Barkskins | 
#HumbleHarvest
Day 20. Trees
#Trees
On my tbr!
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks So pretty 🌳 12mo
Eggs Excellent 🌲 12mo
13 likes2 comments
#HumbleHarvest
Day 20. Trees
#Trees
On my tbr!
Reading Envy Podcast Episode 232: Barkskins Readalong
I am joined by Nadine, Vinny, Laurie, and Bryn to discuss Barkskins by Annie Proulx. We bring in some of the discussion from Goodreads as well as coming with fresh eyes to the text.
Listen and subscribe:
https://tinyurl.com/ReadingEnvy232
@Billypar @Bryn1 @Booksndogs
so-soIt is unlikely this will replace The Shipping News on my love list for this author because she does so much with less in that one, and Barkskins is just a lot - so many characters, so many places, difficult to keep it all straight in my head.
I am likely to give the book four stars and myself five for finishing it.
so-soThis is an incredibly ambitious novel covering the history of the North American forests for 300 years, and following the descendants of two French immigrants through the generations. Proulx‘s writing is to be admired, but I found myself bored when the saga focused too much on the intricacies of the timber business. The book was also devastating in its unflinching account of the colonization of our natural resources and indigenous peoples. 3⭐️
pickThe @ReadingEnvy readalong allowed me to delve into a 300 yr history of North America + the relationship of man with the forest/nature. The story is of 2 families, the Dukes from a French immigrant, + the Sels from the indigenous mikmak people. As the stories alternate we see how colonialism and the race for profit destroys the land + people with consequences still being faced. At times dickensian, natural + social history, this was a unique read.
For my #superseptember #readathon, my goal is to catch up on the Barkskins #readingenvyreadalong and finish the latest from Kate Moore (I adored “Radium Girls”). Get well soon, Andrew!!
These are my books purchased in the last week. I am clearly all over the place. Not sure where to begin. Neither is Molly. Barkskins is calling to me, but it‘s also the looooongest. And thank goodness for ThriftBooks. The two on the right together cost about half of one of the books on the left.
#Bookmail
Im not sure if anyone is doing the readalong but it's not too late to start. Even tho this is a big book it is v readable, I'd say similar to Homegoing in that each section tells a story about families in the creation of Canada starting in the 17thc. As I put part 3 down today I had marvelled at the beauty of an untouched landscape but horrified at the steady destruction of the same and the indigenous people.
#readingenvyreadalong @ReadingEnvy
Have you heard? The next Reading Envy Readalong starts next week and we will be reading Barkskins. Conversations will be in the Goodreads group or you can post your thoughts with a #readingenvyreadalong
pickVery good historical fiction following two families from late 1600s til present day. It was hard to feel connected to the characters because their stories are brief, but still a good read. Fixin to watch the Nat.Geo adaptation.
Threat of deadly virus will not stop the library book sale 😷
pickOh my gosh, LOVE. I love multigenerational family sagas. The story follows two French immigrants and their descendants from the 1600‘s to 2013. The families crossed paths and grew widespread over time. So fascinating and painful to see the deforestation that comes with “progress.” The details, the treatment of Native peoples, and all of the ways people died in these harsh conditions were written perfectly. I‘ll reread it for sure. #chunkster
I can‘t express how much I‘m enjoying this story!! I grabbed the audiobook from the library and it is wonderful. The narrator Robert Petkoff pronounces all of the French words and names beautifully. Knowing how words are supposed to sound really adds to this reading experience.
I‘M LOVING THIS. I don‘t know if I can finish it before it is due back at the library, but I love it so much. Over 700 pages! #chunkster #ilikebigbooks
Latest New Yorker. LOL. I finished Barkskins but was pissed off at the end.
pickBig fan of this one. I'd recommend it to anyone who's into intergenerational sagas. I was impressed by Proulx's scope of time and depth into the subject of logging. The ending sped up and fizzled out a little, but it didn't bother me as there weren't major plot points to wrap up. Thought provoking and atmospheric.
The book starts out in 1693 and the pace of life blows my mind - striking trade deals that will go into effect 2 years later (minimum), wandering around port towns or New France wilderness until you find the person you want to talk to... It's crazy to me!
What should I build with these bricks? Latest TBR pile inspired by Book Riots 50 Books Over 500 Pages https://bookriot.com/2019/02/25/must-read-big-books/. I've read and loved a lot of books on the list, many without even realizing they're so long.
“As he cut, the wildness of the world receded, the vast invisible web of filaments that connected human life to animals, trees to flesh and bones to grass shivered as each tree fell and one by one the web strands snapped.” #tree #quotsydec18 @TK-421
Next up on my kindle. Hope it's a good one.
pickFinally finished this one. A tour-de-force which took like 6 weeks at least to get through. I enjoyed it but definitely could have used a little editing. And the kindle version has the family tree in the back which would have been nice to have throughout the book. I didn‘t even know it was there until I was finished. Sooooo many characters in this one.
I should not be allowed to go to the library book sale because I don‘t have shelf space for any more books. But I just can‘t resist, especially when you can fill a bag for $5 during the last hour of the sale. I picked up a few that I‘ve wanted to read for awhile and a few spontaneous picks too.
pickA beautiful tale of 2 families that spans over 300 years, one trying to hold on to a way of life that no longer exists and one trying to move away from their history and way of life. It takes an effort to read such a book ( actually I think it could have been a little shorter) but it is one of those books that stays with you for a long time.
Walking towards the office and reading!!! Trying to keep away the Monday blues!!!
Starting this one today, looks like an interesting premise. Anyone read it?
panDecided to take on this tome since I had the summer off. Mistake. I patiently waited for it to grab my attention, but the characters were flat and too numerous to follow (okay, I did have a whopper of a summer cold while reading most of it, so that may have been a part of the problem).
Wish I would have passed on this one.
I‘ve been looking forward to this tome. At the current rate of my recreational reading though, it‘s gonna be a long relationship. 🐌
#4newfavesin4days Day2 how about @JenP if you haven‘t been tagged yet
A book about #trees and the generations of people who both depended on them for their wealth and destroyed them. But the trees, sometimes, got revenge. 😵 #hopintospring @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @vkois88
pickThis was such a surreal reading experience, because I kinda didn't care about ANY of these characters, and yet I couldn't make myself stop.
2 ⭐⭐ for character development
5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for writing
4⭐⭐⭐⭐ for creative ways of killing people
1 ⭐ for names I could keep straight
So....overall probably a pick? I definitely had quibbles, but I never wanted to bail. How's that for a ringing endorsement?? 😁
pickWonderful!!!
pickI get the reviewers complaints about how the issue of de-forestation overshadowed the characters, but it covers so many hundreds of years that no one character could be fully developed. I thought she did a great job, and to hold the reader‘s interest for nearly 26 hours of audiobook speaks for itself. 🌟🌟🌟🌟
I spent most of the day listening to Barkskins while cleaning up my Libib - adding photos of book covers, adding books I‘d missed or correcting entries than scanned incorrectly. I‘ve still got a long way to go, but I‘m making progress. And I‘m enjoying the Proulx, although sometimes the narrator annoys.
Repost from Tom Hanks- https://twitter.com/tomhanks/status/963845665641189382
Could not read this fast enough. Now sorry I‘ve finished! Hanx
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The last time I read a celebrity's recommendation (Aamir Khan, a Bollywood actor) I discovered Amitav Ghosh and fell in love with Ghosh's writing.
This sounds highly interesting despite the length.
