The first half of this month was marked by very little reading. But the second half of the month was all books all the time. Maybe it was all the rain we got that kept me inside and curled up on the couch. I did not read most of the books I had planned on reading during the month but I found some other great ones to get into. And of course, I did not blog like I had hoped so this continues to be a work in progress. Here is what I read in May: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I Can't Make This Up: Life Lessons - Kevin Hart ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Into the Water - Paula Hawkins The Other Half of Happiness - Ayisha Malik When Dimple Met Rishi - Sandhya Menon Run, Hide, Repeat: A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood - Pauline Dakin ⭐⭐⭐ The Last Neanderthal - Claire Cameron This is That: Travel Guide to Canada - This is That Fierce Kingdom - Gin Phillips June I don’t have much planned in terms of what books I want to read in June. The Child by Fiona Barton is coming out, it is one tha
“But where are you from, really?” This is a question that Canadians of all walks of life are often asked. Part of our identity as Canadians is that we all come from somewhere else, and no matter how long ago, it is a defining part of who we are. But for many people, this question is about more than where their family came to Canada from. For many, it brings about a question of home and belonging. These are the ideas that Esi Edugyan explored in her 2013 Henry Kreisel Memorial Lecture, Dreaming of Elsewhere: Observations on Home . Born in Canada to parents from Ghana, Esi Edugyan has travelled to and lived in various countries, all the while searching for her identity and coming to understand the meaning of home. As an author, Edugyan also reflects on Canadian literature and the notion of the “Canadian story.” Her wildly successful novel, Half-Blood Blues , was set outside of Canada, and something she often heard was that it was not a typical Canadian novel. But a
Ten-year-old Elly Verkest is a first-generation Canadian born after the Second World War. Her father, Gaston, is Belgian and her mother, Mina, is Dutch. Growing up in Southern Ontario, in a small town filled with Dutch and Belgians, she is carving out her own unique Canadian identity. Her father raises pigeons and often travels back to Belgium for business. But he doesn’t return from one of his trips. As Elly and Mina struggle to build a new life without him, their relationship becomes strained and they grow apart. As a young adult, Elly decides to travel to Belgium in search of her father, and is shocked at what she discovers. Elly returns to Canada, pregnant by a man she met while in Antwerp. When her daughter Linda is grown up, she develops a close relationship with Mina, much to the dismay of her mother. And as this relationship develops, the family secrets spill out. Fire and Air , by Erik Vlaminck and translated by Paul Vincent, is a novel about a family t
Darn, I missed that bookstore in Porto when I was there a couple of years ago. Wasn't listed in Rick Steves book, evidently.
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