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Monday, February 12, 2018

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?


This weekly meme is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.

I'm reading: 

Something from my dusty bookshelf.

TITLE: Carrie
AUTHOR: Stephen King
PUBLISHER: Signet
PUBLICATION DATE: April 1, 1975 (first published 1974)
FORMAT: Paperback
LENGTH: 245 pages
GENRE: Horror
ISBN: 0451150716 
A young girl grew angrier and angrier - and a town writhed in pain...

Carrie was not quite aware that she was possessed of a terrifying power. But it was enough to transform a small, quiet New England town into a holocaust of destruction beyond the imagination of man. Innocent schoolgirl or vengeful demon, Carrie will make you shudder...

Not only am I a first generation Canadian, but immigration is my profession. 

PUBLISHER: Caitlin Press
PUBLICATION DATE: February 7, 2017
FORMAT: Paperback
LENGTH: 216 pages
GENRE: Nonfiction
ISBN: 9781987915341
Edited by Miriam Matejova, Wherever I Find Myself is a diverse collection of stories about the joys and struggles of immigrant women living in Canada. Often bringing with them the shadow of war and the guilt of leaving, the women in this new anthology expose their emotional pain but also their gratitude for being able to call Canada home. Their stories paint touching and charming portraits of cultural and linguistic misunderstandings, bureaucratic hurdles, attempts to navigate unfamiliar landscapes, and a desire to be accepted despite differences in accent, skin colour, or taste in food. Together they form a mosaic of emotions and world-views that underline the immigrant condition for women.

A yellow dress with ruffles, a kind Grade 1 teacher with a surname that’s difficult to spell, cockroaches in the bathroom, the contempt of strangers, and Whitney Houston on the radio–a Filipino woman recalls her experience as a six-year-old immigrant in a ghetto in Mississauga in the 80s. Browsing through a Polish fashion magazine at a European deli, a woman sees herself in an alternative universe of what her life might have been had she never immigrated to Canada. A same-sex couple moves from Minnesota to Ontario to find refuge for their love, but first they must drive a seventeen-foot truck through a blizzard and make it through the frustrating net of Canadian bureaucracy. In search of her origins, a Jewish woman travels to her birthplace in Passau, Germany. There, among rows of European picturesque houses and foreign tombstones of a Jewish cemetery, she finds no memories, only the shadow of Hitler and the ghosts of her parents.

Through these stories of courage, aloneness, and hope, new and established writers reach out to both immigrants and those whose families long ago ceased to identify with the immigrant label. Through their struggles and, at times, endearingly critical looks at Canada, they remind us that many of our perceived divisions are nothing but artificial creations of mind and that all of us are past, current, or potential immigrants.

I completed a nine-week course with a group of people, which featured DVD Study sessions and a Participant Guide with study questions (homework!) for discussion each week. The book is a lot to digest, and I'm still reading it in chunks.

TITLE: Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life
PUBLISHER: Zondervan
PUBLICATION DATE: November 2, 1992
FORMAT: Hardcover
LENGTH: 314 pages
GENRE: Nonfiction, Psychology, Self-Help
ISBN: 9780310585909
Having clear boundaries is essential to a healthy, balanced lifestyle. A boundary is a personal property line that marks those things for which we are responsible. In other words, boundaries define who we are and who we are not. Boundaries impact all areas of our lives: Physical boundaries help us determine who may touch us and under what circumstances -- Mental boundaries give us the freedom to have our own thoughts and opinions -- Emotional boundaries help us to deal with our own emotions and disengage from the harmful, manipulative emotions of others -- Spiritual boundaries help us to distinguish God's will from our own and give us renewed awe for our Creator -- Often, Christians focus so much on being loving and unselfish that they forget their own limits and limitations. When confronted with their lack of boundaries, they ask: - Can I set limits and still be a loving person? - What are legitimate boundaries? - What if someone is upset or hurt by my boundaries? - How do I answer someone who wants my time, love, energy, or money? - Aren't boundaries selfish? - Why do I feel guilty or afraid when I consider setting boundaries? Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend offer biblically-based answers to these and other tough questions, showing us how to set healthy boundaries with our parents, spouses, children, friends, co-workers, and even ourselves.

Something from the library. I really enjoy this author, and I find him to be very inspirational!

AUTHOR: Joel Osteen
PUBLISHER: FaithWords
PUBLICATION DATE: October 24, 2017
FORMAT: Hardcover
LENGTH: 304 pages
GENRE: Nonfiction
ISBN: 9781455534326
The same God that leads you through green pastures guides you through the valleys. #1 New York Times bestselling author Joel Osteen shares how God uses the darkness in life for good.

All of us at some time encounter dark places that we don't understand: a loss, a sickness, a divorce, a child who breaks our heart. It's easy to get discouraged, give up on our dreams, and just settle there. We may not realize it, but when we feel buried in dark places, we are being blessed. God is using those experiences to help us grow, because we cannot reach our highest potential if we're standing in the light all the time. With Blessed in the Darkness, you will learn how to draw closer to God and trust Him when life doesn't make sense.

If we will go through the valley trusting, believing, and knowing that God is still in control, then we will come to the table that is already prepared for us, where our cup runs over.

Another one from my dusty bookshelf, which I am reading aloud to my younger daughter. We loved the first one in the series!

TITLE: Fire and Ice
SERIES: Warriors, Book #2
AUTHOR: Erin Hunter
PUBLISHER: Avon Books
PUBLICATION DATE: June 1, 2004 (first published 2003)
FORMAT: Paperback
LENGTH: 317 pages
GENRE: Young Adult, Fantasy
ISBN: 9780060525590
Fireheart could hear a roaring around him, like wind in tall trees. The acrid stench of the Thunderpath stung his nostrils, together with a new smell, sharper and more terrifying. Fire!

Book Two of Warriors continues Fireheart's quest to be a true warrior, when he finds new danger lurking in the woods as the chill of winter sets in.

WindClan is missing, and hostilities between the remaining three clans place all the cats in peril. Illness and tragic accidents weaken the camp, and ThunderClan needs all its warriors to defend itself - but Fireheart suspects that certain cats may not be as loyal as they appear.

Another one from my dusty bookshelf, which I am reading aloud to my younger daughter. We really enjoyed the first one in the series!


TITLE: Survival
SERIES: Island, Book #2
AUTHOR: Gordon Korman
PUBLISHER: Scholastic
PUBLICATION DATE: July 1, 2001
FORMAT: Paperback
LENGTH: 144 pages
GENRE: Childrens, Adventure/Survival
ISBN: 0439164575
Six kids.
One shipwreck.
One desert island.
Stranded. Separated.
Six kids are stuck on a desert island. They have no food. No shelter. Nobody knows they are lost. They must take from the island in order to survive. But what if they're not alone?
Something from the library, which I am reading aloud to my younger daughter. Her teacher was reading it to the class, and we started reading it at home as well so that we can enjoy the movie together afterwards!


TITLE: Wonder
SERIES: Wonder, Book #1
AUTHOR: R.J. Palacio
PUBLISHER: Oxford Childrens
PUBLICATION DATE: April 1, 2013 (first published 2012)
FORMAT: Paperback
LENGTH: 400 pages
GENRE: Young Adult, Contemporary
ISBN: 9780198391012
Educational edition of this warm and moving novel about an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face

Features:

An extremely moving and engaging novel that is sure to become a classroom favourite

Told from multiple perspectives, with opportunities to explore narrative, perspective, timeline and precepts

Themes of friendship, bullying, self-image and social responsibility

Supported by extensive teacher resources online and student-focused Reading Guides

Durable, soft cover your students will want to pick up

I'm listening to:

Something from one of my favourite series, which I borrowed from my library on Overdrive.

SERIES: Night Huntress, Book #3
AUTHOR: Jeaniene Frost
NARRATOR: Tavia Gilbert
PUBLISHER: Blackstone Audio
PUBLICATION DATE: November 2, 2010 (first published 2008)
FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook
LENGTH: 9 hrs and 28 mins
GENRE: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Some things just won’t stay buried… at grave’s end.

It should be the best time of half-vampire Cat Crawfield’s life. With her undead lover, Bones, at her side, she’s successfully protected mortals from the rogue undead. But though Cat’s worn disguise after disguise to keep her true identity a secret from the brazen bloodsuckers, her cover’s finally been blown, placing her in terrible danger.

As if that wasn’t enough, a woman from Bones’ past is determined to bury him once and for all. Caught in the crosshairs of a vengeful vamp, yet determined to help Bones stop a lethal magic from being unleashed, Cat’s about to learn the true meaning of bad blood. And the tricks she’s learned as a special agent won’t help her. She will need to fully embrace her vampire instincts in order to save herself—and Bones—from a fate worse than the grave.

I just finished:

AUTHOR: Caitlin Doughty
NARRATOR: Caitlin Doughty
PUBLISHER: Recorded Books
PUBLICATION DATE: September 19, 2014
FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook
LENGTH: 7 hrs and 44 mins
GENRE: Nonfiction, Autobiography/Memoir
Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty - a 20-something with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre - took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life’s work. With an original voice that combines fearless curiosity and mordant wit, Caitlin tells an unusual coming-of-age story full of bizarre encounters, gallows humor, and vivid characters (both living and very dead). Describing how she swept ashes from the machines (and sometimes onto her clothes), and cared for bodies of all shapes and sizes, Caitlin becomes an intrepid explorer in the world of the deceased. Her eye-opening memoir shows how our fear of dying warps our culture and society, and she calls for better ways of dealing with death (and our dead). In the spirit of her popular Web series, "Ask a Mortician", Caitlin’s engaging narrative style makes this otherwise scary topic both approachable and profound.

Caitlin Doughty, the host and creator of the "Ask a Mortician" Web series and the collective Order of the Good Death, is on a mission to change the way we think about death.


TITLE: Adam
AUTHOR: Ted Dekker
PUBLISHER: Center Streeet
PUBLICATION DATE: July 1, 2010 (first published 2008)
FORMAT: Paperback
LENGTH: 416 pages
GENRE: Thriller
ISBN: 9781599953175
FBI behavioral psychologist Daniel Clark is a man on a mission. After over a year of tracking a mysterious serial killer known as Eve, he feels closer than ever to discovering the murderer's true identity when he finds Eve's latest victim still alive.

In an effort to save the girl, Daniel narrowly escapes becoming another casualty on Eve's list. Despite seeing the killer with his own eyes, a gunshot wound to the head leaves him with amnesia, unable to remember any details from the incident. His drive to find the killer takes on a whole new meaning when Eve takes yet another victim, one Daniel knows all too well-his estranged wife Heather.

Determined to bring her back alive, Daniel takes his obsession to a dangerous new level, even recreating his own near-death experience in attempt to recall anything from his encounter with Eve. Soon enough he finds himself fighting for Heather's life, and, in the end, his own.

TITLE: Shipwreck
SERIES: Island, Book #1
AUTHOR: Gordon Korman
PUBLISHER: Scholastic Paperbacks
PUBLICATION DATE: June 1, 2001
FORMAT: Paperback
LENGTH: 129 pages
GENRE: Children's, Adventure/Survival
ISBN: 0439164567
Six kids. One fate.

They didn't want to be on the boat in the first place. They were sent there as a character-building experience. But now that the adults are gone, the quest for survival has begun. This first book in a suspenseful survival trilogy delivers the gripping drama of people battling the elements to younger readers.

SERIES: Kate Shugak, Book #1
AUTHOR: Dana Stabenow
NARRATOR: Marguerite Gavin
PUBLISHER: Brilliance Audio
PUBLICATION DATE: October 18, 2011 (first published 1992)
FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook
LENGTH: 5 hrs 31 mins
GENRE: Mystery
ASIN: B005TKYT5S

Eighteen months ago, Aleut Kate Shugak quit her job investigating sex crimes for the Anchorage DA’s office and retreated to her father’s homestead in a national park in the interior of Alaska. But the world has a way of beating a path to her door, however remote. In the middle of one of the bitterest Decembers in recent memory ex-boss — and ex-lover — Jack Morgan shows up with an FBI agent in tow. A Park ranger with powerful relatives is missing, and now the investigator Jack sent in to look for him is missing, too.

Reluctantly, Kate, along with Mutt, her half-wolf, half-husky sidekick, leaves her wilderness refuge to follow a frozen trail through the Park, twenty thousand square miles of mountain and tundra sparsely populated with hunters, fishermen, trappers, mushers, pilots and homesteaders. Her formidable grandmother and Native chief, Ekaterina Shugak, is — for reasons of her own — against Kate’s investigation; her cousin, Martin, may be Kate’s prime suspect; and the local trooper, Jim Chopin, is more interested in Kate than in her investigation. In the end, the sanctuary she sought after five and a half years in the urban jungles may prove more lethal than anything she left behind in the city streets of Anchorage.

What are you reading? Have you read any of these books and, if so, what did you think? Please let me know in the comments and, if you are also participating in this meme, leave me a link to your blog post so that I can stop by!

1 comment:

  1. I really really wanna read Carrie, and Wonder
    Great list!
    Here's what we're reading: http://jennreneeread.blogspot.com/2018/02/its-monday-what-are-you-reading_12.html

    ReplyDelete

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