We’re in Week 5 of Nonfiction November: New to My TBR. (If you need an introduction to Nonfiction November, please visit the original post on Julie Merilatt’s blog JulzReads. This week is being hosted by Rennie from What’s Nonfiction.
 

It’s been a great month of reading fabulous posts about supercali nonfiction books. I had to rein myself in to keep my additions to my TBR to a (baker’s) half-dozen.
 

I’m beginning to realize that essays are what thrill me in a nonfiction read. Three collections that I added this month:

How Life Imitates the World Series by Thomas Boswell.

Jane at Hotchpot Café tipped me to this one. I’ll be reading it and thinking of my late dad.

So You’re a Little Sad, So What? by Alicia Tobin.

Brandon at Every Read Thing says “I would put Alicia Tobin’s first book up against the best of David Sedaris – it’s that good. I had a great time reading this one and I hope you do too.”

And Tobin is Canadian!

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard P. Feynman.

RaiderGirl at An Adventure in Reading says: Feynman (winner of the Nobel Prize in physics) is “well known for popularizing physics, and his ability to tell a great story”. Science isn’t usually my thing, so I’m looking forward to stretching a little to take this one in.

Non-essay nonfiction that I added:

Shelleyrae at Book’d Out listed several books about true crimes by women. True-crime is another area I’m not usually much interested in reading but Cargo of Women by Babette Smith caught my eye.

Shellyrae said that it “focuses on the experiences of one hundred women who were sentenced to transportation to Australia, often for petty crimes, in 1829. It’s a fascinating exploration of their experiences as convicts.”

Sue at Whispering Gums reminded me that I must be the last person in the world to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skoot. But since there are new readers being born every minute, if I tackle it this year, I won’t be last anymore (right?)

Deb at ReaderBuzz also prompted my memory- this time about H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald.

I’ve been meaning to put this memoir on my TBR pile for a while now.

And last but not least, as they say, Annabel at Annabookbel let me know that Julie Andrews has a sequel to her memoir Home, which has been sitting unread on my shelves for years.

Now I must get to it and read the follow-up that Annabel recommended: Homework: a Memoir of my Hollywood Years

That wraps up Nonfiction November for me. I’m looking forward to hearing what everyone else added to their TBR lists.

Have you read any of my additions? Which would you recommend that I read first?

P.P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

We’re into week 3 of Nonfiction November: Be/Ask/Become an Expert (if you need an introduction to Nonfiction November, please visit the original post on Julie Merilatt’s blog JulzReads. This week, I hope to be early enough to get my name in on the link-up, hosted by Katie at Doing Dewey

This past summer I had the pleasure of reading Celtic Knot, a fictionalized account of the assassination of Thomas Darcy McGee.

In school, we learned about McGee’s death, significant because his was the first political assassination in the new country of Canada, taking place just eight months after Confederation. Beyond that and the fact Fenians were allegedly somehow involved, I knew nothing. Although I realize that Ann Shortell, the author of Celtic Knot, took certain liberties with the facts as in any historical fiction, I am certain that I understand a lot more about the political situation in Canada at that time now that I’ve read this than I ever learned in school!

But, I’ve decided, not enough. Over the past 50 years, I’ve owned several cats, all of whom have been named after Canadian historical figures: (Sir Charles) Tupper, (Allen Napier) MacNab, Ikie (Isaac Brock), Laura (Secord), Nelly (McClung), (Pierre) Elliott (Trudeau), Fenian, and not least (Thomas D’Arcy) McGee. I think I have an unfed hunger for Canadian history!

My interest piqued, I found this two-volume biography of McGee by David Wilson: Passion, Reason, & Politics 1825-1857 and Volume 2 The Extreme Moderate 1858-1868. There are also free ecopies of McGee’s own writings: his poetry and Popular History of Ireland.

So – time and cost permitting – I’m going to become somewhat of an expert on Thomas D’Arcy McGee. Thanks to author Ann Shortell for rekindling that flame.

P.S. The protagonist in the novel Celtic Knot is McGee’s (fictional) Irish Catholic maid Clara Swift who was the closest to a witness to the murder that there was. Fifteen-year-old Clara is intelligent and observant and it is through her eyes that we see the tangled mess that is motivation for the alleged killer, the investigation, arrest and then trial of Jimmy Whelan. If you have any interest at all in Canadian history, political or not, I highly recommend that you read Celtic Knot.

Thanks to James who blogs at The Mirimichi Reader who brought this book to my attention, and to the author who kindly sent me a beautiful hardcover copy to read in exchange for my unbiased (except for my love of Canadian history!) review.

P.P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

We’re into week 2 of Nonfiction November: Book Pairings (if you need an introduction to Nonfiction November, please visit the original post on Julie Merilatt’s blog JulzReads. This week, I hope to be early enough to get my name in on the link-up, hosted by Sarah at Sarah’s Bookshelves
 

 
Since I didn’t read a great deal of NF this past year, I have only one real pairing – and not an original one at that. Way back in the spring when I was eagerly waiting for my turn to borrow Jennifer Robson’s The Gown from the library, one of the bloggers I read recommended the nonfiction book My Wedding Dress: True-Life Tales of Lace, Laughter, Tears and Tulle edited by Susan Whelan and Anne Laurel Carter. Unfortunately, I didn’t record who it was who mentioned this book; if it was you, please let me know so that I can give you credit, because it was delightful.

The editors, Canadian writers themselves, issued an invitation to a number of women writers, all with links to the Canadian writing scene, to submit an essay about their wedding dress. Amazon describes the book thusly:
“These are intimate stories about relationships; not just those between men and women, but between women and their mothers, friends and children. And, of course, with their wedding attire – a relationship that is sometimes simple, sometimes complex, but always fascinating in what it tells us about individual lives and aspirations.”

But don’t be put off by the lace and tulle: this book contains a wide variety of wedding dresses, some not dresses at all, and covers a lot of different types of weddings ranging from very traditional to not-even-close. Each essay is accompanied by one or more photos submitted by the author.

I loved every story – every one, I say.

I did read The Gown later in the year, but I was disappointed by it.

Would you have a story to tell about your wedding dress?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

Although I’m a little late out of the gate for this event (if you need an introduction to Nonfiction November, please visit the original post on Julie Merilatt’s blog JulzReads; Julz is also hosting this first week) I hope to keep up as the month progresses.

Here’s the list of nonfiction books I’ve read since last November, from my highest rating to my lowest. I’ve included an asterisk next to those that I read at the urging of my fellow event participants.

1. *Oh, the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss
2. My Wedding Dress: True-Life Tales of Lace, Laughter, Tears and Tulle edited by Susan Whelan and Anne Laurel Carter
3. *Micro Living: 40 Innovative Tiny Houses Equipped for Full-Time Living by Derek “Deek” Diedriksen
4. The Golden Age of Murder: the Mystery Writers Who Invented the Modern Detective Story by Martin Edwards
5. The Clever Gut Diet: How to Revolutionize Your Body from the Inside Out by Dr. Michael Mosley
6. *The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life is Worth More than Anything You Can Buy in a Store by Cait Flanders
7. *Year of Clutter by Eve Schaub
8. *Fluent in 3 Months: How Anyone at Any Age Can Learn to Speak Any Language from Anywhere in the World by Benny Lewis
9. Marty Mann Answers Your Questions about Drinking and Alcoholism by Marty Mann
10. *Tree Houses: Fairy Tale Castles in the Air by Philip Jodidio
11. *A Glorious Freedom: Older Women Leading Extraordinary Lives by Lisa Congdon
12. The Blue Satin Nightgown: My French Makeover at Age 78 by Karin Crilly
13. *Between the World and Me by Ta-nehisi Coates

And two I did not finish:
* The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delaney Begins Her Life’s Work at 72 by Molly Peacock
All Things Consoled by Elizabeth Hay

 
Favourite and Most Recommended

The title of ‘favourite’ is a close race between My Wedding Dress and Micro Living, but, honestly, the book I recommended most was Dr. Suess’ Oh the Places You’ll Go. It probably seems flighty of me but I found some profound life advice in this book. You know: life is wonderful. Until it’s not. But pick yourself up, work hard, have patience, and life will be wonderful again, although perhaps in a different way. This book is so much fun to read that I think everyone should!

 
While many participants seem to have been reading memoirs, my nonfiction treats this past year have been, in large part, books recommended to me during last year’s event. I asked for advice on downsizing, simplifying, and major life changes after age 60. I received many suggestions, and have had some fine reading experiences this year because of them.

This year, I hope to broaden my nonfiction reading and beef up my TBR list with titles about a wider variety of topics. I feel a good month coming on!

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

Nonfiction November is being hosted this week by Katie at Doing Dewey.

Oh, my! I’ve seen about a hundred books this month that I want to read. I had to narrow it down, guys. Sorry for anyone I missed.

First – the answers to my call for experts on making big later-in-life changes, and for downsizing. Thank you to all who commented on this post!

Life Changes:
Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Suess (to be covered in a separate post, coming soon) recommended by Brona at Brona’s Books

The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begins Her Life’s Work at 72 by Molly Peacock also by Brona, and seconded by Rebecca at Bookish Beck and Marcie at Buried in Print (Doesn’t this look luscious?)

A Glorious Freedom: Older Women Leading Extraordinary Lives by Lisa Congdon also cited by Rebecca

Heather at Gofita’s Pages praised Fluent in 3 Months: How Anyone at Any Age Can Learn to Speak a Language from Anywhere in the World by Benny Lewis

 
Downsizing:
Duane Elgin’s Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Life That is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich was applauded by Jane at Hotchpot Cafe as the “bible” of downsizing from a cultural perspective

Rebecca also appreciated Year of No Clutter by Eve O. Schaub

The Year of Less by Cait Flanders was cited by Jade of Reading with Jade as being thought-provoking in terms of downsizing

Genevieve Parker Hill’s Minimalist Living: Decluttering for Joy, Health and Creativity was recommended by Michael at Inexhaustible Invitations as dealing with lifestyle shifts in general, in addition to offering practical advice about how to declutter

I also picked up a couple of other helpful resources:
GrowingBolder.com website and podcast also endorsed by Jane and
The Minimalists podcast applauded by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best

I already have Voluntary Simplicity and Eva Schaub’s book on my bedside table, and have the rest of the above list reserved at the library.

Further down my TBR I added:

Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper
and
Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Languageby Eva Hoffman
I’ve misplaced the names of the bloggers who recommended these. If it was you, please let me know!

 
Although not part of a Nonfiction November post, Christie at the Ludic Reader highly praised Orchestra in My Garden: Lessons Learned from Digging Deep by Linda Brooks
 

I saw Educated by Tara Westover on many blogs this month, but it was Rebecca at Bookish Beck who was either the first who mentioned it, or the first to convince me to read it. She called it “one of the most powerful and well-written memoirs I’ve ever read.”

And last, but certainly not least, two books on race because I have biracial grandchildren and because I can’t see race as anything but a social construct:

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

and

 

Good White People: the Problem with Middle-Class White Anti-Racism by Shannon Sullivan, both brought to my attention by JoAnn of Lakeside Musing who has done a prodigious amount of reading on this subject.

What a great month. Thanks for all the great recommendations – it was really hard to narrow my list down.

Do any of my choices tempt you?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

Nonfiction November is being hosted this week by Rennie at What’s Nonfiction. The prompt is

Nonfiction books often get praised for how they stack up to fiction. Does it matter to you whether nonfiction reads like a novel? If it does, what gives it that fiction-like feeling? Does it depend on the topic, the writing, the use of certain literary elements and techniques? What are your favorite nonfiction recommendations that read like fiction? And if your nonfiction picks could never be mistaken for novels, what do you love about the differences?

Whew! It’s these kind of questions that make me feel totally inadequate and unqualified to be discussing books.

Sure, I like narrative nonfiction, and it helps if there are real-life examples but nonfiction doesn’t necessarily have to read like a novel to keep my interest. Especially if it’s a book that is ‘teaching’ me: I don’t want just dry facts or a school textbook, but I don’t need it sound like fiction either, although history often can! And I doubt I differ from most casual (or even noncasual) readers of nonfiction here.

Memoirs are a slightly different kettle of fish, but even then, I don’t need to think they’re novels, although I think that many do have that feel – and thus seem to be the most widely read area of nonfiction. But what makes them seem so? I will leave that up to the more qualified to discuss.

The one memoir I read this year Truck: a Love Story is the account of a few years in the life of a man while he is having his beloved derelict International Harvester truck restored. IH trucks were never widely sold and have become something of a rare collector’s item. Perry, however, wanted a working truck – and got one, despite having very little cash to work with. I recommend it.

Do the memoirs that you read need to have ‘novel’ qualities?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

NONFICTION NOVEMBER is being hosted this week by Julz at JulzReads.
 

This week we can be an expert, ask an expert, or become an expert.

I don’t feel like an expert on anything right now but I do need some inspiration.

What’s happening:

My husband and I are preparing for retirement which means selling our large home and drastically downsizing.

We are also thinking about making a big move to South America – for six months of the year anyway.

What I need:
1) memoirs of people who have made major life changes (or maybe learned a new language?) AFTER AGE 60;

2) the best books about downsizing, especially for when retiring and thinking about where the things you do keep will eventually end up.

 
Any experts out there? Bring on your recommendations – please!

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

NONFICTION NOVEMBER is being hosted this week by Sarah at Sarah’s Book Shelves. The prompt is to pair one of our nonfiction reads with a fiction title.

Fortunately, one of the few nonfiction books I read in the past year was The Crown: the Official Companion, Volume 1: Elizabeth II, Winston Churchill, and the Making of a Young Queen.

I don’t know how many of you have watched the Netflix series The Crown starring Claire Foy and Matt Smith but I was in love with it. I suspect most viewers felt the same, as it has a 90% rating at RottenTomatoes.com

The Companion book contained many photos of the series, but also of the real-life royals. It also provided history for each episode about the political and personal disasters taking place at the time. Although we googled the events as the show progressed, I found many things in this book that I had not previously known.

Reading the book greatly enriched my understanding of the time period and of the challenges facing the Queen and Winston Churchill, and I wish I had read it concurrently with watching the series.

* * * * *

My fiction pick for this is a book I read in 2016 titled The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan. It had originally been recommended by Shannon of River City Reading.

It’s a chick-litty romance which is not something I usually read, but I was intrigued by the royal connection. It features all-American Rebecca (Bex) Porter, who goes to Oxford and falls in love with the guy across the hall, who just happens to be the heir to the British throne. It was sort of based on William and Katherine, but would make great reading now in light of Harry & Meghan.

There are the meetings with “the family”, procural of the queen’s approval, the protocol, the protocol, and more protocol. If you’re a fan of the Duchess of Sussex and her handsome husband, I’m pretty sure that you’ll really enjoy this book.

So, tell me, are you a royals watcher?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

It’s been almost six months since my last post and I expect that quite a few of you didn’t expect to see me blog again. Truthfully, the longer I went, the more unsure I was that I would return. But more about that in another post.

For now, I’m breaking radio silence by taking apart in NONFICTION NOVEMBER hosted by five fabulous bloggers. To kick off the month, I’m looking back on my year of nonfiction and linking to this week’s co-host Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness.
 
My reading overall was down dramatically in the past year, and I had only 3½ nonfiction titles in the mix. They represented a wide range of topics: medicine, history and lifestyle.

I enjoyed all of them equally and rated each of them four stars out of five, but the one that has stayed with me is In Pursuit of Memory: The Fight Against Alzheimer’s by Joseph Jabelli.

In the foreword, we’re warned:

As the world’s population ages, Alzheimer’s is expected to affect 135 million people by 2050, overtaking cancer to become the second leading cause of death after heart disease.

and in Chapter 1:

[N]ew acceptance highlighted Alzheimer’s as ‘a major killer’—the fourth leading cause of death in America alone—and something far more ominous than previously thought. With the world’s population steadily ageing, Alzheimer’s could now be seen for what it truly is: a global and inescapable epidemic.

The author tells us about the origins of Alzheimer’s Disease, the research that’s being done, what we can personally do to prevent it, and what’s happening in experimental treatment.

He also includes a quote by Professor Nick Fox on a tour of a Science Museum:

‘One in three people in this room will get Alzheimer’s,’ Fox continued. ‘One in two will look after someone with Alzheimer’s.’ He paused and turned again. “As a society we’re sleepwalking into this.’

Don’t sleepwalk. Given those odds, you’ll be affected in some way by this disease. So, read this book.

I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone else has been up to in their nonfiction reading. Be sure to visit the list of participants at Sophisticated Dorkiness.

It’s good to be back.

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

Joyce over at From This Side of the Pond hosts a weekly hodepodge of questions. It’s been a month since I hopped into the discussion so it’s time!
 

1. What’s a word that describes your life? Cluttered
A word you wish described your life? Simple
 

2. Back in my day we
subscribed to newspapers. I always had a least two dailies coming to the house, and one at the office. Sunday afternoons, I sat down with four weekend papers. It was glorious. It was a trial for me when we first moved to rural Nova Scotia because we couldn’t get any national newspaper delivered – and even the copy I could buy at the pharmacy in the summertime has been discontinued.

But that’s not the issue. I just read this CBC news article (on-line, of course)—“Your lifestyle is making blue box recycling unsustainable”—about the problem facing recycling programs today. Basically, the sale of recycled paper used to cover the cost of processing the plastics, but because the volume of printed newspapers has dropped dramatically in the past 20 years, so has the income of these programs.

Add to that: the volume of plastics has increased BUT the income from these is based on tonnage (takes a lot of plastic to make a ton) and the processing capacity of the recyclers is based on volume. And there’s the problem of handling all the new kinds of recyclables on the market now: your take-out salad bowl, your frozen vegetables bag, or any ‘combined’ product such as bubble envelopes. (Are they paper? Are they plastic? Can they even be recycled?)
 

3. When it comes to takeout are you more likely to opt for Italian, Mexican, or Chinese food? Does a typical week at your house include takeout?

Hmm . . . of the three options, the only one available in a less-than-45-minute drive is Chinese, although there is a food bus that sells “tacos” in the summer cottage season. We probably have Chinese take-out (no delivery) once a month or so.
 

4. Think about the people you most respect. What is it about them that earned your respect?

The word that sprang to my mind was ‘integrity’. Webster’s Dictionary defines that as “having sound moral principles, uprightness, honesty, and sincerity”.

Yup, that’s it. It’s those people. I’m thankful that I have a lot of them in my life.
 

5. What’s something your friends might see and say is ‘so you’?

Wall-to-wall floor-to-ceiling bookcases. It’s something I’ve wanted all my life and finally got two years ago. Then our real estate agent told us that at least half of them had to come out if we want to sell the house. I can’t tell you how shattered I was.

(These aren’t mine. I couldn’t find a photo of mine on short notice.)

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Since I live in part of that region of North America that has had four nor’easters this month, I’m hearing a lot about how it’s supposed to be spring. I have to restrain myself from that line of thinking because I know that spring comes to northern Nova Scotia in May. At the beginning, it’s cold and colourless. By the 31st, it’s summer.

It’s a miracle month, but it’s still five weeks away.

What about you? What did you do back in your day?

It’s time again for the Six Degrees of Separation link-up, hosted by Kate at Books are My Favourite and Best and you can find complete details by clicking on the link.

This month, the start to everyone’s chain is The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women by Naomi Wolf. Wolf asserts that the “beauty myth” is an obsession with physical perfection that traps the modern woman in an endless spiral of hope, self-consciousness, and self-hatred as she tries to fulfill society’s impossible definition of “the flawless beauty.”

1. The beauty myth is probably the reason why I bought and read Charla Krupp’s How Not to Look Old: Fast and Effortless Ways to Look 10 Years Younger, 10 Pounds Lighter, 10 Times Better (plus its companion book How to Never Look Fat Again). Both of these actually had some great tips, some of which are beyond me now, but some that I still employ. Perhaps without them, I’d look older and fatter than I do.

2. Having played into the trap of the Beauty Myth with Charla’s books, I’ll try to fight the myth, and turn to Going Gray: What I Learned about Beauty, Sex, Work, Motherhood, Authenticity, and Everything Else That Really Matters by Anne Kreamer. This book was an account of the author’s decision to stop dying her hair, and let her natural beauty shine through (that’s her on the cover).

I read this several years ago when I didn’t know that I would be 63 and not yet grey. (It’s a gene from my mother’s side of the family.)

3. But grey or not, I am 63 and considered a senior by many, so Strength Training for Seniors: How to Rewind Your Biological Clock by Michael Fekete was a clearance purchase I made in an effort to feel younger.

I believe it was David J. Lieberman in Get Anyone to Do Anything who said that, if you want people to like you, move like a young person. Strength training is necessary for me to even try to do that.

4. Some studies show that exercise may be a way to lower the likelihood of Alzheimer’s. In In Pursuit of Memory: The Fight Against Alzheimer’s, Joseph Jebelli says that as the more of the world’s population becomes seniors, “Alzheimer’s is expected to affect 135 million people by 2050, overtaking cancer to become the second leading cause of death after heart disease.” (According to the Office for National Statistics, it already has in England and Wales.)

I haven’t finished In Pursuit of Memory yet, but I’m finding it fascinating. Alzheimer’s is such a difficult and misunderstood disease. It leads me to my next link.

5. In How Many Camels are There in Holland: Dementia, Ma and Me, Phyllida Law recounts the final months of caring for her mother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s, in the tiny Scottish village of Ardentinny – with the help of friends, local villagers, and her two daughters, actresses Emma and Sophie Thompson. Amazon says that running through the account are “anecdotes, memories and legends that form the fabric of every family.”

Unfortunately when I tried to read it a couple of years ago, I got no further than the first chapter and just couldn’t make sense of it. That probably says more about my state of mind at the time than it does about the book.

6. I was reading a hardcover copy of How Many Camels that I bought because several years ago, I greatly enjoyed Law’s Notes to My Mother-in-Law. A sweet & short memoir of sorts, written in the titular notes by the author to her mother-in-law, who was hard of hearing and yet wanted the day’s news and arrangements, it was a short and charming read. Both women sounded like people I’d like to know, and Phyllida’s respect and affection for her mother-in-law were evident.

So there you have it – a journey through some of my nonfiction reading for the past few years. I seem to be focusing on aging. Quelle surprise. What most concerns you as you get older?

P.S. Did you notice that the covers for all three of the books dealing with Alzheimer’s are white – fading away? A statement?
 

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

I thought I should take a break from post after post of monthly reading recaps from three years ago, so I decided to join in Hodgepodge again this week. It’s hosted by Joyce at From This Side of the Pond.

1. Where do you go when you need some inspiration?

I’ll admit that this question completely stumped me. What kind of inspiration? Inspires me to what? Really, completely stumped.

2. What’s under your bed?

This one is easy-peasy. The cord for the electric blanket. Dust bunnies. Maybe some stray tissues. That’s it.

3. Thursday, February 22nd is National Chili Day, National Margarita Day, and National Cook a Sweet Potato Day. Of the three which would you most like to celebrate? Is that likely?

I love roasted sweet potatoes, drizzled with olive oil and salt and pepper. Think I’ll make a batch tomorrow and celebrate.

4. What are you ‘snowed under’ with right now?

Aside from house renovations, it’s deskwork: blog posts, making appointments, arranging the details of our Ecuador trip, transferring info from last year’s calendar to this year’s, paying bills, writing letters. If I didn’t have anything else to do (Paint the bathroom! Volunteer work! Go to the appointments made!) I’d be fine.

5. Tell us three to five things that make you feel balanced.

1. Bible reading
2. Volunteer work
3. Exercise
These all make me feel as if I’m not just the desk-sitting pursuer of all things mundane.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I made arrangements to go visit my daughter & her family, because we’re leaving for Ecuador from Ontario anyway. I planned the visit for my usual ten days because I don’t want to wear out my welcome. Things were perfect.

Then the airline stopped making the flight I booked and changed me to another day & time which didn’t work on either end. The only day that did meant I would be over two weeks at my daughter’s. So I made arrangements with my sister to finish up my 16 day solo stint with her. And, in fairness, when I called WestJet to change my flight again, they were marvellous – friendly and efficient.

What started out as a problem resulted in a positive customer transaction and a bonus visit with my sister. Yay: lemonade!

Can you think of a problem situation where you ended up with lemonade instead of lemons?

This link-up is hosted by Books Are My Favourite and Best, and you can find complete details by clicking on the link.

This month, the starting point for everyone’s chains is The #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. If you haven’t read it, you’ve probably heard of it. In it, Mma Precious Ramotswe begins her own business–the aforesaid agency–and solves a number of small cases. It’s set in Botswana in what, I suspect, is a lost time in African society (much like 1950s small-town America) but I love the gentle rhythm of Mma Ramotswe’s life.

1. Also set in Botswana, although one not quite so charming, is Eleanor Lincoln Morse’s White Dog Fell from the Sky.
In mid-1970s apartheid South Africa, medical student Isaac Muthethe has himself smuggled out of the country into Botswana. He is in danger in his home country because he witnessed the murder of a friend by white members of the South African Defense Force. He is hired as a gardener by a young American woman, Alice Mendelssohn, who has followed her husband to Africa. The white dog of the title is a stray that shows up just when Isaac is dropped off in Botswana, and that attaches itself to the young man.

This book made me aware of the issue of cattle-farm fences across Africa, which cut off wildlife from their families and from water supplies. It also sharpened my understanding of the apartheid situation in South Africa, especially after Isaac is extradited and tortured. This is not Precious Ramotswe’s Botswana. This is a powerful and moving book that should have received more attention than it did. A different tone is set in

2. To Dance with the White Dog by Terry Kay.
Sam Peek’s children are worried about him since his beloved wife of fifty-seven years died. They’re not sure he can live alone on his farm and survive. Sam is determined to stay, though, and continue to care for his pecan trees.

When Sam begins telling his children about a white dog who visits him — but seems invisible to everyone but him — his children think that grief and old age have finally taken their toll.

There’s nothing supernatural and no mental illness here–just a bittersweet story of grieving. Desmond Tutu called To Dance with the White Dog “a hauntingly beautiful story about love, family, and relationships”. I concur – this one of those free Kindle books that turned out to be a real winner.

3. Another book that I thought was well-done and that I read on my Kindle app was Will Ferguson’s The Shoe on the Roof.

The tone of this novel is almost whimsical and it took me a while to figure out the seriousness of the story. I suspect that it was the author’s intent to keep the reader slightly off-balance while he established the underpinnings of the plot.

Amazon calls this “the startling, funny, and heartbreaking story of a psychological experiment gone wrong” and says that “The Shoe on the Roof is an explosively imaginative tour de force, a novel that questions our definitions of sanity and madness, while exploring the magical reality that lies just beyond the world of scientific fact.”

4. Using the word ‘shoe’ in the title, I linked to G is for Gumshoe, a Kinsey Millhone mystery by Sue Grafton who died just a few weeks ago, in December 2017.

I know I read this several years ago, and the plot synopsis does ring a bell, but I can’t tell you much about it now.

I do remember that I read to ‘M’ in this series, and took a break because the tone was getting darker and I wasn’t enjoying them as much as the earlier adventures. I’ve never gotten back to Grafton’s books, but I do have ‘N’ through ‘Q’ on my bookshelves so one never knows.

5. Richard Adams, author of one of my favourite modern classics, Watership Down also died in 2017.

Amazon’s synopsis focuses on the band of rebel rabbits that left the warren and had adventures.

I read this in the 1970s and what I remember is the movement within the warren to trust the humans who, in the end, flooded the rabbits’ home, killing many. Do I remember correctly? I hope so because

6. Another book with a seemingly benevolent party with evil intent is The Gold Eaters by Ronald Wright.

This epic novel tells the story of the Spaniard Francisco Pizarro’s entry into Peru and his subsequent conquering of the Incan Empire. What greed, what a loss of culture, what a waste of human life!

So there you have my links: location, two white dogs, ebooks, the death of authors, and evil intent. Have you read any of these books? What would you have linked differently?

Why not visit Kate’s blog and see how she made the final connection to The Heart’s Invisible Furies?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

Joyce over at From This Side of the Pond hosts a weekly hodepodge of questions.

I was sick yesterday so didn’t read my email with the HodgePodge questions until noon today. So I’m w-a-y- down the list of participants again, but here goes!

1. It’s that time of year again…time for Lake Superior University to present a list of words (or phrases) they’d like to see banished (for over-use, misuse, or general uselessness) in 2018. You can read more about the decision making process and word meaning here, but this year’s top vote getters are-

Which of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word not on the list you’d like to add?

I was puzzled to see unpack on this list but it’s referring to its misuse as a verb that should be analyze, consider, assess, and so on. That I can agree with.

The word I’d most like to see gone is impactful, as the panel says: “A frivolous word groping for something ‘effective’ or ‘influential.’” It seems to me to be just bad grammar.

And, yes, while we’re talking about this, I’ll tell you my pet peeve and hope that I don’t mortally offend anyone. In the last couple of years, I’ve seen (heard) that the word “died” has died an unnatural death in the English speaking world. A decade ago, someone would have died, or passed away, or even passed over, but now people only “pass”. I’m always tempted (very irreverently & probably offensively) to ask, “Pass wind?” Please, people, death is neither pleasant nor natural nor anything but grief-inducing, but it is what it is. Using that, may I say ‘trendy’, euphemism doesn’t alter the facts.

2. What’s something you need to get rid of in the new year?

I need to get rid of this house. I feel rather ill saying that. I love this property, I love this house, I love the village 6km down the road, but we need to be able to make decisions about retirement and we can’t be anchored here by a piece of real estate.

3. Where do you feel stuck?

I feel stuck in winter, as odd as that sounds. The cold makes it impossible to do work outside that needs to be done, both in the garden and on the buildings, and it makes it difficult to work in the unheated barn to sort and dispose there.

4. January is National Soup Month. When did you last have a bowl of soup? Was it made from scratch or from a can? Your favorite canned soup? Your favorite soup to make from scratch on a cold winter’s day?

I can’t remember the last time I had a bowl of soup and it was probably canned.

I guess one thing that winter is good for is soup-making and eating.

A friend gave me a big bag of freshly harvested carrots a couple of weeks ago and I have been roasting them for suppers. I think tomorrow would be a good day to make a pot of carrot soup. Usually, I make split pea.

5. Tell us one thing you’re looking forward to in 2018.

Finding out more about what the future holds for us! Where will we end up? By the end of this year, we should have the answers to a number of variables (when will the house sell? How much will it sell for? Where will our grandchildren be? Etc.) and should be narrowing in on our path for the next few years.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

We laid the ceramic tile in the upstairs bathroom last week. Note the scraps of old dark wallpaper that the previous owners had covered with a high baseboard.

I’m so eager to get with on the rest of the reno in there!

Have you an opinion about any of these? Have I any readers left after question #1?

Joyce over at From This Side of the Pond hosts a weekly hodepodge of questions. This week’s questions piqued my interest.

1. ‘Hurry less, worry less’…what’s your strategy for making that happen this holiday season? How’s it going so far?

This one is easy. Since we don’t celebrate any holidays, there’s no more or no less to do than at any other time of the year. It’s working well, and has for the last 30 years.

2. Do you have a list of to-dos that need accomplishing in order to prepare your home and/or property for the winter season? What are some of the jobs on your list? Are you a do-it-yourself or do you hire someone to accomplish these tasks?

Not to prepare for the winter season, but to prepare for selling our house next year. There’s a list a mile long: strip & paint two bathrooms; replace counter, sinks, toilet; take up the old carpet on the stairs; sand & paint the stairs & lay new runner; clean the barn; and so on and so on. Lots of these I’m doing myself but we’re hiring some help: to trim the trees and carry the brush away; to put a door on the basement stairs; to clean up Bill’s to-do list that just seems to keep growing since he works full-time – including four hours commuting 4 days each week. By weekend, when he also has other responsibilities, he’s toast. I’m so happy to have found someone to clean this up for him.

3. According to dietitians surveyed, the most popular health foods for 2018 will be -turmeric, sprouted foods (bean sprouts, breads with sprouted grains, etc), veggies in place of grains, dairy free milk, and pulses (lentils, chickpeas, etc). What’s the first thought that ran through your head when you read this list? Of the foods listed which one might you add to your regular diet? Also, can milk really be dairy free? Is it still milk?

Thoughts: I’ll have to be sure to use up that turmeric tea in the cupboard; I’ve just collected the equipment for sprouting beans and alfalfa – darn! Does this make ‘trendy’? Yuck!; we already stock almond ‘milk’ for our grandson and I much prefer it for my smoothies; and now I can serve lentil soup and hummus with a ‘clean conscience’.

‘Milk’ is just semantics.

4. The Pantone Color of the Year for 2018 is Ultra Violet. According to the Pantone site ‘Ultra Violet communicates originality, ingenuity, and visionary thinking pointing us to the future.’ What say you? Do you like the color purple? Did you see the movie or read the book-ha!? Is purple a color you wear often? Describe for us one purple item in your home without using the word purple. If you were in charge of such things what color would you select for 2018?

I like purple, but this ‘Ultra Violet’ is a little too purple for me. I mean, what are we supposed to do with that?

When I was a teen, I decorated my entire bedroom in shades of purple. That’s where the only purple item that I can think of in the house now is from: an old metal Welch’s grape juice can (it’s sold in cardboard now) that I use on my desk. How to describe it? Easy: grapey.

If I was in charge? I really don’t know – maybe a sage green. I think the world needs soothing right now.

5. Favorite book you read this year?

I had a few 5 star books this year, but the one that is most memorable for me is The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. It’s a middle grade book, based on a true story about a gorilla that spent decades alone in a cage in a mall in the southern USA. It’s haunting.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

This is the first time I’ve participated in Wednesday Hodgepodge. I can’t promise I’ll be in every week, but maybe now and then.

When the days get shorter and I’m making supper when it’s dark outside, I want to make something cozy. It’s then that I often turn to eggs.

I could – and do – make scrambled eggs and toast, or fried egg sandwiches, but even my eight-year-old grandson recognizes these as a “last resort” supper. This classic egg dish, on the other hand, never raises his suspicions.

The recipe for this Middle Eastern dish, also called shakshuka, ran in Canadian Living magazine a couple of years ago. The flavours are beautifully intense, and two eggs and the sauce are surprisingly filling as a single serving. I serve it with crusty or garlic bread to mop up the extra sauce.

TOMATO AND FETA BAKED EGGS
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, sliced
half sweet red pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic
¼ tsp. ground cumin
¼ tsp. sweet paprika
¼ tsp each salt and pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 can (796 ml/28 oz) diced tomatoes
3 Tbsp. tomato paste
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
6-8 eggs

1. In large skillet, heat oil over medium heat; cook onion and red pepper, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened and light golden, about 10 minutes.

2. Stir in garlic, cumin, paprika, half each of the salt and pepper, and the cayenne pepper; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Stir in tomatoes and tomato paste; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 10 minutes.

3. Scrape into 12-cup (3 L) casserole dish; sprinkle with all but 2 tsp of the feta cheese.

Using a spoon, make 6 -8 wells in the tomato mixture; crack one egg into each well. Sprinkle remaining salt and pepper over eggs.

Bake in 375ᵒ oven (190ᵒ) until whites are set but yolks are still slightly soft, 15 to 18 minutes.

4. Remove from oven; tent with foil and let stand for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining feta cheese and chopped parsley (if desired).

Note: To my mind, the tomato paste is an essential ingredient but I’m loathe to put out three times the money for a tube (great idea) as for a can of the same size. My solution is to divide a can into 3 or 4 “servings” and freeze them in baby food jars or small plastic containers. When a recipe calls for a small amount of tomato paste, I slip a container out of the door of the freezer and into a bowl of warm water until the paste is thawed enough to slide out of the container.
 

I’m linking up with Weekend Cooking.

This link-up is hosted by Books Are My Favourite and Best, and was inspired by Hungarian writer and poet Frigyes Karinthy. In his 1929 short story, “Chains”, Karinthy coined the phrase ‘six degrees of separation’. The phrase was popularized by a 1990 play written by John Guare, which was later made into a film starring Stockard Channing.

On the first Saturday of every month, Kate chooses a book as a starting point and links that book to six others forming a chain. Bloggers and readers are invited to join in and the beauty of this mini-challenge is that I can decide how and why I make the links in my chain

December’s starting book is Richard Yates’ 1961 classic Revolutionary Road. This is another starting book that I haven’t read yet. Amazon tells me that “It’s the story of Frank and April Wheeler, a bright, beautiful, and talented couple who have lived on the assumption that greatness is only just around the corner.”

1. Revolutionary Road came into my sphere of awareness about the same time as Reservation Road by John Burnham Schwarz, which has nothing at all to do with Yates’ novel, except that I confused them in my mind for a couple of years. Reservation Road is the story of man who accidently runs over a young boy and flees the scene. It was made into a movie with Mark Ruffalo in 2007.

2. In 2011, the sequel Northwest Corner by the same author was published. It tells the story of the same man, after he is released from prison some years later and is trying to start his life over. I won a copy of this in a blog giveaway and read it in January 2012.

3. Another book I read in January 2012 was Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion 1917 by Sally Walker.

Imagine the greatest manmade explosion in history prior to the atomic bomb. That was what was detonated in Halifax Harbour in December of 1917, killing two thousand people, leaving more than six thousand wounded, many of them blinded by flying glass, and over 9,000 homeless. Relief efforts were hampered by a blizzard the day after the explosion.

The style of this book is a middle-school textbook but it’s well worth the read.

4. Since The Cartographer of No Man’s Land by P.S. Duffy is set throughout the year of 1917, in France and in Chester Nova Scotia, just a few miles outside Halifax, I expected the Explosion to play some part in the story. I was disappointed that it rated only a passing reference near the end of the book.

5. The explosion also has a bit part in Ami McKay’s The Birth House. The bulk of this story takes place in the years 1916-1919, in Nova Scotia, this time on the Bay of Fundy shore.

The protagonist, Dora Rae, is befriended and mentored by the community’s midwife/herbalist. Over the course of her life, Dora’s house becomes the birth house—or the place where the women of the community go to have their babies, rather than taking the sometimes dangerous trip into the nearest town where ‘modern’ male medicine suits their needs somewhat less.

The midwives offered onion juice as a tonic to their expectant and new mothers.

6. Another book where onions have medicinal purposes is Holes by Louis Sachar, a 1999 multiple award winning children’s chapter book. Our protagonist Stanley Yelnats has been unjustly sent to a boys’ detention center in the desert, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day, digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep.

There’s a mystery told in flashback so the reader is always ahead of Stanley but just, and there’s piecing together for the reader to do too. It’s actually quite a bit of fun. (The onions play a part in the flashback bits.)

So there you have it: from 1950s suburbia to a 1990s boys’ detention centre, via the first world war. What do you think?
 

Why not visit Kate’s blog and see how she made the final connection to Rush Oh!

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

The 2016 edition of Nonfiction November is wrapping up. This week’s link-up is hosted by Lory at The Emerald City Book Review.

Lory asks: Which of this month’s amazing nonfiction books have made it onto my TBR?

NEW TO MY TBR LIST THIS MONTH:

 Field Notes: A City Girl’s Search for Heart and Home in Rural Nova Scotia by Sara Jewell

Amazon: “Field Notes includes forty­-one essays on the differences, both subtle and drastic, between city life and country living. From curious neighbours and unpredictable weather to the reality of roadkill and the wonders of wildlife, award­-winning narrative journalist Sara Jewell strikes the perfect balance between honest self-­examination and humorous observation.” Plus, Jewell lives just an hour down the road from me!

This was recommended by Naomi of Consumed by Ink. I already have it reserved at the library.
 

The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers by Josh Kilmer-Purcell

Kilmer-Purcell writes with dramatic flair and trenchant wit, uncovering mirthful metaphors as he plows through their daily experiences, meeting neighbors, signing on caretaker Farmer John, herding goats, canning tomatoes, and digging a garden, as he and his partner fix up their 205-year-old house near the hauntingly beautiful town of Sharon Springs, N.Y.

JoAnn of Lakeside Musing recommended this to me. My library ‘holds’ list now also includes this title.
 

When in French: Love in a Second Language by Lauren Collins

Amazon: “What does it mean to love someone in a second language? Collins wonders, as her relationship with her French boyfriend Olivier continues to grow entirely in English. Are there things she doesn’t understand about Olivier, having never spoken to him in his native tongue? Does ‘I love you’ even mean the same thing as ‘je t’aime’?”

Language, French – this is for me! I first saw this book on Kathy’s blog at Bermuda Onion, and Kate at Parchment Girl also recommended it to me. I’m so looking forward to this!

Am I Alone Here?: Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live by Peter Orner

Amazon: “‘Stories, both my own and those I’ve taken to heart, make up whoever it is that I’ve become,’ Peter Orner writes in this collection of essays about reading, writing, and living. Orner reads—and writes—everywhere he finds himself: a hospital cafeteria, a coffee shop in Albania, or a crowded bus in Haiti. The result is ‘a book of unlearned meditations that stumbles into memoir.'”

This was on one of Deb’s lists at ReaderBuzz.
 

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey

While an illness keeps her bedridden, Bailey watches a wild snail that has taken up residence on her nightstand. As a result, she discovers the solace and sense of wonder that this mysterious creature brings and comes to a greater understanding of her own place in the world.

An Adventure in Reading‘s raider girl told me about this one, which is now also on my library ‘reserved’ list.

 
A couple of great recommendations that also made it to my TBR list came in after I wrote this post but this represents one new book for each fabulous week of Nonfiction November 2016! Are you adding any of these to your TBR list?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog

In Melissa Harrison’s lovely At Hawthorn Time, I also met Howard, retired from his city job and keeping from going bonkers in the country with his hobby of restoring vintage wireless units.

First, a sound I know you’ve heard, but perhaps didn’t know the word for.

Heterodyne hɛt(ə)rə(ʊ)DINE/: Electronics of or relating to the production of a lower frequency from the combination of two almost equal high frequencies, as used in radio transmission.

Slowly he began to scan through the frequencies, adjusting the dial minutely, listening, waiting, listening again. Pops and crackles, garbled speech, snatches of music, and between it all the otherworldly heterodyne wails.

Boss: a knob or protrusion of stone or wood. Bosses can often be found in the ceilings of buildings, particularly at the keystones at the intersections of a rib vault. In Gothic architecture, such roof bosses (or ceiling bosses) are often intricately carved with foliage, heraldic devices or other decorations.

The church was cool and empty, its roof timbers with their curved bosses lost in shadow, the air it held within it very still.

I’ve seen ceiling bosses scores of times, and never thought about the name for them. How about you?

 

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love. It’s hosted by Kathy at Bermuda Onion. Hop on over and see what wondrous words other bloggers have discovered this week.

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

This week’s link-up is hosted by Julz at JulzReads. The prompt for this week’s Nonfiction November entry is expertise.
 

It’s probably no surprise to anyone that I’m choosing to be the expert on moving-and-starting-over a new life in the country.
 

1. Country Matters: The Pleasures and Tribulations of Moving from a Big City to an Old Country Farmhouse by Michael Korda

From Amazon: “With his inimitable sense of humor and storytelling talent, New York Times bestselling author Michael Korda brings us this charming, hilarious, self-deprecating memoir of a city couple’s new life in the country.

At once entertaining, canny, and moving, Country Matters does for Dutchess County, New York, what Under the Tuscan Sun did for Tuscany. This witty memoir, replete with Korda’s own line drawings, reads like a novel, as it chronicles the author’s transformation from city slicker to full-time country gentleman, complete with tractors, horses, and a leaking roof.”

 
2. From Stone Orchard: a Collection of Memories by Timothy Findley

From Amazon: “As they say, if only the walls could talk …

The walls have never talked so eloquently or endearingly as they do in From Stone Orchard, a collection of Timothy Findley’s Harrowsmith columns – revised and expanded – plus new writings, all on life at a 19th-century farm just outside of Cannington, Ontario. Here are tales of the farm’s past, both distant and recent: the comic coincidences leading to the naming of the swimming pool, and why Margaret Laurence would never dip her toe in it. Or the night dinner party guests went outside in the twilight, dressed like royalty, to watch a herd of majestic deer pass through the gardens.”

 
3. Heading Home: On Starting a New Life in a Country Place by Lawrence Scanlan
From Amazon: What harassed and harried city-dweller has not dreamed of escaping to a quiet place in the country? With his wife, Scanlan moved from the city of Kingston to a 19th Century frame house on the Napanee River in the village of Camden East, Ontario (pop. 250).

Heading Home plots their transition from city to country, with its challenges and comic twists. The book’s twelve chapters, each devoted to one month, chronicle a year in the life of the village. Scanlan points to a wide range of data and interviews dozens of people who have opted out of city life–all to show that a major demographic shift is underway.

As lyrical as it is practical, Heading Home shows the way to a new life beyond the freeways and high-rises. Heading Home is the perfect book for all who have lived in the city but who yearn to start over–in a country place.

I could add to this list, but these three provide enough of a foundation for you to know if the country life is really for you.

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog