The emoji in the center of the flower says it all. The choice between And the Birds Rained Down and My Broken Language was painful!
Ultimately, I went with the title I did because it does *a lot* in few words. My Broken Language could be a bit rambly (but I‘d happily drown in her tidal wave of language forever).
#ReadingBracket2024
#2024ReadingBracket
Template by: @CSeydel
pick"Ted was a broken soul, Charlie a nature lover and Tom had seen everything a man is allowed to see."
Three men retreated from society to live and die on their own terms in the remote Northern Ontario wilderness.
Cont'd in comments
"In which people go missing, a death pact adds spice to life, and the lure of the forest and of love makes life worth living. The story seems far-fetched, but there are witnesses, so its truth cannot be doubted. To doubt it would be to deprive us of an improbable other world that offers refuge to special beings."
Been on my TBR for a while, but @monalyisha recent review made me grab it at the library. With an opening line that I couldn't resist!
pickIt took some effort to hunt this slim novel-in-translation down. Nominated for a bunch of Canadian awards & adapted to (French) film in 2019, it was trickier to find in MA. Well worth it! In my Top 3 reads this year.
A trio of elderly men build off-grid cabins in the forest, so they can live & die on their own terms. Enter two women: one a young(ish) photographer, the other an aged woman recently sprung from a psychiatric institution. 👇🏻
I was reading and thinking, “This is such a pretty book. If I ever write a book, I‘d want it to be on this kind of paper. And the font! 🤩”
I flipped to the back and learned that I know quality when I see it! Ronaldson is the very first American metal typeface (1884), and it was printed with vegetable ink on acid-free paper made from second-growth forests, the pages gathered by hand.
pickTells the story of brothers Francis and Michael, growing up impoverished in a Toronto suburb. It is a story of immigrants, family, dreams and grief. It is a thoughtful, quiet book with some beautiful writing. Made a lot of Best of lists and was nominated for the Giller. I liked it, but didn't love it.
pickTells the story of brothers Francis and Michael, growing up impoverished in a Toronto suburb. It is a story of immigrants, family, dreams and grief. It is a thoughtful, quiet book with some beautiful writing. Made a lot of Best of lists and was nominated for the Giller. I liked it, but didn't love it.
pickBeautifully written, honest, and gritty in a way that never felt performative or indulgent or trauma porn-y, this collection of linked short stories offers snippets of a girl then young woman's life from her family's immigration to Canada from Congo as a kid to her mid-20s. I loved how the stories spotlighted her complicated friendships with women. Content warnings for suicide, sexual assault, drugs, drinking. Oh Loli, I hope you are okay now ❤️
pickI‘m more Emily Henry than Hallmark, so this was a good romance pick for me. Not too sappy, not too sweet. It‘s a story about missed opportunities and second chances. Sometimes life doesn‘t go as planned and the detour eventually puts you where you need to be. I‘ll read another one by Carley Fortune.
