*Reading socks shown not exactly as worn. ;-)
I’ve been (immensely) enjoying my reading socks (they were a lovely gift from my wonderful bookish friend Jennifer). Nothing has made me happier than settling in each night with my super warm and cozy socks and a blanket and reading through many of the books listed on my Anticipated Fall Reading list. I just took a peek at this list and found that I’ve been pushing through it quite nicely, thank you very much! Here’s a little update of where I’m at in reading through some those listed.
(These are the actual socks that I own.) :-)
The first 3 Canlit books I listed have been read already!
Strangers With the Same Dream, by Alison Pick. I borrowed this one from the library, and after reading it I had the great pleasure of meeting Alison Pick and having my own copy of this book signed by her at the Penguin Random House Canada Fall Review. Two other authors were there to sign their books and it was an incredibly delightful evening. Both are ones I cannot wait to get to soon. Carol Off’s All We Leave Behind and Beautiful Scars by Tom Wilson. Both spoke about their incredibly emotional stories, so it is a real pleasure to now own both of these books. Incredible stories! They are firmly placed in my must-reads!
I just finished reading the other day, That’s My Baby, by Frances Itani. This one was read at just the right time. Something I find every one of Itani’s books is for me. After reading two highly current and political books back to back, I needed the time to rest my brain. Returning to Deseronto and to some of the people found in Deafening and Tell was perfectly suited for that much needed break and rest.
The Unlikely Redemption of John Alexander MacNeil was a 5-star read for me. This one will definitely be in my top books of 2017.
From the books I had on hold at the library, I’ve read a few of those, or they are currently being read, and one has been chosen as our next book for our in-person book club:
The Bettencourt Affair, by Tom Sancton. This one continues to sit on my mind and I still hesitate to purchase L’Oreal products! I’m currently listening to The Last Ballad by Wiley Cash. I scooped up the audio because Karen White is narrating (along with Elizabeth Wiley)! I’m enjoying this one using Kobo’s newly launched audiobook program. I also have it from the library though, and will probably finish the story that way. It’s Thanksgiving this weekend and I won’t be tooling around in the car too much to be able to listen, and I’m enjoying this one quite a bit, so I’m quite pleased to be able to read it and complete it probably this weekend. The best of both formats!
I had the most spectacular book club get-together at the end of September! We were able to have a sleepover book club at our friend’s “new” (to her and her family) cottage in Wheatley, sitting on the shores of Lake Erie. It was beautiful and perfect and we are all wishing every book club get-together can be a cottage book club! We chose to read Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng for our November meeting. I will host this one and we can build a fire in our wood-burning fireplace and sit and discuss Little Fires Everywhere! :-)
Here’s some pictures of the awesome cottage. The first two were taken in the evening when we first arrived. The last two were taken early in the morning when we woke up – a gorgeous Saturday morning greeted us. On the drive home we stopped in at the apple orchard for Honey Crisp apple purchases and quick lunch of freshly made Mennonite sausages.
Crimes of the Father by Thomas Keneally, In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende, Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak and The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin are still waiting On Hold at the library for me, so I remain patient. I won a copy of The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce from a Goodreads Giveaway, so yay there! I now also own copies of First Snow, Last Light by Wayne Johnston (one is a gorgeous hardcover thanks to Penguin Random House Canada from the PRHC Fall Preview Event), Bellevue Square by Michael Redhill and A Reckoning by Linda Spalding – also another Goodreads win! And Smile by Roddy Doyle is also sitting on my shelf too.
Most of the others listed – like, Forest Dark by Nicole Krauss, Three Days and a Life by Pierre LeMaitre, Norma by Sofi Oksanen, The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas and The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott are now owned as e-books. So all I have to do now is download to my Kobo and I’ll be steadily reading well into the winter!
I have of course, picked up quite a few other books along the way! I can’t seem to stay out of the library even though I have so, so very many books on my shelf (and Kobo) that I could/should be reading. I just can’t help myself!
But currently, I’m reading The Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore and I have one to read that came from Simon & Schuster Canada to get to in the next couple of weeks – The Shoe on the Roof by Will Ferguson. I also took out from the library one that is hot off the press – The Vineyard by Maria Duenas (another Simon & Schuster Canada book) and for the Riffle book club we’re reading The History of Bees by Maja Lunde for October.
So overall, I’ve done a great job of reading through many of the books originally listed in my Anticipated Fall Reading List right? Now…if only the weather would become more Fall-like around here! I would love to build cozy fires, snuggle in with my reading socks, and keep on reading through the List. That would be perfection! It’s been far too Summer-like out there, temperature wise, for my liking. Bring on the cooler temps, the colour changing and falling leaves and a stacked pile of firewood and I’ll be completely content.
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