires of its readers. Ghachar Ghochar is a wonderful short book (3 hours on audio). I highly recommend it.

In book form, I'm not making much progress with Ragged Company simply because time has been sparse this week. I'm still keeping up with my one-short-story-per-day though.

Good Friday morning! With the weather cooperating so nicely, I haven't had a lot of time for reading. I finished Hot Milk this week and I've been reading snippets of Random Passage on my phone. Loving the new Libby app from Overdrive!

On audio I finished Fight Club and now I'm listening to Three Day Road, which I'm a little disappointed with so far. There's only so much of the trenches of the First World War that I can take, and that's the vast majority of it at this point. I guess I was expecting more about the healing after the fact than the war itself.

I'm just starting The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane and I have Kit's Law on hold at the library.

Good morning!

I finished My Own Two Feet, a lovely memoir (including of library school in the 1930s, be still my heart!) last weekend, which was a wonderful palate-cleanser. Then read Kit's Law, and am looking forward to the discussion.

I'm currently enjoying an art book that gives some more insight into Newfoundland, Black Ice: David Blackwood's Prints of Newfoundland, and The Greengage Summer.

I'm making very good progress on my Cross Canada reading, with two on board now and only two more to go, PEI and Northwest Territories and have books picked out for those.
For Cross Canada, there's Crimes Against My Brother by David Adams Richards (New Brunswick), The Only Café by Linden MacIntyre (Ontario, though you could use it for Nova Scotia, too). The other on the go is a Netgalley, All Is Beauty Now by Sarah Faber.

I finished Alone in the Classroom by Elizabeth Hay which kind of left me "meh". the story was ok but not great. I think it was the point of view of the narrator that irked me. One review I read referred to it as "the sisterhood of the traveling boyfriend" which made me snicker. Also finished Electric Shadows of Shanghai by Clare Kane which I did like.

@Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺ hang on... I loved Three Day Road, it is violent and descriptive of trench warfare but the story comes together and is one of my favourites!!

@Diane - great progress!!

I have had a great reading week (being home) but have mixed in a fair bit of lighter material this week.

I finished Kit's Law which I loved and leaves we wanting to read more of her books and Keeper'n Me which was a slow read. I love Wagamese's writing and feel that there is real value in reading this fictional experience, which is largely descriptive of his own life going back to meet his family, but this was not the same kind of emotional read like Medicine Walk.

For some lighter reading, I read the Plainsong which was the first book in a series followed by Eventide and Benediction. It was a bit fluffy and not nearly as good as Our Souls at Night which was this author's last book. The first 2 had many of the same characters which was nice but the 3rd although in the same town with minor references to characters seemed separate. I was wanting a bit more closure with the characters from the first 2 although did like the storyline in the 3rd which really seemed like a standalone book.

Last night I finally finished the Rilla of Ingleside which is the 8th book in the Anne of Green Gables Series. Although I have read Anne multiple times, I had not ever read this far. This story line had Anne as a mother of adult children (including Rilla) and the family was dealing with WW1 as their boys went off to the trenches. I enjoyed it very much and am a bit sad to bid adieu to the beloved characters of PEI!

This week, I am in the midst of reading an Ann Munro Story each day from The Love of a Good Woman and am hoping to get to The Manticore for my Bingo square of a book published in 1972. I also have an ARC of Girl in Snow which will be a palate cleanser.

Hi! A torrential downpour just started as I began typing! I love this kind of weather -- temporarily.

I finished two books this week -- yay!

First was The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, which I did really enjoy. I thought the first half was a lot stronger than the second half -- it was all just a bit much to believe -- but overall, it's a good story. I'll look out for more of Lisa See's books.

I also finished a non-fiction audio called A Most Improbable Journey: A Big History of Our Planet and Ourselves, which I LOVED! I'm such a sucker for all these science books written for lay-people, and I thought this one was unique and really well done. It takes a "Big History" approach to everything from the universe to microbia, which was so enlightening. Five stars!

Still working on Minds of Winter for the BINGO square for "A Place You want to Visit," but it was put aside for the Tea Girl, as that was a library book, so there's pressure!

Happy Friday!!
This week I finished Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times and Rich People Problems on paper and The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, Dad Is Fat, Why Not Me?, The Spark: A Mother's Story of Nurturing Genius and Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook on audio.
Just started American Gods, the 10th anniversary edition. Next in line will be The Unseen World: A Novel for my in-person book club and I'm still hoping to read The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane with the buddy group.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Diane, I'm amazed at how you're tackling the cross-Canada challenge. Well done!

This week I finished The Cove, which I enjoyed. I look forward to reading more by this author. Then I got ambitious and started 3 books.

On audio, I'm about halfway through Anne of Green Gables and I'm enjoying it so much. I am absolutely the crazy lady at the gym or on her walks LOLing as I listen to this. Anne is hilarious when read as an adult. This is doing double duty for the cross-Canada challenge and for bingo (I'm using it for the Canadian classic square).

I also continue to read in preparation for my planned road trip/book festival next month. For that, I'm almost finished an excellent short story collection, The Man Who Shot Out My Eye Is Dead: Stories. I can be iffy on short stories but this collection has been a great read. I'm also reading Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta, which is a memoir/travelogue about an expat Brit who moves from NYC to the Mississippi Delta. I'll be travelling through this region but I also feel like this is an instance of "right book, right time" because the author discusses his struggles as an outsider to understand race relations in the South, which is something I can relate to right now.

Happy weekend, everyone!

@Susan: Plainsong was the first of Kent Haruf's books that I read and remains a favorite because of that. I enjoyed the trilogy; am not sure whether it was meant for the third book to be a big part. It did seem like a separate book with a few connections. I thought the connections were enough to tell me what happened to the characters. I love everything that Kent Haruf wrote and still have a few of his books to look forward to (including Our Souls at Night)
You'll like The Manticore, I think. Robertson Davies is another author who really can't write anything bad. :D

We're having our front yard redone and with all the appointments and extra tasks to take care of, I haven't read much this week.

I started Vanity Fair as part of a group read in another group. It's entertaining, to say the least. I think I'll enjoy this one.

I will have to take The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World back to the library unfinished and request it again. It's fascinating so I really want to read it but there's a queue, so back it goes until my turn comes up again.

I finished an audio version of 206 Bones. Ugh! The character of Temperance Brennan is rude and angry....so very angry. The mystery part is easy to figure out for the reader (not easy for the characters.....very annoying, since Brennan is supposed to be ultra-smart). The writing is awful (the wind "skulks" up the street, for example).
I was disappointed because I really like the TV show Bones. I didn't expect an exact copy but some similarities. I won't be reading any others of this series.

@Petra - I look forward to your thoughts on Our Souls At Night - this was a wonderful book and nice to see a love story for individuals later in life! In Plainsong - I loved the old guys!!

Interesting to hear about Bones - my daughter and I binge watched those shows last summer and enjoyed them but i have wondered about the books.

Petra wrote: "I will have to take The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World back to the library unfinished and request it again. It's fascinating so I really want to read it but there's a queue, so back it goes until my turn comes up again."

I listened to this one a few months ago and while I agree that some of the content is fascinating, it also made me very sleepy!

Oh, @Petra, I love Vanity Fair! I've re-read it periodically since I was a teen. I hope you enjoy it.

@Petra, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World is available as an ebook on Hoopla, if you can access it. Free, immediate borrowing for three weeks!

Happy Friday!! This is my last day of work before a week vacation so I'm itching to get out of here!

I finished reading Kit's Law. This book started slow for me then really picked up. I'll be interested to hear everyone's thoughts on it in a few days, especially the ending.

I'm currently 2/3 of the way through A Twist of the Knife which is a crime novel. It started slow but is picking up steam now. It was a giveaway win.

I have Burning Water out from the library for Bingo, but since it's a library book I'm too scared to take it on vacation with me. I have another couple giveaway books, Burntown or Demi-Gods that I'll probably bring with me.

Wow, you guys are making me look unproductive! :) So many voracious readers.

I finished 'Round Midnight but can't recall if I did so last Friday or if I was only just starting during last week's post. I enjoyed it but really enjoyed the first part entitled "June". The rest was good but not as powerful for me as that first section. I don't often read about Vegas and I liked that the book did NOT center around gambling and casino life much.

Now, I am just about finished Watch Me Disappear which I was thrilled to win. I had a really long giveaways dry spell but this week I won multiple times! Soooo excited. So back to the book.... it isn't a suspense page turning kind of read but that's a good thing.... it is more a slow unfolding of the characters and how people aren't always who you think they are. It reminds me of The Best Kind of People but with a less scandalous topic. I predict that this will end up a 4 star read for me but if the ending is terrible it could get downgraded.... don't think it will be for some reason.

Hope you all enjoy the weekend. Happy Reading!

Sometimes I wonder if you secretly work for Hoopla @Allison!!

Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺ wrote: "Sometimes I wonder if you secretly work for Hoopla @Allison!!"

Hahahha! I just love it! I can no longer get my head around library loans that you have to wait for and return in two weeks!

Last time I checked, NL Public Libraries isn't registered with Hoopla so I have no way to access it. :(

Allison wrote: "@Petra, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World is available as an ebook on Hoopla, if you can access it. Free, immediate bo..."

Allison, I'll check this out. Thank you!

Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺ wrote: "Last time I checked, NL Public Libraries isn't registered with Hoopla so I have no way to access it. :("

Ah, that's a bummer, @Allison. Maybe it deserves a call to your library!

I have some catching up to do.
Umbrella Man is the 4th in the series and sooooo good.
The End of Money: The story of bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and the blockchain revolution was fascinating with much of it a bit over my head but it dealt well with the complexity of the topic.
Angel Catbird, Volume 2: To Castle Catula -- I read it 'cause it is Atwood but there are so many much better graphic novels.
The High Mountains of Portugal was an interesting and very profound book that I read for Saskatchewan.
Kit's Law for this month's read. It is a well written look at poverty and how it affects different people.
Chasing Vermeeris a good tween palette cleanser.
White Heat is the first in a series that takes place in

(This is why I don't post too often. ) at least I did not lose everything as usual.
White Heat takes place in NWT with Inuit protagonists.
The Curse of the Shaman is a simply wonderful tale that takes place in Nunavut.
Knife Party at the Hotel Europa is an amazing book of connected short stories. The author lives in NB and he writes like an angel. I would read his grocery lists if he published them. I am reading one story a day as a reward.
Whose Body? is the first in the lord Peter Wimsey series. I have read the ones at the end but never the early ones.
Wonton Soup Collection was loaned to me a year ago so it is time to read this fun graphic space cooking opera so I can return it.
Someone here posted about Prairie Ostrich as written by an Alberta author and it looks interesting.

@ Petra& @ Emmkay Vanity Fair is an amazing book and worth rereading several times in a life time. I am on hold for an audio reading of the novel by Stephen Fry and Emma Fielding.

I'm glad to hear that Vanity Fair is so well loved. I'm enjoying the beginning part a lot.

@ Petra Have you read Wilkie Collins? The Woman in White and The Moonstone? Both are excellent mysteries and very modern in the suspense in them.

Yes! I love Wilkie Collins' writing. I also enjoyed The Dead Secret and The Two Destinies.
Thank you for reminding me of him. I still have a couple of his unread books on my bookshelf. He would make good Summer reading.

Prairie Ostrich, that was me probably. I loved it!

so many good Wilkie Collins. I wonder why he is not as well read or known as Charles Dickens.

@ Diane -- thanks

Love Wilkie Collins!!

It's sure been a long week and I'm so glad it is Friday! I finished Beartown and it was simply wonderful. I then started on a giveaway read that I had won awhile back, The Impossible Fortress. It's set in the 80's and so I am enjoying this funny little tale- brings me back to my early teens.

It was good to hear in the general discussions that many of the group members have been winning giveaways- always feels like Christmas when you win! Congrats to all and happy weekend!

I had tried posting on Friday, but it got hung up, so gave up.

The only thing I got through last week was Hag-Seed which I loved, I didn't expect it to be so witty.

I am currently devouring Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab which I had hoped would be our August read, but I had planned to read for the BINGO challenge irregardless.

This is a special week in my life, volunteering at the Vancouver international folk music. It's challenging to pick the one most appropriate book for the weekend. A good choice means something left to read in the ferry lineup.
So I've finally buckled down and have finished the first story. He really is has a delightful way with words.

Did finish Hag- Seed!
What fun. I wasn't sure I would care for it because ii lack appreciation of Shakespeare.. Rather it did wonders for my appreciation
Oddly, I was reading a memoir by Mark Leiron -Young about a young man writing a play

just read this over for errors and easily found to..the word festival was deleted and i didn't notice,
And Voltaire is the book i have been struggling with.

I also have begun to discover the poems of Steven Heighton. They surprise me in that they are less poetic than his novels.

I am heading to Fredericton later today until Friday. Are there any awesome bookstores I should be checking out?