June 2022

[❀ Susan]

Good morning and welcome to June!! The warm weather is arrived and it is time to get outside and read!!

WhAt have you finished? What are you reading? What is next?

[Susan]

Happy Friday!

This week I finished Young Mungo, which started a bit slowly but once it clicked, I zoomed through the rest of it. I also finished Something for Everyone. Like most story collections, some stories worked better for me than others, but I enjoyed this book overall.

I have barely started reading A Mind Spread Out on the Ground. Not sure what my next fiction read will be yet.

[Heather(Gibby)]

I just started listening to Fight Night which is quite amusing, but doesn't seem to have much of a plot.

[Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺]

I’m currently reading The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I don’t love it as much as The Goldfinch, but it’s a pleasure to read nonetheless. Have a great weekend!

[Em]

I have just finished Anna Quon’s Migration Songs and will read anything else she writes. Just a gentle story about family and found family......about those quiet souls in our world who we don’t give much thought to-such beautiful writing.

I think that I will read The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Edison.

[Kathleen]

I finished reading a gift from a previous Secret Sender ~The Complete Angel Catbird by Margaret Atwood. The art and colours are very good, and as a cat lover, I enjoyed the plot and cat puns in the dialogue and cat facts and tips at the bottom of some pages.
I finished Oral History by Lee Smith, and the audio version of Good Company.
I am still reading No Bloat Diet by the editors of Prevention and Canadian Cassandra Forsythe.
It contains lots of information.
I started listening to Children of the Stars about two young Jewish boys in August 1942.

[Wanda]

Happy Friday and I'm grateful for June and some sunshine today! I have been slowly making my way to the end of The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian. I'll be glad to move on to the next book. Not sure yet what that might be. My mood will determine that I believe. Enjoy your reading. I appreciate the book suggestions as always.

[Tina]

Hi Everyone,
Hope summer finds us all soon! As summer rolls in I find my reading habits change. I lean towards more thriller, mystery books. That being said, I am currently enjoying Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. I am slowly reading this one chapter at a time. Her writing is so wonderful. This was my May pick for our Mother/ Daughter Book Club.
I have just startedThe Cartographers

[Petra]

Happy June!

@Allison, I also enjoyed The Goldfinch. I haven't read any other books by Donna Tartt but look forward to doing so. It's good to hear that you are enjoying The Secret History.

@Tina, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants was wonderful. I really enjoyed it and would like to reread it one day.

I've been away helping a family member and haven't read much. But I did read a fun and interesting Medieval murder mystery, the first of a series, The Unquiet Bones by Melvin R. Starr.
I liked the plot line, the characters and the way of living in these early times. I will continue with the series one day. I enjoyed this story.

[Karin]

Hi, all! I'm listening to an autobiography/memoir by Cicely Tyson, Just as I Am and also reading On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (so two memoirs) and Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen.

[❀ Susan]

@Tina - a Mother/Daughter book club sounds fun!

it has been a bit since I posted my reads so they are:

Peace by Chocolate - such a heartwarming story. we will now read it for my in person book club so I needed to order my own copy. when ordering from their site, I got a package that included both the book ands chocolate!! it also came with a note to enjoy!

Speak - an interesting memoir by the Peloton trainer. I have the peloton app and have done a few of her spin classes so found it interesting.

Sea of Tranquility - enjoyed this novel about time travel. Remind me a bit of the The Time Traveller's Wife

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World - inspiring book about the difference one man has made (along with many other volunteers) when he decided to do good in this world and quit his exclusive job. His charity brought books to libraries in schools in Tibet, built schools and provides scholarships to girls in multiple countries.

Looking For Jane - a timely book sharing the (fictional) challenges of a young girl who found herself pregnant and living in a maternity home in the 60s; a young woman and her experience with abortion; a young woman who was adopted and the challenges with the lack of choice for women when or if to become mothers. it was an easy read and keeps the readers pondering the importance of choice and autonomy over our own bodies. It is set in Toronto and has identifiable areas and history.

now I am in the midst of HBR At 100: The Most Influential and Innovative Articles from Harvard Business Review's First Century, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams and Reaching Your Destiny and a reread of Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person

[❀ Susan]

Greetings readers!!!

It has been a busy week!! I hope all are finding time to read. what have you finished? what are you reading? what is next?

have a lovely weekend!!

[Petra]

I haven't read much this week. I'm enjoying Katharina Luther: Nun, Rebel, Wife by Anne Boileau. It's an interesting and well told story.

On audio, I'm listening to Ready Player Two. It's an intriguing storyline. I'm enjoying it immensely.
I also really liked Ready Player One a few years ago. These two books are pure fun.

[Wanda]

Happy Friday. I'm lucky to have received a fun and refreshing book from my Secret Sender which I've dove into this week, The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. I am loving the sarcastic British humor. It's been a great adventure so far! On audio I'm listening to The Untethered Soul by Michael Alan Singer. Hope you all have a sunny weekend!

[Sarah]

Happy Sunday all! A rainy Day here in Kingston. I am just finishing a secret sender gift, The Tale of Tiger Lily by Jill Featherstone. It’s a really fun fast read. This was one of my goals, to increase my growing pile of secret sender gifts. One down and many interesting ones to go. I also have waiting for me, at my bedside, a fractured library loan of which I am half way through, The School of Mirrors…I borrow it back in March and although I was intrigued by the storyline I was not getting through it and had to return it.

On audio, I am listening to Lawrence Hill’s The Illegal. What a fabulous story and storyteller. I am really enjoying it.

[❀ Susan]

Good morning!! We had a rainy start in Southern Ontario and now the sun is shining!!

I finished Looking For Jane which was a gift from my secret sender and a fabulous book that leaves readers thinking about the perspectives of each of the main characters in light of the attack on women's rights that is taking place (I would like to say in the US but feel it in Canada too) right now. This book will lead to great discussion at my July book club!!

I also finished The Body in the Library which is a great little Agatha Christie novel that keeps you guessing. these books are great palate cleansers and I just started Murder on the Orient Express this morning too.

I am still working through HBR At 100: The Most Influential and Innovative Articles from Harvard Business Review's First Century and waiting to get back The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams and Reaching Your Destiny which got sucked back to the library from my kobo.

[Susan]

Hello, everyone!

This past week I read a short novel that I didn't like very much: Seven Steeples. It was about a couple who remove themselves from society and live in a dilapidated cottage in the country for years. Nothing much happens and I found it a slog.

I am currently reading too many books! I'm still reading A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, which is very good. My library hold came in early for This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for American Democracy (good but strange to be reading while the Jan 6 hearings are going on) and I'm trying to read The Bread the Devil Knead before the Women's Prize announcement this week. And I am also reading The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, which I am loving.

[Susan]

Happy Friday!

This week I finished This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for American Democracy, which (as its title implies) did not end on a hopeful note. I also finished The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, which I loved.

I'm still reading A Mind Spread Out on the Ground and The Bread the Devil Knead.

[Wanda]

Happy weekend! I've been still laughing my way through The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman and I'm close to being finished The Untethered Soul by Michael A Singer. Food for thought in this one. Hope to do some summer reading over the next few weeks as I'm on vacation. Take care everyone!

[Elinor]

I just returned from a six-week driving trip in England and Scotland, and while there I made the most fascinating discovery -- that my family was among those "cleared" when the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland simply kicked out thousands of their tenants in order to make way for sheep farming. My family, like so many others, ended up in Canada.
The astonishing part is that the remains of my family's home still exist near Brora, and I was able to stand on the foundation and look out at the river and the mountains where they said goodbye to Scotland forever in 1821.
As a result, I purchased a very engrossing book Set Adrift upon the World: The Sutherland Clearances and have been properly outraged by the way some 70,000 Highlanders in total were displaced from their homes by English landlords.
The most outrageous thing is that the land is still owned by the current Duke of Sutherland, who resides at his ancestral home down the road, Dunrobin Castle.

[Kathleen]

Oh dear, Elinor. What an amazing discovery.

[Heather(Gibby)]

Wow Elinor sounds like a fantastic trip-and an intriguing family history.

[Wanda]

Happy Friday, I am enjoying some welcomed vacation time and currently half way through The Ditch by Herman Koch. I think his writing style is one that people either love or hate, I find it entertaining.

@Elinor, my family history is similar to your own. Strong roots in Scotland and I will check out the book suggestion about the Sutherland Clearances- tragic losses for so many. What an incredible trip you and your husband had!

[❀ Susan]

Happy Friday!!!

I have not had enough reading time this week. am part way through Death on the Nile after reading a string of Agatha Christie - easy to read and entertaining but so many stereotypes and racist references in some of the stories.

I am part way through Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick after hearing it referenced at a speaking event and still working through HBR at 100: The Most Essential, Influential, and Innovative Articles from HBR's First 100 Years.

[Susan]

Happy Friday!

This week I finished A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, which I enjoyed very much. I also finished The Bread the Devil Knead, which I enjoyed and was set in Trinidad for something out of the ordinary for me. Then, I needed a palate cleanser and quickly read Malibu Rising, a great summer read.

I'm currently reading The Colony, an interesting novel set in Ireland during The Troubles; We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops and Corruption in an American City, so that I can watch the HBO series after reading the book first; and Natasha and Other Stories, for some Canlit.

[Ellen]

Wanda wrote: "Happy Friday, I am enjoying some welcomed vacation time and currently half way through The Ditch by Herman Koch. I think his writing style is one that people either love or hate, I find it entertai..."

Yes. I read "The Dinner" by Herman Koch. His writing style is weird, and The Dinner wasn't my favourite reading ..... But it was intriguing and I did enjoy it. So I guess I'll check out The Ditch ... Thanks!