Five books for the week
November 5th-11th, 2023
The week ahead is going to be interesting and undoubtedly a lot of fun. I have been on a bit of a travel high lately and am constantly feeling the pull to leave and go somewhere.
I leave for Las Vegas today for a work trip that will have me on conference for several days. I love this event and it’s always a great opportunity to learn and to network with people in similar roles to mine. I have enough to be excited about with that alone, but what’s really so delightful about this trip is that my booksta bestie Dana also just happens to be in Vegas AT THE SAME TIME. We live on opposite sides of the country and have never had the chance to meet in person, but we keep in regular contact and have for a long time. We are constantly discovering that we have all the same interests. (It’s not even a surprise anymore when one of us shares a story or an experience or a love and the other says “me too!” We just laugh now.) It’s going to be so fun to finally take this friendship IRL, but I anticipate a lot more talking about books than actually reading them.
I come back from Vegas late on Thursday (you can tell I was maxing out my away time because my flight gets in at almost midnight) and then I’ll head home, sleep (maybe), do some laundry, convert my hot weather suitcase to a cold weather suitcase and get on a plane to Toronto twelve hours later. That’ll be another busy trip with lacrosse training camp, visiting with family and friends, and finally a few days in Toronto when I will get to see Emma and meet Jen for the first time.
Reading? Well, we’ll see.
But first, a recap from last week.
I read two of the books I had on my list: Trailer Park Shakes by Justene Dion-Glowa and Back in the Land of the Living by Eva Crocker. Honestly, I loved them both. And I knew I would.
I did not read the other three I had selected. At all.
Here are my five books for this week, the new ones on the list first:
Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice - I’ll be honest: I’ve read part of this and I’ve also listened to part of it. I could not wait for this book to be published and when my preorder did not come in before the last time I left town, I bought the audio from Libro.fm. I was on a road trip and listened to it on the way to and from Whistler. Coincidentally, I had listened to Moon of the Crusted Snow the last time I made that drive. I really enjoyed the first instalment in this series and have no doubt I’ll love this follow-up.
Sadly, my conference this week made me unavailable for the Vancouver stop on Waub’s book tour. If you are around town on Monday, check out the event at Wise Hall. You can register here.
People You Know, Places You’ve Been by Hana Shafi - This is a book of poems and illustrations that I was lucky to receive as an advanced copy thanks to ZG Stories. I’ve followed frizzkidart on Instagram for a while and I recently made the decision to support her on Patreon as well. Although I have only had a chance to flip through it and to read a couple of quick poems so far, I think this book is a delight.
These three were on my list last week, but I’m not ready to take them off yet.
The Double Life of Benson Yu by Kevin Chong
Skid Dogs by Emelia Symington-Fedy
Bottle Rocket Hearts by Zoe Whittall
What will you be reading this week? And if you’re in or near Toronto and want to meet up to talk books or do something fun, let me know!
Sounds like so much excitement in the coming week! Wish I was there when you meet up with Jen... I feel like the three of us could have way too much fun together.