Number 23: Great Novels from Great Provinces
November, 2019
My last novel was from Nunavut. It was called Give Me My Father's Body by Kenn Harper. It is the story of an Inuit youth, named Minik, from the Arctic who was brought to New York, with six other members of his community. All the other members of his group died due to a variety of illnesses they contracted in the city, including his father. The tragic story continues as Minik tries to reclaim his father's body and to find his place in the world. He doesn't fit in the American world, he doesn't fit in the Inuit world. It was a such sad story.
October 20, 2019
I perhaps need to start researching a little more before making my choice in books. I often choose my books based on the look of the cover, without reading much about it. Sort of how I choose my wine.... not very discerning. My goal in choosing this book was something short that I could pick up at the library. Moccasin Square Gardens fit the bill. A book of short stories. The plus is that it is written by an Indigenous author. I do enjoy reading the stories of our indigenous peoples. Some of the stories in this book left me feeling uneasy. Two stories, in particular, where quite violent. There were also a couple of stories that included a SciFi component. I generally am a fan of SciFi, however I didn't feel it fit well with the traditional story telling. I really did enjoy the last story in the book. Ehtsee/Grandpa made me giggle and brought tears to my eyes.
October 14, 2019
I finally finished reading my chosen book from the Yukon. I chose The Life and Death of the Last Great Gold Rush by Pierre Berton. I was very much looking forward to reading this book. I wonder what possessed people to abandon their lives of comfort (relatively speaking) and head to the barren north in the hopes of finding gold. It would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. The novel itself contained a substantial amount of historically accurate information about the gold rush. I learned a great deal, but found the book challenging to read, hence the excess length of time it took to read it.
End of August, 2019
The Many Lives of Charlotte Taylor is a novel written about the first woman settler of Mirimachi. This story was written by one of Charlotte's descendants. Historical fiction, but quite educational. Charlotte would have been an exceptional woman in her time. I learned a great deal about the challenges she would have met trying to survive in the rough landscape of Mirimachi.
August 5, 2019
I have reached Nova Scotia. I decided to read a non-fiction book about the Halifax explosion. I had heard about the explosion over the years, but really didn't know much about it. It was really interesting. I have never been to Halifax, but I know have added it to my travel bucket list.
There were so many different novels I could have chosen from. This one really appealed to me.
July 16, 2019
I chose Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery as my novel from P.E.I. I was surprised to realize I had never read this novel before. I am very familiar with the story and am such a fan of Megan Follows in her version of the iconic story. I found it hard not to picture her as I read the novel. I very much enjoyed this book. I am tempted to continue reading the series once I have completed the rest of my literary journey across Canada.
June 27, 2019
It took me all month to finish this one. For Newfoundland, I read a book called Sweetland by Michael Crummey. It is a novel about the inhabitants of a small isalnd off the southern coast of Newfoundland. The commercial fishery is closed and many of the younger people have already left in search of work on the mainland. The government comes in and offers relocation money and resettles the community. All leave, except for Moses Sweetland. The book follows as Sweetland survives for a year on his own, without any modern conveniences. It was an interesting read. Sad to think that this is happening to small, isolated communities in our eastern provinces.
May 26, 2019
At the suggestion of my good friend, Vanessa, my novel for Quebec was a Francophone novel. As my skill in reading French is quite rusty, I looked to her to suggest an easy enough novel for me to tackle. She pulled a novel that she uses with her Grade 5/6 FI class. La Nouvell Maitresse is a junior novel by Dominique Demers. It did test my French vocabulary knowledge. I laid in bed with the novel in my hand and my iPad open to an English-French dictionary. In some cases, there were multiple words on any given page that I was not familiar with. It was great. I had a lot of fun dusting off my French reading skills and learned some new French words along the way.
May 20, 2019
Ontario's novel took me a while to read. Not as motivated to read this past little bit, but then I have been busier that usual. This province's novel was given to me by my father-in-law, Gary Foy. It was written by Muriel Lennox, Gary's cousin. The copy we have is inscribed to him. The novel was quite interesting. I knew very little about thoroughbred horse racing until I read it. It is evident that a great deal of research went into the genealogy of thoroughbred race horses, those that led to Nearctic and then, subsequently, his offspring. It reminded me of trying to keep the details of the Royal Family genealogy straight. Thank goodness I don't have to write a test after this one. I would fail miserably. If you love horses, and have any interest in thoroughbred racing, I suggest you give it a read.
March 16, 2019
I somehow skipped Saskatchewan when I was choosing novels to read. My intent was to make my way across the country from West to East. I have corrected this oversight. Saskatchewan's novel in More In Anger by J. Jill Robinson. This novel looks at the three generations of women as wives and mothers and the struggles they endured. I found this novel left me feeling uneasy and angry. The relationships between the three main characters was sad. It's devastating to think people live like this. Such sad lives.
March 8, 2019
My Manitoba novel was The Diviners by Margaret Laurence. I finished it just before leaving on our March Break trip to Florida. It was an interesting read. I found it challenging as I no longer am a deep thinker when I read. I am sure there is so much that I missed in this reading, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
February 10, 2019
I really enjoyed the novel I chose from Alberta. Prairie Ostrich is written by Tamai Koboyashi. It is the story of a young Japanese Canadian girl named Egg, and her struggle as a member of the only Japanese family in rural Alberta. It was a captivating read. I would highly recommend it.
February 7, 2019
I have started reading novels, one from each province, as suggested by Meredith. My first choice was Midnight Hockey by Bill Gaston. It is a non-fiction work about oldtimer hockey. I am generally disinterested in hockey, but the novel was alright. It made me grin a few times and made me grimace a few times as well. I think I might recommend it to a hockey fan. They would probably get more out of it than I did.
I am in the process of deciding between two novels from Alberta. I will let you all know what I choose shortly. Happy reading!
My last novel was from Nunavut. It was called Give Me My Father's Body by Kenn Harper. It is the story of an Inuit youth, named Minik, from the Arctic who was brought to New York, with six other members of his community. All the other members of his group died due to a variety of illnesses they contracted in the city, including his father. The tragic story continues as Minik tries to reclaim his father's body and to find his place in the world. He doesn't fit in the American world, he doesn't fit in the Inuit world. It was a such sad story.
October 20, 2019
I perhaps need to start researching a little more before making my choice in books. I often choose my books based on the look of the cover, without reading much about it. Sort of how I choose my wine.... not very discerning. My goal in choosing this book was something short that I could pick up at the library. Moccasin Square Gardens fit the bill. A book of short stories. The plus is that it is written by an Indigenous author. I do enjoy reading the stories of our indigenous peoples. Some of the stories in this book left me feeling uneasy. Two stories, in particular, where quite violent. There were also a couple of stories that included a SciFi component. I generally am a fan of SciFi, however I didn't feel it fit well with the traditional story telling. I really did enjoy the last story in the book. Ehtsee/Grandpa made me giggle and brought tears to my eyes.
October 14, 2019
I finally finished reading my chosen book from the Yukon. I chose The Life and Death of the Last Great Gold Rush by Pierre Berton. I was very much looking forward to reading this book. I wonder what possessed people to abandon their lives of comfort (relatively speaking) and head to the barren north in the hopes of finding gold. It would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. The novel itself contained a substantial amount of historically accurate information about the gold rush. I learned a great deal, but found the book challenging to read, hence the excess length of time it took to read it.
End of August, 2019
The Many Lives of Charlotte Taylor is a novel written about the first woman settler of Mirimachi. This story was written by one of Charlotte's descendants. Historical fiction, but quite educational. Charlotte would have been an exceptional woman in her time. I learned a great deal about the challenges she would have met trying to survive in the rough landscape of Mirimachi.
August 5, 2019
I have reached Nova Scotia. I decided to read a non-fiction book about the Halifax explosion. I had heard about the explosion over the years, but really didn't know much about it. It was really interesting. I have never been to Halifax, but I know have added it to my travel bucket list.
There were so many different novels I could have chosen from. This one really appealed to me.
July 16, 2019
I chose Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery as my novel from P.E.I. I was surprised to realize I had never read this novel before. I am very familiar with the story and am such a fan of Megan Follows in her version of the iconic story. I found it hard not to picture her as I read the novel. I very much enjoyed this book. I am tempted to continue reading the series once I have completed the rest of my literary journey across Canada.
June 27, 2019
It took me all month to finish this one. For Newfoundland, I read a book called Sweetland by Michael Crummey. It is a novel about the inhabitants of a small isalnd off the southern coast of Newfoundland. The commercial fishery is closed and many of the younger people have already left in search of work on the mainland. The government comes in and offers relocation money and resettles the community. All leave, except for Moses Sweetland. The book follows as Sweetland survives for a year on his own, without any modern conveniences. It was an interesting read. Sad to think that this is happening to small, isolated communities in our eastern provinces.
May 26, 2019
At the suggestion of my good friend, Vanessa, my novel for Quebec was a Francophone novel. As my skill in reading French is quite rusty, I looked to her to suggest an easy enough novel for me to tackle. She pulled a novel that she uses with her Grade 5/6 FI class. La Nouvell Maitresse is a junior novel by Dominique Demers. It did test my French vocabulary knowledge. I laid in bed with the novel in my hand and my iPad open to an English-French dictionary. In some cases, there were multiple words on any given page that I was not familiar with. It was great. I had a lot of fun dusting off my French reading skills and learned some new French words along the way.
May 20, 2019
Ontario's novel took me a while to read. Not as motivated to read this past little bit, but then I have been busier that usual. This province's novel was given to me by my father-in-law, Gary Foy. It was written by Muriel Lennox, Gary's cousin. The copy we have is inscribed to him. The novel was quite interesting. I knew very little about thoroughbred horse racing until I read it. It is evident that a great deal of research went into the genealogy of thoroughbred race horses, those that led to Nearctic and then, subsequently, his offspring. It reminded me of trying to keep the details of the Royal Family genealogy straight. Thank goodness I don't have to write a test after this one. I would fail miserably. If you love horses, and have any interest in thoroughbred racing, I suggest you give it a read.
March 16, 2019
I somehow skipped Saskatchewan when I was choosing novels to read. My intent was to make my way across the country from West to East. I have corrected this oversight. Saskatchewan's novel in More In Anger by J. Jill Robinson. This novel looks at the three generations of women as wives and mothers and the struggles they endured. I found this novel left me feeling uneasy and angry. The relationships between the three main characters was sad. It's devastating to think people live like this. Such sad lives.
March 8, 2019
My Manitoba novel was The Diviners by Margaret Laurence. I finished it just before leaving on our March Break trip to Florida. It was an interesting read. I found it challenging as I no longer am a deep thinker when I read. I am sure there is so much that I missed in this reading, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
February 10, 2019
I really enjoyed the novel I chose from Alberta. Prairie Ostrich is written by Tamai Koboyashi. It is the story of a young Japanese Canadian girl named Egg, and her struggle as a member of the only Japanese family in rural Alberta. It was a captivating read. I would highly recommend it.
February 7, 2019
I have started reading novels, one from each province, as suggested by Meredith. My first choice was Midnight Hockey by Bill Gaston. It is a non-fiction work about oldtimer hockey. I am generally disinterested in hockey, but the novel was alright. It made me grin a few times and made me grimace a few times as well. I think I might recommend it to a hockey fan. They would probably get more out of it than I did.
I am in the process of deciding between two novels from Alberta. I will let you all know what I choose shortly. Happy reading!
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