48-Hour Book Challenge -- Update #1

My update:
Hours of reading: 2
Hours of listening to an audiobook: 1
Books finished: 1
Books in progress: 1

Kate's update:
Hours of reading: 4
Books finished: 1
Books in progress: 1

Kate had said she would not have much time for the reading challenge this weekend, but I knew better. Once she started I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore, she read mostly non-stop for 3.5 hours and has now started the sequel, The Power of Six. I forced her to take a break for supper, as the library would not have wanted its book back with spaghetti sauce splattered on the pages. As you can guess, she enjoyed the book very much and promises to write more about it herself later on.

I did pretty well myself, having finished Puppet by Eva Wiseman. This is a young-adult historical novel about a teenage girl Julie living in Hungary in 1882. When a number of Jews in her village are falsely accused of murdering her friend Esther, she realizes that she cannot turn a blind eye to the injustices perpetrated by those around her. This was a well-paced, gripping read but one that was quite bleak and disturbing.

I also spent an hour listening to Holes by Louis Sachar on audiobook while doing the unavoidable household chores. All in all, it was a good evening of reading. I am also thrilled that my sister-in-law Jill and my nephews will be reading along with us!

48-Hour Book Challenge -- Starting Line

Kate and I have our books chosen and we are ready to go ahead with the 48-hour book challenge! It's not too late to join here. She is starting with I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore and I'm starting with Puppet by Eva Wiseman.

48-Hour Book Challenge

Once again, Kate and I have decided to participate in MotherReader's 48-Hour Book Challenge, which takes place this coming weekend June 8-10. The goal is to read as much as possible over a 48-hour period. Related activities include writing reviews on one's blog and visiting other participants' blogs to read their reviews.

Last year, Kate and I each read for 15 hours. There's no way we'll be able to repeat that this year, as we already have a number of commitments this weekend, but we'll try to put in at least a couple of hours each day. Because this particular challenge attracts a good number of book bloggers specializing in the young-adult genre, I'll use it as a opportunity to get through a number of YA books I've got in the queue.

This year, MotherReader has urged all participants to contribute to the literacy program Reading is Fundamental, so I will pledge $2 for each hour that Kate and I read. If you want a good excuse for ignoring all your weekend chores and you'd rather spend the time with a great book in your hands, then please join us!

Mennonites Don't Dance by Darcie Friesen Hossack

Darcie Friesen Hossack is another new author that I’ve discovered through the Ontario Library Association’s Evergreen list. I don’t read short-story collections nearly as often as I should, but I enjoyed greatly this one, which gives us glimpses into the lives of Mennonites living on Canada’s prairies. I was impressed by how much Hossack drew me into each story after only a few paragraphs.

These are not particularly happy stories. A number of the characters suffer from depression or anxiety, and several stories deal with the tension between the older generation attempting to maintain the traditional way of life and the younger members trying to find their place in a modern society. At the same time, the stories celebrate the simple joys in life, like the smell of freshly baked bread. Hossack describes lovingly the everyday foods of the Mennonites, and it came to me as no surprise that Hossack has worked many years as a newspaper food writer.

Even though the stories are set in the prairies, they seem closer to home as we live near a fairly large Mennonite community here in Ontario. Hossack’s stories give us insight into Mennonite customs and traditions but they also show that their conflicts and concerns are not all that different from those of other Canadians.

The Last Song by Eva Wiseman

In this young-adult novel by Canadian writer Eva Wiseman, the main character Isabel lives in Spain during the time of the Inquisition. Troubles start when it is revealed that Isabel’s parents have Jewish roots. To protect her from the dangers associated with her family’s past, her parents betroth her to a man from a respectable family, even though she finds him despicable and cruel. When her father is arrested, Isabel realizes she must act quickly to save his life.

Kate had also read this book, and we both enjoyed it. However, parts of the novel read very much like a history lesson, albeit a worthwhile one, and other parts seemed rushed. This novel is very short, which makes it an excellent read for middle-school or older reluctant readers, but I can’t help thinking that a fuller treatment of the characters and plot would have turned this from a good book into a great book.
Thanks to Tundra for this review copy, which I received through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

Festival of Trees

Last week, Kate and I attended the Festival of Trees at Harbourfront for the third year in a row. This event, run by the Ontario Library Association, is a huge celebration of reading. All the authors nominated for the Forest of Reading awards are invited to the award ceremonies and they also hold workshops and willingly sign books throughout the day.

Since Kate was reading from the Red Maple list this year, we attended on the first of the two days, when that awards ceremony was being held. As always, there was a real party atmosphere, with a live band playing and thousands of enthusiastic readers. At the ceremony itself, kids showed their appreciation in a very vocal way as each author was introduced by student volunteers. Here, authors are treated like rock stars, as they should be! The photo above shows the stage during the Red Maple awards with Kenneth Oppel, the winner with his book Half-Brother, addressing the audience.

Todd also had to go into Toronto that day so we decided to forego the usual bag lunch and join him at Watermark Irish Pub at nearby Queen's Quay Terminal. We made sure we got back in time to attend a joint talk given by Eric Walters and Teresa Toten to promote their new book The Taming, published by Random House. We both enjoyed the presentation, which was very well received by the audience, and decided to pick up a copy of the new book. Eric and Teresa were gracious enough to let me take their photograph after they signed Kate's book. Kate couldn't wait and started reading The Taming in the car as we drove home and finished it the next day. She plans to post a review (after all her end-of-year assignments are done) and liked the book so much that she proposed to our parent-child book club that it be one of our future selections.

Walking past the tents, we noticed a long line in front of Neil Pasricha, author of The Book of Awesome, which went on to win the White Pine non-fiction award. Kate told me that her teacher had read excerpts from the book to her class and so we at once knew the perfect book to bring back to her classroom. We picked up a copy at the book tent and asked Neil to sign it, which he did in a way that could only be described as "awesome"!

We also managed to find Kelley Armstrong and asked her to sign our copy of The Gathering, which was the winner of the White Pine fiction award. Regular readers of this blog will know that we are both fans of her Darkest Powers and Darkness Rising series. Kate would have loved to attend her workshop but unfortunately, it was scheduled at the same time as the Red Maple awards.

All in all, it was a terrific day, and the weather could not have been any better. We congratulate the Ontario Library Assocation for hosting another exciting and well-organized Festival of Trees event!

Shelter by Frances Greenslade

Shelter is the fourth book I've read from the Ontario Library Association’s 2012 Evergreen list.  The novel is narrated by teenager Maggie, who lives in a remote part of British Columbia with her mother and older sister Jenny. Soon after the death of Maggie’s father, her mother leaves the sisters in the care of a foster family to pursue work. When communication from her mother ceases and her sister is faced with a personal crisis, Maggie embarks on a search for her mother and in the process, learns much about her family and herself.

Initially, I had some doubts about this book, which seemed to me the stereotypical Canadian novel, with its treatment of the wilderness, survival and isolation. However, I soon became immersed in this very readable story told simply and beautifully. Shelter is a very strong first novel from Frances Greenslade, and I look forward to reading more from this author.

I've always loved reading from the Evergreen list, as it has encouraged me to discover new Canadian writers that I might not hear about otherwise, and this year's list is again successful in that respect. However, it looks like we will hear more of Frances Greenslade in the near future, as Shelter has been gaining recognition in other parts of the world (e.g. being included on Waterstone's Best Debut Novels of 2012).