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Indians on Vacation
Indians on Vacation: A Novel | Thomas King
Meet Bird and Mimi in this brilliant new novel from one of Canada's foremost authors. Inspired by a handful of old postcards sent by Uncle Leroy nearly a hundred years earlier, Bird and Mimi attempt to trace Mimi's long-lost uncle and the family medicine bundle he took with him to Europe. "I'm sweaty and sticky. My ears are still popping from the descent into Vaclav Havel. My sinuses ache. My stomach is upset. My mouth is a sewer. I roll over and bury my face in a pillow. Mimi snuggles down beside me with no regard for my distress. 'My god, ' she whispers, 'can it get any better?'" By turns witty, sly and poignant, this is the unforgettable tale of one couple's holiday trip to Europe, where their wanderings through its famous capitals reveal a complicated history, both personal and political.
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Robotswithpersonality
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Pickpick

Search for family/family history becomes framework for fictional travelogue? Memoir? Fantasy elements maybe? Hard to pin down genre-wise, especially with interspersing of non-fiction news items. Love the writing, very approachable even when the topics are hard-hitting: First Nations' experience of injustice, chronic and mental illness, aging, relationships, one's impact and regrets. Also ridiculous anecdotes! Almost meditative, complex, loved it.

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Robotswithpersonality
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Tourism.🙄

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janeycanuck
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Pickpick

The first half worked for me more than the second but this was one of those books that gives you a lot of satisfaction in having read. I enjoyed the snippets of Guelph that showed up (that‘s Eric The Baker in the photo!) and loved seeing Prague through King's eyes. The characters were so enjoyable to get to know but I would have liked just a bit more on the bundle.

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Mirazzles
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Pickpick

So we‘re in Prague… This isn‘t my favourite of King‘s, but it‘s a great read. I think I would want to read it again in order to pick up little things I may have missed the first time around…

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kwmg40
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Pickpick

Though the story seems light and witty, King takes a deep look at serious subjects, including aging, mental illness, and Indigenous issues.

Second book finished for the #SuperSeptember readathon! @EadieB @Andrew65

EadieB Congrats on finishing your second book! 3y
33 likes1 comment
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JacqMac
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Pickpick

I have managed to finish one whole book while on vacation. My first Thomas King. Caustic, yet funny. Sarcastic, yet real. Temperate, yet deep. I think I might have to read it twice to get it all. “How many times have we walked around injustice? Ignored intolerance? Rewarded bigotry and racism with silence?” I definitely need to checkout his backlist.

Tamra My interest is piqued! 3y
LaraS This one is on my TBR, maybe I‘ll check it out next! I learned so much from 3y
JacqMac @LaraS Good to know. I have that one on my TBR. 3y
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Mirazzles
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Journeying with Bird and Mimi…

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Singout
Pickpick

I‘ve loved Thomas King‘s work since listening to The Dead Dog Café on CBC Radio in the 90s, and this was not a disappointment. A wry and very funny narrative about a retired couple travelling through Europe, with punchier insights into #Indigenous issues on Turtle Island, mental health, complex family relationships, and the global refugee crisis. Sadly, King isn‘t the reader, but Sellon-Wright does a great job.
#Booked2021 #audiobook

Cinfhen This sounds entertaining 🥳 4y
Prairiegirl_reading Among my unread Covid purchases!! 🤣 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage Sounds like a nice balance of fun and thoughtful. 🤓📚 4y
8 likes3 comments
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Kazzie
Pickpick

First book of 2021. Enjoyed it! Easy to read and likeable characters. Discusses issues currently facing indigenous Canadians and their colonizers, as well as mental health issues. Recommend!!

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BookishTrish
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An aging First Nations couple vacation in Prague in this funny, sweet, thoughtful, quirky book #12bestof2020 #12booksof2020

PurpleyPumpkin I see you're ringing in the New Year in style. Good for you!🥂 4y
52 likes1 comment
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CindiB
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Pickpick

Loved this. The characters are wonderfully drawn, real, distinct, and layered. The way the book is organized, flowing from their being in Prague - “So we‘re in Prague” - and Bird‘s life, is deftly done and is frequently hilarious. There are lots of topics covered here, some quite serious and they are honestly viewed. Fabulous prose. Note: CDN author and lots of CDN settings and issues too. 4.5/5.

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xicanti
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I baked my first-ever cinnamon rolls! They‘re pleasingly irregular and mighty good.

I also listened to a good chunk of INDIANS ON VACATION. Like all Thomas King‘s stuff, it‘s funny and heartbreaking and relatable and relevant. #audiobaking

Catsandbooks Yummmm 🤤 4y
Pricel101 This is my next to-read, I listened to a sample and it struck a chord. Your baking looks yummy!! 4y
xicanti @Pricel101 I hope you enjoy the book! I really loved it. 4y
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ElvinaGB
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Thomas King at his best. I do love snappy dialogue and you get that with Bird and Mimi.

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BookBelle84
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Pickpick

I absolutely loved going on vacation with Bird and Mimi. I could have read hundreds of more pages of their adventures. Clever and heartwarming I love Thomas King. #mustread #highlyrecommend #bestof2020 #catsoflitsy

britt_brooke Pretty photo! 4y
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BookishTrish
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Pickpick

This was a great all rounder for me: funny and sweet and thoughtful and quirky. It‘s the story of an aging couple on holiday in Prague that touches on getting old, living with mental health issues, social responsibility, the personal and the political. A lovely, rich book.

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BookishTrish
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I love learning new things. (Image from Amazon.ca)

Libby1 😱 4y
MommyWantsToReadHerBook This is so interesting! Showing my kids! 4y
36 likes2 comments
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BookishTrish
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mcctrish
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Pickpick

I had a vague idea of what Indians on Vacation was about, travelling the world based on postcards sent from a relative a long time ago to trace their steps and uncover what happened to them. This book is part travel guide, part history lesson ( and a history we didn‘t really learn in school so thank you Thomas King), part mental health awareness treatise, part current events and part love story. I had no idea and it was a wonderful audio book

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mcctrish
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I finished Wildflower and my audio hold was ready 🎉 perfect timing. I‘m on a Thomas King roll right now

ShelleyBooksie Interested to hear your review of this o e 4y
mcctrish @ShelleyBooksie so far I am really liking it! I‘m loving the Canadian and pop culture references and I am fairly certain that no matter how much I like listening to it, I‘m going to wish I had bought it in book form 🤦🏻‍♀️ 4y
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Penny_LiteraryHoarders
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Pickpick

Good but not overwhelmingly so. 😬

#ShadowGiller
@Lindy

Lindy I take this to mean that IOV won‘t be on your shortlist? 4y
Penny_LiteraryHoarders @Lindy 😬😬 no. 🤣 4y
Penny_LiteraryHoarders I'm probably going to post it tonight. I dont think I'll change what my hopes are? Naomi posted hers! 4y
See All 7 Comments
Lindy @Penny_LiteraryHoarders I‘m not finished Butter Honey Pig Bread, but already don‘t see it on the shortlist. Still, I will wait till I‘m done with that before posting mine on Sunday. 4y
Penny_LiteraryHoarders @Lindy oh good okay. I wondered if it might be, but ultimately picked something else. 4y
MsMelissa I started this one last night. I enjoyed the first chapter, but we‘ll see how well I get along with the rest. 4y
Penny_LiteraryHoarders @Book_Fiend_Melissa it's good I'm.just reading through a Giller prize lens and I don't see this being a top choice (for me) for a $100,000 prize. 4y
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Penny_LiteraryHoarders
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I have to shift my #Giller reading to Indians on Vacation, away from Ridgerunner, because IOV is a 7-day loan only.

Consent by Annabel Lyon is coming in hot on its heels too.

#ShadowGiller
@Lindy

Lindy IOV is a quick read. Also fun! And Consent is short too. I hope to get a review of Consent up today. 4y
26 likes2 comments
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rabbitprincess
Pickpick

I could easily have spent another 200 pages with Bird and Mimi. I love King‘s way with dialogue and his knack for cutting to the heart of a matter.

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rabbitprincess

«  We have the capacity for compassion. We simply don‘t practise it to any degree. It‘s more an ideal that we hang on a wall where it‘s easy to see and almost impossible to reach. »

MsMelissa So true. 4y
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Lindy
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Pickpick

A hilarious novel about depression and despair. It broke my heart. I want to read it over and over again. Full review and Giller prediction on my blog: https://lindypratch.blogspot.com/2020/08/indians-on-vacation-by-thomas-king.html...
#Indigenous #CanLit #shadowgiller

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Lindy
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The first expectation of a good travel story is that something went wrong. No one wants to hear about the perfectly uneventful time you spent in Istanbul. Not even you.
Next time, try harder.
(Photo: my nieces sheltering with me during a downpour in Paris. No, the tree wasn‘t struck by lightning while we were under it.)

Cathythoughts Lovely girls 💕, my father always said ... if nothing went wrong, you‘d have nothing to talk about... 🤷🏼‍♀️😁 4y
Lindy @Cathythoughts Your father has a point. 😊 4y
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Lindy
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One of the problems with travel is that once you start, you can‘t get away from it. If I were at home, I could take a break and go out to my workshop, or I could sit in the backyard and read a book, or I could curl up on the bed with Muffy and take a nap. These aren‘t options when you travel, since one of the demands of travel is that you keep moving.
(Photo: me taking a reading break while travelling in Portugal.)

AlaMich I‘ve often thought this on big trips, especially since I am the planner/coordinator/cruise director in my relationship. Some days I don‘t want to think about where we are going to get our next meal, I just want to head for my own kitchen and open a darn can of soup! 4y
Lindy @AlaMich I‘m the planner and cook in my relationship too. Whenever possible, I choose accommodations that allow us to pick up fresh food at markets and then cook for ourselves. 4y
Cathythoughts Lovely picture Lindy 👍🏻❤️ 4y
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Lindy
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When you‘re travelling, everything is new, and every minute is taken up with decision-making.
(Photo: me at Brú na Bóinne, Ireland)

Suet624 So true. 4y
Lindy @Suet624 Too much decision-making can be exhausting. That's why I try to plan lots of downtime during my vacations. 4y
JamieArc This photo brings back my own trip to Ireland, and being amazed at just how green and hilly it was! Thanks for that 🙏🏼😊 4y
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Lindy @JamieArc my pleasure 😇 4y
batsy Wow! Look at that 💚 4y
Cathythoughts Beautiful 💚💚💚 County Meath (edited) 4y
Lindy @Cathythoughts Indeed. Every part of Ireland that I‘ve seen has been beautiful. 4y
Lindy @batsy Built around 3200 BC. Awe inspiring. 4y
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Lindy
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For me, thrift stores are in the same category as the garbage bins behind fast-food joints. For Mimi, they‘re gold mines just waiting to be quarried.

(Photo: thrift store napkins transformed in my indigo vat)

Cathythoughts ✨💙✨💙 4y
Erinreadsthebooks Thrift stores are my lifeblood 💯🔥 4y
marleed Those are beautiful! 4y
See All 10 Comments
lynneamch So pretty! Looking forward to learning more about the process from planting seed to extraction from this book I just stated. Have you read it? 4y
Suet624 Majority of my clothes are from thrift stores. 4y
Lindy @Cathythoughts thanks for your comments! 4y
Lindy @lynneamch No, I haven't read that. The indigo aspect looks interesting but I'm not a fan of romance and I'm leery of a storyline that has a 16-year-old white girl making a deal with people enslaved by her family. I hope I'm wrong and that it's good! 4y
Lindy @marleed thanks! 4y
Lindy @Suet624 @erinreadsthebooks Here's another quote for you thrifters: “Mimi came home from her weekly jaunt to the thrift stores. She has a circuit that she works, much like a trapper on a trapline.“ 4y
Suet624 @Lindy haha. 4y
34 likes10 comments
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Lindy
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It‘s a fine state of affairs when you finish a funny book that leaves you weeping and then go back to the audiobook you‘ve got on the go and have to stop listening because THAT story also makes you weep.

Sace 😢 4y
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Lindy
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Mimi passes the time reading an English-language book she bought at the station. The cover suggests it‘s a gathering of porn stars in a hospital. It‘s not what Mimi normally reads, but then she‘ll read anything with text.

(Internet image)

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Lindy
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It‘s only my backyard, but it‘s been a sunny day and I feel like I‘m on vacation. (Instead of retired.) 😆

Sace Looks heavenly. ☺️ 4y
Lindy @Sace One of the characters in this novel is a reluctant traveller. He‘s in Prague with his wife but he would rather be home with a book. 4y
45 likes2 comments
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Lindy
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In addition to a rack designed to stretch people & tear them apart ...there is a wooden chair covered in nails. There are nails on the seat, on the back, on the armrests, and on the neck support.
Along with thick leather straps that can be cinched down to hold every part of you in place.
Mimi is impressed. “What kind of sick mind would think up something like this?”
I suggest the Department of Indian Affairs.

(Internet photo)

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