Spell the Month in Books: September

 

I just discovered this readerly link-up, Spell the Month in Books (hosted every month by Reviews From the Stacks) It reminds me of the early days of blogging when there were all kinds of memes and challenges making the rounds. They are usually great fun, so I was happy to find this.

The theme for September is From Your TBR List, so I have a multitude of choices! And I decided to join in. The rules are very simple – spell the current month using the first letter of book titles, excluding articles such as ‘the’ and ‘a’ as needed. Happy September!

S - The Silence of Scheherezade / Defne Suman

E - The End of August / Yu Miri

P - The Premonition / Banana Yoshimoto

T - The Twilight Zone / Nona Fernandez

E - The Eighth Life / Nino Haratischwili

M - Medusa / Martine Desjardins

B - Babbacombe's / Susan Scarlett

E - Expiation / Elizabeth von Arnim

R - Rhododendron Pie / Margery Sharp 

A Year in First Lines: 2017 in Review

my annual calendar purchase

As usual at this time of year, I review and share my reading/blogging year with First Lines.

Simply put, we share the first line of the first post of each month and see what that overview tells us about our year. Often it can be an uncannily accurate summary.

If you haven't tried this before, give it a go this year; it's a fun exercise, and often summarizes the year quite efficiently. If you do, please share a link in the comments so we can all enjoy!

Anyhow, without further ado, here is my 2017 in First Lines:


January:
I don't usually make complex resolutions at the New Year; I like to set an intention instead.
[from Imagine] 


February:
I absolutely loved Warren's Governor-General's Award winning  novel, Cool Water.
[from Liberty Street by Dianne Warren] 


March:
This book has been getting a lot of buzz, so when it was my turn to take it home from the library I was really excited. 
[from All Our Wrong Todays] 


April:
This newly released book was a beautiful and bittersweet read.
[from Where I Live Now]
 

May: 
July 1st is coming soon! I'm lucky enough to be taking over the hosting duties for the marvellous Canadian Book Challenge from John at the Book Mine Set. 
[from 11th Annual Canadian Book Challenge] 


June:
One more month to think about signing up for the 11th Annual Canadian Book Challenge!
[from 11th Annual Canadian Book Challenge: One Month Countdown] 


July:
Welcome to the kick-off of the 11th Annual Canadian Book Challenge! We're glad to have you along for the ride.
[from Welcome to the 11th Annual Canadian Book Challenge with Canadian Road Trip Novels] 


August:
And here it is, August again! I will be reading along with #WomenInTranslation month, created and hosted by Meytal at Biblibio. 
[from August is Women In Translation Month!] 


September:
If you're wondering why it's been kind of quiet over here for the last few weeks it's because I've been busy getting another reading challenge going... this time a readalong & sewalong at my other, sewing, blog. 
[from The Literary Sewing Circle]


October:
Just in time for Halloween, I finally weigh in with my first book review of the month, a delightfully witchy book by Alice Hoffman. 
[from Hoffman's Rules of Magic] 


November:
This is a mystery novel that's light on the mystery even though there is a murder; it's more interested in the way the crime changes the life of garden/lifestyle journalist Robin MacFarland. 
[from Flush: A Mystery]


December: 
As my longer-term readers may know, horror is not my first choice for a good read. 
[from The Bone Mother]

******************************************************

There we have it: a pretty typical year -- lots of talking about books with some reading challenges thrown in there. Especially for those 3 months when I was obviously really enthusiastic about taking over the hosting for the Canadian Book Challenge! I also enjoyed a sewing/reading challenge at my other blog, and fyi for anybody into sewing or textiles, I'll be running another round of the Literary Sewing Circle starting in late January. Keep your eyes peeled! 

Hope your readerly year was just as enjoyable as mine, even if other parts of 2017 were pretty crummy. Let's all hope and work for a better 2018.

2016 First Lines: A Year in Review

My annual calendar choice

As usual at this time of year, I review and share my reading/blogging year with First Lines.

Simply put, we share the first line of the first post of each month and see what that overview tells us about our year. Often it can be an uncannily accurate summary.

If you haven't tried this before, give it a go this year; it's a fun exercise, and often summarizes the year quite efficiently. If you do, please share a link in the comments so we can all enjoy!

Anyhow, without further ado, here is my 2016 in First Lines:

January
I recently read this book on the recommendation of Kate Sutherland, who said it wasn't to be missed, which was then seconded by Kerry Clare, whose review has recently gone up at her blog.

[from Birdie by Tracey Lindberg]

February
The Year of the Monkey begins!

[from Happy Year of the Monkey!] 

March
I picked up this book on a sale table one day, recalling that I'd seen it mentioned by -- I think it was DovegreyReader & that it had sounded interesting.

[from Meg Lukens Noonan's Coat Route]

April
This charming art book is written and illustrated by Janet Hill, a local painter & bookish type.

[from Miss Moon]

May
Today is the anniversary of the birth of my blog, ten long years ago!


[from  Ten Years of Blogging: How the Time Does Fly!]

June
I was offered a beautiful book for review recently, and didn't hesitate on this one.

[from Shakespeare's (Beautiful) Gardens]

July
John at the Book Mine Set has been running this relaxed challenge for the past 9 years, and now the 10th year of the Canadian Book Challenge is underway! 

[from A Decade of the Canadian Book Challenge!]

August
It's the 3rd annual Women in Translation month, created and hosted by Meytal at Biblibio.

[from August is #WomenInTranslation Month]

September
This is what I love about the book blogging world...so many enthusiasms! One reading month ends, another begins. 

[from Fall is Here... Because RIPXI is Beginning!]

October
This is a beautifully told, fable-like novel of 19th c. France that I came across by chance and really loved.
 
[from The Hunter & The Wild Girl]

November
I thought I was done catching up with the mystery books I've been reading, after last month's string of reviews, but then I found just one more. 

[from The Keys of My Prison]

December
This was one of my favourite reads of this year -- I've already read it 3 times!

[from Crosstalk]

***********************************

So there it is -- a year full of great books (many recommended by other bloggers), a notable blog milestone in May, and a rash of reading challenges right there in the middle of the year. Sounds like most of my past reading years as well! Hope yours was just as great. Do share a link to your own First Lines in the comments if you've rounded up your year this way as well.

Top Ten New-To-Me Authors of 2016

I haven't done a shared post for a long, long time. But I've noticed quite a few people sharing this Top Ten Tuesday list today, and it looked too good to pass up! Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by the Broke & The Bookish, with a new question each week. This week's is:

Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read For The First Time In 2016

So, looking at my list of books I've read this year, I have a few interesting authors to share who I read for the first time this year. Some are debut authors and some are established ones that I've finally got around to reading!

The first few are authors who've created fascinating mixes of writing and art. The remainder are novelists and essayists who I was very glad to encounter this year.

Noelle Stevenson: I first read the brilliant graphic novel Lumberjanes, then went on to read more of this series, plus Nimona. All great.

Sarah Lazarovic: I found her charming illustrated nonfic book, A Bunch of  Pretty Things I Did Not Buy, by chance - lovely read

Teva Harrison: In-Between Days is her powerful memoir of living with cancer. I found it so memorable I also just bought the colouring book she's just released just to have more of her.

Anne Michaels: I've always *meant* to read some of her serious fiction, but finally read her for the 1st time with her very sweet children's book, The Adventures of Miss Petitfour, in which I discover my literary doppelganger, Mrs Collarwaller.

Frances Shelley Wees: this classic mystery writer has been re-pubbed by Montreal based Vehicule Press, and Keys to My Prison was a fine mid-century take on Toronto

Kate Taylor: I've sort of read her before -- I read the first chapter of her earlier novel Mme Proust and the Kosher Kitchen, years ago, but it didn't stick and I put it down very early on. This novel, however, was wonderful! (review to come)

Madeleine Thien: Despite her earlier books, I'd never read anything by her. Then I read this award-winning, amazing novel. Great read.

Lynne Kutsukake: this fellow librarian's debut novel is a wonderful tale of girls in post-war Japan. Perfect book club book!

Alice Zorn: this Montreal set novel is fabulous and was a wonderful find.

Ivan Coyote: *Amazing* I knew of Ivan Coyote but hadn't read anything until this year, after I heard Ivan perform at our first ever Stratford Writers Festival. Tomboy Survival Guide is SO good. (review to come)

This Post Brought to You by the Letter...

Simon at Stuck in A Book shared a fun meme this week, detailing some of his favourite creative things 'by the letter' -- and encouraged readers to leave a comment if they wanted to play along. I jumped in and was assigned the letter N.

So here are my favourite things... starting with N.



Favourite book...

What else could it be, of course it has to be Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen! As a former history/literature student I love this quote:

But history, real solemn history, I cannot be interested in. Can you?”
“Yes, I am fond of history.”
“I wish I were too. I read it a little as a duty, but it tells me nothing that does not either vex or weary me. The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars or pestilences, in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all — it is very tiresome: and yet I often think it odd that it should be so dull, for a great deal of it must be invention. The speeches that are put into the heroes’ mouths, their thoughts and designs — the chief of all this must be invention, and invention is what delights me in other books.”

Favourite author...

I'm going back to childhood here and saying Edith Nesbit -- 5 Children and It was a repeated reread for me in my younger years -- I even had my wishes all sorted out just in case I ever ran across a psammead!


Favourite song...

Puccini's Nessun Dorma sung by Pavarotti. Glorious.




Favourite film...

eNchanted April

 (I am cheating a bit but this is my favourite movie, and the only N I could think of!)



Favourite object...

 I can't seem to think of a solid N favourite, but I'll share an N that I enjoy --

NITTLES 

Otherwise known as the string of &#@%*#@*!$@*! in comic books :)

Not only does it entertain me that this implied string of swearing has a name, that name makes a perfectly good swear word in itself. Try it, it has the perfect combination of hard sounds and compression of meaning.

 *********************

Well, N was a tough letter but I enjoyed this exercise! Check out Simon's post for all the others who played along and see their lettered choices too.

6 in 6

This is a fun meme I noted first at Fleur in Her World, originating at The Book Jotter (a new-to-me blog). It's made up of six books in six categories which you've read in the first six months of the year. While I've come to it a bit late, it's not too, too late to join in!

So, using some of Jo's six categories, and a few that differ, here are my choices:

Six authors new to me

Elizabeth Savage (Last Night at the Ritz)

Rachel Wyatt (Suspicion)

Saleema Nawaz (Bone & Bread)

Janet Hepburn (Flee, Fly, Flown)

Helene Wecker (The Golem & The Jinni)

Maria Semple (Where'd You Go, Bernadette?)

Six authors I have read before

Alexander McCall Smith

Alan Bradley

Susanna Kearsley

Barbara Pym

Helen Humphreys

Marusya Bociurkiw

Six From the Non-Fiction Shelf

Wm & H'ry by J.C. Hallman

Yours Ever by Thomas Mallon

Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

Shakespeare Saved My Life by Laura Bates

Threading Light by Lorri Neilsen Glenn

Comfort Food for Breakups by Marusya Bociurkiw

Six books I have greatly enjoyed

Sir Charles Grandison by Samuel Richardson

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

An Unsuitable Attachment by Barbara Pym

Astray by Emma Donoghue

When I was young and in my prime by Alayna Munce

Six books that took me to other times and places

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

John Saturnall's Feast by Lawrence Norfolk

The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley

Henrietta Sees It Through by Joyce Dennys

Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley

The Tale-Teller by Susan Glickman

Six books not reviewed yet -- in progress or recently finished

Perdita by Hilary Scharper

The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway

The History of Emily Montague by Frances Brooke

The Translation of Dr. Apelles by David Treuer

Heidegger's Glasses by Thaisa Frank

The House by Teresa Waugh

******************************

Try your own set of sixes if you wish, and be sure to share them with Jo at the Book Jotter, too.

Saturday Snapshot: Black Out Poetry

Today I am sharing a Saturday Snapshot inspired by the Poetry Month Blog Tour hosted by Savvy Verse & Wit. The Saturday Snapshot is a fun meme hosted by Alyce at At Home with Books. (basic rule: pictures must be your own and suitable for general viewing.)

I posted a photo last week, and though I don't usually participate each time, I had a lot of fun trying out a new poetic technique this week that I wanted to share.

I've been following along with the daily poetry posts in the Blog Tour, and a few days ago, The Picky Girl shared a very fun event that her university writing centre held in celebration of Poetry Month: a Blackout Poetry Party! 

What is blackout poetry? Popularized by artist Austin Kleon, it is a technique which takes an existing text -- a newspaper, magazine, book page, etc. -- and removes words, via Sharpie, to create a poem. I thought that I'd give this a try, and since I had a bunch of magazines to go through before adding them to the recycling pile it was a perfect opportunity.

It took quite a bit longer than I thought it would, as I was looking for something that caught my poetic fancy. Finally, Martha Stewart Living came through with a gardening article! Here is my very brief Black Out Poem.

This process was a lot of fun, making me look at things a little differently. I'm going to try to create a few more. Odd side note: black Sharpie on shiny magazine pages smells an awful lot like nail polish!

Saturday Snapshot: Playing School

This week I'm once again joining in on Alyce's great meme, Saturday Snapshot. Alyce from At Home with Books hosts this one, and the rules are simple:

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.

This week I thought I'd share some pretty funny items I uncovered recently, some memorabilia from childhood. My younger sister and I used to play an elaborate game of "school" together -- we created class lists of 20-30 names each for our numerous classes, we made up teacher I.D. cards for what I now realize would be a huge staff (using Sears catalogues and local flyers to cut out faces for each I.D., and creating addresses and birthdates, setting our school in the fictional city of Cannada), we even typed out correspondence with parents and the school board on wee slips of paper. Some of these are great examples of an early customer service ethic....or not....

We were really into our St. Lawrence School activities. My sister (now the Trekking Teacher) was always a classroom teacher, while I preferred to be an administrator, sending out letters, drawing up curriculum and so on. Kind of funny how we both turned out! I don't quite remember how old we were when we stopped playing this (early teens I think), but I clearly still have some of the materials from those days, and finding them brought back some very amusing recollections. Hope you enjoy them too.

Here is the staff! All nicely named and photographed...almost

Lauralee Pix (of "Charolotte" Road) was my sister's alterego. You can see she chose one face and stuck with it! Poor Francine Waite. That was me, and I went through facial changes regularly. I'm kind of sad that when we stopped playing this game I was between faces. Now I will never be immortalized in 80's catalogue style :( Although I did somehow have a presentiment that I'd move to Montreal...

Do these guys look familiar? A rose by any other name...

Some very polite notes to various parents. I don't know where we came
up with this stuff! I'm particularly fond of the missive to Mrs. Googliment.
(click to embiggen)

Saturday Snapshot: Letter Month Finale!

All of this last month (February) I've been participating in Letter Month. This is something I only discovered in January, so it was my first time joining in, which I did immediately upon finding it -- as I am already a big lover of stationery, postal mail and all its ephemera. I enjoy writing 'old-fashioned' snail mail, and thought this would be a good spark to set me off, catching up with the people I used to send mail to fairly regularly.

It was a very fun month, even if I didn't make it to a letter a day. I wrote many more than I would have otherwise, and still have a couple in the works to finish this weekend... I can't stop! :) It also fit perfectly with my own Postal Reading Challenge, as part of that is a challenge to write more letters in 2013.

I also came across this educational project, a Canadian geography lesson via snail mail, just a few days ago, just in time to send a postcard before the end of the month...but the teacher is still looking for postcards from anyone in Canada, so if you want to help out  there is still plenty of time!

Anyhow, I thought I'd share a photo or two of some of the letters I sent during February...these are the ones I remembered to take pics of! I am sharing them as part of the Saturday Snapshot meme hosted by Alyce of At Home with Books. The rules for that?

 To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken... Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

First, an image of the letter that went the furthest of any, a card to my sister who is teaching in Papua New Guinea this year!

Then, a handful of colourful cards and notes to various other friends -- to make up a total of 8 more items in the mail. The colourful card in front covering up some addresses is one designed by my sister-in-law in the Netherlands, a painter. 

It's been really enjoyable getting back into the correspondence habit and I hope to keep it up, as I was really missing all the fun of picking out nice cards and stamps and sitting down to compose something just for one person :) How about you? Do you still write letters to post through the mail?

Saturday Snapshot: Labyrinth Lines

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The 'rules' are:

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

 This week I am sharing a couple of pictures of the temporary labyrinth I created for a New Year's walk, in our local gallery, Gallery Stratford. New Year's is the perfect time to take some contemplative time for yourself and look at the way your life is going. Luckily for me, our local art gallery is very supportive and I was able to hold a walk in the middle of some gorgeous paintings (by Art Green) which were all about looking more deeply and seeing things you might have missed on first glance. The perfect metaphor for our walk! It was very peaceful and a lovely day.