February 10 - 17

 Some quick little reviews, to help me remember what I've read.

Sandwich - Catherine Newman (ebook)
I really liked this family drama of a family going to their annual summer vacation week at a cottage. Themes of adult children, and menopause, and aging parents. Maybe I identified a little too closely in some regards, or I am picking books for my demographic. Gen X for the win!

The Wedding People - Alison Espach
This was another very good read. A bit of midlife crisis, and relationships. The main character, Phoebe, has been divorced by her cheating husband and she is thrown for a loop. She decides to kill herself, and checks into a post hotel to do it, but ends up the only guest there who is not part of an elaborate wedding. Super elaborate. She makes friends with the spoiled bride, Lila, and much becoming aware ensues. How your past affects your present, and recognizing your self-worth. Nice story about friendship and love.

What Happened to Nina? - Dervla McTiernan
It was time for a suspenseful thriller, and who better than Dervla McTiernan? Interesting take on it as information is revealed during the story that I will not reveal but there shouldn't have been as much suspense as there was given the story-telling. How families are torn apart when child (young adult) goes missing. Told from many different perspectives about the disappearance of a young white girl in a small town, with a very rich boyfriend.

The Postscript Murders - Elly Griffiths
Did Richard Osman write his Tuesday Murder Club after reading this book? I am getting such similar vibes that he must have been inspired. From elderly women who played roles in the Europe WW2, a few random amateur detectives, old age communities, and a very tolerant police officer. I very much enjoyed this second Harbindur Kaur mystery book, and I've already requested the next book.

Four very good books!

Leaving Home - PEI Farm Boy to CNN Anchor - David Compton (paper) NF
This was a somewhat local memoir written by the uncle of my brother-in-law. Compton came from a fascinating family that grew up from the 1940s PEI to present day and all the changes that happened.

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February 2-10

 What's new this week?

Started a new semester which is always tiring, meeting and trying to remember all the new faces. But it's the last time, so that is exciting. With my daughter back from her semester in Brussels, ringette games are back on the schedule, including a road trip this weekend to Moncton (~2 h away) for Atlantic Championships.

Wandering Stars - Tommy Orange
"Wandering Stars traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Industrial School for Indians through to the shattering aftermath of Orvil Redfeather's shooting in There There"
I only kinda liked There, There, and I felt the same about Wandering Stars. It was a little disjointed for me with all the characters. Sections were engrossing. It felt a bit like a series of connected short stories, where I didn't always feel the connected parts. If you liked the first book, I'd recommend the second.

Wisdom in Nonsense: Invaluable Lessons from My Father - Heather O'Neill (paper) NF
This is a series of short essays given at a lecture, where we realize that Lullabies for Little Criminalswas much more autobiographical than you would like to believe. Very short but amusing and enlightening of how other people live and how it frames their present lives.
This might be a big Heather O'Neill year, for me, with her last book to read (Capital of Dreams) and a new one coming out this summer.

The Last Runaway - Tracy Chevalier (paper)
Chevalier is one of my most favourite authors, and I've been holding off on this last book to read as I do not like reading about slavery (see also: holocaust). I know it was awful and I don't need to read more about it to know how awful. I did like this take on it, as Honor Bright, immigrant Quaker from England, faces many new challenges in a new country, and with her faith. Set in Ohio, she is left alone in a new country and has to figure out her life, as a woman with not a lot of choices. Quakers were staunch abolitionists, but as with today, when others are in power, it takes a lot of fortitude to fight for right.

Martyr! - Kaveh Akbar
Lots going on here, but I liked it better than Wandering Stars. Cyrus Shams is a young American of Iranian descent, struggling. He is an orphan now, recovering addict, trying to find his place in the world, writing about martyrs. I didn't always like the martyr stories interspersed, but his family's stories - father, mother, uncle, gave more background. Actually a lot of similarities between this and Wandering Stars. I liked the parts with Cyrus best, and even the ending, which while slightly improbable, worked for me.

Jan 27- Feb 2

 What's new this past week?

I got my second Shingryx vaccine, which knocked me out for a day. I lay shivering under my heated blanket all night, but my body temp regulated sometime through the night, and I felt better the next day. I had shingles when I was in university, and I definitely don't want it again. My province made the vaccine free for people over 50.

Reading wise, I only finished one book, All Fours but I did finish the 97 final exams, which makes this week-end very enjoyable with no correcting to do.

All Fours by Miranda July
This is a play-in book for the Tournament of Books. Mixed feelings on this one. The beginning was strong, I loved the main character's voice, as a woman of a certain age. Things started to go off the rails in the middle during the mid-life crisis, with some descriptive sx* passages, which I don't usually mind, but this felt off. The last third of the book was better, in showing how families can be different. I did appreciate the perimenopause focus of the book as I haven't noticed it in a lot of novels.

Still reading: The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier who does historical fiction, while also focusing on some type of art, so well. There is much quilting in this one. I've got two audiobooks on the go because of due dates: Martyr, and Wandering Stars.

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January 20-27

 What's new this past week?

Emma Donaghue is coming to PEI in April, to promote her new book, Paris Express. To PEI! I've already booked my free tickets. She's on my MRE list, I can't believe she's coming to little ol' PEI.

Not reading, but I watched a movie based on a book, Women Talking by Miriam Toews, and directed by Sarah Polley, who's memoir I really enjoyed last year, Run Towards the Danger. The movie was very good, very atmospheric, and infuriating- patriarchy and religion all mixed up. I read the book about 5 years ago, and felt the same.

Books Read:
Poemsia - Lang Leav
A young adult book set in Australia, where a young girl becomes famous through social media for her poetry. Since social media, there is also online bullying. This was from YA Sync free audiobooks that I am gradually working through.

The Stranger Diaries - Elly Griffiths (ebook)
It's exciting to start a new series, and Harbinder Kaur did not disappoint. I love trying to anticipate which characters will continue on to the next book. Lots of gothic atmosphere, lots of murder, interesting back and forth point of views. With only 4 books in this series, so far, I expect to enjoy this year of catching up.

Colored Television - Danzy Senna
I read this one because it is on the Tournament of Books shortlist, but I won't remember it next month. It might be a book that I understand/enjoy more once I've read some other explanations and reviews. I don't always see the layers or meanings in some ToB entries.

reading now: All Fours on audio, The Last Runaway from the library, and 97 final exams in math and physics

Jan 12-20

 My reading for the past week: 

The Vacancy in Room 10 by Seraphina Nova Glass
A TIOLI book, found while searching for an available audiobook, this wasn't a too bad thriller, and I'd read another by this author. It felt a bit like a Simone St James type book. Mysteries abound among the characters staying in a motel. Good twists, interesting characters.

For the Love of My Sister: Paula Gallant's Legacy by Lynn Gallant Blackburn
This was a personal read, a local nonfiction true crime book about a teacher who was found dead in her trunk in her school parking lot over Christmas, twenty years ago. My cousin R was her very good friend. Paula's two sisters fought for five years to see justice done (of course, it was the husband). The book tells their family story, the days leading up to her murder, and their struggle to keep Paula's story in the news. The police eventually did a huge undercover sting operation over a year, convincing him to tell what and how he killed her, as he thought the undercover cop was a crime syndicate boss who would help him get off. The book is also about the awareness they are fighting for about intimate partner violence. I spent yesterday in tears reading this tragic story.

Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty
My audio book was also about three sisters, which did confuse me a bit at times with my other book, but this was much more fun. As part of my MRE, I read the first book by Moriarty and it didn't disappoint. It had her trademark style - perspective switching between several people, including random people recounting their view of events. They weren't the best of people, but they were dealing with pregnancies, marriage break-ups, sibling rivalries, past events. For a first book, I thought it was pretty good, and reminded me of Big Little Lies in style and theme.

Janury 5-14th

 My reading this week, or since my last update:

The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year - Margaret Renkl NF
I found this one on the Top Five of 2024 list on LT. Quaint, ecology, nature, southern, and a woman of my age, I enjoyed these weekly essays. I very much identified with the essays on her eyes/vision, and having young adult children who come and go. Easy listening, read by the author with her southern drawl adding flavour. It reminded me a bit of Bailey White's Mama Makes Up Her Mind.

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout 4.5 stars
After reading Tell Me Everything, I wanted to go back and reread Elizabeth Strout. I loved Olive Kitteridge when I first read her, and also Olive, Again. Olive was a great part of Tell Me Everything, as she visits her friend Isabelle. It's Isabelle from Amy and Isabelle! We get to see how their friendship develops in Olive, Again which given how cranky Olive can be, is a little surprising. The Burgess brothers also show up in this book. I am so enjoying the Strout metaverse. Next up will probably be Amy and Isabelle, and then a reread of the Burgess Boys.

Dark Storm Rising (15.5) - Linda Castillo
I never thought I'd read an Amish book, but once I found this police mystery series recommended by lauralkeet rather than an Amish romance, I was hooked. I found the short stories that fill in between the main books which are a quick fix. I am up to date now on Kate Burkholder, and waiting for book #17.

Memory Man by David Baldacci
My dad (83) always read a lot and he has figured out how to borrow ebooks from Libby and to read them on his Ipad. He recommended this Amos Decker series so I am trying this first book. It's fast moving, lots of twists, mass market pb mystery. He's got synesthesia from a football hit, his family has been killed, and he gets pulled back into a case in his hometown. Some interesting production decisions in the audio - some weird background music to finish a few dramatic chapters, and a female to read only the parts of his cop partner. Slightly distracting, but I'd probably read another in the series.

Reading from Jan 1 - 5

I haven't been posting at all on my blog, but I do hang out and talk books at Librarything. I'm trying to do little book updates weekly, and will try to copy them over to my blog for my blogging pals. I fear I have a commenting issue, if you are unable to comment but want to, shoot me an email @ gmail.com with my raidergirl3 name in front to let me know if I need to check out my comment situation.

Reading this week: (January 1-5)

I was reminded about Heather O'Neill and discovered she has a new book coming out this summer, Valentine in Montreal. Looking around Libby, I found a short story I had not read, And They Danced By the Light of the Moon which was a delightful backstory to Lullabies for Little Criminals. I've got The Capital of Dreams on my kobo and must get to it this spring.

The Book of Love by Kelly Link
It probably didn't need to be so long (24h on audio) and it was okay. I blame this one on me because it wasn't the type of book I like - with a lot of magic and 'rules' in this world. It is on the Tournament of Books list, so I wanted to read it and sometimes even books not in my wheelhouse can be excellent, but this didn't make it for me. Three teenagers come back from the dead with a competition to get back alive. Everyone thinks they've been in Ireland while they have been dead. It wasn't awful, just didn't absorb me into an epic tale like I would have liked.

Good Material by Dolly Alderton
Much more my kind of book - modern British 30somethings, dealing with life. Jen has broken up with Andy and he isn't taking it well. We follow from Andy's perspective, as he tries to be a single again while all his friends are married with kids, manage his middling stand-up comedian career, and find a place to live. This book was on the longlist for the Tournament of Books but didn't make the shortlist. Too bad.

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Best of 2023 - Fiction

Yearly round up of books read last year. I read 124 books (27nonfiction) most audiobooks.  I'm going to make a separate post for the nonfiction books and a few other notable books but here are ten really good reads I had this year. Heh, I just noticed, ten really good reads I had this year, by women.

Trespasses Louise Kennedy

Such an Irish book! Set during the Troubles with a secret love, this broke my heart.

The Last Remains  Elly Griffiths

Elly Griffiths wrote 15 books in the Ruth Galloway series, the forensic archaeologist in Norfolk, England, who gets called in when bodies are discovered and ends up helping solve the murders. Her messy love affair with the police officer, her friendship with the local pagan Cathbad, her growing daughter - Griffiths kept the story going in real-ish time so that the books continued during the lockdown and pandemic. All the books are good, not necessarily excellent, but the familiar characters and suspense make the series as a whole excellent, and this last entry finished things up in a most satisfactory way.

Her Last Breath (#5 in the series)   Linda Castillo 

I assumed most Amish books are romances, but I was recommended this police/mystery series set in Ohio in Amish country has been excellent. The Chief of Police, Kate Burkholder, was once Amish, giving her an insight into their world. I read six of the books in the series this past year and like Ruth Galloway, a lot of the time its the personal life that keeps you reading. I've already got the next one queued up to listen to.

Weyward  Emilia Hart

Three story strands - 1619 a woman awaiting murder trial (is she a witch?), 1942 a young woman strains against expectations and searches for information about her long dead mother, and 2019 a woman escapes domestic violence to her great-aunts abandoned cottage. Each story was interesting, but having them woven together was very well done.

The Evil Eye by Etaf Rum

Remember all those women in the 1970s who struggled to find their power and autonomy, working how to balance home and work with a patriarchial society that limited them? dealing with depression but it wasn't acknowledged as depression, like in The Yellow Wallpaper? This story is a modern take on it within some cultures, like the Palestinian-American main character in this book. So, it's a quiet, one woman story, but  I liked Yara's growth and recovery.

Lessons in Chemistry   Bonnie Garmus

Great story, coming to a streaming service soon, about a 1960s chemist who refuses to behave as a women of her day. Elizabeth Zott is finding love, and family and a career despite her inability to accomadate others. There is a reason this is on plenty of 'best of' lists. Loved this book.

Pineapple Street  Jenny Jackson

Maybe my history of watching soap operas and reading Susan Isaacs novels in my teens is catching up to me, but this story about rich siblings in New York kept my attention even as it is not related to my life. Sometimes popcorn, while just fluff, tastes really good.

Remarkably Bright Creatures  Shelby van Pelt

A friendship between an all-knowing octopus and a widow working at an aquarium. Sometimes you don't really need to read the synopsis, you just need to read the heart-warming book.

Romantic Comedy Curtis Sittenfeld

Very modern, set partially during the pandemic, and based on a fictional Saturday Night Live sketch show, Sittenfeld plays on the dorky guy with the gorgeous actress trope and then turns the gender tables. Can a famous hot guy and a plain unknown woman make it work?

The Marriage Portrait   Maggie O'Farrell

1550s Florence and the life of girls and women sucks. If you've ever read Robert Browning's poem 'My Last Duchess', then this books is for you. Part of the appeal to me was that I haven't read a lot of books set outside of historical UK, so the Italian view really interested me, and of course, Maggie O'Farrell can write a great tale!

A Short List of Really Good Books by My Favourite Authors

Demon Copperhead  Barbara Kingsolver
Tom Lake Ann Patchett
Big Little Lies Liane Moriarty (reread)

VIRTUAL ADVENT TOUR: Fairy Tale of New York City

I haven't been blogging at all, but I saw this video clip on Twitter today and it seems foretold that I should post this Christmas song, and help Sprite Writes in another edition of the Virtual Advent Tour. I've been here since the beginning, and it wouldn't feel right to miss out this year. 

Hopefully one of these videos will play and you can feel all melancholy and uplifted at the same time, as this song is wont to do.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

 

Glen Hansard and Lisa O'Neill performed "Fairytale of New York" to close Shane MacGowan's funeral today.pic.twitter.com/bG7mCSusmC

— CONSEQUENCE (@consequence) December 8, 2023

CHALLENGE: Historical Reading Challenge January

Marg at Adventures of an Intrepid Reader is hosting once again the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I think we are supposed to link each review, but I like this monthly round up of whatever historical fiction reviews I get written. 

 

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

unknown time period, but before electricity was widespread; felt British early 20th-late 19th century

Time-traveling, so that makes it weird and hard to follow, mixed with a dose of Groundhog Day. A visitor to an estate has to solve a murder and keeps waking up in a different body/perspective at different times in the story. 

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

1550s Florence, Italy

I read so much English lit and historical fiction, that getting exposed to Italian historical fiction is just so different that it feels more interesting. It may be why the Neopolitan books by Elena Ferente were so popular. Here we have a poor child married off by her father, a Medici, to a count of Ferera. Poor girl had no chance. The legend is that she is the Last Duchess in the poem everyone likes, My Last Duchess by Browning and a portrait of her is a major plot point. It's also major foreshadowing to have that  quote at the start of the book.

O'Farrell uses a back and forth, past and present, to tell the story. It gives a picture of Lucrezia as a child, and the woman she becomes. Only Lucrezia gets fleshed out very much; the men are all a-* holes, filled with power and no consequences, and they remain stock characters. That was fine, I didn't want to know more about them. I did appreciate that characters didn't seem to have modern sensibilities dealing with their historical situations. So there were women trying to help Lucrezia, but only in small ways that women could have back then. O'Farrell doesn't disappoint with this HF.

Jan 24 TOP TEN TUESDAY: New Authors from 2022

I always love this topic - Top Ten New Authors you read in 2022. It's always fun to find new authors, especially new-to-you authors who have a whole backlist to delve into. 

Louise Erdrich - The Sentence

Glennon Doyle - Untamed

Elif Shafak - Island of Trees

Cynthia Hand - My Plain Jane, My Lady Jane

Catherine Hernandez - Scarborough

Clare Chambers - Small Pleasures

Simone St James - Broken Girls, The Book of Cold Cases

SJ Bennett - The Windsor Knot, All the Queen's Men

Cat Winters - The Raven's Tale

Lucy Atkins - Magpie Lane

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Favorite Books of 2022

I forgot to post my Favourite Books of 2022 and since I don't really make Bookish Plans I am changing it up for this week's Top Ten Tuesday. I didn't have as many terrific reads this year, but I managed to find some really good books.

Best Book
Scarborough - Catherine Hernandez

This was a gritty look at poverty in a housing development in Scarborough, Ontario. It was so positive, even with all the sadness that it caught me off guard, but in a good way. 

Best Homage

My Plain Jane - Cynthia Hand

My Lady Jane - Cynthia Hand

These were my best find of the year, and there is another in The Janies series, and there is a whole Mary series. Each is a rewrite of a famous book or person, Jane Eyre and Lady Jane Grey, but then there is a fantasy aspect (ghost-hunting, animal shape-shifting) that make then absurd and hilarious.

Best Book I Was Looking Forward To
When We Lost Our Head - Heather O'Neill

Take the French Revolution, but make it with women and set in early 1900s Montreal. Bravo!

Best Science Fiction/Thriller

The Apollo Murders  - Chris Hadfield

Wild ride in space from the Canadian who can do anything and everything!

Best Nonfiction

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century - Kirk  Wallace Johnson

Narrative fiction with natural history, a mystery, and just fascinating story about fly-fishing ties.

Best Short Novel

The Swimmers - Julie Otsuka

I don't know how Otsuka does it with so little, but her books are so powerful and inventive. This one was about a crack which develops in a community swimming pool, and then turns into a beautiful tribute to Alzehimers

Best Historical Fiction
Haven - Emma Donoghue

I wasn't sure about this one, set in 7th century Ireland about monks who go live on an isolated island, but I was very invested by the end, and loved how it all came together. 

Best Quiet Character Study

Small Pleasures - Clare Chambers

I'm sure I would never have read this book without the Women's Prize Longlist but what a sweet treasure. I saw this listed somewhere on a book list of books which took you pleasantly by surprise and this fits perfectly. A single lady in 1950s London gets caught up with an unusual family and her life becomes more interesting.

Best Translated

The Strange Journey of Alice Pendelbury - Marc Levy

Alice, orphaned after WW2 in London, takes a trip with a neighbour to Turkey after a reading from a fortune teller. Finding your place in the world.

Best Start to a Series

The Windsor Knot - CJ Bennett

I read one of these quiet mysteries starring Queen Elizabeth before she died, and then the second one after she died. Much respect for the queen and her marriage, it is mostly about her assistants who carry out her requests for information. Delightful.

Best Re-read

Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng

My book club read this book so I listened to it for a re-read and it was just as good the second time as it was the first time. 

Best Author - Ann Patchett

These Precious Days(NF), The Magician's Assistant, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage (NF)

Patchett's books have always been reliable and good but I think I mixed her up with Barbara Kingsolver and didn't really have a solid impression of her. But recently I put it all together, and especially reading her two nonfiction memoir/essay collections and now I am trying to get all her books read! 

A few honourable mentions:

Tevye the Milkman -Sholem Aleicheim (Fiddler on the Roof inspiration)

The Bullet That Missed - Richard Osman (Thursday Murder Club #3)

Matrix - Lauren Groff (historical nuns)

The Woman in the Attic - Emily Hepditch (Newfoundland mystery)

Eligible - Curtis Sittenfeld (retelling of Pride and Prejudice)