What are We Reading Now? (January-March, 2019)

We consistently get under 100 messages, even with two-months, so I thought we'd try quarterly. If the thread gets too long, we can go back to a shorter time period. Hope this is ok!

I've been re-reading to start 2019: The Mountain Story by Lori Lansens and I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

>1 LynnB: Sounds good, Lynn!

If all goes to plan I should finish The King's Agent, by J. Kent Clark, this evening. The king in question is James II/VII, the one ousted by his son-in-law, William of Orange.

>2 frahealee: I saw the talk around "in a glass darkly" and it kept throwing me because I know of a movie "through a scanner darkly" based on the sci-fi book by Philip K. Dick. I keep wondering where this glass is coming from. I never felt compelled to watch the film, but I'm curious to investigate the book(s) now to see what this expression is all about.

Starting the years with Polish lit as I'm reading into Sword of Destiny because video games started it. ;) I got a new book, Arrival: the story of canlit , but I'm debating if I should read Survival first. I keep wondering if the name similarity is intentional on Mount's part.

Finished Natural Causes: An Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer, by Barbara Ehrenreich, which was interesting in some parts (the medicine/biology) more than others (the discussion of the "self").

Next up in library reading is another book on this topic: With the End in Mind: Dying, Death, and Wisdom in an Age of Denial, by Kathryn Mannix.

>5 rabbitprincess: Oh I have With the End in Mind arriving at the library soon. It would be interesting to hear what you think of it!

>6 mdoris: I had requested it back when the library first got it, but ran out of time to read it! It was on the Wellcome Book Prize list last year, which is what prompted me to request it in the first place.

I've finished The King's Agent (set from James II to George I of England, a period I haven't read much about) and have now started Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman.

I'm reading Bleak House by Charles Dickens.

>7 rabbitprincess:, Me too, I got the idea from the Wellcome Prize as well. There are some very interesting books listed there!

yes, this is my first read of Bleak House but I've read several other books by Charles Dickens. As always when I return to a classic, it seems to take me forever to read the first 50 pages or so. But then I get used to the style and things pick up. I'm on page 27!

I'm finding With the End in Mind utterly fascinating but can't read it on my lunch breaks at work, because I don't like crying in public :) So instead I will take to work what I hope will be a delightfully grim read: The Royal Art of Poison, by Eleanor Herman.

>12 rabbitprincess: Thanks for the update on With the End in Mind. It sounds very interesting. I am (im)patiently waiting for my library copy.

You are all putting me to shame with your "literary" reads so far! I'm still recovering from working through the holidays while feeling quite unwell at times, so my reading hasn't been so sophisticated!
True crime reading: Blood, Sweat and Fear by Eve Lazarus, which I found very interesting, esp. about "old" Vancouver and then a "thriller": Saving Sophie by Sam Carrington.

>10 frahealee:, >11 LynnB:, it's a Bleak House year for me too, although I won't get there until later. One Dickens a year for me, and this is its turn. Court/law stuff is something Dickens often visited in prior novels (Pickwick, Nicholas I think, Copperfield), but I guess it wasn't to the same degree as it sounds here.

>16 frahealee:, Your Marley metaphor is the kind of thing we talk about in our Unread Support Group, the weight of those chains and how willingly we forge new links. I've suggested the view that there are two distinct kinds of pleasure - the acquisition and the reading - and that the first thoughtlessly places pressure on the second, but in realizing this we can at least suffer less guilt about it.

Just finished Washington Black by Esi Edugyan - excellent.

I finished my first audiobook of the year: another Doctor Who Big Finish audio drama. Doctor Who: Classic Doctors, New Monsters, Volume 2.

The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant / Joanna Wiebe
4 stars

Anne is being sent to a private school across the country from her California home, on an island in New England. It’s a school with mostly rich kids, so Anne isn’t sure how her dad managed to pull some strings to get her in. However he managed it, she’s hoping for a fresh start with other kids who don’t know her. But, when she arrives, there is something very odd about this school… She is heartened to find someone she knew from California is also there, though, and he seems to be the only person interested in being friends.

I really enjoyed this! Yeah, many of the characters were unlikeable, but they’re teenagers. That didn’t bother me. I was interested and curious to find out what the heck was going on at this school! There were a few surprises along the way, though at least one of them I guessed very shortly before it was revealed, anyway. Unfortunately, it’s one of those books that ended on a cliffhanger. I’m not a big fan of that, but I was hoping, as I read, that it would be the first in a series, and it looks like it’s a trilogy. I will definitely pick up the next book.

wosewoman, the subject matter of Washington Black doesn't interest me much, but her first book, Half-Blood Blues was so good that I'm tempted to read it nonetheless.

>22 LynnB: I really enjoyed both. They are quite different in subject matter but her wonderful writing style bleeds through. I rated Half Blood Blues slightly higher but would recommend both.

The Book of Negroes / Lawrence Hill.
3.75 stars (3rd read; overall - all 3 reads, 4 stars)

**********POSSIBLE SPOILERS***********
In the mid-1700s, Aminata is only 11-years old when her parents are murdered and she is kidnapped from her village in Africa. She is forced to walk for months to the ocean where she boards a ship to cross. She arrives in South Carolina, where she is sold to an indigo plantation owner and works there until she is then sold to another man and his wife, where she helps keep their home. After a number of years, "Meena" escapes to New York, and after a time, she finds herself in "The Book of Negroes" - a real list of Negroes who want to escape New York and the rebels for Nova Scotia as British Loyalists. All her life, she has really just wanted to go home, back to her village in Africa.
*********END SPOILERS***********

This was very very good, there was so much detail, and it seemed so realistic. The Book of Negroes was a real list - something I had never heard of - and it was interesting (and sad) to read how the mostly former slaves were treated when they arrived in Canada. I waffled for a long time between giving the book 4 or 4.5 stars; unfortunately I lowered it to 4 stars because I was disappointed in the ending, which took away from the book's realism for me.

Reread, 2 years later:
I still really enjoyed this book on a reread. I did remember some parts of the book before I even started rereading it, and a lot of the rest of the book came back to me as I read. My rating remains the same as the first time around.

3rd read, just over 5 years after the last time:
3.75 stars
This is my 3rd time reading this one, and I think rereading is just not for me. I rated it 4 stars the first two times, and 3.5 this time around, but I listened to the audio this time and would give an extra ¼ star for the narrator, so 3.75 this time. Good story; still find the ending unbelievable. I really don’t think I should reread it again, though – not without a long long time in between, at least.

I found Aminata just too perfect...that was my main concern with The Book of Negroes

Two books finished in the last week: I Let Him Go by Denise Fergus, which was heartrending to read. I still remember clearly reading of the abduction and murder of little James Bulger in a Liverpool suburb the early 1990's, and have always sort of followed the story in the news, probably because except for a twist of fate in the 1950's, I too would have been born and raised in a nearby town in Merseyside where dozens of my extended family still live, and because I had a little boy at the time only a bit younger than James was when he died, and because I've always been interested by the concept of inherent evil and the fact that his killers were only 10 years old at the time. My other read was thankfully just fiction-one in a long time favourite series of mine-Dust by Martha Grimes.

>26 LynnB: Hmmm, yeah, I think I would agree, actually.

Finally finished Bleak House! Once I got into it, I enjoyed it. I'm now reading The Sleeping Father by Matthew Sharpe.

>29 LynnB: Hurray! I'm still plugging away at that one on Serial Reader. Reading it in little chunks is working out well for me.

I just indulged in a Saturday-morning treat of a Doctor Who novel: The Day of the Doctor, by Steven Moffat. Now I have to rewatch the episode!
Also apparently about 1/3 of my reading so far this year has been Doctor Who novels! Oops.

>29 LynnB: the mini series is fantastic as well. Loved Gillian Anderson!

A thriller kept me reading way too late into the night: Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh

I'm on a kid's book binge for class. Today has just been Sweetest Kulu so far. Yesterday was Mabel Murple, Let's Paint, Alligator Pie, and Poetree.

I need to start getting into more kid's novels so I picked up Margaret and the Moth Tree and The Emily Carr Mystery (Canadian Content is important here!), and Margaret and the Moth Tree.

I'm reading Bird Brains: The Intelligence of Crows, Ravens, Magpies and Jays by Candace Savage.

I'm reading Winter by Ali Smith

Just started A Place of Greater Safety, by Hilary Mantel.

Started today The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker. I have not read her Regeneration trilogy books that she is famous for.

Wow! What a thought provoking read- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. I can see why it was so popular at our library-I requested this book many months ago, and I had to finish it today because another 468 people are on the waiting list for it.

>37 frahealee: I picked both of those up for some "dog reading." I remember not finishing either one as a kid and I'm not too sure I'm inclined to read them now. I expect it has to do with the narrative style.

The Emily Carr Mystery is kind of "meh." I'm mostly reading it now to see how it ends (which of the several theories I have is actually the right or closest one) and because I don't like not finishing books.

I have 19 more books on hold. My nephews will have some copious reading things when I'm baby sitting this week.

>39 ted74ca: I've heard good things about that book. I was eyeballing it around Christmas but I'd like to chop away at my shelf pile at least a little more before buying new books. (Not including the "study materials" I'll be picking up tomorrow with my funds from selling last years textbooks. School is school! ;)

I'm reading and thoroughly enjoying A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.

Apparently I'm on a history-of-medicine kick. Just finished The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth, by Thomas Morris.

I spent a long time on my library's wait list for this book Women Talking by Miriam Toews and now I wish I could re-read it right now to clarify my thoughts about it. However, it's already 1 day overdue and hundreds of people on the waiting list...

The Lonely Hearts Hotel / Heather O'Neill
2.5 stars

Rose and Pierrot grew up at the same orphanage in Montreal, where they performed for rich people to raise money, once Pierrot’s piano-playing talent and Rose’s dancing talent was discovered. While at the orphanage, despite abuse at the hands of the nuns, they fall in love. As they grow older, however, they are separated and spend their lives trying to dig their way out of poverty and pining for each other.

Not a fan. I listened to the audio and the narrator was good, but it wasn’t enough. I thought, at the start, I was going to like it, but it didn’t turn out that way. I didn’t like any of the characters, and I didn’t care about what happened to them (except when they were young and still at the orphanage). Disappointing, especially since I really liked “Lullabies for Little Criminals” by this author.

>44 ted74ca: If you get a chance have a look for the You Tube video of the men convicted of these crimes. There is a documentary about it. I can see re reading this book. i thought it was very disturbing and that Toews did an amazing job telling the story. The highlighted letters on the front and back cover read out LOVE/ANGER.

There is a documentary 'Ghost Rapes of Bolivia' in 2 parts about this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSlc_Zib2nw

I'm reading The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny for a book club.

The Queen's Lady / Barbara Kyle
3 stars

Honor is taken in, as a ward, by Sir Thomas More during Henry VIII’s reign in the 16th century. At this time, Henry is trying to find a way to get rid of his first wife Catherine, so he can marry Anne Boleyn. When Honor is old enough, she goes to Catherine and serves her. But, she gets caught up in the religious conflicts going on at the time, and things become dangerous.

It was ok, but I just lost interest at times (this was not an audio!). Some of it held my interest, but there were too many dry patches for my liking. The historical note at the end was nice. Obviously, Honor was fictional, as were her close friends, etc.

>46 mdoris:. Thanks for letting me know about the documentary-I'll try to find the time to look into it.You are right-very disturbing crimes.

A quiet, contemplative, comforting read for this past weekend: A Distant View of Everything by Alexander McCall Smith.

>51 frahealee: I quite liked The Boats of the Glen Carrig as well!

I'm reading Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk which has sat on the TBR shelves far too long.

Still on my kids and picture book run. At a new bookstore I picked up Sea Prayer and my mom bought it. The drawings are beautiful, and I like that it's half the size of a kid's picture book, but omg it hits hard. It's beautiful and heart-breaking.

Love this writer-just finished What They Wanted by Donna Morrissey.

Something Fierce / Carmen Aguirre
3.5 stars

Carmen was raised in Canada, where her parents had arrived as refugees after being exiled from their native Chile because they were revolutionaries. When Carmen was 11, she, her mother, her stepfather, and her sister all moved to Bolivia (beside Chile) so they could help with the revolution from there. The book follows Carmen’s life as she grows up to help in the revolution herself, until it comes to an end in 1989 when she’s in her early 20s.

It was shorter and there wasn’t as much politics in it as I was expecting (which, for me, was a good thing!). There was still some; of course, more when Carmen was older. I was surprised that her parents brought Carmen and her sister with them, as it was very dangerous, though Carmen seemed quite happy to be there, so close to her grandparents, as she and her sister were able to travel across the border to visit (though her mother and stepfather were unable to). Certainly, when Carmen was younger, there is not as much mention of the danger, as Carmen herself was not thinking about it at the time.

I believe Something Fierce won Canada Reads a few years ago. Ms. Aguirre has written several different stories in this one volume. In part, it is her coming of age story as she struggles with friendships, first love and growing up. All, of course, complicated by the life her parents are living. In part, this is the story of Chile's political struggles and the role exiles and ex-pats played. It gave me an insider's perspective that added much to my understanding of South America.

>57 LynnB: I couldn't recall if it won or not, but at the time it was part of Canada Reads was when I added it to my tbr, so I've finally gotten to it!

Cancelled plans because we have yet more yucky weather (freezing drizzle), and I'm feeling a bit scattered, so I might indulge in a light fluffy read, such as a re-read of McNally's Caper, by Lawrence Sanders.

The snow just hit out west here. It's been a pretty mild winter otherwise, apologies to the folks out in the interior and East. Won't be nice driving to class tomorrow if I even try. I've still got my children's lit stack, with a few Can-lit pieces in there, so lots to read though. Right now it's Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.

I'm about to start The Inequality Trap: Fighting Capitalism Instead of Poverty by William Watson.

Back to my usual reading genre-crime fiction. A rather gritty one: The Killing of the Tinkers by Ken Bruen.

I don't generally like reading "romantic" fiction at all, but when the romance aspect is minimal and then combined with historical fiction, esp. when set in WWI or WWII era in the UK (both my parents were born and bred in England) I'll give it a try. I just finished The Gown by Jennifer Robson and I really enjoyed it. Besides featuring the Royal family (one of my not-so-secret interests!) it also depicts just how bleak the post war years were in the UK-conditions which ultimately ended up being the reason I was born and raised in Canada and not in northern England.

I'm reading Autumn by Ali Smith

I'm reading Winter by Ali Smith.

well, mdoris, we are quite a pair! Let's compare notes when we're both done.

I've read Winter; have you read Autumn?

Yes, I thought so too that we are a pair. I read Autumn last year. She is for sure a different writer but compelling. I just read your review of Winter and certainly understand where you are coming from.

Back to crime fiction: The Bone Garden by Kate Ellis

I'm reading Hyperbole and a Half: unfortunate situations, flawed coping mechanisms, mayhem, and other things that happened by Allie Brosh.

Visiting Iceland again in fiction with Blackout, by Ragnar Jónasson, translated by Quentin Bates.

>69 LynnB: That's on my bookshelf. I've read bits and pieces of it, and some from her blog. It's good stuff. :)

WeeTurtle, I did enjoy it.

mdoris, I liked Autumn even more than Winter. Looks like in for the whole series!

Now, I'm reading Dilemmas of Lenin: Terrorism, War, Empire, Love, Revolution by Tariq Ali

Just finished up with Fatty Legs. The trek through children's lit continues. Now onto Look out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts.

More crime stories, but non fiction this time: Cold Case Vancouver by Eve Lazarus. Definitely not the most flowing and coherent writing in the world, but the cases described were very interesting to me, esp. as I lived in the Lower Mainland of BC for 47 years, at least 10 of those in Vancouver itself.

Finished off two books today: Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare; and Rupture, by Ragnar Jónasson (translated by Quentin Bates).

More crime fiction reading for me-finished Perfect Sins by Jo Bannister today. Can't decide if I really like this series or not...

what an eclectic bunch we are! I'm reading CanLit: First Snow, Last Light by Wayne Johnston

I've just started Criminal That I Am by Jennifer Ridha.

I'm reading Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

I'm about to start Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak

I just finished a novel recommended to me last summer by a friend-it took that long for my request to be filled at my local library. Well worth the wait A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

ted74ca,I really liked that book! Have you read his earlier novel Rules of Civility?

I'm reading The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman.

>83 LynnB:. No, I haven't, but you can bet that I put in a request for it at our library even before I finished A Gentleman in Moscow!

Finished the last book in Ann Cleeves's Shetland mystery series: Wild Fire. I will miss Jimmy Perez and all the rest of the folks on the Shetlands.

Just finished Brown Girl in the Ring, by Nalo Hopkinson. This one's been on my to-read list for a while and I can't remember what prompted me to finally pick it up, but it was really good.

I'm reading The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Saw a beautiful, hard-cover edition for $15 and couldn't resist.

I'm reading Unbuttoned: A History of Mackenzie King's Secret Life by Christopher Dummitt

Back to crime fiction this week:- finished In A House of Lies by Ian Rankin

I have the new Lucy Worsley to read this afternoon: Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days that Changed Her Life. It's a library book, but if I don't finish it in time, I imagine my mum will be buying a copy that I can borrow later ;)

I'm about to start A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Stories in our Genes by Adam Rutherford

Whew, managed to finish >91 rabbitprincess: and am now moving on to a brick of a book: The Blank Slate, by Steven Pinker. I've had a hold on this at the library forever (they have only one copy), so I'll do what I can, but it's a huge book and the print is teeny-tiny. Might end up being a "buy to read and pass along" book.

Just finished what is my favourite (so far) in this Canadian mystery/legal fiction series by Anne Emery. This one is Children in the Morning.

I really enjoyed this novel-1st in a detective series set in Victorian London: Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas

I am feeling fickle. Ended up returning The Blank Slate to the library because I didn't feel like tackling such a huge book with such small print. Instead, I am reading The Man Who Died, by Antti Tuomainen, translated by David Hackston.

How are you finding Phantom of the Opera? I tried to read it but was very un-enamored with it, which I attribute to the translation I had. I didn't finish it.

>99 frahealee: The Painted Girls is on my reading list. As it was with Phantom, I just wasn't interested in the writing itself, so I assume it was something to do with the specific translation. Unfortunately, I can't remember who did it, though I could probably spot the cover if I saw it again.

I'm reading my latest ER book, My Body My Choice: The Fight for Abortion Rights by Robin Stevenson

Broken Promise / Linwood Barclay
4 stars

David left his job as a reporter in Boston to come home to Promise Falls with his son. He took a job with the local paper, only to lose it on his first day when the paper shuts down. When he goes to visit his cousin, Marla, he finds her with a baby… that’s not hers! A number of months back, Marla had lost a baby and later tried to take another one from the hospital – this was hushed up by her mother. Marla tells David that an “angel” dropped off the baby to her. He finds some info that gives him a clue to where the baby might belong and manages to convince Marla to go with him and they bring the baby. When they arrive, they find the mother murdered on the floor in the house!

I really enjoyed this. There were a couple of other storylines, as well, but the others weren’t wrapped up by the end. I did know this was a series, so I expect those will be finished up in further books. Barclay’s books are told from different points of view, but we are told at the start of each chapter whose POV we are following (or most chapters, anyway). As usual, there are twists in the book.

>102 LibraryCin: That's interesting, LibraryCin. I've read one Barclay book and that was Chase through early reviewers. I'd have never heard of the author otherwise. It was entertaining enough that I'm curious what the older audience books are like. I don't have much of a head for suspense but found Chase wasn't too bad, but again, different audience.

>104 WeeTurtle: Oh, "Chase" was the YA one, the first in a series, yes? (ETA: Just checked and yes, "Chase" is the one I was thinking of!)

He writes a lot of adult thrillers, yes. I think of him as very similar to Harlan Coben, if you like him.

I'm not sure when it was published (ETA: checked - it was 2007), but I think my favourite by Barclay (also the first I read by him) was No Time for Goodbye if you wanted to check that one out.

I'm reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Today I finally finished A Place of Greater Safety, by Hilary Mantel. Tomorrow I might try to finish off The Little Drummer Girl, by John le Carré. Both of these are somewhat hefty books and they've been on my plate for a while, so it would be nice to clear them off and start fresh books for the new work week.

Cueing up some new books for the work week: The Crow Trap, by Ann Cleeves; and The Locked Room, written by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö and translated by Paul Britten Austin.

Finished Ken Bruen's novel The Guards -the first in his Jack Taylor series-and really liked it.

At the Mountain's Edge / Genevieve Graham.
3.75 stars

It’s the late 1800s. Liza and her family live in Vancouver, but her father decides he wants to pack up and head north to Dawson City to set up his business there and cash in on the gold rush traffic. Liza and her brother are both adults, but the entire family sets off on this adventure. It’s cold and dangerous even just to get there, as they have to traverse the Chilkoot Trail.

Meanwhile, Ben, who had an abusive childhood, has been wanting to become a Mountie most of his life. He manages to do so, and is sent to Dawson City to help with the policing there. As he (and other Mounties) make their way along the Chilkoot Trail and toward Dawson City, he and Liza cross paths more than once.

I quite enjoyed this. At first, I was more interested in Liza’s story, but I also got more interested in Ben as the story continued on. The disasters in the book were the best parts for me. I also really enjoy reading books set near me, so reading about the Frank Slide was fun. (Frank was a small mining town in southern Alberta where a rock slide buried the town in 1902.) The romance was not overdone, so I felt better about that, as well (not always a romance fan). I also enjoyed the author’s note at the end. I could tell how passionate she is about Canadian historical fiction and the research she did.

>110 LibraryCin: That sounds interesting, Cin. I took a recent trip to Alaska and that was part of my interest in reading The Skeleton Tree . I encountered a fellow that told stories about the Gold Rush and the Chilkoot trail. My mom likes to talk about the Gold Rush trail and various historical things, though the Frank Slide wasn't one of them, I don't think. Had to look that one up.

>111 WeeTurtle: I grew up in Southern Sask, but we had family in southern BC, so our family occasionally drove past Frank, so I knew about it when I was younger.

I also read and enjoyed "The Skeleton Tree" a couple of years ago!

I do hope you enjoy this one if you give it a try. It was from NetGalley, so it hasn't yet been published. I think soon, though - April?

ETA: I've been to Alaska a couple of times via cruise. On the one stop in Skagway, I didn't do a gold rush tour, but I did do a bus tour into the Yukon. It's beautiful! If I ever get back to Skagway, my next tour with be something to do with the gold rush!

>112 LibraryCin: Yeah, same here, went on a cruise. The stop in Skagway was where we heard the entertainer on the ship, and some family took the train (I think it was Skagway) up to the old RCMP weigh station. I still live in Southern (and Western) BC, so it was the Hope Slide that mom would always point out when we were driving by.

I finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak a few days ago and have to say that it's definitely the best book I've read so far this year and maybe in the past several years. Can't believe it's taken me so long to get around to reading it-it was published in 2005 and I knew it was highly rated-just thought until recently that I had read it ages ago. And then, to have a little relief from such somber material (I'm in the midst of reading another novel set in WWI), today I finished The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances-a thriller.

>114 ted74ca: I remember loving The Book Thief too

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. I keep trying to really, really like her novels as much as everyone else seems to, but...they're not bad, by any means, I just don't love them.

The Illegal / Lawrence Hill
3 stars

When Keita’s father is murdered, he flees his country to neighbouring Freedom State, where he is considered an “illegal”. Keita is a (very gifted) runner, so he continues to train and enter marathons. When he hears his sister has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom, the stakes on winning those marathons (and the money) are so much higher.

There is a bit more to this, with secondary characters (a lesbian journalist in a wheelchair, a young prostitute “illegal” sent home and murdered, the madame of the brothel, some high level political figures, a teenaged talented documentary maker).

Overall, I’d rate it ok. I’m not sure if it would be of more interest to people who enjoy sports, with all the running, or maybe to people who enjoy political fiction. Sometimes political stuff is of more interest to me, but I think it depends on how it’s done. I listened to the audio, and the narrator was fine, nothing special, but didn’t detract, either, I didn’t think. The story itself was fine.

Finishing up the month with Cockpit Confidential, by Patrick Smith. One of those books I want to race through but savour at the same time.

Reading some manga to round out a bibliography for kids. Starting The Boundless next.

Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson by Mark Bourrie will be available on amazon.ca April 9, a couple months before amazon.com has it(?)

Toronto Star published excerpt at
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2019/03/31/a-young-radisson-was-captured-by-...

I remember enjoying somewhat similar Century of Conflict and The White and Gold from my dad's library. Bush Runner sounds like a good summer read?

I've been travelling, and while away, I've read:

The Woo-Woo: How I Survived Ice Hockey, Drug Raids, Demons, and My Crazy Chinese Family by Lindsay Wong,
Brother by David Chariandy,
Suzanne by Anais Barbeau-Lavalette
By Chance Alone: A Remarkable True Story of Courage and Survival at Auschwitz by Max Eisen,
Homes: A Refugee Story by Abu Bakr al Rabeeah,
Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman's Skiff by Rosemary Mahoney,
Mr. Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker,
Tiger in the Tiger Pit by Janette Turner Hospital,
Autumn Quail by Naguib Mahfouz,
Carry the One by Carol Anshaw; and
The Search by Naguib Mahfouz.

I'm currently reading The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year by Sue Townsend

>122 LynnB: You did all the Canada Reads books! Impressive! Did you have a favourite?

I always read all 5 before the debates, so I can yell at the radio the way my Dad used to yell during CFL/NHL broadcasts.

I liked Suzanne and Homes: A Refugee Story the best

My library is having a draw so I put in for Woo Woo, since it seemed the closest to what I'd normally read. I've read very few (if any) Canada Reads, though I have a couple on my shelf. I'll bump into them at some point.

>125 WeeTurtle: I've been listening to Canada Reads every years since it started in 2002, so I always add some to my tbr! It can take a few years to get to them, though!