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Greetings Readers!

It has been an exciting week for readers and there has been a flurry of activity in our Canadian Content group as the Canada Reads short-list was announced.

Check out the Canada Reads threads and feel free to comment on books as you read them over the next 6 weeks. CBC was quoted as saying if you read 30 pages each day, you would be done in time for the debates.

It is hard to believe that January is coming to a close. Did you read some resolution reads? or participate in the January challenge?

What are you reading? what is next? and what remains on your TBR pile that you are hoping to get to in February?

It's been a crazy week in Newfoundland. The state of emergency in St. John's won't be officially lifted until tomorrow, meaning I haven't been at work. I am listening to Wolf Hall, and without my drive, I didn't think I would get it finished before the library loan expired. I borrowed a hard copy from my library just in case and was trying to find my place when something seemed wrong. Can you spot the trouble?

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I also finished reading Touch, which I really liked, and now I'm reading Amphibian.

Happy Friday to all! I am reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin for my non fiction book club. Not really loving it. Her world is not my reality. I am looking forward to my fiction book club where we will be discussing Station Eleven- much irony with the outbreak of virus in Asia right now. I am listening to Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam, it was too long ago that I read the previous 2 in that series so finding it difficult to keep it all straight.

@Allison- That storm of the century you just experienced is something out of fiction! I'm glad you are starting to recover and hope you did get some extra reading in. I caught the problem in your picture....lol. No wonder you had trouble with finding your place!

Happy Friday!

This week I finished Antisocial: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation and My Dark Vanessa, both of which involved disturbing subject matter but were good reads. I learned so much from Antisocial and I appreciated the author's tone and approach - it was a 5-star read for me.

I'm still reading Radicalized on audio. I will probably listen to the final novella on a long walk later today. I'm pleased that this made the Canada Reads short list!

I'm also reading Such a Fun Age. It's a good read but it's not quite what I was expecting. It feels kind of fluffy. Reading this buzz book, and having just finished an ARC of My Dark Vanessa, which I suspect will be a buzz book when it comes out in March, I'm really itching to read something more literary next.

I'm too sleepy to spot the problem with the text, Allison. Can you give me a hint? I hope that the extra reading time made up for all the rest of the hassle all that snow brought with it. One of my favourite reading memories is being snowed in for two days and staying home to re-read Jane Eyre and drink pots and pots of tea.

Wanda...what perfect timing for Station 11!

This week, I really enjoyed reading an ARC of Miss Iceland. It was a quick, engaging read that I was able to finish in one afternoon.

I also read a mystery from Argentina Betty Boo. It was pretty good but the author chose to write paragraphs that went on for pages and not to punctuate her dialog which made it a bit of a slog.

I also read Supper Club and was a little disappointed in it after hearing so many rave reviews.


I'm still slowly listening to The Starless Sea and slowly reading 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality.

Happy weekend to all.

The problem @Story�� is that there are a chunk of pages missing. It goes from page 494 to 527! I will report the missing pages to the library when I return it.

I have Such a Fun Age from NetGalley @Susan. Need to get to it soon.

Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods�� wrote: "The problem @Story�� is that there are a chunk of pages missing. It goes from page 494 to 527! I will report the missing pages to the library when I return it."

Yes, that's a big problem for reading comprehension, alright :)

@Allison Hikes the Bookwoods: LOL! I wonder if previous readers of the book caught that or whether they were all confused. I hear that Wolf Hall is confusing because of pronouns, so maybe no one noticed the extra confusion.

I haven't been reading much this week.
I did finish and very much enjoy When The Saints.
I've started Salt: A World History, which is interesting, somewhat repetitive and full of old recipes.
On audio, I'm listening to the 8th Outlander book, Written in My Own Heart's Blood. 46 hours of listening! That's a lot of jogging.....I'll be on this book for some time.

Happy Friday!
It was a busy and exciting week with the Canada Reads shortlist! I already listening to We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoirand am currently listening to From the Ashes. Got Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Clubfrom Hoopla, have Son of a Trickster and just ordered Radicalized.
While in Bermuda, I finished reading City of the Lostand The Scholar for my in-person book club.
Currently reading The Youth of God from the longlist.
Have a great weekend!

Hello all!

While we didn't get as much snow as NFLD, here in Ontario we sure got our fair share! I secretly was delighted as I FINALLY have a chance to use my new snowshoes! My dog Jackson and I have been logging in lots of steps this week! The snow was so thick that Jackson ended up walking behind me in the tracks I made, rather than the other way around! It was funny when I came to a sudden stop, as he had been looking at the ground and crashed right into my legs!

While on our walks I have been listening to The Island of Sea Women on audio, and just like every other Lisa See novel I am in love with the story!

I am just about to start Bunny which I admit I am caving to the hype around this book, everyone on my GR feed is reading it. It just happened to be available at my library and as I am waiting impatiently for my turn with the Canada Read novels I decided to give it a go.

Greetings readers!! It sounds like many great books are being read!

Before I talk books, I want to share what I did today. I attended a Canadian Citizenship ceremony to support a wonderful family as they became Canadian. The mom of the family is part of my book club/swim family and it was an amazing experience to see 55 individuals from 22 countries become Canadian. We all got to participate in saying the oath whether we were new Canadians or re-affirming our citizenship. It sure made me reflect how much we take for granted when seeing how happy these new Canadians were.

I am so happy to live in Canada and although there have been historical atrocities and still many challenges, it was wonderful to hear the welcoming words and affirmation of a multi cultural society where people are free to practice their religions and culture and make Canada a wonderful place!

As for reading, this week has been a bit slow and I have only finished The Wake: The Deadly Legacy of a Newfoundland Tsunami which was a piece of history that I was unaware of. it is definitely NOT a happy book but describes the tenacity, resilience of Newfoundlanders who face one adversity after another following the earthquake, tsunami, mining accidents, workplace injuries... It was a hard read as it was so bleak and there were many individuals to keep track of (I eventually stopped trying) but i could hear Linden MacIntyre's voice as I read it and marvelled at the detailed research he completed.

Have a great weekend everyone!

@Allison hikes the bookwoods, that is a very funny but frustrating circumstance! Doesn’t even look like the pages were ripped out. Grrr. How long did it take for you to notice that?? Lol

@Samantha The Island of Sea Women (I think I got the title right) I listened to on audio and was so amazing, I will definitely read more of Lisa See’s stories!

@Susan what a wonderful reminder about how lucky we are to live in Canada, thank you for that. I’m sure that ceremony would’ve been quite an emotional one. The Wake is on my bingo this year, thanks for that suggestion.

@Sarah - tears were shed!!

I’ve finished This Accident of Being Lost on audio (for the indigenous reads challenge), very powerful! Really gave me much to think about and am still thinking back on Leanne’s words. Finishing up a true crime, which I started awhile ago then got caught up in library audios called People Who Eat Darkness. This true story has a significant pull, about a British girl gone missing in Tokyo. Once complete, I’ll start Jesse Thistles book on audio for both the Canada reads and the indigenous reads challenge.

On paper, I finished the Cellist of Sarajevo for bingo. I’ve just barely begun Halfbreed by Maria Campbell for the indigenous reads challenge. And sitting on my counter from the library, to read next are for Joshua by Richard Wagamese and In This Together Fifteen Stories of Truth and Reconciliation.

Happy Friday!!

The weather finally warmed up this week, so I didn't read as much as I have been. I read Golden Boy for my local book club. This is my selection for the book club, so it was a re-read for me, and I found that I viewed some of it differently than I did when I first read it six years ago. It remains one of my favorite reads ever. I have read several books about intersex characters, and it is hands down the best of the genre.

Next up was Dear Scarlet: The Story of My Postpartum Depression from the long list. I was a bit skeptical about the graphic novel format, but wanted to support the author from Alberta. It was very well done, and it could have been about my own difficult journey into motherhood.

@Susan...what a wonderful experience!

Bitter Bread by Albert Laberge.

@ Susan, the citizenship ceremony sounds very moving.

@Samantha, love your snowshoeing story!

@ Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods��, you probably won't share my excitement that I'm number one in line on the library reserve list for Hilary Mantel's new Cromwell book The Mirror & the Light. (Just saw your Wolf Hall review.)

@Sarah, I was actually playing the audio trying to find my place, had just found out and was following along for a sec, so I thankfully picked up on it right away!

@Story❤️, I thought to get into the series before the new one comes out, but I don’t think it’s for me.

Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods�� wrote: I don’t think it’s for me. "

I can understand that. I used to be a Tudor fanatic but if you're not, it's a hard series to get into. I hope you'll try other books by Mantel if you haven't already. She is an amazing writer, IMO.

@Gail I too read Golden Boy years ago and still remember it. Also thought Annabel on the same subject by Canadian author Kathleen Winter was compelling and rated both 4 stars.

Just finished We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir. Picked it up before the long list to read and having read it am pleased it made the shortlist. A debut for the author. I would categorize it as a memoir/essay combination. Excellent writing. Terrific insight. Inspiring individual courgae and activism on Samra Habib's part. She seems to be one strong, creative woman, who has thought a lot about her upbringing and has given it a lot of thought, analysis and processing. Her journalism training and experience is very much in evidence. Understated, honest and powerful.

I also enjoyed and recommend A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza. She's an American author with Iranian heritage. It is a debut novel by this 31 year old who writes beautifully and with so much wisdom. It builds slowly, is primarily character driven with characters that are very fully developed. I was moved throughout and shed a few tears. The book has a sense of spirituality about it and I learned lots about both the Muslim faith and culture. Family dynamics including sibling. parental and husband-wife interactions and relationships were thoroughly explored as the story was told from multiple viewpoints. It was an excellent choice for our book club and there was lots of discussion. Only downside - some members thought it built slowly (and it did a bit) and prefer linear books that go from A to Z. They prefer action and a better defined subject matter. Many others were like me and loved the book.

Recently read The Glace Bay Miners' Museum for Bingo (Gail's heritage square). My grandfather on my mom's side was born and raised in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia - a town with a rich history of coal production. 3 stars for me. I really would like to see it in play form. Suspect it would be powerful.

Happy Reading to all!!

@MJ...I have also read and enjoyed Annabel. Middlesex is also a good read.

@ Gail....Thanks for the recommendation.

Marie Calumet by Rodolphe Girard.