July 2, 2019 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Childhood Favourites

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

This week’s prompt is a cute one. I’m going to try to answer it without mentioning books I’ve talked about here many times before like Harry Potter, Anne of Green Gables, and the Little House on the Prairie novels. Not only will it make this post a bit more unique, it will show you parts of my personality that I don’t think most of you have seen before.

 The Childcraft Series

Childcraft is a set of encyclopedias and anthologies meant for kids. Someone gave my mother a set of them in the 1960s or 1970s. After she and her siblings outgrew them, she saved them for her own children a few decades later. I believe that my nephews are now reading or have read these anthologies, too!

These books covered an incredibly wide range of subjects: history, science, technology, creative play/hobbies, animals, fairy tales, crafts, kid-friendly sociology, how things work, and much more. Just about anything a child might wonder about was covered by one of the volumes. Reading them was a fantastic way to learn a little bit about a wide range of topics.

I think this series had far more than 10 volumes, so technically they could be the basis for my entire post today. Let’s count them all as one answer and move on to other stuff, though.

Lois Gladys Leppard’s Mandie series

Once again, there were so many books in this series that I could have counted them as all of my answers today.

Mandie was a biracial orphan whose solved all sorts of mysteries in the late 1800s to early 1900s. I haven’t reread these books as a adult due to my loss of interest in the inspirational genre, but I do remember really liking her adventures when I was in elementary school because of how smart and headstrong the main character was.

The Dictionary

I loved reading the dictionary for fun when I was growing up. Sometimes I go to dictionary.com and look up new words for the sheer joy of it to this day.

The Thesaurus 

I’ve also read thesaurus entries for fun both as a child and as an adult . Can you all tell I’m a writer?

Medical Textbooks

My mom went back to college to get her Bachelor’s degree in Nursing when I was about eight or nine years old. I remember being fascinated by all of the textbooks she bought for her courses. Sometimes I’d read them when she wasn’t studying.

While I didn’t necessarily understand everything they talked about, I loved the case studies in her textbooks and was proud of myself when I figured out how to pronounce the really long medical terms. These books also confirmed that I am in no way suited to be a doctor or nurse…although I have the utmost respect for people who can deliver babies, perform surgeries, place IVs, and stitch up wounds!

This might be the most unique Top Ten Tuesday post I’ve written so far. How many of you had similar reading habits as kids?

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July 1, 2019 · 1:00 am

Let Me Answer Your Questions About Canada for Canada Day

Happy Canada Day!

Most of my readers do not live in Canada, so I thought it might be fun to answer any and all questions you have about my country today.

Do you want Canadian reading suggestions?

What parts of Canadian history were taught in your country, if any? Is there anything about it that you wish you knew more about?

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to live in a country that has a publicly funded healthcare system for everyone?

Will you be travelling here in the near future and wonder which landmarks a local would recommend visiting the most?

Do you want to know what should and should not be included in a proper poutine?

Have you ever met a really friendly Canadian in your home country and wondered if I know them?

When is the appropriate time to include the term “eh” in a sentence? Do you know?

Are you thinking about immigrating here yourself?

I’m full of answers if you’re full of questions!

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June 27, 2019 · 1:00 am

Interview with Leah Wong

Say hello to Leah!  She responded to my call for speculative fiction interview participants a few weeks ago. I hope you all enjoy reading her answers to these questions as much as I did. 

What was the first speculative story you ever remember reading?

I clearly remember going to my elementary school library and checking out Stephen Cosgrove’s story books. They were standalone stories featuring talking animals like cats, birds, and rabbits, but Cosgrove also wrote about dragons, unicorns, and winged horses.

Who is your favourite author? Why?

Can I cheat and mention more than one? Neil Gaiman, because of his worlds and his championing of writing of all sorts. Laini Taylor for her skill with words and her imagination. Peter S. Beagle, because he wrote the story that turned into a movie that made me fall in love with fantasy.

What do you like most about the genre(s) you read?

The possibility. There is so much possibility to be found in speculative fiction it makes my head spin. A friend of mine told me he has no patience for fiction because it’s all made up, and while that is true, there’s much more that goes into it: world building, creating the characters, research, For me, it’s like reading someone’s dream.

More and more authors seem to be writing cross-genre stories these days. How do you feel about this trend?

I think it’s great! When an author can successfully blend genres together, creating something you never considered before, that’s an admirable skill. It’s also a good way to find new readers.

If you could name a pet after one character, which character would you choose? Why?

I’ve grown up with cats so I have cat names. Bagheera from The Jungle Book is one I want to use one day. I heard about a cat called Mister Kindly in a popular series. I’m keeping that name in mind as well. Growing up, sister and I had a cat called Dinah, inspired from Alice in Wonderland. I named my parents’ cat Pouncequick, after a character from Tailchaser’s Song by Tad Williams.

What fictional world would you never want to visit?

Panem from The Hunger Games series. I wouldn’t last one day.

What fictional world would you want to visit?

There are so many! I was reading through one of the past interviews and the person said they would not want to go to any high-fantasy worlds, and I want to visit those ones the most. Narnia. Middle-Earth. The Night Bazaar from The Star-Touched Queen.

Sharing spoilers with people who haven’t read the book or seen the film/show is a hot topic on Twitter and across many fandoms. How do you feel about sharing or overhearing spoilers?

I love spoilers, but I do understand that announcing a major plot point ruins the fun of finding it out for yourself. I don’t reveal unless someone asks.

Which series do you think should be made into a TV show or film next?

Holly Black’s Modern Faerie Tales would be a feast for the eyes if it were ever to be adapted for the screen. Libba Bray’s The Diviners series would be atmospheric, and it with its large cast of characters, would make an excellent TV show.

Which TV show or film do you think should be turned into a book?

I’d like to see Penny Dreadful as a series of books. That was a dark, engaging show.

Bonus Questions

What is the most unusual or interesting way you’ve come up with an idea for one of your creative works?

I’d say the novel I’m working on now. It’s a retelling of a children’s story and a central event that happens to several characters. The idea came to me from a comment someone made on a blog post I wrote. That got me thinking, and it brought back the feelings I had about it as a kid. I started writing it in November of last year and finished the first draft this past April. I’m working on the second draft right now.

Sometimes characters don’t do what their creators want them to do. If this has ever happened to you, how did you deal with it?

I let it happen. I’m a combination planner/panster in my writing. I have the bones for the idea, and if other things reveal themselves while I’m writing, including a character doing something I didn’t think they would, I write it out.

What is your favourite trope?

Enemies-to-lovers is one of my favorites. The characters have to be fleshed out for it to work for me, and if there’s snappy banter involved as well, I’m sold.

What tropes do you try to avoid in your stories?

Instalove, since I’m on the subject of romance. I don’t like reading it, so I’m not going to write it. Also, fridging. That’s when a character the protagonist is connected to is killed off to motivate them into action. I think it’s a little lazy.

About Leah:

Leah has always been a bibliophile. An avid fantasy fan, she has been countless hours dreaming of magical worlds. An aspiring author of standalone fantasies, she enjoys traveling, photography, movies, and good chocolate. She lives in California. 

Leah is one of the bloggers at Quite the Novel Idea, She can also be found on Goodreads. 

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June 26, 2019 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Humorous Book Titles

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

This is one of those topics I could discuss all day without growing tired of it. Here are just a few of the humorous book titles I’ve seen lately. Have any of you ever read them? I’ve only read the first one so far. It was such an interesting look at neurology and some of the various ways the human brain can adapt to a serious illness or injury.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks

Unspun Socks From A Chicken’s Laundry  by Spike Milligan

I Could Pee on This: And Other Poems by Cats by Francesco Marciuliano

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

Paranormal Dentistry for the Fanged and Friendly  by Jackie Nacht

Bread Sculpture: The Edible Art by Ann Sayre Wiseman

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question. The image below is the list of upcoming prompts for this blog hop.

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June 25, 2019 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Summer 2019 TBR

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

As I mentioned in last week’s Top Ten Tuesday post, my TBR list depends a lot on when I reach the top of the request list for the various library books I’m in queue for.

Based on the ratio of requests to library copies of these books, I believe they will all become available for me over the next two to three months. There is a lot of nonfiction coming my way this summer if all goes as planned. I’m excited about that.

You’ll notice that a few of these titles won’t be available until September. I decided to count anything that I expect to have my hands on before the official end of summer at the autumn equinox since southern Ontario typically remains quite hot, humid, and summer-like until late September or early October.

Title: They Were Her Property: White Women and the Economy of American Slavery by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers

I hope to have it: Any day now.

Why I want to read it: I don’t know much about the role wealthy white women played in slavery in the American south. I’m incredibly curious to learn more about that.

 

Title: 13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don’t Do by Amy Morin

I hope to have it: In the first week of July

Why I want to read it: I’m intrigued by the feminist spin to this self-help book and would like to see what connection she makes between the #MeToo movement and taking charge of your own destiny. Those aren’t topics that I’d necessarily ever think to join together.

 

Title: On the Come Up by Angie Thomas

I hope to have it: In the second week of July.

Why I want to read it: I loved her first book, The Hate U Give, and after mentioning this one on several Top Ten Tuesday posts I’m quite excited to finally see if On the Come Up will be as thought-provoking. It’s been such a long wait that I can hardly believe I’m finally almost at the top of the library queue for it.

 

Title: Once a Wolf: The Science Behind Our Dogs’ Astonishing Genetic Evolution by Bryan Sykes

I hope to have it: In the second week of July

Why I want to read it: Sometimes when I see someone walking around with a tiny little dog here in Toronto I like to imagine how a wolf would react to being stuffed into a purse or dressed in a tutu.  On a more serious note, I love dogs and have often wondered how humans took something as gigantic and fearsome as a wolf and gradually bred that gene pool into toy poodles and chihuahuas. Learning more about this is going to be a great way to spend part of my summer.

 

Title: Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find—and Keep—Love by Amir Levine and Rachel Heller

I hope to have it: In the first week of August.

Why I want to read it: Psychology fascinates me in general. I studied attachment theory in a few of my college courses, and I’m curious to see if there’s any new research on the various types of attachment and how they affect you in adulthood.

 

Title: Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Pérez

I hope to have it: In the second week of August

Why I want to read it: As a short and petite woman, I’ve had some struggles adjusting to stuff that is designed for “average” people that are much taller and bigger than me. For example, some chairs are too big and high off the ground for me to sit in while also touching my feet to the floor. I’ve had issues with seatbelts not quite fitting me properly, too, which could be really dangerous in a crash. It’s going to be super interesting to find out why so many designers make cisgender men the standard instead of taking a wider variety of body sizes and shapes into account.

 

 

Title: Why We Elect Narcissists and Sociopaths—And How We Can Stop! by Bill Eddy

I hope to have it: In the third week of August.

Why I want to read it: With a federal election coming up here in Canada this autumn and another federal election coming up the United States, my birth country, next year, I’m quite interested in why voters in many different countries can become so enamoured with Narcissistic politicians.

 

Title: Charlotte: A Novel by David Foenkinos and Sam Taylor

I hope to have it: In the first week of September

Why I want to read it: World War II was such a horrific war. This book of poetry was written about one of the many innocent people who died in a concentration camp during the course of it. I’d never heard of this painter before, and I’d like to know who she was before her life ended far too soon.

 

Title: The Ghost Garden: Inside the Lives of Schizophrenia’s Feared and Forgotten by Susan Doherty

I hope to have it: In the second week of September

Why I want to read it: While they don’t have this specific diagnosis, there are a few people in my life who live with serious mental illnesses that have very negative impacts on their daily lives. I’m always on the lookout for books that talk about this topic, especially if they explore the lives of people who are not high functioning.

This is a sensitive and difficult issue, but I think there needs to be much more awareness of the many different ways mental illness can impact someone’s life. Some people absolutely can and do cope well with their illnesses. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for everyone.

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June 24, 2019 · 1:00 am

Update on Autumn Goals

Last autumn I blogged about four goals I wanted to accomplish. Originally, I was planning to revisit it in the winter, but it turned out I needed more time than I originally thought for a wide variety of reasons.

So much has happened in my life since last year. I’ve finally had the chance to sit down and write a proper update for all of you.

For anyone who hasn’t read that post yet, these were the goals I set then:

 

 – Spend one hour a week lifting weights. 

 – Meditate for 20 minutes a day.

 – Join new social groups.

– Write my second sci-fi novel. 

  So how did I do? Let’s go through the original goals one by one.

Spend One Hour a Week Lifting Weights.

Progress: Accomplished.

While I did need to take a few temporary breaks from weightlifting for medical reasons, I have been lifting weights for an hour a week as often as I could. I count this as a success!

For those of you who haven’t met me in real life, know that I’m a short, petite woman. People have often assumed that this means I’m not physically strong. There have been a few times over the last nine months when folks were surprised when I didn’t need help lifting something up or carrying it.

I do appreciate friendly offers of assistance. With that being said, there is something amusing about seeing the way people react when they realize that I’m stronger than I look. Their eyes grow wide for a split second, and they don’t know what to say next.

This definitely wasn’t my original reasons for getting into weightlifting, but the feeling of accomplishment and independence that comes from being able to rely on yourself to lift heavy stuff is a real perk of it.

 Meditate for 20 Minutes a Day.

Progress: Modified but accomplished.

Sitting meditation was a good idea during some of the medical stuff I dealt last year and this year. Walking meditation was more helpful at other times.

I have not been keeping strict tabs on how often I meditate, but I am doing it much more regularly and for longer periods of time these days. The only caveat to this is that much of it involves me going for a walk and drinking in my surroundings instead of sitting perfectly still every single time.

There’s something about the act of walking that makes it much easier for me to acknowledge and then release my thoughts as they bubble up.

 Join New Social Groups.

Progress: Accomplished and still ongoing.

Based on everything else that happened in my life over the past year, I’m proud of myself for working on this goal as much as I did.

I have checked out new social groups since last September and had a good time getting a feel for who they are and what they’re about.

There are other groups I still want to visit, so this goal is something I will continue to pursue in the future.

I believe in in taking your time when getting to know any group. Not every organization will be a good fit for everyone, but it’s also not always possible to know immediately if you should keep attending or find a different social outlet.

So I will continue to dip my toes into various meetings and events to see what I think of them.

  Write My Second Sci-fi Novel.

Progress: Ongoing but looking good.

Why is it so easy to knock out a 1,000 word blog post but so much more time consuming to write a novel? I mean, other than the fact that novels are generally at least 70,000 words long and sometimes much lengthier than that. Ha!

My second sci-fi novel is a work in progress. I did not mention the subject matter of it in last autumn’s post and will continue to keep most of it under wraps until I’m further along in the process. It’s been my experience that writing is easier when I don’t reveal too much ahead of time.

Let’s just say that it’s set somewhere other than Earth. If you recognize the red planet in this section of the post, you’ll have a clue about the setting.

I love all things connected to NASA and space exploration, and  I want to do as much justice to this story as someone from a non-technical background can do. There is a lot of research involved behind the scenes, so that is why it has taken me much longer than I originally thought it might.

Respond

What goals have you set over the last year or so? How are you doing with them?

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June 20, 2019 · 1:00 am

Interview with Richard L Pastore

Welcome, Richard! He was the most recent person to my speculative fiction interview post, and I’m looking forward to sharing his answers with all of you today. 

What was the first speculative story you ever remember reading?

H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine. It was one of the first ‘real’ books I read as a child. Even at that age, I could tell at that point, H.G. didn’t think much of mankind. Even today as I read the news, who could blame him.

Who is your favourite author? Why?

This is the kind of question that will get you a different answer every time you ask me. I have favorite authors for different reasons. So it’s difficult for me to rank one above another. I’ve often mentioned Christopher Moore and Ray Bradbury, but today I think I’ll give a vote for Richard Russo. Whenever I read his books, I experience that common mixture of awe and envy.

He manages to squeeze humor out of everyday people in both subtle and slapstick aspects. That isn’t easy. His books are definitely worth reading for any author looking for examples where character drives humor. And, now that I think of it – I guess they’re not quite under the heading of speculative fiction. Sorry about that.

What do you like most about the genre(s) you read?

I tend to read fantasy, SciFi, humor, and mystery, especially where the last two are mixed with the first two. I like it when my brain is stimulated, whether it be by challenging my imagination and preconceived notions, or by a clever plot with plausible twists and turns. My selection in entertainment always leans towards escapism. I can be strongly moved by real-life stories, but escapist fare allows me to relax and let down my guards. My mind is more apt to wander along the possibilities of what if?

More and more authors seem to be writing cross-genre stories these days. How do you feel about this trend?

Love it! As I mentioned, mix humor and/or mystery into a SciFi or Fantasy, then lead me to the cash register. I think it’s apt to call it a trend, or better yet a growing trend, since cross-genre stories have been around for quite some time. I immediately think of Isaac Asimov’s Robot Trilogy which featured a human detective learning to work with a robot partner – classic SciFi reflecting on human societal structures. I mentioned Christopher Moore earlier. He can take a mythology, shake it upside down and have you laughing all the way through.

If you could name a pet after one character, which character would you choose? Why?

I had a cat I named Merlin when I live in Brooklyn. I wasn’t allowed to have pets in our tiny apartment, and I found him when he was a little less than one month old (his mother was hit by a car). So I fed him and gave him a safe place in our small yard. As he grew, he’d have this habit of vanishing for a day or two only to suddenly show up right behind me, much to my surprise and my friends. One of them remarked, I see he’s done his disappearing act again, and so I started calling him Merlin. Two years after, we moved to a house New Jersey and I was allowed to add him to our family. He still did the vanishing thing, and I had to reassure my parents he’d quietly be back in a couple of days.

What fictional world would you never want to visit?

Definitely not Westeros, (Easteros or any of the os’s). Way too violent, filthy and oppressive, which is to say, a legitimately and lovingly crafted Medieval world.

What fictional world would you want to visit?

Tough one, but I think I’ll go with Perelandra. CS Lewis’ version of Eden on Venus. If not there, Asimov’s Solaria (The Naked Sun), as I do enjoy solitude and unpopulated spaces.

Sharing spoilers with people who haven’t read the book or seen the film/show is a hot topic on Twitter and across many fandoms. How do you feel about sharing or overhearing spoilers?

I’m not a fan of sharing spoilers (at the very least don’t make it the headline). However, there is an unknown point when you wonder, is it okay for me to discuss details now? I personally avoid writing them whenever possible, which means I have to spend more time constructing a review that can provide enough information without giving away key elements.

Which series do you think should be made into a TV show or film next?

I wouldn’t want to restrict it to series. One substantial book could make a decent season or even two (e.g. The Handmaid’s Tale). Although in the opposite direction, they squeezed the Earthsea books down into one animation. A good animation, but I wasn’t happy. I would have voted for that. It goes without saying “if done correctly”, but I would love to see Asimov’s Foundation trilogy, or even better, Zelazny’s Nine Princes in Amber. By the way, I heard rumor that his Lord of Light has been optioned.

Which TV show or film do you think should be turned into a book?

Ooh. The problem with good series is that they don’t often age well during their run. My mind first jumped to Lost, but then I thought, “Well, maybe the first season.”  So then, let’s go with Showtime’s Penny Dreadful, but with an ending that isn’t rushed by sideswiping notice of cancellation.

Bonus Questions

What is the most unusual or interesting way you’ve come up with an idea for one of your creative works?

There are two predominant ways ideas come to mind. The first is, I start with a broad concept which will bounce around in my brain for days without details. If enough bits of ideas (notably, plot elements) attach to it, I start to think about it more carefully. For instance, the other day I was thinking, “The most popular superhero stories are in an illustrated format: comic books, graphic novels. I wonder what it would be like to write a straight-up superhero novel.” I know there are quite a number out there, so if I also think of an interesting hook for it, I’m going to put it on my “to write” list. The currently book I’m writing falls into this category. I was thinking about one of my favorite Greek Myths and realized it hasn’t, to my knowledge, been done true to the original tale. I then considered if I could write it as a comedy as well, and off I went.

The second way ideas come about, strangely enough, is a bit of dialog pops into my head. Sometimes it’s a few humorous lines, others a discussion on a deep topic (My Dinner with Atilla the Hun?). I then start to think about the characters and circumstances surrounding this, which leads me to explore those characters more. If I like the complexity of characters (a.k.a. dolls, action-figures) I’m developing, I begin to consider setting and potential plots. It’s definitely a bottom-up process, and is the way I wrote my first book.

Gif description: black and white image of a lightbulb turning on. Black lines appear around it to symbolize the light.

 

Sometimes characters don’t do what their creators want them to do. If this has ever happened to you, how did you deal with it?

They know better. It’s their story, so who am I to argue.  Kidding aside, I feel when this happens, it’s your subconscious mind making connections and play-acting on a nonverbal (right-brain?) level, that percolates up to your conscious mind where you realize it does make more sense to go that route.

What is your favourite trope?

The anti-hero. More specifically, the Trickster archetype. Give me a golden-age Bugs Bunny cartoon any day. I’m drawn to Tricksters and love writing their dialog. The best thing, plot-wise, is that they can cause change like the gentle puff of air on a house of cards, or with all the subtlety of a boulder dropped into a koi pond.

What tropes do you try to avoid in your stories?

The twist for the sake of a twist. If I’m going to kill off a main character, or a beloved side character, it had better be for a good reason from a storytelling point of view; not as a cheap ploy to shock (yank) the reader. I think Ned Stark in Game of Thrones is a good example of the former. He’s put in the foreground as a main character, but his death both causes a chain of critical events and moves other characters to the foreground.

About Richard

Richard L Pastore is the author of the comedy-fantasy, The Devil and the Wolf (available on Amazon). His newest project is tentatively titled: Perseus Kills His Grandfather.

Born in Brooklyn New York on a sweltering summer’s day. Richard studied Cognitive Psychology in grad school, which led to a career in User Interface Design. He later switched careers to become a Business Analyst. Although having traveled across the U.S. quite a bit, he feels most at home along the eastern shore of these United States, currently residing in New Jersey.

Be forewarned, should you choose to engage him in a conversation regarding anything food-related – whether it be the history of, growing of, or cooking of – he won’t shut up.

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June 19, 2019 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Favorite Things to Do in the Summer

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

I’ve been looking forward to this prompt for ages! I can’t wait to get to know all of you a little better.

While spring is my favourite season in Toronto, the wonderful thing about summer here is how many different types of events are scheduled during it. I’m frugal and minimalistic, so everything I’ll mention in this post is either free or inexpensive.

Concerts. Pop and R&B have been my favourite types of music since childhood, but I can find something likeable about many other genres, too. Toronto has many free or low-cost concerts every summer that I enjoy checking out. There is nothing like listening to a singer or band perform on a warm day. You might even catch me dancing a little bit if no one is glancing in my direction!

Parks. As you’ve all heard in previous Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge posts, I enjoy the outdoors. Walking, trying to identify plants, playing badminton, snapping photographs, and visiting the zoo are some of the many things I’d enjoy at the park. If my husband agrees, maybe we’ll even have a picnic in the park before it gets too hot outside.

Beaches. I need to be mindful of how much sunlight I’m exposed to for medical reasons, but I still love going to the beach on occasion.  There’s nothing like building a sandcastle, going swimming, or even simply strolling down a boardwalk and doing some friendly people watching there.

Parades and Festivals. This is the time of year when Toronto has a parade or festival for almost anything you can imagine: race/ethnicity/cultural celebrations from every corner of the globe, jazz (among many other types of music), eco-friendly lifestyles, the LGBT+ community, the vegan/vegetarian community, and more. I don’t necessarily attend the same events every summer, but I do like to pick a few different things to check out depending on the weather and how much time I’ve spent in the sun lately. It’s delightful to be surrounded by so many happy people who share some sort of common experience or label.

Museums. Call me Hermione Granger, but learning is always my idea of a good time. Whether it’s art, science, history, or another topic entirely, there is definitely something to be said for spending a few hours in a nice, air-conditioned museum on a muggy day.

Volunteering. I recently began volunteering at a few new places, and I’m thrilled to help those organizations out. Summer seems like a great time of year to do this in general since so many volunteers tend to go on vacations then. Taking breaks is important and necessary, but it also means that many non-profit groups are looking for more folks to fill in the gaps in their schedules now.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question. The image below is the list of upcoming prompts for this blog hop.

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June 18, 2019 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Releases of the Second Half of 2019

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Here are the books scheduled to be released in the second half of 2019 that I’m anticipating the most. Since the vast majority of what I read comes from my local library, I probably won’t get around to many of these titles until months after they are released.

If my library turns out to have lots of copies of all of them, I’m going to have to spend the month of September doing nothing but reading in my free time. Honestly, that sounds like a nice way to spend those weeks. I don’t know about the weather where you all live, but here in Toronto we still have plenty of hot, humid days in September. Sometimes “summer” lasts well into October, too!

Home for Erring and Outcast Girls by Julie Kibler

Expected publication date: July 30

Why I want to read it: Historical novels appeal to me, especially when they’re about groups of people who are rarely if ever discussed in traditional history classes. Two of the characters in this tale were young women who were pregnant out of wedlock a century ago when that was an incredibly shameful thing to do. I’m interested in seeing what happened to them.

When the Plums Are Ripe by Patrice Nganang, Amy Baram Reid (Translation)

Expected publication date: August 13

Why I want to read it: I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I know almost nothing about the history of Cameroon. This book talks about this country in the World War II era, and I’m hoping it might lead me to other titles that discuss other time periods there as well.

This Tender Land by William Kent Kruege

Expected publication date: September 3

Why I want to read it: There is so much going on in this tale: The Great Depression, Native American children being stolen from their parents to be raised by the state, runaways, the (mis)treatment of orphans in the 1930s, the inclusion of a mute character, and more. I want to see how it all weaves together.

 

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

Expected publication date: September 10

Why I want to read it: The main character of this book is a girl who befriends a monster after it emerges from one of her mother’s paintings. Given the countless hours I’ve spent staring at paintings and dreaming about what it would be like to step into them, I already adore her. She sounds like a true kindred spirit. The Goodread tags for it also indicated that either her or someone else in the storyline is part of the LGBT+ community which is very cool and yet another reason why I simply must read this at some point.

The Testaments (Handmaid’s Tale #2) by Margaret Atwood

Expected Publication Date: September 10

Why I want to read it: I’ve been a huge fan of The Handmaid’s Tale since high school and can’t wait to see this story continue on in novel form.  I will be reviewing it for this site after I read it and am virtually guaranteed to talk everyone’s ears off about this book on Twitter and in future Top Ten Tuesday posts. Consider yourselves warned.

The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus

Expected publication date: September 17

Why I want to read it: My immigration process was a much calmer affair than what it sounds like this character is going to go through, but I’m still curious to compare notes. Moving to a new country always bring all sorts of surprises with it no matter who you are or where you’re moving to.

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Expected publication date: September 24

Why I want to read it: I’ve never read a fantasy book about someone who was a slave before, much less a character living in the southern U.S. in what I assume will be the early 1800s. This sounds like it will be a wonderful read.

Marley: A Novel by Jon Clinch

Expected publication date: October 8

Why I want to read it: I’m always interested in stories that retell or branch off of the various subplots of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. This happens to be a prequel that shows what Marley and Scrooge’s lives were like when they were young boys. I’m quite curious to find out more.

I’m a Gay Wizard by V.S. Santoni

Expected publication date: October 29

Why I want to read it: This sounds like it might be the 2019 version of a gay Harry Potter-esque novel, and I couldn’t be more thrilled about that!

Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett

Expected publication date: October 29

Why I want to read it: I remember a time when all books about AIDS were about it being an automatic death sentence because that was the reality for people with this illness back then. In fact, I know someone whose life was saved by the newer and more effective drugs to treat AIDS in the mid-1990s. Now that medical care for this disease has greatly improved, I’m quite curious to see how a character who has HIV will live her life in 2019.

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June 17, 2019 · 1:00 am

Wombs for Rent: A Review of The Farm

I’ve decided to start reviewing more books on this blog. All of the rest of the titles I’ve set aside for this purpose for the foreseeable future are indie, but I thought I’d start off with something mainstream. The star rating below is out of a possible five stars.

Title: The Farm

Author: Joanne Ramos

Publisher: Doubleday Canada

Publication Date: May 7, 2019

Genres:  Dystopian, Contemporary, and a pinch of Science Fiction

Page Count: 326 pages

Source: I borrowed it from my local library

Rating: 3 Stars

 

 

Blurb:

Nestled in New York’s Hudson Valley is a luxury retreat boasting every amenity: organic meals, personal fitness trainers, daily massages—and all of it for free. In fact, you’re paid big money to stay here—more than you’ve ever dreamed of. The catch? For nine months, you cannot leave the grounds, your movements are monitored, and you are cut off from your former life while you dedicate yourself to the task of producing the perfect baby. For someone else.

Jane, an immigrant from the Philippines, is in desperate search of a better future when she commits to being a “Host” at Golden Oaks—or the Farm, as residents call it. But now pregnant, fragile, consumed with worry for her family, Jane is determined to reconnect with her life outside. Yet she cannot leave the Farm or she will lose the life-changing fee she’ll receive on the delivery of her child.

Gripping, provocative, heartbreaking, The Farm pushes to the extremes our thinking on motherhood, money, and merit and raises crucial questions about the trade-offs women will make to fortify their futures and the futures of those they love.

Review:

The first time I heard of The Farm was a few months ago when another reviewer compared it to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, one of my all-time favourite books. As soon as I read that line, I was hooked. Like Ms. Atwood’s famous story, this one is also about fertile, generally lower-class women being used to gestate babies for the most powerful members of society.

Unlike the characters in The Handmaid’s Tale, Jane and the other surrogates chose to become impregnated. Whether they knew what they were really consenting to is something I can’t discuss much in this review without wandering into spoiler territory. Let’s just say that the glossy description of what this job was like didn’t necessarily match Jane’s actual experiences with it.

What I would have loved to see from this book were more details. The most frightening parts of it were glossed over so much that I had to make educated guesses about how they played out. While Jane’s perspective was a limited one, it was a little frustrating as a reader to get so far into the plot only to receive the same vague hints that were contained in the blurb and early chapters.

There was a satisfying payoff for a subplot involving the woman who first introduced Jane to the idea of gestating a pregnancy at The Farm. If only the other clues at the beginning were given the same treatment. Not every dystopia is necessarily going to include a government being overthrown or other major signs that a society has gone terribly wrong. I loved the more subtle approach Ms. Ramos took with the assumptions she made about how people might respond if they couldn’t find decent paying work and selling the use of their reproductive organs seemed like the best option to make some semi-quick cash. If only she’d developed these thoughts further.

With that being said, one of the things I liked the most about this storywas how realistic it was. Yes, there were little snippets of what could be interpreted as science fiction and dystopian content in it, but everything in it is either really happening in our world today or could easily occur with a few small tweaks to how science works and what society tolerates. This is the kind of soft science fiction that grabs my attention because of how close it is to our reality.

I can sleep easily at night knowing that little green men from Mars aren’t actually ever going to invade Earth. The thought that women could so easily be coerced or enslaved into producing babies for wealthy, powerful families, on the other hand, is chilling because it has happened in the past, it is currently going on in some parts of the world, and it will almost certainly occur again in the future.

That’s frightening. Despite it’s flaws, The Farm’s no-nonsense approach to this topic is why I’ll recommend it to anyone who finds the blurb interesting.

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