Welcome to Litsy!

3⭐️ I really tried to understand what this book was about and while it was an interesting read, I really didn‘t understand it. I am really interested to hear what others in this #Canadianlit #bookclub I am a part of will think of the book. #2025 #fiction #sciencefiction #speculative #historicalfiction #fiction #canadian #mexico

I did the return two books, borrow two books thing at the library. I always check the poetry section to see if they‘ve got anything from the years I‘m still missing from my personal challenge where I read a book from every year I‘ve been alive, and this branch had Di Brandt‘s 1987 collection. The tagged book came from the shelf beside it, because I can‘t resist a tiny memoir.

This landed on my radar thanks to @Singout ‘s #AuldLangSpine list and how thankful I am! I normally avoid short stories (because “give me more!” or “what was that?”). BUT! These stories are fully realized and effective in storytelling. Haunting and often full of magical realism heightening everyday emotions: sibling jealousy, a teen being bullied, neglected stepdaughter (Cinderella!), divorce. Centers women & lgbtq+ experiences. Excellent!

Elizabeth Rex, by Timothy Findley (2000 🇨🇦)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: On the night before her lover is put to death on her orders, a restless Queen Elizabeth I spends time with William Shakespeare‘s troupe and gets into a battle of wits about the performance of gender with a man who has spent his whole career in drag.

Review: This is probably my favourite play-as-literature thus far. Cont.

Street of Riches, by Gabrielle Roy (1955, trans. 1957 🇨🇦)

Premise: A series of stories about the author‘s childhood in Manitoba‘s francophone community.

Review: This was a marvelous surprise. These stories — seventy years old themselves, but recounting events of thirty years earlier — strike a perfect balance: You feel the foreignness of this version of Canada from a century ago, while also seeing the seeds for the country we‘ve become. Cont.

Quite the epigraph!

Reminds me of The Dud Avocado but with a married protagonist. Its chaotic and messy and, at times, quite dry and witty. The letters from her mother are priceless.
First time reading Gallant who is known more for short stories so not sure where this novel ranks.
My plough through #Canlit continues. But chose this for the Ben's Read Good challenge: a book with 15 letters in the title.

Loved!
Roy was a successful mid-century 🇨🇦 writer. Her novel Tin Flute still gets assigned in Canlit classes but otherwise her reputation has dimmed. Which, it turns out, is a shame because this is wonderful! A semi-autobiographical collection of linked stories told from the perspective of a young girl growing up in a large French family in Manitoba. Nothing flashy. Just lovely, rich insights into the complexity of people through innocent eyes.

Nice to see the river open again. And a duck!
More 🇨🇦 #Canlit 🇨🇦 for my #weekendreads.
Print: Streets of Riches (1957) by Gabrielle Roy
Audio: Beautiful Losers (1966) by Leonard Cohen. (This one is challenging. 😬)
@rachelsbrittain