CanadianContent discussion

let the fun begin!!

I had a surprise when I checked my mailbox! Thank you Secret Sender for giving me Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah! I am excited to have my own copy of this Canada Reads book.

The first delivery! Exciting! Hope you enjoy it @Kathleen.

Kathleen, that sounds like a very interesting book.

The first delivery is always exciting.

@Kathleen- perfect timing for Canada Reads, a book so many on the group have mentioned getting their hands on! I hope you enjoy!

This week I had another book surprise! My Secret Sender gifted me with a second Canada Reads novel - Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Thank you so very much!

Gah! Just found this thread. How did I miss it!? Hahah.

Fun Kathleen! As Susan said so perfectly - let the fun begin! 😁

Good Morning,

Just want to send a thank you to my Secret Sender.

2 books arrived at my local book store:

The Guncle and the chuckster Age of Vice

Thank you :-)

How exciting, Rainey! Two new books to read! Have fun reading them :-)

Rainey- Looks like you have two interesting new books to read! Age of Vice is a thick one!

Oh my goodness - I’ve missed these notifications! Shoot! How exciting that people are receiving books! Fun!

My goodness Secret Sender, what an amazing surprise I received today. I was on my way to Montreal on a road trip with my husband when I received a call from my local bookstore, Novel Idea. When I got home the had left a bag of 3 books!!! The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell, Pluck by Donna Morrissey, and Bleak House by Charles Dickens. I cannot wait to bury myself into these. Thank you SS!!

@Sarah- Sounds like a great book gift to arrive home to, enjoy your new books!

Wow!! What a great surprise. I just read the marriage portrait and it was a terrific read that I could not put down! The other two are new to me. Enjoy and I look forward to your comments about the marriage portrait as no one I know has read it yet.

Sarah, what a great treat! I read The Marriage Portrait with some reading buddies, and the four of us really enjoyed it and had a great discussion.
I was gifted Pluck by last year's SS Rainey, and hope to read it soon. I haven't read Bleak House. Have fun reading your new books!

Oh so fun! I don’t know The Marriage Portrait - will look it up, with these accolades! Enjoy, Sarah!

Ahhhhhh… my hubs and I just got back today from a 4-night getaway to the Sunshine Coast in BC! For anyone in BC - wow! You’re so lucky to live near such magic!

Imagine my delight when in addition to laundry and unpacking, I had a Secret Sender package to open! I was THRILLED to receive The Marriage Portrait, which I added recently when folks here were discussing it, and a cool little one that has really intriguing reviews: Fox 8.

Thank you! I’ve somehow gotten myself into a whole bunch of books at once, so will try to close off some of those, then jump in!

I will say that my very peaceful sojourn away got me over what has felt like a long reading slump. I really enjoyed time and peace to dig in while away, which I did. I feel reading-renewed. I hope I can retain this!

@Allison- sounds like a wonderful way to end your relaxing trip to beautiful BC- receiving a book gift. I'm going to move The Marriage Portrait up on my list. I too have it on my shelf- I see a buddy read in the future!

Sending my gratitude to my Secret Sender for the book gift I arrived home to yesterday! I had been away and feel they may have been in my mailbox for a few days. The best thing to come home to is new books!
I am excited for two new books that were on my list- Coronation Year and Hang the Moon- I have read books by both authors in past and loved them. Cannot wait to dive into these- Big thanks!

What fun, Wanda! Coronation Year is a book I really want to read. Hang the Moon sounds very interesting, too. Enjoy your new books!

Just checking in from New Brunswick today and see there has been some excitement while I have been away. Loved both the marriage portrait and the coronation year. Both reads that will be enjoyed!

Nice book choices by your secret sender @Wanda! Happy reading!

@Susan - New Brunswick sounds great- is this the follow up camping trip?

Hi Wanda - my parents moved to NB :( so my daughter came home from university and we flew out to visit. No camping this time but we will likely drive out and camp this summer.

For some reason I’m no longer getting alerts from this thread. Just seeing these fun conversations about books & travel by chance. Was wondering why things were so quiet!

I don’t know either book you received, Wanda! Will investigate….

Happy travels, Susan!

I got book mail yesterday, with a return address in Dublin, Ireland! Sneaky, sneaky! The book is Trespasses by Louise Kennedy, an Irish author no less. I'm looking forward to seeing what it's all about. Thank you SS!

Oh come on - that's fun! Very sneaky! Love it :)

Enjoy - perfect timing for a long weekend!

Very interesting, Allison! Enjoy the book!

That is so fun to get book mail from Ireland @Allison!!

I am not getting notices on this thread either...

Hi friends! It’s occurred to me that we are half way through the year already, which means half way through this year’s Secret Sender! Wow!

We switched things up a bit this year and reduced deliveries to 3 over the year. So that means by now we should all have sent one - or two if you’re a keener 😄 While there’s truly no firm timeline for any delivery, we always aim to have the third delivery arrive in December.

I love this thread and especially love seeing the list of books included. It’s our own annual group library of recommendations! I just love it.

I got book mail today! Two new books arrived for me that I’m so excited to read: I Only Read Murder by Ian & Will Ferguson and To The Forest by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette. Thank you Secret Sender!!

How exciting, Allison!

I don’t know either book! Very cool - will look them up. Super fun!

@Allison- Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, French Canadian wrote the book Suzanne. I really enjoyed that book and the beautiful thick stock paper it was printed on... I also very much love the books of Ian and Will Ferguson, sonehow not realizing they were related? I hope you enjoy your new books!

I didn’t realize she had another book. I loved Suzanne too!! Enjoy!

The book by Anais Barbeau-Lavalette is published by Coach House Books so the pages have a deliciously creamy feel. I think there’s a Bingo square this year for that!

@Allison- Perfect for the BINGO square!

My goodness! I received a call yesterday from my local bookshop, how excited I was, saying there was a bag of books from my secret sender!! I did it delay. When I arrived they had a bag set aside for me, inside was: Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters and both The Priory of the Orange Tree and A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon. I haven’t heard of any of these and am so excited to start. The Samantha Shannon novels are very large reads, can’t wait to dive into those. Thank you thank you secret sender❤️

@Sarah- that's an awesome book surprise. I am unfamiliar with all these books- that series is big! Looks like an interesting saga- enjoy!

Super fun! Here we are in the 2nd half of this year… can you believe it?!

A wonderful surprise, Sarah!

That’s amazing Sarah… not sure I have heard of any of those. Enjoy!!

Another Secret Sender delivery! I hope you’re all enjoying yours as much as I am enjoying mine!

Thank you, SS, for gifting me 2 books: Talking Women and The Story of Us - and a signed copy of the last! I can’t wait to dig into these! Planning to win the lottery soon, which should free up some time! 😁

@Allison- a lottery win and new books- I would feel that is the ultimate dream! Think of the books you could buy and all the time to read them! lol Is it Women Talking by Miriam Toews you got? I love her books, read the book and recently watched the movie- on an airplane crying like a baby. It's an impactful book. Enjoy your new books in time for the Terry Fox Day long weekend

Oh yes - Women Talking! Ha! Oops. I’m currently deep under my covers in bed with COVID. Ugggh. I received a call from the local bookstore that there was a package to pick up. My hubs picked it up for me and in one of my waking moments I opened it and posted so that my sender didn’t wonder if it had disappeared! Obviously some COVID fog interfering with my sensibilities!

I actually figure I got COVID from a flight, Wanda. On that very flight I saw one of her movies available but didn’t watch it b/c I knew I’d be bawling! Funny. I love her writing too.

Feel better Allison… perfect timing to have some new reads while you are under the weather!

Exciting Ally! About the books not the Covid. Hope it doesn’t linger long 😷

@Allison- hope you are on the mend soon- enjoy some rest. Watch the movie after the book :)

Thank you, SS. I got a call on Friday from my local bookstore, that I had books in.

Waiting for me were: The Lincoln Highway - a large read and Hell of a Book: A Novel - can't wait to read them.

I am listening to A Gentleman in Moscow by the author of Lincoln Highway - totally love his writing.

Thanks again.

I own Gentleman in Moscow but haven’t read it yet! Curious to know how you you like this one, Rainey! And I hadn’t heard of Hell of a Book before. Interesting!