CanadianContent discussion

Greetings readers!

We have had lots of Secret Santa excitement and suspense this week! With just a couple of weeks left until Christmas, what books have you been enjoying? who has been reading seasonal books?

I hope everyone has had a great reading week and will get some time to relax with a book on the weekend as the excitement for the holidays builds!!

I’ve had better luck with holiday reading this week. Feast of Lights and Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe were both likeable in their own way. I’m starting A Christmas Carol next. We are putting up the tree tonight, so I’m looking forward to curling up with it by the cozy tree lights!

I finished listening to Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker and now I’ve moved on to The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. It’s a delightful listen so far.

I finished Macbeth by Jo Nesbø. What a ride that was! Even without the Shakespeare connection, it was great as a crime-noir novel. Also finished The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum for our group read and have also read Miss Kane's Christmas by Caroline Mickelson in keeping with the theme for the month. And in the same vein, I've picked up The Brands Who Came For Christmas by Maggie Shayne. A new author for me, not too sure it'll be quite my thing but it was a free Kindle book. Trying to finish a Netgalley of Gods of Howl Mountain by Taylor Brown which I'm really enjoying.

@Diane, I somehow ended up with those same two books, Miss Kane's Christmas and The Brands Who Came For Christmas, from Kobo last year. I either got them for free or really cheap, can't remember now.

Happy Friday, everyone! I'm bemused by all the holiday reading. I do not like this time of year at all. I'm already at the stage where I feel like I need to hibernate until the holidays are over. :-(

This week I finished reading The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, which I loved. It was so moving - sad and funny at the same time. I also read Roughneck, which was great. I love Jeff Lemire.

I'm still reading We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy. There is an essay in this book on the case for reparations that left me exhausted and depressed - tough stuff, but it should be required reading in schools. I'm also still reading The Lodger on Serial Reader.

I've started reading The Power, which I was excited about. So far, it hasn't really grabbed me like I'd expected it to and so I've been reading it in dribs and drabs.

@Susan, I'll join you in hibernation. Anything to avoid hearing Holly Jolly Christmas one more time!

I finished and loved The Chilbury Ladies' Choir. It's inspired me to take singing lessons in January. The singing lesson impulse was further strengthened by reading Carpe Diem Regained: The Vanishing Art of Seizing the Day which I'm almost finished and have found quite thought-provoking.

I'm also part way through the deliciously weird Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories.

Happy Friday!!
For the past week, I finished How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease, The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well and Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood in audio and finished The Lowland and Last Breath in paper.
I highly recommend all 3 of the audiobooks: the first two bring awareness to improving our health and happiness and Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood is by far the best memoir I have listened to! I laughed and cried with Trevor Noah the whole time and his mother, oh his mother, is just the most amazing woman!
I'm currently reading The House at Riverton, my first from Kate Morton.
My Secret Santa package is still tempting me to be opened..... :)

Last week I finished listening to IQ - fantastic. I am reading the second book but now I have all of the voices of the main characters in my head as I read it - cool. Book 3 comes out next year - sigh.

Currently listening to Cash City - gritty murder, suspense. This one is really good as well and apparently is part of a series.

On my radar to finish this weekend is The Chimes, Christmas is a Sad Season for the Poor, and The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus .

I have put off The Elegance of the Hedgehog for now; there is just so much better stuff I could be reading.

Happy Friday!

@Susan: I really enjoyed The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy as well. It was a moving book.

@May: I was reading about Hygge on-line this week. It's a peaceful concept. I am going to try to be more mindful of it in my daily life. I'm going to check that book out.

I finished Proust's Remembrance of Things Past Volumes 1-3 Box Set!!! There were times that it was a slog but it is a marvelous piece of writing. Well worth the time to read but, at least for me, it takes time to read it. One can't fly through these pages. My review is huge!

I finished an audio, Eleven Pipers Piping, as well this week. Despite the title, the name of the main character (Father Christmas) and the time setting, this book never once reminded me of Christmas. It starts slow but I enjoyed it by the end. A slow mystery. I think Agatha Christie fans would enjoy the meandering through the village, the chats with the villagers, etc.

I also finished a poetry book, Learning to See in Three Dimensions: Poetry. The author is a very talented writer and artist. Her art work is sprinkled throughout the book. It's all wonderful. Her poetry is lovely, heart wrenching and thoughtful. I don't know much about poetry & its merits; I react on how it makes touches me and these poems touched me.

This week I am going to read The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus for our group read. I'm looking forward to this.

I'm not sure what else I'll start but it will be light and short. :D

I am still trying to finish (20 pages to go!) The Last Ballad. It is a story about the unionization of textile mills in the US. I believe it is based on a true story but a fictional work. It's interesting but something about it just hasn't sucked me in.

Tonight I need to start The Lightkeeper's Daughters as my book club meeting is next Friday! Apparently it was written by an author from Thunder Bay (it's no 'Peg but close!!!) and early reports say it is a quick read. Has anyone read it? (No spoilers please :) )

Shannon wrote: "I am still trying to finish (20 pages to go!) The Last Ballad. It is a story about the unionization of textile mills in the US. I believe it is based on a true story but a fictional..."

@Shannon, I read it a month ago and quite enjoyed it and yes, it was a very light read, perfect for a book club :)

Thanks May! Appreciate it ---eases my stress about getting it done on time. :)

Happy Friday!

No seasonal reading for me yet, rather the opposite. This week I read Grief is the Thing with Feathers, a short poetic novella about a grieving young father and his two sons who are visited by a crow during their grieving (see what I meant about not seasonal?!). It wasn't really my thing, unfortunately.

I also read Bellevue Square. I know group members are divided on this one. I haven't written my review yet, but I found it a real page-turner that raised some interesting questions. Destabilizing in a neat way.

I'm now a couple of chapters into Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy.

Next week I'm hoping to get to Christmas: A Biography, which I won in a giveaway.

And wow, Petra, nicely done - congrats on finishing Proust!!!

Happy Friday everyone!

I finished reading The Girl on the Train. I feel like I was the only one who hadn't read the book. I found it in my dad and mom's LFL. It kept me entertained this week.

I'm reading The Five Love Languages of Children, which is just another parenting book I'm picking away at.

I'm usually a grinch about holiday reading, but I saw @Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺ was reading Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe, so I put a hold on it at the library.

I'm really enjoying reading the Secret Santa thread, it's great to see so much joy. :)

Aside from our monthly read, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, also read The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (I don't recommend it, it was way too confusing, but I am trying to read one book form the list of "1001 Books to Read before you Die" each month, and this one was a quick read.)

Since I got the 2017 bingo finished, I decided to dig into some Door stop type books that I have had for a while and part of some of my guilty pleasure reading, they are:
Written in My Own Heart's Blood (824 pages)
The First Confessor 481 pages
It will probably take me the rest of the month to get through these two.

Megan wrote: "Happy Friday everyone!

I finished reading The Girl on the Train. I feel like I was the only one who hadn't read the book. I found it in my dad and mom's LFL. It kept me entertained..."

I haven't read it but feel I should so I know what everyone has read, lol.

This was a slow reading week. Between my new comfy "reading chair" and the renovations happening at home, whenever I sat down to read, I'd be asleep within seconds....

But I did manage to finish Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City. It's a book that will make you sad, and angry, and ashamed. And now, finally, I have started Bellevue Square. I haven't gotten very far though because I keep falling asleep....

In audio I listened to The House of Unexpected Sisters which was pure joy to listen to, as always, and now I'm listening to Stay with Me which is quite interesting so far.

I hope to get some reading done this weekend but I've got two Christmas parties to go to. Tis the season.

Happy Friday! Quite snow sqaully in my neck of the woods.

This week I finished Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I can't believe it took me this long to read, been on my TBR forever. I enjoyed the book. I don't think I could ever watch the movie. There would be a couple of scenes that must have been quite disturbing.

In audio, I finished listening to Unless by Carol Shields. It was an interesting story and done quite well for audio.

I am almost finished Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab by Shani Mootoo for another Bingo square. Four squares left after this one. :-)

Have a great week!

TGIF: does anybody remember the urgency of that from schooldays?
So many years later and Friday still has a special zip.

@Lisa, I'm planning to read Cereus Blooms at Night by SM for one of my last bingo squares. I was too disappointed by the ending to enjoy Water for Elephants.

@Louise, I dont know if I could take another book at this point guaranteed to make me even more sad, angry and ashamed about the fiasco of Canadas establishment and the treatment of native people. This is the way that a lot of so called 'books that make me proud to be canadian' make me feel...the basis of my objection to the list. In perusing peoples bingo entries, I noticed titles that I had rather skipped over that I have read before and liked, and some other ones that sound good. I guess my reaction was based on the books I was working with, and those, like the Romeo Dallaire reveal how the govt let RD down big time, and like Up Ghost River. These do make me " sad, angry and ashamed." to be a Canadian and make me wonder what on earth the curators of the list were thinking to include them.

Finished The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson and found it had something to add to the dialogue around entitlement and responsability.

Finished HHhH by Laurent Binet maybe last week actually. Meta-fictional account of wwII in Czechoslovakia, Bohemia and Moravia, in particular the odius Reinhard Heydrich. Perhaps the aura of the book cast itself on my associated and next reads. I didnt care for the short story collection by Mark Anthony Jarman My White Planet: Stories all that much,most of them seemed pointlessly contrived.
And after an intruiging opening, even Louise Erdrich's Future Home of the Living God began to irritate me. I found the main character increasingly insufferable and the story full of holes. Somehow tho, thru the power of LE's writing and convictions, I ended up appreciating the way she handled the character development to get her message accross.

Fresh Complaint short storiesby Jeffrey Eugenides is a blast of fresh air.

I needed a random book with no expectations and somehow found myself with the Irish novelist Adrian McKinty...does anyone follow him? I never heard of him before and not interested in detective series so what a nice surprise The Sun Is God it was quite hilarious.

Highlights of the week were the sending and receiving of SSgift.
next up I am planning to start The Folded Earth and then who knows what will be up next.

To those who are sick of jolly I get it. I have learned to avoid what I find offensive and relax and enjoy what I can about the season: the lights, the shortbread, our secret santa exchange.

Warm and Bright

Happy friday everyone! My workplace is filled with holiday baking and I'm really excited for the holidays to start.

I just finished Measuring Mother Earth: How Joe the Kid Became the Tyrrell of the North, a biography of J.B. Tyrrell, who the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology is named after. He's an interesting character and it's an interesting time in Canadian history.

I now have a book and a half to complete for bingo. I'm working on The Year of Finding Memory by Judy Fong Bates and am planning on taking The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro on Christmas vacation with me when I go back to my parents' and finish it up over a couple of evenings in front of the fire.

Greetings! It looks like it has been a busy day here!

@May - any insights into food you will stop eating or eat more of from your book? I have had Born a Crime on my shelf for too long!

@Megan - I hope the 5 Love Languages for Children is better than the one for teens. I found the author to share homophobic views and a very strong religious focus that stopped me from reading any more of his books despite some good communication tips.

@Louise - it sounds like you might have accidentally got a "sleeping" chair!

@Magdelanye - mmmmmmm.... shortbread!!! I might just need to do some baking soon.... except too early and none lasts til Christmas!

I have done more listening than reading this week and all Christmas books - unless you count the 9 pages of The Manticore that is my second last BINGO read. I did read The Christmas Tree: Two Tales For The Holidays which was really just 2 short stories set in NB and Last Christmas in Paris: A Novel of World War I which was a novel about a dying man, grieving his wife and looking back at the letters which he had received during his time in the trenches of WWI. I enjoyed the story but am not a fan of a book which is 90% (or more) letters.

I listened to The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge by Charlie Lovett. It was light and told the story of Scrooge years later, wishing people Merry Christmas year round and spending all his money helping others. The spirits visit again and Cratchit becomes involved in the night reflections. I am in the midst of Landline which I learned about in my day to day calendar of books. It has similar themes and has started with a mom so wrapped up at work that she stays home to work on a sitcom while her husband takes their girls home to his mother's for the holidays.

I need to finish Landline and have a pile of Christmas books from the Library as well as 2 more BINGO squares to finish in December!

@susan. Right?! I didn't realize that this was a Christian book when I started. It's all a bit much. There are also lots of gender stereotypes that irk me. However... There are some good ideas in it for communication and connection. I don't think I'll read another book in this series but I did learn a few new parenting tools

That is totally how I felt! The one for adults was ridiculous with stereotypes -wives stay home and care for the husbands... was gritting my teeth but it was highly recommended by a friend so kept reading!

Magdelanye wrote: "These do make me " sad, angry and ashamed." to be a Canadian and make me wonder what on earth the curators of the list were thinking to include them.."

I think the books make us proud to be Canadians in the sense that we have come to see the injustice that was done, we are talking about it now, we are admitting that a terrible wrong was done. People are writing about it to bring recognition of the problem, a first step towards healing. These stories need to be told and need to be heard. The boon of accessible Indigenous literature of the past decade does make me proud to be a Canadian. It's a step in the right direction but yes, we do have a long way to go. We must start with education though.

❀ Susan wrote: "Greetings! It looks like it has been a busy day here!

@May - any insights into food you will stop eating or eat more of from your book? I have had Born a Crime on my shelf for too long!

@Megan - ..."

@Susan, the book basically urges everyone to go to a plant-based diet. For someone who loves her bacon, it will be a tough act to follow :)
Also, if you can, try listen to Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood in audio format. Trevor Noah's narration with the different African dialects just made it so much more amazing & engaging!

I am 17 pages from finishing Crackpot, which will be my last BINGO book. No doubt tomorrow I will report on Friday Spine Crackers that I finished it.

I just played work-hookie for half an hour to read. I thought I might finish up. But I decided this close to the end to not, finish. I was actually brought to tears as I read at the thought of losing this incredible character, Hoda, and her amazing story. I can't believe how well written this book is! Every word. Every sentence. I can't believe that soon (tonight!?) I'm going to have to live without this woman in my life! I can barely face it!

This is the power of books, isn't it?? All of you get it, I know. She's not even real, and yet here I am actually dreading losing her in 17 pages from now.... It's been a long time since I have felt this way about a book...

(And horray for BINGO, by the way, as I found this book only because I had to complete the square for a book published in the year of my birth!)

It’s wonderful that you feel that way about the character, Allison. It’s great to have that kind of reading experience but, yes, it’s hard to let those types of books go.

I love that BINGO and some of the challenges help us find gems that we might not have otherwise read! WTG Allison on finishing (almost) your BINGO!!