Welcome to Litsy!

This was such a lovely book. Following along with Bird as he searches for meaning in a jaded world was both saddening and somehow hopeful. King drops shining moments of humour and insight into his writing that keep it from bogging down, and his characters are warm and empathetic. Bird is such a loveable grumpy old man that‘s is easy to forgive his idiosyncrasies, and Mimi is just a joy. The meandering journey they took is one I was glad to be in.

Picked off the TBR for Canada‘s Indigenous History month — I think I‘ll make all my physical reads this month Indigenous-authored. Love King‘s work, so expect a good read with this one!

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.

Tourism.🙄

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.

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…

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

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.

Journeying with Bird and Mimi…

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

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

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.

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

Thomas King at his best. I do love snappy dialogue and you get that with Bird and Mimi.

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

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.

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

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

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

Good but not overwhelmingly so. 😬

#ShadowGiller
@Lindy

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

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.

«  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. »

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

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.)

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.)

When you‘re travelling, everything is new, and every minute is taken up with decision-making.
(Photo: me at Brú na Bóinne, Ireland)

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)

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.

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)

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

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)