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.