Canadian Bookworms- Reading what in April 2017?

I'm reading The Shepherd's Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape by James Rebanks is taking me to the fields and hills of the Lake District.

I'm settling in with some non-fiction: Ah-Choo!: The Uncommon Life of the Common Cold, by Jennifer Ackerman. I am also hoping that I am not actually coming down with a cold.

Just started My Name is Leon by Kit De Waal. I ordered it from the UK , because a review in the Guardian looked good - and yes, it is very good so far!

I'm reading (slowly- a few at a time) Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain. What a character! There was a very interesting article about him in the NYer mag. recently and thought I would like to read his books as well as have a peek at his cookbooks. I did read his latest cookbook Appetites: A Cookbook.

Oh, that sounds interesting!

Schooled / Gordon Korman
4 stars

Capricorn has been raised on a commune, by his grandmother, Rain. He has no experience in the “real world”, but when Rain is injured and needs time to heal, Cap is taken in by a social worker and has to go to the local middle school. Cap, the new kid, is nothing like anyone’s ever seen before… this weird hippie kid, who doesn’t understand the first thing about middle school or kids his own age. Because of this, he’s an easy target to pick on.

This was really good. Meant for a younger audience, it’s pretty simple and quick to read, but a good story. I have mixed feelings about the end of the book, but overall, I really enjoyed it.

I'm reading the screenplay, Big Eyes by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, which is the true story of artist Margaret Keane, whose husband claimed credit for her work.

I'm reading Hope Makes Love by Trevor Cole.

I'm reading and enjoying The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman.

This rainy evening is perfect for a big mug of tea and a fat historical novel: We, the Drowned, by Carsten Jensen.

I've started The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara.

Finished two books this week. One I really loved: Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris. The other was mediocre-The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah-the 1st of her Hercule Poirot novels.

Spent a very lazy day reading today and finished a book I really enjoyed: The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson.

>13 ted74ca: Oh I really enjoyed The Summer Before the War too!

Currently reading Gustav's Sonata.

Continuation of >1 mdoris:. I finished The Shepherd's Life and was very interested to learn that Beatrix Potter was a huge contributer and mover/shaker to the preservation of land in the Lake District donating over 4000 acres to the National Trust. So I watched the" Miss Potter" movie and must go read her kids books again ( which I have many). She was a very respected sheep farmer and was well know for her breeding/raising of Herdwick sheep. She wrote/illustrated over 30 books in total! What an amazing person she was!

I'm reading The Mine by John Heldt. It was a book I picked up for free at some point and loaded onto my kindle, but never read. I am working my way through my backlog. I can't collect books and then never read them.

They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children / Romeo Dallaire
3.5 stars

Romeo Dallaire was head of UNAMIR, the peacekeeping mission in Rwanda, just before the genocide in 1994. Since then, he has become involved in trying to stop the use of children as soldiers. This book looks at how and why children become soldiers, some as young as 7 or 8 years old, and offers ways to get this stopped. He also talks a lot about the group he has formed to try to stop it; his group is trying to get the military and humanitarian NGOs to work together. He has done a lot of research and has published papers on the topic.

This is terrible. I have read both Dallaire’s Shake Hands With the Devil (which I highly recommend) and Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone (also recommended). There were a few chapters where Dallaire created a fictional boy who became a soldier, then later a fictional peacekeeper who shot a girl soldier; I thought these chapters, in particular, were very powerful. I hadn’t realized how many girl soldiers were also involved, and they have (many sad) issues of their own. Although some of the nonfiction parts of the book weren’t as interesting (in the second half of the book, as Dallaire talks about trying to get agencies to help stop this), I did find myself reading the bibliography at the end for a couple more books to read on the topic. He does repeat himself a bit, but I forgave him that. He is obviously very passionate about what he is trying to do.

I'm reading The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall.

>17 LibraryCin:, good review. And yes, Shake Hands with the Devil is a must-read.

Not much reading done this week; I wasn't really captivated by my latest book, a thriller. Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard

Currently reading Hillbilly Elegy .

I'm reading Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson.

I've overloaded on fiction lately so pulled a non-fiction off the TBR shelves: 17 Carnations: The Royals, the Nazis and the Biggest Cover-Up in History by Andrew Morton.

I finished my first April read and am continuing to go through my backlog. I'm now reading Stone of Fire by J.F. Penn.

Just finished The Missing by Jane Casey. Held my interest; pretty good suspense novel.

Another murder mystery: The Merchant's House by Kate Ellis. Easy to figure out, but enjoyable.

I am reading Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life by Marta McDowell and about to go to my bookshelves and get her fabulous tiny kids books so I can cross reference to the biography. Peter Rabbit, here I come!

I'm reading The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien.

Taking advantage of being home on Easter Monday to make significant headway on Love Story, With Murders, by Harry Bingham. I've also decided to cue up a new mealtime book: Two Years Before the Mast, by Richard Henry Dana, found via Project Gutenberg.

>22 LynnB: How did you get on with Before I Go to Sleep? I found it fun and very readable as long as you don't dissect it. Just let go and enjoy the ride. It didn't hurt that I knew a film of it was coming out with Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman, and I really like both of them, so imagined them in the parts. (The film turned out just okay --- I think they changed things unnecessarily).

Talking about just okay ... finished The Uncommon Reader the other day. I guess I was expecting more based on the rave reviews. And now I'm on to one I expected to be just okay, but is pretty good, actually ... Station Eleven.

Reading The Dark Circle by Linda Grant. It is short listed for this year Bailey's Prize.

I enjoyed Before I Go to Sleep...it kept me guessing enough to intrigue me. I didn't know they'd made a movie, but I did think it would make a good one.

I'm re-reading The Man in My Basement by Walter Mosley.

I'm reading They Used to Call Me Snow White But I Drifted: Women's Strategic Use of Humor by Gina Barreca.

Onto my next read. Spitfire by Suleiman Ocheni. It is the first book I've received via giveaway on the site and it sounded like an interesting story.

>33 LynnB: great title

I'm reading Let Him Go by Larry Watson.

>36 LynnB: How are you finding it? I believe it's on my tbr.

Just finished the last in a crime fiction series starring Josephine Tey as a character. I've really enjoyed this series. This one was Fear in the Sunlight by Nicola Upson.

Currently reading Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson. A nice creepy change of pace so far! :)

Great psychological thriller: My Husband's Wife by Jane Corry

I'm reading The Torontonians by Phyllis Brett Young.

Finally pulled The Handmaid's Tale off my TBR pile where it's been sitting forever, in light of the television show that just debuted. It's fantastic when I can fool myself into feeling current.

Haven't read a book yet by Emma Donoghue that I haven't liked. This one was a historical fiction novel (based on a true story): The Sealed Letter. Very good read.

I just finished Bees: Nature's Little Wonders by Candace Savage. There has been a lot of talk on LT recently about her bird books.

Another great read this week, again by an author I hadn't read before last year: Chris Bohjalian. This one was Trans-Sister Radio and I found it very interesting and compelling.

I've read Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift.