This one was gothic and twisty, but a little slow. Like a good sorbet. A palate cleanser between better books.
This one was gothic and twisty, but a little slow. Like a good sorbet. A palate cleanser between better books.
I loved it! Always sarcastic and funny, but never predictable. And he will kill everyone you love to make the story better.
'But don't ye see? We don't get broken. We're made broken. We are not whole alone. But if we're blessed, if we're brave, we might find those few whose edges fit against our own. Like pieces of the same puzzle or shards of the same shattered blade. Those people who, in their own broken way, make our broken edge complete.”
“Women can be heroes, too.” If you need a book for International Woman‘s Day, this is the one. The story of Frankie, a trauma nurse in Vietnam. The first half is her service. “You survived a day at a time, however you could.” The second half is what happens after she returns home. “There were no women in Vietnam.” A little sad and a lot frustrating. But really good.
“Someday I'll take the time to figure out why I like you so much, why you amuse me, why you intrigue me, why you're so desirable. Tonight, I'm just happy you're here to save me from being alone…” Weird. That‘s how I feel about book 30. I don‘t know why I keep reading them. Not a bad cliff hanger this time though, so I guess I‘ll be reading 31, too. lol
“… history is a silent record of people who did not know when to leave…” Wow. That was a dark ride. The Booker winner never disappoints me. I also tend to have a thing for Irish authors. A dystopian nightmare, set in Ireland, with a toleration government, though it could have been anywhere. And anywhere today. The main character made me so very angry I might never recover. It‘s phenomenal!
Historical fiction is always my favourite. I stayed up much too late, more than one night, with this one. Inspired by real life events recorded in the diary of midwife Martha Ballard, the great aunt of Clara Barton. A phenomenal, captivating tale of a family, a community, a mysterous murder, and a multitude of babies, set in a tiny town in Maine, in the 1700s. My first Ariel Lawhon, but it won‘t be my last.
A work of art. The smooth sensuality of glossy paper. The way she conveyed emotions with the placement of the words on the page. A story about grief and resilience. “Decades of saving. A life spent saving, waiting for the right time, for the right moment. A moment that never arrived, continually delayed, postponed. Because we assume there will always be another time, another moment. Why do we wait?” My number one for #CanadaReads2024.
I wasn't expecting to like this one. But I do. I don't know why they marketed it as short stories. It's more like pieces of a life. It's not a memoir, but it reads like one. It's about a girl struggling to find herself and her place in the world. It's very raw and real. There‘s a lot of trauma in this one. It‘s not my favorite from the shortlist, but it‘s pretty close. #CanadReads2024
We are having a snow day. I have already shoveled all the things twice. It‘s so quiet. Snow quiet is the best quiet. And knit pjs are everything. I‘m halfway through this most surprising Canada Reads choice. And my verdict so far is: vapid. I‘m not even sure how this fits. It‘s a boring and extremely predictable hallmark movie. Some people must like these things. Read what you love. But I am not those people. I am going to try finish it.
I wanted to love this one. I should have loved this one. But I didn‘t. The fist 1/3 was great. Then part 2 happened and it went all Lord of the Flies. But without the good parts. She really lost me. When I finally got to the last 1/3, it improved again, but I wasn‘t interested anymore. It had so much promise. Maybe I was expecting too much. I thought it might be my favorite. It left me disappointed.
#CanadaReads2024
Finished my first book on the #CanadaReads stack. I really liked it. It was a little dark. But it‘s ultimately a story about grief. Interspersed with Cree stories and culture. Overcoming pain with the power of love and sisterhood. It‘s beautifully told. And might be hard to top.
It‘s a yucky kinda stormy here today. Lots of wind and freezing rain. This is the Canada Reads book I‘m looking forward to the most, so what better day to start. With some Harney & Sons Hot Cinnamon tea.
#JoyousJanuary @Andrew65
This was a gift from my daughter. It was a good chick lit read. One of those books that good to read between heavier more serious books.
One book down for #JoyousJanuary.
@Andrew65
Canada Reads shortlist dropped. It‘s not what I was expecting, but I can‘t wait to dig in.
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7073689
Jaysis! That was brilliant. When I was reading it, at 3am, I was worried that my giggling was going to wake people up. I can‘t believe I haven‘t read Roddy Doyle before!
It appears that these are all out of print. Not having the whole trilogy in my library is going to make me a little crazy.
#OutWithTheOldInWithTheNew (I keep forgetting my timer, but I‘m getting a lot of hours in anyway. lol)
@Andrew65
I read a lot in April. This one is in the running for my best book of the whole year.
#12BooksOf2023
@Andrew65
I think I‘ll aim for 20 hours this time. I don‘t have a lot planned for the weekend. Finally. lol But we shall see.
#OutWithTheOldInWithTheNew
@Andrew65
#12BooksOf2023
Day 3.
@Andrew65
"We do what we must, Lucien. Sometimes we can choose the path we follow. Sometimes our choices are made for us. And sometimes we have no choice at all." The thrusts one wasn‘t my favorite. But it really came back with 4.
Two down. I love crawling around inside Neil Gaiman‘s imagination. “And then she woke up.”
I thought the writing style was going to bother me. But it reads a lot like a play, so I did okay with it. It was a funny and entertaining story. And now I need to find the movie.
I was going to save these for tomorrow. But Dream kept calling to me. I loved it!
That was weird. Good. But weird. I liked it. lol
It‘s been a slow readathon. But I‘m doing what I can
#DashingDecember @Andrew65
Starting the #DashingDecember readathon with this one. My cozy holiday reads are a little different. lol
@Andrew65
The Canada Reads long list is here!
One book to carry us forward.
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7056323
“This was a small place, where the wind carried whispers like snowflakes and all heads turned eagerly to catch them on their tongues.” Historical fiction based on a true story. Written in vignettes, set in Truro, Halifax, Boston, and Amherst, it tells of sad secrets, sacrifices, and trying to overcome the heartbreak of life‘s disappointments, as Helen grows into adulthood. I was surprised by how much I liked this one. 5 ⭐️
Classic Canadian literature. Winner of the Governal General‘s Award. The 70s really were a different time, eh? But this was more than a novella about a librarian who had sex with a bear. It felt so deeply… lonely. The writing is amazing. Yet it is about a woman who has sex with a bear and it still won a GGA. Which I find most fascinating. Maybe that tells you just how great the writing is though.
Well, that was unexpected. I wasn‘t expecting to finish that so fast. It was so twisty. A mystery wrapped up in a drama. I might have even cried a little. Kate Morton was always an auto buy for me, until The Clockmaker‘s Daughter, which I dumped into a little free library after the first 100 pages. So I had a little trepidation going into this one. But it was absolutely fantastic. One of my best reads of the year.
#AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville
I really don‘t like reading Dickens. Any Dickens. But the muppets make everything better.
#DecemberDreams #scrooge
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
The view from my bedroom window this morning. I guess Mother Nature heard today‘s prompt. So. Much. Shoveling.
#DecemberDreams #LetItSnow
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
My car had a service appointment today. So after shoveling a bazillion cm of snow to get out of my driveway, I took full advantage of the quiet time in the waiting room. 15 chapters in so far.
#24in4 @Andrew65
Pretty Paper is my #FaveHolidaySong
https://youtu.be/3pVndbiNs-A?si=77dGG6tso15bzvgV
#DecemberDreams
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
I‘m away from home today, so I can‘t show you the #advent calendar my husband created for me. But it‘s fabulous! And I can‘t wait to see what day one brings. Tomorrow. lol
#DecemberDreams
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
It has been so long since I made some time for a readathon. But I find myself with free time today. So I‘m going to try get as far as I can with this #AuthorAMonth book from my TBR, this weekend. I either really love Kate Morton or really dislike her, so I always have a little fear when I start a new one. So far so good with this one though.
#24in4
@Andrew65 @Soubhiville
This was my first Kazuo Ishiguro. I probably wouldn‘t have read it without #AuthorAMonth. That‘s kinda what I love most about #AAM though. Reading things I normally wouldn‘t. I did love the snarky bits. I think I want to watch the movie now.
@Soubhiville
The definition of suspense. Even better than her first book. This was filled with tension from the first page. A plane crashes in the Pacific six minutes after take off. An engine explodes, the ocean is on fire, the plane floods and sinks, with 12 passengers trapped inside. 5⭐️
“A four-year-old Mi'kmaq girl (from Nova Scotia) goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a community, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years.” Read it in a day, because it was impossible to stop. I might be emotionally destroyed now. I loved it.
“We divided into two groups: those of us who regretted it had all gone by so fast, and those of us who saw that each moment had not gone by, but rather it had all accumulated, like rain sluicing from an uppermost leaf of a tree to every leaf below until it was all there in a single drop on the lowest leaf, clinging but shivering on the serrated tip of the leaf, full of everything that came before.”
5⭐️
Waubgesig Rice wrote a sequel to Moon of the Crusted Snow! And I‘m so happy about it. Even though I cried and cried. It‘s set 12 years after the power goes out and everything on the remote northern reservation collapses. I fell in love with these characters and I needed to know if the stories and half remembered skills of their ancestors were enough to keep them alive when the world fell apart.
Simone St James never disappoints me. It had those perfect end of October creepy vibes. Who doesn‘t love a good ghost story?
#AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville
Magical apples. What harm could there be? I enjoyed a nice juicy apple while I finished it. Because I‘m weird like that. If you like Stephen King you will like Chuck Wendig. Their imaginations work in very similar ways. This might be his best novel so far.
In the running for my best book of the year, this one kept me up entirely too late. Because I couldn‘t stop. It has many echos of Little Women. Which means I thought I was prepared for it. But I was not ready. I‘m sure I‘ll stop quietly sobbing eventually. Maybe.
This was so good. A slow burn, which usuallly means boring, but it was hard to put down. It gave me some Cormac McCarthy‘s The Road vibes. Not as dark, but with all the atmosphere and suspense. How far will a father go when faced with losing it all?” Bring tissues.
New bookmarks from my Australian cousin. Just in time for #RushAThon I need some motivation. My summer reading hasn‘t been what it usually is. It‘s good to have a #readathon to cheer me on. Thanks @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES My goal is just to read something everyday.