This was an exceptional batch of audio books. These Precious Days by Ann Patchett I loved these essays. Ann had me crying several times, and it would be no hardship to listen to them all again. This book would make a lovely gift. At the heart of Patchett's essays is her friendship with Sooki, a … Continue reading What I’ve Been Listening To: Life is short so ignore your email, fight for yourself and others, and be still
Wonder World by K.R. Byggdin (Enfield & Wizenty) When I saw the cover of this book (a jar of pickles?), I knew I had to read it. (And--although Byggdin grew up in Manitoba--they are now living on the East Coast.) Isaac Funk has been living in Halifax for ten years; for ten years he has … Continue reading From the Library: Community, growing up, and pop tarts
I'm excited to tell you about this excellent batch of books. Just look at them. This is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan Michael Pollan dives deep into three plant drugs--opium, caffeine, and mescaline--and throws the fundamental strangeness, and arbitrariness, of our thinking about them into sharp relief. I always like Michael Pollan and … Continue reading What I’ve Been Listening To: mind-altering plants, mind-altering essays, and some tips for a better life
I imagine it would be hard to write an engaging and humorous memoir about dementia--an illness so devastating--but that's exactly what Martha Vowles managed to do. I enjoyed every sentence. I'm not completely surprised that I loved this book - she had both a brilliant publisher and editor. At the age of fifty-five, I became … Continue reading Senior Management by Martha Vowles
Breakwater Books is an amazing independent publisher located in St. John's, Newfoundland. They have sent me so many wonderful books over the years: Dirty Birds by Morgan MurrayMelt by Heidi WicksAlmost Feral by Gemma HickeyEven Weirder Than Before by Susie TaylorThe Luminous Sea by Melissa Barbeau Ledger of the Open Hand by Leslie VryenhoekSome People's … Continue reading From Breakwater Books: Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Italy, England, sisters, shipwrecks, and yoga
After a series of memoirs about illness--then my octopus palette cleanser--I went back to social justice. So You Want to Talk About Race Ilejeomo Oluo I loved this book. I was invested in, not only what she was saying about racism and micro-aggressions, but about how it has affected her own life as a black … Continue reading What I’ve Been Listening To: three that made me think and three that made me laugh
After my rocky start to audio books, I am on a roll. I would recommend all of these, except maybe don't listen to the two cancer memoirs and depression memoir back to back to back like I did. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson This book is as good as everyone says it is. Even now, … Continue reading What I’ve Been Listening To: justice, cancer, depression, and octopuses
A wide-ranging trio of books; a fascinating Atlantic Canadian memoir, a heartbreakingly good novel about residential school trauma, and a joy-of-a linked story collection. The Dome Chronicles by Garry Leeson (2019) The Dome Chronicles doesn't look like the type of book I normally gravitate towards - physically, it's tall and wide and floppy, kind of … Continue reading From the Library: Michelle Good, Garry Leeson, and Carol Bruneau
Trickster Drift by Eden Robinson Trickster Drift is the second in the series about a young man named Jared who is trying to get through life with a hard-core mom and a trickster for a dad. I read the first, Son of A Trickster, a couple of years ago when it was shortlisted for the … Continue reading From the Library: Indigenous Youth, Race Relations, and Adoption
These three genres are not my usual fare, but I dip into them from time to time, and usually enjoy it when I do. Crosshairs by Catherine Hernandez In southern Ontario, the concrete jungle of Toronto was transformed into a shallow bayou. Park benches sat in water like rafts in muck. Beneath the surface of … Continue reading From the Library: A Dystopian, a Thriller, and a Memoir
Consumed by Ink 