Bernard Starlight and Quelemia Sparrow in The Ministry of Grace
Ministry of Grace begins its run tonight at Making Treaty 7.
A play written and directed by Tara Beagan, it is a story based on the life of her grandmother.
“The story is inspired by my mom’s mom’s story,” she says, “She was taken into residential school in the 1950s.”
World War II had ended and there was a need for labourers. Beagan’s grandmother worked at a cotton plantation.
“My grandmother somehow got recruited by a travelling evangelical minister to read the Bible on stage as a heathen act,” Beagan continues, “She was literally an Indigenous woman on stage reading the Bible to prove that the Christ is Almighty.”
That time in her life was not something Beagan’s grandmother talked about.
“She passed away when I was only five,” Beagan says. “I got permission from her sister to tell the story, Thanks to grandma, and grand auntie.”
The relationship Indigenous people have with Christianity is complicated.
Beagan says, “They can be deeply spiritual in their traditions, and will attend Catholic Mass or Anglican Church.”
After working on many productions in the past for the stage and screen, Beagan continues to find motivations to tell Indigenous stories.
“That is where my heart lives, where my heart beats,” she says. When working on non-Indigenous projects, “It is more challenging to buy in especially when it is a long run. What to do is look at the artists around you and be open to be inspired by them. When it comes to Indigenous stories, it is my raison d’etre.
Four actors are in the cast for the production.
Quelemia Sparrow plays Mary. She has performed at Gateway Theatre and Stratford.
Stafford Perry plays the villain Brother Cain. Perry is known for the many theatre roles he has played in Calgary.
Bernard Starlight plays Clem. He is a Genie-nominated film actor for the 2004 film Hank Williams First Nation.
Lara Schmitz plays Lizzie Mae. She performed in a production of Ministry of Grace for Belfry Theatre in Victoria.
They are seasoned actors that helped bring the script to life, which allows a small gesture with a prop in one scene to have significance later on in the show.
The production is from April 13-April 23 at The Grand 1 Street Southwest Calgary.
Ella Enchanted begins its run tonight in Calgary with many shows already sold out.
A theatre production for kids and their families, the play follows a young girl as she sets off to break a curse. The curse demands that she must remain obedient all the time.
The play stars Niña Arny Mabugat in the title role.
Samantha Currie is the director of the play. She says, “The hope is the magic in the show will bring hope to those who see it.”
The last show Currie directed with Storybook Theatre was Disney’s Descendants in 2022. She returns to direct Ella Enchanted which has a smaller cast of 10.
Speaking on the phone a few days before the production, Currie says, “Elements of the show came together in the last 2 week. It was a wonderful fast-moving process.”
She continues, “It is always special when a show has magic, as well as singing and dancing, and there will be real magic.”
Currie considers it a real joy to work on the show with young emerging artists.
There are young people in the audience and seniors. Located in a residential neighbourhood, the community is supportive of Storybook Theatre.
Currie says the musical she has her eye on in directing would be Side Show on Broadway.
“It is a big musical I would like to get my hands on,” she says.
Ella Enchanted is set to perform from April 7 to April 22, Tuesdays to Saturdays at 7 pm with Matinee performances on Saturday & Sundays at 2 pm
Storybook Theatre is located at the Beddington Theatre Arts Centre at 375 Bermuda Drive NE Calgary. For more information and tickets visit www.storybooktheatre.org
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai Penguin Books 2018
With a new book published in February, I thought I would read Rebecca Makkai’s previous novel, The Great Believers.
Yale Tishman is an art gallery curator in the 1980s and is part of the gay community in Chicago.
He finds himself diagnosed with HIV, something the community must deal with during the politically hostile time during the Reagan administration.
Fiona is the younger sister of a friend named Nico. She does what she can at a young age to help her brother and his friends, after Nico was not welcomed by his parents after they found out he was gay.
Thirty years later in Paris, Fiona is staying with a photographer who documented the LGBTQIA+ community during the 1980s. She is also searching for a daughter she had been separated from for many years.
After spending time at the annual Pride parade, and queer film festival in town for many years, I know vaguely the history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the gay community, but I had not read an entire book on the subject until The Great Believers.
The author discusses the role of an ally in the telling of the story and history in the acknowledgements, and the need to read further from accounts by members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
The novel is well crafted with nuance, wit, as well as detachment and distance in some places, and intimacy and passion in others. The story carries the reader through the process of queer community building, political movement and protest, as well as dealing with grief and mortality.
Books on the Go
Cherish Farrah by Bethany C. Morrow
Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
I posted my April TBR earlier this week in a video I made that is currently on Youtube. Find it here https://youtu.be/pbxJIli3-UQ
Here is the list of books just in case you missed the video:
Count Zero by William Gibson is the second book in the Sprawl trilogy that begins with Neuromancer. As the second book, there can be a few words said about it without spoiling the first book.
A mercenary wakes up one day beside a woman. He has no memory of what has happened before. He takes on a job where he must retrieve a microchip from a corporation.
Marly has her own mission to accomplish. The story alternates between action, and quieter moments of enjoying time at home drinking coffee or out on a hike in the woods.
There are also the crowds of the city and the demands that a city has on its denizens to fulfill roles as just one in million souls packed together and connected together by gears and wires.
Cyberspace is the imagined frontier where the movie action takes place. It seems to be a brand new place, but it is powered by language, with the promise of the cloud to store them in addition to the dusty old libraries of Tibet.
Books on the Go
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Mango & Peppercorns: A Memoir of Food, an Unlikely Family, and The American Dream by Tung Nguyen, Katherine Manning, and Lyn Nguyen with Elisa Ung
The Magician’s Daughter by H.G. Parry
Friday Reads March 17
Review
Lullabies for Little Children by Heather O’Neill is a powerful story that brings to light the struggles that members of the community can experience.
Baby is 13 years old. Her mother has passed away. She lives with her father Jules who has flights of fancy, and has a drug addiction. He acts like a child in many ways and will sometimes leave Baby on her own for days on end.
Baby is taken to juvenile detention even though she is really smart. She meets Alphonse who could be her downfall.
The story is a harrowing read, that seems to get worst as it goes. It is simply told, making the book easy to follow, as well as the story to stand out in the reader’s mind.
All throughout the book, the reader is constantly reminded that the protagonist is a child, which makes it particularly horrifying, with humour sprinkled in to soften the blow.
Trigger warnings for drug use, prostitution, and sex with a minor
Books on the Go
Flood of Fire by Amitav Ghosh
Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Friday Reads March 10
Review
In a dark, dark wood by Ruth Ware
It will be spring in less than two weeks. Doesn’t seem like it with the snow and cold, which makes it still a season to appreciate In a dark, dark wood by Ruth Ware. Her debut novel from 2015, around 8 years have passed since the book launched her as a mystery writer.
The book follows Leonora who travels to the countryside to stay with old friends from college to have one last get-together before one of them gets married. Told in two timelines, Leonora has woken up at the hospital after the accident and must piece together what happened, and there is the timeline of the start of the trip when she arrives at the house and gets to know friends she had not seen for 10 years.
Along with the suspense of trying to figure out who the culprit could be, the story is also about friendship, growing up and growing apart, as well as individuals forming self-identity after college in their career or family life. It was interesting to read the individual stories from the group of friends, while the author maintained the fast pace of a mystery novel.
Books on the Go
These are a few titles I have been reading this week and would like to get done soon.
The Cine Star Salon by Leah Ranada
Queen of Thieves by Beezy Marsh
Count Zero by William Gibson
Friday Reads March 3, 2023
The days pass by. Another Friday is here. I have another post this week. For a few months there, I have neglected this website. I am trying to put more effort into it and with spring drawing nearer, this seems like a good time to do it.
I have read a few pages since my last post. Still not reading as fast as I would like. I am taking it easy these days, but I do want to give reading and writing about my reading a good effort.
Since last week, I have made progress in a few books. Here are a couple of early reviews. I will definitely have more thoughts once I have completed reading these.
Little Gods by Meng Jin
Su Lan is a scientist. She is married and has a child. One day, she and her husband are caught up in student demonstrations. He disappears, and she is left to raise her daughter by herself. She holds her own with the male physicists in her department, and leaves for a post at an American university. Her daughter grows up in the U.S. and brings her ashes back to China for burial. There is more to the story. I have read only the first 50 pages, so there is more to go.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens A bit of meandering story, with satire and exaggeration, it is the look at a people as change is afoot. Charles Dickens writes about the French Revolution a century later during the Industrial Revolution. What the future holds is not known, but literacy reaches more people, even as so many struggle: “It was the best of time, it was the worst of time.” Ordinary people grasped onto the promises and ideals of revolution, even when the work ahead would take longer, and will go beyond what they had dreamt that would be brought about through technological and social change. I have read 100 pages of the book and plan to keep at it.
Books I want to start this weekend:
Queen of Thieves by Beezy Marsh
Cine Star Salon by Leah Ranada
Flood of Fire by Amitav Ghosh
A new month is on the horizon as I look forward to all the books I could read. With the passage of time, I might even learn something or not.
With spring approaching, there is hope that it will be a better year.
My reading is hectic these days, so I haven’t kept up this blog during the last two weeks. It feels like I am making progress, but I am reading several books at a time, so my focus is a bit scattered.
At the time of this post, I have read over the 50% mark of Saints of Big Harbour by Lynn Coady. Reading a book set in a small town in Nova Scotia, Canada, I somehow get a sense of the land in the unspoken words in the book. The story follows young Guy as he is growing up with his mother and uncle. His uncle wants Guy to be someone, a man who cannot be looked down on so gets onto the hockey team. Guy has aspirations to leave his hometown to attend school in the larger community and accomplish what his uncle is unable to do.
Sometimes a person is unable to adapt to changes and demands a society requires. Contemporary life means being able to fit into an urban lifestyle that challenges many when they try to make a place for themselves in the community and to contribute meaningfully when the way cities are designed to encourage space and separation from friends and neighbours. The space and separation while also living in close proximity to a large population of other human beings means having to care and worry about differences, even when there is an impulse to only look after oneself, or those in the immediate family because of capitalism and competition for resources. Further study is needed that will require a trip to Atlantic Canada in the near future.
It took me a few tries to make my reading list for January. I kept putting titles on it, then removing them as my interests changed over the weeks when deciding which books I would be reading in the first month of the new year.
I want to read new books, but I also have so many backlist titles in physical and e-book format. I have a lot to choose from.
I have enjoyed the last couple of years of book blogging. I will be continuing on with that and perhaps bring in other interests I have from the world of art, culture, and entertainment.
Here is my TBR for January::
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Descendant of the Crane by Joan He
Count Zero by William Gibson
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
Saints of Big Harbour by Lynn Coady
Here Is A Story… Monday Reads Update Jan 16
Chinese New Year Festivities are underway in the city I live. This is a perfect time to dive into Chinese dramas. I have the fortune to dive into Descendant of the Crane by Joan He this weekend, which I think of as a historical cdrama in written form.
Hesina is the heir to the throne. Her father the emperor has passed away and Hesina is convinced he was murdered. She sets out to find the killer. She also assumes the throne and must learn statecraft with bigger stakes that she had not been aware of as just a member of the royal household.
As any good cdrama, there is political intrigue, romance, and martial arts. With only a 100 pages into the book, there is more to the story to unravel. We’ll see how this goes.
The Allure of the Sea Monday Reads Update Jan 9
It is getting later in the day. The pale blue sky outside the window is the reminder of the colours sparked when reading about being near or beside water. Two recent reads inspire a visit to the sea.
The first of the reads is A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow. This is a YA Fantasy title following Tavia and her sister. The story slowly unfolds as it shows the life Tavia has as a Black American teenager with the powers of a siren. In Greek mythology, sirens are beings who have beautiful voices who lure sailors from their berths. The reader gets to know Tavia and her friends and family members. The story is also about racism and police violence. The magic in the world is woven into the everyday lives of the teenagers, and there are rules that magical beings have to live by in a world that is hostile to their abilities. The transitions between character perspectives are almost non-existent, so there can be confusion on who is speaking, whether it is Tavia or her sister Effie. There is also representation of hearing disabilities and mental illness. Trigger warning for depiction of attempted suicide.
The second book that has to do with the sea is a translated work, Woman At Sea by Catherine Poulain which follows a woman who has arrived at a fishing community in Alaska from France. She joins a crew of fishermen and sets out to be one of them. The writing is sparse and has a rhythmic quality that is attractive to the reader. There are descriptions of working and living in close quarters with other fishermen, as well as the physical demands in meeting the quotas in fish for market. With only 50 pages read at this point, there will be more to discuss in a future blog entry.
Monday Reads Update January 2, 2023
I am in the middle of watching a palace intrigue. High-ranking officials are gathered at a feast with the reigning monarch. The room I sit in has a cluttered desk and the bookcases are full. It is 2023. With time and distance, I think I have a fairly good life, although it could always be better. I have read 2/3rds of my first book of the year. The book in question is Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. It is an interesting story set in the 1920s Mexico when the jazz age reaches the bigger cities. Change is in the air following the end of the first world war where there is a rejection of old ways.
Published only a few years ago, Gods of Jade and Shadow has the feel of a contemporary travel story, recounting aspects of Mexican history and culture, and has a fantasy element as the main character, Casiopea Tun has left her small town with a Mayan death god she has freed from a box her grandfather kept among his things. I have a few more chapters left until the end. A few questions arise – why keep things from long ago, and what power do they have on the new generation?
It is Christmas Day as I am writing this blog. Now that it is at the end of the year, I am finding myself not really getting into the reading mood, although I have a few obligations I have to meet.
I started a couple of books that are holding my interest for the moment, but that will certainly change as I will be working on author interview segment for the radio program I help out with that is dedicated to the literary arts.
Here are the books:
I.Q. by Joe Ide
It is the start to a mystery series following Isaiah Quintabe – a high school drop-out turned crime solver – who lives in East Long Beach, LA. So far I find it to have the voice of a male in his teens with vocabulary from Black hip hop culture. I could see the language being offensive to outsiders.
The English Agent by Philip DePoy
This is also a book from a mystery series. This time it takes places in the 16th century with Christopher Marlowe who is considered to be a rival to Shakespeare during the Elizabethan Era. The book also focuses characters from the peasant class at the time.
Monday Reads Update Dec 19
It is getting closer to Christmas. During this time of year, I am enjoying some time reading and watching videos. I am enjoying BookTube more than holiday movies and new shows streaming online. I want to be part of the pop culture conversation, but I am finding myself clicking on small content creator channels than the more flashy and better funded programs online
I have made progress reading a couple of titles. My reading pace is going much more slowly than the lofty goals I give myself each week. Here’s what I have been reading:
Mr. Flood’s Last Resort by Jess Kidd Atria Books
An older man lives alone in his home. It is cluttered and full of things he does not want to give up even when they are junk piling up. Maud Drennan is there as a caregiver and is looking after him while thre is a decision being made to move to a retirement home. Mr. Flood is resisting the idea. There is a fantasy element to the book that is almost unexpected. I don’t think I have had a favourite book all year, so this book is a surprise to me and I see it as something that is a perfect read even though I was skeptical when I first started reading the book.
Severance by Ling Ma Farrar, Straus, Giroux
Candance leaves the big city to join a small group of office and IT workers who are making a small community to wait out a medical outbreak. The book is a literary sci-fi novel that also explores the life of a woman and her parents from China. It also provides commentary on life working in the city, finding work as part of a corporation and being able to be part of modern society and work life.
There is dark humour and satirical tone to the writing as well as the bleak future that lies ahead as the population is dwindling because of a pandemic. Published in 2018, I waited until the end of 2022 –after three years of the Covid-19 pandemic – to read the book.
Monday Reads Update December 12, 2022
A few years ago, I read the novel, The Chosen Maiden by Eva Stachniak that focused on the ballet dancer Bronia Nijinska. The novel covered a lot of ground the biography covers in the first 20 pages of the Njinsky biography by Lucy Moore on Bronia’s famous brother Vaslav Nijinsky. The biography dives into the world of ballet at the end of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. The time when Vaslav lived was a time of tremendous political and social upheavals, with the Russian revolution and the two world wars. So far the writing gives an airy and inviting quality to a book about dance, while also giving the details of the struggles artists had at the time to make a living.
For the most part, I am drawn to the books by Jess Kidd by the covers. I don’t really know that many details about the books themselves. I have the debut book Himself in my collection, but I have decided to read Mr. Flood’s Last Resort because the colours on the cover are ones that I associate with my favourite season of the year, Lunar New Year (and Christmas)! The book follows Maud Drennan, a caregiver with the task of looking after Mr. Flood who lives in his beloved and cluttered home and is faced with the possibility having to move to a more manageable space as he is getting older. This is quiet domestic drama that seems so far to be a cozy read during the holiday season.
A few days into December, I find myself wondering away from the reading list I made a list of books to read for a Christmas-themed readathon.
I finished a book I pre-ordered when I heard it was being published. A year after getting it in the mail, I have completed the book.
That book is China Unbound: A New World Disorder by Joanna Chiu. I do pay attention when there is news from and about China, but I haven’t made it my mission to look more closely at the people, issues and concerns that Chiu has done as a reporter. I do read headlines and the news articles from time-to-time, so reading a book on current events as those are changing and developing is a fascinating experience.
I am continuing with a book I already started. That book is De Niro’s Game by Rawi Hage. I can see myself reading it during the week. It is a literary fiction novel that has elements of a thriller set in Beirut, Lebanon that has been torn by war. I thought this would be a quick read, but I find myself taking my time with this. Reading the book gets me wanting to get back to reading a non-fiction title on related subjects. That book is From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas L. Friedman, published in 1989.
My reading proves to be dreary than cheery for the holidays. I keep putting off reading these titles in my collection until time passes and they linger on my shelves unread. I am doing my best to mix up my reading so that there is a good mix of more light-hearted tales, and thus far I think I am doing pretty well.
Another week is passing by. I find I am losing steam in my interest in reading. I end up reading a few chapters here and there, and don’t feel pressure to speed through any books I have on the go at the moment.
I started reading The Alice Network by Kate Quinn a few years ago when it was a book club pick at my neighbourhood. I only read 100 pages then. This weekend, I started where I had stopped, and I don’t seem to have lost anything by not going back to the beginning of the novel.
It follows Charlie St. Clair as she travels through Europe during the aftermath of WWII. She is trying to find her cousin Rose who has disappeared during the war. She gets training as a spy with Eve as her instructor. Eve served in WWI and has demons that haunt her, although she continues to give instructions to a younger generation of spies. I am now close to the halfway mark of the novel.
I also started Master of Poisons by Andrea Hairston. It is YA Science Fiction and Fantasy who follows a range of characters as they live in a world where the desert has enormous power in the lives of the people who live there. There is magic and sorcery, as well as political intrigue. The writing is lyrical when describing the natural world. I have read around 50 pages and do not know if I will finish it before it is due back at the library.
I have a few other things I am busy with this week. I may or may not talk about them here. Until next time, happy reading!
Monday Reads Update Nov 14
It is Monday again. That means it is time for another Monday Reads Update. Hope you had a good weekend wherever you are. I have a few books to talk about.
I am nearly to the end of The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware. It is a mystery set at a remote estate in Scotland. Reading the book recalls other stories set at remote estates, such as The Secret Garden and Jane Eyre. The story follows Rowan, a childcare worker, who gets a job as a nanny. She meets the couple near the start of the story, but for the most part, it is her and the three young children she must look after. There is also the groundskeeper Jack Grant. He seems to be a reliable and helpful person. Something is strange about the house, such as the strange sounds in the night. The house is a mix of Victorian architecture and the latest computer-operated technology. I found most of the story to be a quiet easy-going mystery, with the scary parts to seem like they are all in Rowan’s head, although there are clues to suggest that someone or something is causing the frightful incidents to occur.
I also started reading The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. After the first story, I am immediately pulled back to a story I remember from childhood. After so much time has passed, it is easy to forget the little details from a children’s story. While reading the story, I find myself immersed back into a familiar territory that is slightly altered by time as an adult reading the story many years later.
Another book I started this past weekend is Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. I have had the book for awhile. Only now am I getting around to it after finding out there will be a miniseries that will start showing this week. It is about Toby Fleishman a middle-aged man who is a doctor. He is divorced, has parental responsibility with his ex-wife, while also trying to date. Then his former girlfriend from years ago appears again and the reader gets a glimpse of her life as well. I have read about 40 pages, so there is still more of the story to delve into. I will report back once I know more.
That’s it for now and happy reading!
Monday Reads Update Nov 7
After a month of spooky stories, you would think I would get tired of them. It is the first Monday of November, and I am continuing my reading, and finding out about authors I had not read before.
The Ghost Clause by Howard Norman is my library book pick of the week. The story follows Simon Inescort who has become a ghost. Set in Vermont, the reader meets the widow Lorca Pell, and the newlyweds she sells their property to. It appears to be quiet haunting and mystery tale that is good to read on a cold day while staying indoors.
I will try to remember to report back once I had read the book.
A book I made progress on this week was De Niro’s Game by Rawi Hage. It is a work from 2006. The author is a finalist for the Giller Prize for his short story collection, Stray Dogs, which will be announced later tonight. Published during a time of war in the Middle East, reading the story recalls the creative output from Hollywood. De Niro’s Game does read like an action movie. I have read 1/3 of the book, and plan to return to it.
I also completed one novella this past weekend. That book is Burning Roses by S.L. Huang. The story follows the brave warrior Rosa, and the adventures she goes through, as well as being held accountable for the crimes she commits. It was a fast-paced fantasy with LGBTQIA+ representation, and does delve into questions of morality when carrying out acts of violence, whether there is just cause or not.
That is it for me for this week. Happy reading!
Monday Reads Update Oct 31
Happy Halloween. Hope you enjoyed your weekend.
I started my Nonfiction November picks early. I read the first section of Emerging Africa by Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu, which gives a brief overview of world politics and systems that have developed in the last century or so, providing context for how Africa has changed in that time. Published in 2014, the writing still sounds fresh and relevant 8 years later. I can see myself reading the rest of the book on my weekends as I do not feel the urgency in reading the entire book in one or two sittings. I haven’t read enough to give a fuller analysis than that.
I also made progress on reading another book that I have been meaning to get around to. That book is The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware. The story follows Rowan, a childcare worker who applies for a new job as a nanny. She travels to a remote estate to meet her new employers and finds herself immediately drawn into their luxurious lifestyle and the house they live in which is a mix of modern and Victorian architecture. There is something about the house that is strange on top of the technological advances her employers have outfitted the house with.
So far, I have found my reading to be fairly productive, although I could have made more time in getting more pages read. That’s it for this week’s post. Happy reading until you hear from me again.
Nonfiction November TBR
It is already the last Friday before November. Time to put together a TBR for the new month. Here are a few titles I have in mind. They are not necessarily books published this year. There are older ones, which might be outdated.
I have selected 4 books from my collection that are for Nonfiction November. It is reading initiative started by Olive at @abookolive to encourage the reading of more nonfiction.
Book Titles:
Emerging Africa by Kingsley Chiedu Penguin Books, 2014
The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride Riverhead Books, 2006
In Search of A Better World by Payam Akhavan House of Anansi, 2017
Bedroom Rapper: Cadence Weapon on Hip-Hop, Resistance and Surviving the Music Industry by Rollie Pemberton McClelland & Stewart, 2022
I have fiction titles I would like to read in November, but I will save those for another time.
Days ago, I was 5 books away from my reading goal for the year. Now, I have 3 books left to read before I reach 52 books! In years past, I have read more than this, and other years I have read less. It depends how I feel at the start of each year. It is only the last week of October. There are 2 whole months left to read, and I think I can take it easy for a while until the new year begins.
I have made progress on two books over the weekend. I read to around the 60 per cent mark of The Innocents by Michael Crummey. It feels like a story for young people. It has the whimsey of a children’s book, has children as the main characters, and draws from the Bible. It is bleak and dreary story to read, with an uncomfortable subject.
The second book I have made progress with is Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald. It also has religious themes, and is also by an Atlantic Canadian writer. The author recently released a new book called Fayne which takes place in the 19th century. I am finding the older work very interesting, and reflective of the time it was published in the 1990s.
Monday Reads Update
Oct 17
It is already halfway through the month. As the colder air settles in, I am finding a renewed interest in reading again. It could be from the knowledge that it school is in session once again, although I personally do not attend classes. I have made reading a job in my mind, so I feel the need to be productive in a way I did not feel it was before. There are times when I am a mood reader, but at this time, I have reached a point where I find I can read the books in my TBR, even when I might have lost interest in a few titles since I put the list together.
I read two books this past week that I found interesting and compelling.
The first was Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, which is a YA Novel about Lina, who is taken from Lithuania with her mother and younger brother and sent to a work camp in Siberia in 1941. It is a poignant read with the current war in Europe.
The second book I read was How We Fall Apart by Katie Zhao, which is about an Asian American teenager who has become a ghost and it is up to her best friends to solve the mystery. They go to school at a prestigious preparatory school where the academic expectations are high. This is also a YA title.
I am normally an adult fiction reader, but for some reason I have found myself reading more YA than I would typically read.
Monday Reads Update
Oct 10
It is Canadian Thanksgiving and I am thankful to have fresh roast turkey for the second time this week. I already had turkey last week!
Anyways, I don’t really have much to say in this post. I have finished one book since Friday.
I read Actress by Anne Enright which follows the life of famous Irish actress Katherine O’Dell. It tells of the more realistic and messy life of a woman behind all the glamour the public gets to see when seeing her on a theatre stage or on their movie and television screens.
This was the perfect book to read after spending a week at a film festival during the last week of September. It discusses the nature of fame, the personal sacrifices an artist might have to make to remain in the public eye.
I am also still reading two more books this weekend. They are Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King and How We Fall Apart by Katie Zhao. Green Grass, Running Water is about the Indigenous community in Southern Alberta, and How We Fall Apart is about an Asian American high school student who ends up a ghost. I hope to finish one or both this week.
Monday Reads Update
Oct 3
A week has gone by since my last post. I had a long week, and it was worth it taking in the stories and ideas on the silver screen and from the written word.
I made progress on my reading this weekend and I hope this mood sticks around for a while with the many reading goals I have.
I resumed reading a book I had started from last year. That book is The Forest of a Stolen Girls by June Hur. It is a YA historical mystery set in the Joseon-era Korea in the 13th century. A young woman sets out to find her father and ends up finding girls had gone missing from the the island of Jeju.
The book explores the roles and expectations society had for women at the time, had a compelling mystery that involved social status and politics, and fast-paced action.
While I did not read the book in one day, I was really drawn into the story and was able to complete it on an afternoon when other things were happening around me.
I also made progress reading another book. That book is Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King. An Indigenous author who has lived in the United States and Canada, this is the third book by King I have read.
The previous books I have read were The Truth About Stories, the Massey Lecture King gave in 2003. I also read the Inconvenient Indian, a non-fiction account of colonization that is delivered with humour and pop culture references, which has been part of King’s writing from an early stage of his career.
The approach is present in Green Grass, Running Water from 1993. I had reached almost to the halfway point of the book as I type this, so hopefully I will find the time to read the rest. If it does not happen during the week, then perhaps during the weekend.
October TBR
The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai Actress by Anne Enright The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Carry-Overs
On Such a Full Sea by Chang-Rae Lee Shelter by Jung Yun Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King
Extras
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn I.Q. by Joe Ide Flood of Fire by Amitav Ghosh
A couple of weeks have passed since my last update and they have been filled with some highs and lows. My days a filled with stories of all kinds. It is film festival season, so I read during the day and go to the movies at night. I get to watch some interesting, fun, intriguing, and heart-felt movies. Over time, I might tell you about them, but the moment I am just soaking everything in. Maybe down the road you will hear from me about the wonderful stories I have had the pleasure and privilege to enjoy.
Since Friday, I have made some progress of a couple of books. I could have spent more time reading, but I was distracted a fair bit, and I needed more rest than I thought I would need. I get more tired easily, which means I need to exercise more to build up stamina for all the days I end up reading or on the computer. I need to figure out a schedule that will allow me more time being active and social, while also getting in all the work that is ahead for the fall and winter.
Now two books I have made progress with this past weekend are Shelter by Jung Yun, which reminds me of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, and Burning Roses by S.L. Huang which is a novella in an East Asian-inspired fantasy setting and follows a couple of women warriors.
Monday Reads Update
Sept 12
Another weekend is over. I am here to provide an update on my reading. I made progress on two books, and started two more books that were not on my TBR at the start of the month.
I have around 100 pages of Misery by Stephen King left. I can see myself finishing it before the end of the day.
I read around 50 pages of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë and can see myself working on it for the next week or so. I would like to finish it before the end of the month.
The two books I started are The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr and Stephen Harper by John Ibbitson.
For some reason, I haven’t been following book awards this year as in previous years. The recent announcement of the finalists for the Canadian Giller Prize has me excited, and I was able to get a copy of The Sleeping Car Porter, which is one of the nominated books. I should be done this book fairly soon.
Things are also happening on the political sphere in Canada, so I decided to go back to a biography of a former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper. He was leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, which formed government in 2006, and he served as Prime Minister from 2006 to 2015.
One book I would like to start this week, but not sure if I will have time is The Cine Star Salon by Leah Ranada. It is also by a Canadian author and it is on my TBR for September, but I still have not had a chance to read it yet.
The book is about a young woman who wants to start a hair salon business, but her parents want her to pursue academics.
Books Mention in Post:
Misery by Stephen King
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr
Stephen Harper by John Ibbitson
The Cine Star Salon by Leah Ranada
Monday Reads Update
Sept 5
Since Friday, I have completed another book. That book is Heart by Semezdin Mehmedinović. It is a literary fiction based on the author’s life. The protagonist is 50 years old. He is living in Virginia with his partner for many years. He left Bosnia as a refugee during the war which he reflects on, while also having to deal with the present. As he and his partner are getting ready to move, he has a heart attack, and is taken to the hospital where he experiences a vulnerability he had not experienced for many years.
I also completed Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis this past week, which I talk about in my Friday Reads video. Check the link below to see it.
Now here is a list of books I would like to prioritize for this work week:
