KOBZAR'S CHILDREN

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, ed. KOBZAR'S CHILDREN: A Century of Untold Ukrainian Stories. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2006. 

I was looking for a collection of Ukrainian folklore. This is not that, but this is well worth the read. It is a collection of poems, stories, memoirs written by Ukrainian Canadians, covering most of the trauma of the twentieth century from the beginning of immigration to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. The story which most impresses me stylistically is "It's Me, Tatia" by Brenda Hasiuk which takes us inside a mind struggling with old age and dementia. The most devastating story is Stefan Petelycky"s first person account of "Auschwitz: Many Circles of Hell".

A kobzar is the traditional wandering minstrel of Ukraine. It is also the title of Taras Shevchenko's first book of poems and the title of one of the Leo Mol sculptures in the Garden in Assiniboine Park, Winnipeg. 

GOD OF SHADOWS

 Lorna Crozier. GOD OF SHADOWS. McClelland & Stewart, 2018. 

I love this writer's work. This collection of prose poems does not disappoint. My favourite is one of the first, "The God of Arithmetic".

 

REQUIEM

Frances Itani. REQUIEM. HarperCollins, 2011.

Finished this April 10, after reading THE COMPANY WE KEEP for the U of M Book Club. I preferred this one, mainly because of the local interest and the historic connection. Itani is Canadian but I just discovered her. Requiem is about Bin O, a Japanese-Canadian artist whose wife just died and who decides to drive from Ontario to BC because some family crisis is calling. Turns out he was interned as a child in a camp near LILLOOET but they do not name the town. It is the first I knew there were camps up there along the Fraser, in the mountains, with sandy soil and hot summers. I only knew about Greenwood (where my mother was born), TASHME near Hope, and the several in the Kootenays – Sandon, Solcan, Kaslo, New Denver, etc., places Joy Kogawa wrote about and David Suzuki talks about. The structure trades off chapters of the travel across country, memories of his marriage and his wife’s sudden death, and memories of what happened to him as a child--moved off the island, off the coast, to Hastings Park, then inland, 100 miles from the water. It seems the camp they had was self-supporting, self-governing, more so than the others where there were overseers. I also enjoyed the parts about how Bin thinks as an artist, the role of water and the river linking his life and work. 

The COMPANY WE KEEP

Frances Itani. THE COMPANY WE KEEP. Harper Collins, 2020.

Found this U of M book club selection at the FVRL and borrowed it. Bonus: Large print, which always seems to read faster.

I love reading Canadian writers and ITANI is prolific; she has published fiction, poetry, and children's books. This is my first. I enjoyed it. The way it is organized around a poster advertising an informal grief support group. The way it is character-centred, with each chapter taking a different POV and some describing the meetings. The way the characters are of varied backgrounds but are all "mature", ranging in age from 45 to 80. And the underlying theme, of the power of grief to overwhelm us, and change our lives, short and long-term.

I have a second novel, REQUIEM, ready to read. 

READING IN PROGRESS

READING IN PROGRESS

I can't read when I'm writing. Too much else going on inside my head. And, I cannot concentrate for long periods of time when, like now, January and February, 2023, I am working at an almost overwhelming course on Editing and Revising my own draft novel, In Your Dreams. Hence, I have six opened books sitting beside my reading chair. 

I had started this one, from my shelves, partly because the selections are short and easier to pick up and put down. And she is a known master writer. And because I love the title. 

Borrowed from writer group members, because it is a collection of crime-related short stories. Sometimes short stories are easier to pick up and put down. 

Another borrowing from fellow writers. Looks interesting though, but I must return it. Time pressure. 

So I went down to the bookstore to order a title recommended in my course and now listed as one of this year's Canada Reads books, Michael Christie's GREENWOOD. While there, could not resist picking up another memoir by a favourite Canadian voice, Tomson Highway's PERMANENT ASTONISHMENT. Love it. 

Also foolishly bought a used copy of Donna Tartt's THE SECRET HISTORY. Why? Because it had been referenced in our course. Layering, I think. But this was foolish. I gave away without reading THE GOLDFINCH because it was too big. And this one is even bigger. 628 small-print pages. Why? Why? Why did I do it? Must remember: never shop without a list. Stay away from dangerous places, like bookstores.

When the store called to say GREENWOOD was in, I couldn't resist checking the stacks. Well actually, I saw a new title I want to read but it is over $30. So I went to see if there might be a used copy in the stacks. No, but I found a writer I've heard about but not read. Bought it. Tommy Orange. THERE THERE (and left an order for a used copy of the new book I was looking for). 

GREENWOOD is 497 pages. I am 20% through. Loving it. Of course, because I love trees. And, although my mother was born in Greenwood, this book is more about a place like Cathedral Grove and not about the mining town in the southern interior. I plan to have finished reading it before the debate starts in March. 

HAIKU MAMA

 Kari Anne Roy. HAIKU MAMA. Quirk, 2006.

Haiku about young motherhood including breastfeeding her boy. Light and amusing as it promises. 

THE PARIS APARTMENT

 Kelly Bowen. THE PARIS APARTMENT. Forever, 2021.

University Book Club selection for January. I ordered it in and read it through quickly, making notes this time to make answering questions easier. Two time frames, and multiple POVs, clearly delineated in chapter titles. The present tense is opening up an apartment that had be uninhabited since 1942, with paintings hidden. The war story, about resistance fighters in Paris and England. The modern story is light romance. The war story is much more interesting and I was emotionally caught up in the story of women leading secret lives right under the noses of the occupiers.