Mostly Fictional
Ep. 75: We Survived Our Worst Reading Week
We read some stinkers this week! But that's OK -- better books are always on the horizon!
Books mentioned, in order:
Seven Empty Houses by Samanta Schweblin
Out There by Kate Folk
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
The Power by Naomi Alderman
Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Bridgerton series by Jane Austen
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before by Dr. Julie Smith
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
C’est le Québec qui est né dans mon pays!”: Carnet de rencontres, d’Ani à Kiuna by Emmanuelle Dufour
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Find Pam and Hallie online!
Follow Hallie’s Substack at wordsmithreads.substack.com
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart
- Duration:
- 46m
- Broadcast on:
- 14 Aug 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
(upbeat music) - Welcome to Mostly Fictional, a podcast about the books of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, my name is Pam. - And I'm Hayley. - And I don't know about you, but this was just not my week for reading. - I mean, either, what's going on? Is it just like an August thing? - I don't know. - What's happening with you? - For me, like, crochet held a lot of my attention. I just really wanted to make progress on a lot of different projects, 'cause just like the mood reading in my life, I have mood crochet projects where I'm like, "Oh, I feel like doing that right now. "We're gonna make progress there." And, "Oh, I want to switch this." And I bounced around a lot of crochet projects, but also where you were rearranging some furniture in my house, and that resulted in me dealing with my overflowing closet and deciding what clothes to unhaul. So that took up a lot of brain power and just time as well. And what about you? - I had some mix of things for me. It's just like there's a bunch of personal things going on on my side of things. And also, I will get to this when I get to it. But the book that I finished, and I will talk about this more when I talk about it, but I feel like I have the opposite of a reading hangover. People have a reading hangover, and they're like, "Oh, it was so good." And I don't want to read anything else because it's so good. I had the opposite of that where I was like, this book sucked the joy of reading out of my law. So I was like, "What do I even read after this?" to try to, anyway. So that's kind of where I was, where I just was struggling to pick anything up. I was like, "Ah, yeah." So anyway, hopefully that I have shaken myself up and I have a good couple other things going that now hopefully we can realign. And hopefully you got a good unhaul. Of clothing unhaul, yeah, fair amount. Fair amount. I think a whole couple of pretty large size, one large box full of clothes, I'd say. It's a time I had to pick a unit of measurement. - It's several shoeboxes worth, basically. - Yeah, honestly, yeah. - Or like 300 hamsters worth. - Excellent. - What's another measurement, anyway. I don't know how much farther I can take that. - Less than a bookshelf. - Anyway, yeah. So that clothing unhaul was needed. The book unhaul for myself will be coming later this year. As for the reading, I did do finish. Ooh, grammar not in me today. - I did do finish. - I did do finish a book. It was a book I totally did not mention. So I went off course very easily last week. I was not happy with the reading I was doing. So I had my husband pick out of my TBR jar of the unread purchases for the last two years. And the star he picked, 'cause they're all folded into little origami stars, was seven empty houses by Samantha shrublin, which was translated to English by Megan McDowell. And I've realized recently that I've been saying this author's name incorrectly. This person is not Samantha for the THA at the end. It is Samantha with no H. Oops, I went and corrected all of my database entries. So that's fixed now. And if you weren't aware of your listener, this person does not have an agent, their first name, okay. So seven empty houses is a short story collection with seven stories. And I feel like I was lied to. I, the title is seven empty houses. The synopsis says that the houses are strange, but in reality, it was just the people. The people were more strange. The houses were just houses or even apartments. So maybe that created like the wrong expectations for me because upon hearing strange houses, like then the synopsis right here, the seven houses and these seven stories are strange. Upon hearing that, I think immediately of out there, which was a sci-fi weird short story collection that I loved at the start of 2023. And in that collection, there was a story called moist house. And now that was a strange house. And I think I was expecting more supernatural or speculative, but everything was tame in that aspect. These were more, these stories were just more strange people moving through their normal life. So there are seven stories in this little book and the middle one is over 80 pages. The whole collection is just 190 pages. So that's almost half of this whole thing. It's just one big story in the middle. So that long story was like the most memorable one because we spent the longest time with the main character who was just an insufferable old woman going through so much and getting no help for herself. And then like the second half of the stories were very like stream of consciousness. They were more like vignettes than short stories. And I guess I like it more when there's like a message or a conclusion to a short story and not so much a you're dropped in, you're pulled out immediately. So yeah, that's the only thing I finished this week, but I'm happy to have crossed off my list, but it's, I don't know, man. I don't know, like I don't want to be like, oh yeah, I'm getting rid of it immediately. But it is on thin ice on if it's going to get unhauled at the end of the year. - That's totally fair. And I wonder while you were talking, I was trying to find out since it is translated. And I do know this author because I've read Fever Dream by her. - Have you read Fever Dream? - I have not read Fever Dream, but I've heard of it. And I think I've heard positive things from people who have similar tastes to me. - It's teeny tiny. It's basically a novella. I remember I read the whole thing in the span of like a train ride home from work one day. And so I know that this author writes in Spanish. And so I was like, oh, I wonder if this is a English title issue, but it no, it looks like her original title in Spanish was Siette Casas Vazias, which is seven empty houses. So I was like, okay, was there maybe another translation that of the word for empty? And there's void, there's vacant, there's hollow. But I feel like I talked to someone else who read this and also felt like empty was the wrong descriptor for, or it was just the wrong title. - Yeah. And it's just, I think I'd be interested in more from Samantha Treblint. Again, I've heard Fever Dream, I've heard about little eyes and those intrigued me in different ways. But just, I liked the idea of seven weird houses and I didn't get seven weird houses. I got weird people instead. So yeah, that's, so I've released that I've gotten to talk to you about it. And now I'm going to set the book aside and not think about it again. - I mean, you could get kind of philosophical and say that a body is a home. - Ooh, but it's not seven empty homes, it's seven empty houses. - Oh. To me, that's an interesting and important distinction. - Okay, that's fair, mm-hmm, that's fair. I also only finished one thing and it was the thing that I did not enjoy, unfortunately. But I have reasons for why. Okay, so last week on the pod, I was reading and this week I finished When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill and I really wanted to like this. I really wanted to like this. I thought, you and I talked about this last week, that the premise is so original. It's, you know, all these women just spontaneously turn into dragons and fly away. And I have a couple of things that kind of irk me about this, but my main issue is, again, with the title, the title is When Women Were Dragons. And we don't really have dragons as a main presence on the page until like 50% in, which is too long. That's too long to have no dragons. I, you know, if someone is picking this up, they're picking this up to read about women being dragons. And instead we follow this young girl through like her adolescence and her completely just like, deadbeat's not the right word. Just like her father like abandons her basically and is like, you gotta raise your sister on your own sort of a situation. And so I, you know, I really feel for this girl, but it's not the book that I signed up to read when I, well, granted, I didn't choose this book at all, it's for a book club. But I was like, I'm gonna make myself read it, but, okay. This is going to sound even more ridiculous. I, then with the back half of the book, the dragons do have more of her presence. And I, last time I talked about this book, I compared it to The Power by Naomi Alderman, which is also about women suddenly having power where men do not. And something that I thought The Power did really well that I found lacking in women war dragons was in The Power, they, the author recognizes that women can be bad too. You know, not every powerful woman, not every woman is like perfectly moral. Like there are going to be women who do bad things with that power. This, you know, people are people. And somehow all of the women who turn into dragons are like perfect angels, they never do anything. I'm like, well, you know, you have enough people turn into dragons, someone is going to be bad. Like this just ratio wise doesn't make sense. And I feel like there could have been a more nuanced conversation around that of like, okay, now that you have this bad dragon, how are other good dragons keeping this dragon in line? Like, I don't know, there could have been something there. And my last thing that I will say on this book is I actually, like it is fantasy because women get turned into dragons, but there's a part toward the end where it starts to talk about some like politics and how dragons get involved with politics in some regards, which even that I'm like, okay, fine. But the part that killed it for me is at one point in the president, and I won't tell you who the president is, at one point the president tries to like pass something and Congress doesn't like that. And so Congress vetoes unanimously, which I was like, whoa, I'm sorry, you've completely lost me now. Like I would, I'm more apt to believe that a woman will spontaneously turn into a dragon than Congress will unanimously agree on. So are you out of your mind? Are you, come on now. Like now you're getting too far out here into this like, it's utopia because there's drag. So anyway, I will say the story of the girl is a good story. Like I like the story of the girl. The dragons honestly, I know that I said like, I wanted to read about the dragons, but once the dragons were part of the story, I was like, oh, can we go back to the girl? Can we go back to the girl and not the dragon? So yeah, that's, I'm, I don't even have words because I'm just, I was so like disappointed by the time I got to the end that course. Like I said, I had like the opposite of a book hangover, which do you have a book? Like when you read a really, really good book, do you get book hangovers? Sometimes I think less in the last couple of years where I've been reading so regularly and having this lovely platform to be able to talk about books. But I think when I was just getting back into reading, I'd fall into those book hangovers after something truly like hit me and I'd be like, okay, how do I, how do I go on? How do I pick anything else? But I can totally understand how a disappointing book could bring the same thing, just like, okay, what next? I hopefully something's better. - I know, I've been really lucky that usually if I don't have, I have like another type of opposite of book hangover, which is when I read something that's amazing, I'm like, oh wow, I forgot like how amazing a book can be and how great it can, you know, push you or make you feel or it can, you know, whatever. It's like, oh, the joy of reading. And this was just the opposite. - The opposite, the opposite. So anyway, I am really curious to know what the rest of my book club will think of this toward the end of the month. I, we've had a handful of books chosen so far that people have been pretty meh on. So hopefully we can get another fun one going. - Yeah. Oh, I really hope so. 'Cause like, damn, that is just a swing and a miss as big of a swing and a miss as they can come because that premise, man, I don't know. - Well, and it's possible that you will like it. Now that you're like going in, no, 'cause I know you like to train husband. Now that if like, if you happen to read it or any reader happen to read this, that they went in knowing that the dragons are almost more of a metaphor. They're more of a metaphor than like it being a fantasy book, if I were to say anything. If that's like, if you're kind of interested in social commentary, I think that this is kind of up that alley, it's not really a fantasy. You know, I think it's, the word dragon makes you think it's fantasy and it's, has that fantastical element. But other than that, it is, I guess you could call it a radical. You could kind of call it magical realism almost, but it's mostly social commentary if I had to put a pin on it. - Okay, well, I'm glad being able to straighten out those expectations for our listeners and for anybody else because yeah, I think expectations are such a big impact on what we read and we don't even realize the certain expectations we have until afterwards. Like with seven empty houses, I didn't realize that I was so expecting that speculative element. Oh boy, that's a lot of similar syllables. Until I was like part way through the first few stories and I was like, oh, oh, we're just getting normal people or like strange people in living their strange, normal lives and just, I wanted weird houses. I want, I like weird things and anyway. Okay, well, we both only finished one thing. I as per usual am doing many things at once, but one I have no updates on and one, a soft DNF maybe, which would you like to hear? - Oh, no, you're really having a bad dream. - I'm really not having a good week. - Okay, what's your soft DNF? - I think I have to soft DNF machines like me by Ian McEwen. - Okay, fair. - You had prep, you had prepared for that. - I did. I listened to the first half of the first chapter on audio 'cause my library had it. And again, I was sorting through so many clothes and I needed something to listen to and I didn't want to just fall down a YouTube rabbit hole. But then I just ended up sitting on the floor zoning out so that didn't help. And then I read the second half of the first chapter on my Kobo. So this first chapter, man, it was off-putting. And so that's, that was most of the reason of the DNF. I would get to more of that in a second, but just laying the ground, this book machines like me is an alternate reality 1980s London where technology is super advanced and Charlie who is drifting through life and dodging full-time employment. He's in love with his neighbor Miranda. And when Charlie just comes into money, he buys Adam, one of the first batch of synthetic humans. So just, and Android, but like he looks super human, looks super space human, he looks very human. And basically he has this, he's gonna have his neighbor help design Adam's personality 'cause you can design this person to be exactly how you want them to be. Oh, so in this first chapter, I made character Charlie, it's not someone I want to root for. And this doesn't seem like the kind of book where he's gonna grow and change as to be a better person. He buys this Adam robot because he has money from an inheritance and he freely admits in this first chapter to the reader that he is a bad financial responsible person. Like he just is not good with money. And then this is neighbor Miranda. He describes her a little bit as his neighbor and then he goes on to say, I highlighted this in my co-boy, she was 22, mature for her years and 10 years younger than me. So this man, when was this book published? 2019. Oh. Oh. No, no. No, no, we knew better by then. Okay, it gets worse. Oh yes, so she was 22, mature for her years and 10 years younger than me. From a long perspective, there was not much between us. We were glorious young, but I considered myself at a different stage of life. My formal education was far behind me. I'd suffered a series of professional and financial and personal failures. He's describing himself as like, not fun, not a good person, not someone I wanna root for. And then he then describes his friendship with Miranda to say he makes an assumption. It says, "To her, it seemed an afternoon "of intimate pleasure with me would have weighed equally "with a chaste and companionable Chet." This is how you describe your neighbor. (laughs) Just stand. And then he goes on to reflect that like, "Oh, what if he's in love with her without knowing it?" And like, that's in the synopsis, so that's not really a spoiler. But then he sort of dismisses that thought of like, "Oh, what if I'm in love with her without even knowing it?" And then the rest of the chapter, he's acting as if he has realized he was in love. So, anyway, this guy. So she's, anyway, I know we don't wanna get stuck on this, but if she's mature for her age, let's just say that puts her at like 25, 25, 26 in maturity. That's still several years younger than you do. So are you saying that you're that immature? I mean, maybe that's what he's trying to get. He's like, "Oh yeah, I've had personal failures "and financial failures. "Does he say why he buys this robot?" He's like, "I gotta buy the robot to get my life together. "Can Miranda be with the robot? "I want Miranda with the robot. "We get rid of Charlie. "Goodbye, Charlie. "You've been replaced." - So there is a paragraph, I don't have it highlighted, but he does talk about like why he bought Adam. And he was like, "Oh, it's not at all for selfish reasons." I'm like, "It's gonna be for selfish reasons." He's like, "Oh, I have pure intentions." - Okay, I'm trying to think of what he worded. What could be a non-selfish reason for buying it? - To get a robot. - I wanna buy this robot and donate it to an organization that feeds people who are disadvantaged. Like what's a non-selfish reason to have a robot? - Yeah, okay. - Oh, so when you say soft ENF, are you just like you're thinking that you'll pick it back up in future or? - Yeah, I think that 'cause this book came about because of the Buzzwordathon challenge. The prompt for the month of August is to have the word like in the title. And so either I will pick this up later, either in the year or just later, or this other book that I had put on hold of the library will come in, maybe that hold will come in time, or I'm gonna just forfeit this prompt. For me, this challenge is like a fun way to pick books from my shelf, and this happened to be a prompt where I only had one unread book to choose from, and I didn't like its first chapter. There was one tiny, twisty reveal thing at the end of the first chapter, and that's part of the reason that it's just a soft ENF because I might wanna complete it for the Buzzwordathon prompt, and that one reveal might intrigue me enough to pick it back up. So that's soft ENF reasons. - Well, I'm sorry. If you do continue it, I hope that Charlie, maybe Charlie learns from Adam. - Maybe. - Yeah, it's just, yeah, he just, okay. I didn't find the paragraph where he talks about why he got Adam, but just, he says, "Whatever money came my way, I caused it to disappear. Made a magic bonfire of it, stuffed it into a top hat and pulled out a turkey." So he just is not good with money. - I know people like that though. Like people like that exist 100% where they just, it burns a hole in their pocket and they gotta get rid of it. - Yeah, this apparently is that guy, and he's living in 1980s futuristic London. Okay, Adam cost 86,000 pounds. That's insane. - That's expensive. That's expensive. - Yes, to convert quickly, you double it, I think. Yeah, so if you double 86,000, that is a lot of money, it's 170 something. No, I don't, I did not do that for my head correctly. - Double it per Canadian dollars, you're saying? - Roughly, so it'll be a little less American. - Well, and it's also the 1980, '86. - Yes, exactly. - So it's more than that. - Yeah, and then like there's just some strange descriptions about these Adam robots and how they made like 12, yeah, 12 Adam, 13 were called Eve and they were bought and sold all over the world. And but there's only 25 of them to start. - Oh man. - Yeah, so. - Well, I'm sorry to hear that you're having just a rough, you had a not good finish and then you had a not even finish. - Okay, I'm fine. Sorry, I was just searching to see if I can find it. So yes, I didn't buy Adam to make money, he said. On the contrary, my motives were pure. I handed over a fortune in the name of curiosity, that steadfast engine of science, of intellectual life, of life itself. This was no passing fad. There was a history and a count, a time deposit and I had a right to draw on it. This dude. - Okay, Charlie. - Okay. - That way. - History. - Yeah, yeah, so that's that. - That's that's that. I am reading my Jane Austen book for the one of July and August is Sense and Sensibility. And you will note that it is mid-August and I am just now mentioning it. - Oh. - July was a busy month for me, okay. I, where am I? I'm enjoying it so far. I think I'm about 20-ish percent in. I will say that it is not immediately as enthralling as Prendt and Prejudice, which is unfortunate since we just read Prendt and Prejudice and I loved that. But I will say it actually, I went into this not knowing anything. In anything and I couldn't have told you a character name. I could have, I could not tell you a single thing about this book and I am enjoying it so far. And I think I'm especially appreciating my Jane Austen year with this book in scene. Oh, this character kind of matches this character from this other book of hers and this kind of match this. And oh, I wonder if Bridgerton, you know, since Bridgerton often gets talked about as being Regency Era, which is when Jane Austen's novels are set. Oh, I wonder if Bridgerton author Julia Quinn like picked up this component from this book into this character. So that's kind of fun to, and also it's been such a Bridgerton year. So to have all the Jane Austen's fresh in my head feel. I don't know. I'm enjoying the reading experience, even if it's not immediately gripping me. I am just like, when I'm actively reading it, I'm enjoying it, but I don't look forward to picking it up, if that makes sense. Yeah, I can understand that. So that's the only question. Yeah. And you don't have to know the answer to this, but Jane Austen lived in Regency England and wrote about Regency England. But Julia Quinn is modern, right? But she's writing about it. Okay, just checking. Yes, yes. She's living in our day and age. So I'm reading that. And then I'm like, you, I actually have some other things going, do you, are you reading anything else? I just have no update for Mr. Pinumber's 24-hour book store. That's it. Like my motivation for remeating it is not gone, but it's just quieter. I'm really living the mood reader life of just bouncing from book to book. But the problem is I'm also like a completionist. So I know I'm going to want to finish it, but I don't have like the urge to pick it up right away. And the reason, like I had, remember, I mentioned last time, oh yeah, I'm going to force myself to finish this before picking up anything else. That was too hard. I couldn't do it. So I'll finish Mr. Pinumber at some point, but it is now just going to step aside my bed and I'll pick it up when I want a little something. That's totally fair. I, the other two things that I am reading, I am very, very early on in them. So I am reading, I kind of mentioned very briefly at the top of the pot and I won't go into more details 'cause no one needs to hear all that. But I have some personal things going on in my life. So I, and also it happens to hit a book bingo with the book bingo being self-help or memoir. So I am reading Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before by Dr. Julie Smith. She is a psychologist and it's essentially just a collection of tools. It's, it kind of is marketed as like therapy in a book, but not so much like, oh, you like tell your, these are things you tell your therapist, but it's the, it's similar tools that your, that a therapist would give back to you of, you know, okay, here's, let's look at, let's like pick apart this emotional thing that happened and how did you feel when it happened and how did that make your thoughts spiral and your thoughts make you feel a certain way and you feel a certain way because of your thoughts and kind of trying to pick that apart and yeah, more just like a toolbox. The toolbox of things that therapists use is kind of how it's described in the introduction. So it's very easy to read. It's very accessible. So I'm reading that as something kind of light. - You sure? - I mean, it feels light. I know it doesn't sound, I know it doesn't sound light, but it feels the chapters are extremely short and very, they're very, very accessible where there's lots of like bold print and graphics. And then you get to the end of the chapter and it says, okay, chapter summary, here's what you learned. There's like the five things you learned in this chapter. So it's very, when I say light, I mean more like, it's not getting into like, you need to think about, you know, why your parents don't love you. It's more like, hey, if you have a negative thought, here are some strategies to think about how to combat it. It's more like light in that regard. Yes, yes. - I was just teasing you a little bit 'cause I have a set of few times this year. Oh yeah, I'm reading this and it's kind of light. And then you went, are you sure? - That's fair, that's totally fair. And then I'm also reading a second nonfiction. I know this is mostly fictional, but I have two nonfiction books I'm reading. I've read this book before, I've done it on audio before and do it on audio again because I absolutely loved it when I listened to it on audio book. And I've been feeling like, huh, I have no time to read and just overwhelm, so I'm rereading 4,000 Weeks, which is time manager, the subtitle is Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Berkman. I'm only, I'm like 40 minutes in and I'm already like, I forgot how good this book is. It's so good, it helps you think about productivity different and time management different. And if you're wondered why it's called 4,000 Weeks, it's because that is the length of the average human lifespan, which is no time at all. No, it's the same thing to think about. - So he just, he talks about productivity in a way, not of like get more done, but get the things that are meaningful to get done. - Do those, which is important. - So important distinction. - Which feels so obvious to say, but is so hard to do. - Yeah, 'cause we're like constantly bombarded with different things at all times. And prioritizing is a very, very much a muscle that needs to be worked to be able to prioritize tasks. 'Cause I know it's something I still struggle with, but okay, will this sound like two? - Yes, good things. - I actually have one final comment on 4,000 Weeks. - Yes. - Have you noticed the new notes in Libby when a hold comes up for you? - No. - Oh my gosh. Okay, so maybe this is like an update I have or I saw the app got updated, but I didn't see, no, it's maybe I just haven't gotten anything in recently. - Okay, so part of the reason that I checked out 4,000 Weeks now instead of in a handful of weeks or whatever is because, so when I, how do I just explain this? So, you know, you have it come up on Libby and it says, oh, your hold is ready. And like you, you know, would you like to check it out? Well, there was a little line of text underneath it. And I've seen this now on a couple of my holds that have come up, so I'm like, oh, this is their new thing. And I'll tell you another one that I've seen recently on another hold of mine under 4,000 Weeks. It said, your hold is ready after 25 Weeks, including 22 suspensions, which means that-- - I hope. - Which means that it has come up for me and I just keep going, not now, not now, not now. And I was like, wow, if that is not the most ironic thing that I just keep putting off time management, it says like, okay, fine, fine Libby, I will read it. But I also, a newer book came up for me recently off hold. And for that one, it says, ready after seven Weeks, because your library acquired six more copies and there's a little like star emoji. So, the reason I bring this up is because I know when we get to the end of the year for, and everyone posts their Spotify wrapped, people have said before, oh, I wish they did a Libby wrapped and they would say like this, how many books you checked out? And I feel like now I don't, people, you don't want that, people, you don't want that. I feel so called out, just on literally one book. Can you imagine if you have at the end of the year and it's like, you have had, you know, 400 suspensions or like you have returned a book late or not, I guess you can't return late, but like you have returned a book without getting to 100% 15 times or what, just like all the different ways you can be called. Anyway, I thought that was funny. And I haven't really seen anyone talk about that yet. So I was like, I have to, I have to tell Pam this. So the next time you have a hold, come up or listeners, next time you have a hold come up on Libby, please check and see if you have a little message. What your little note is, yeah, I feel like a Libby wrapped for me would call out the fact that I'll put things on hold and then take them off hold like really quickly. Like I will put a bunch of things on hold and then a week or two later go through what's on hold and be like, oh, no, I'm not interested in that. No, no, no, no, no, no, just cleared out again. So like I'll put things, it could be like, you put a book on hold for one hour. That's it. (laughing) - Oh my gosh. - Oh my gosh. - Yeah, so I had to bring that up because the fact that the 25 weeks, the 22 suspensions wouldn't be a big deal except that it was 25 weeks. I was like, are you for real? - Yeah. - In that little time, it's come up that many times. Don't say that to me. Don't say that to me. - Oh, I'm really excited for the next thing to come up on my Libby app. I really don't know what it's going to say. I don't even know where the next thing is going to be but something. Okay, so I have two last book updates. One is a book haul. I have my July book purchase with me. I'm excited to show it to you. The other one is I asked Haley if she would help me pick my next book but instead of picking the book, I want her to help me pick the method for picking the book. Do you want to hear those methods first or would you like to hear the book haul first? - Let's do the book haul and then we'll end with getting very meta. They're picking the method to pick the book. - 'Cause it'd be too easy to just choose the book. - Yes, it would be too easy. I have to over-complicate things. I don't make TBRs but I make things complicated for myself. - Okay, so what did you choose to haul? - I have a French graphic novel but it's a non-fiction graphic novel so I don't know what you would call that. This book is titled, it's actually like a quote but the quote is being used as a title and it says (speaking in foreign language) which translates to Quebec was born in my country in the sense that Quebec came to be a province after indigenous peoples already lived here for a very long time and it has a subtitle saying (speaking in foreign language) which translates to, I didn't scroll down my notes. There we go. It's the notebook of meetings from Annie Cooney to Kewana and the latter Kewana is a indigenous college which worked with this author. So the title comes from Annie, nope, Anna Mapache, who is a professor at the University of Montreal in the anthropology department and she said this quote into like really turn the coin or turn the medal or turn the mirror, some kind of metaphor like that on colonial history. It'd be like, hey, Quebec was born here where I've lived and (sighs) so this book came to be where Immanuel's full, I didn't even say the name, Immanuel's full, she is an anthropologist as well and she was visiting the Maori people in New Zealand and she just has this sudden wave and she realizes how ignorant and how little she knows about the First Nations of Quebec and she's like, I've lived in Quebec my whole life and I know nothing or little next to nothing. And so in this book, apparently, she's going to tackle and like through interviews and texts and beautiful illustrations, she's gonna tackle like important questions. Like what does the silence in history textbooks on residential schools and the cliches in pop culture about indigenous peoples reveal? What does that say about us? Which is to me, a very anthropological question, good job. So this book seems to have like a lot of interviews with indigenous peoples to explore colonialism and it's gonna bring to light stories that have often stayed in the dark and that's a sentence I translated to do my best. So this book is supposed to, it's gonna work to showcase work that's taken on by indigenous communities to re-appropriate their languages which includes a college and like bring back their ancestral knowledge and identities and that was all in part and designed by and helped with this college, the Quiana College. Yeah, entirely designed by and for First Nations people and I'm like, oh, that's just, I came about this, sorry for adding extra noise. Okay, so I came about this book because I was feeling the book buying urges but I could not figure out what I wanted. The only things I could think about buying were success stories from the library where like I read a book, loved it from the library, now I want to copy and I feel like my 12th book purchases of 2024 should not include those. I feel like I should just hold on, those can come later. Yeah. I was scrolling through my library, nope, my favorite indie bookstores website and they have like the list of the whatts in stock and they said, it said they had this in stock. I was actually just looking through all their graphic novels and this is shelved under graphic novels even if it's non-fiction. And then the title just grabbed me. The Quebec was born in my country. Oh, wow, that is just a gripping title and I had to know more. So I read up about it, this publishing house works to do like all Canadian stuff and then this specific, what's the sub word for under a publishing house? A imprint, yes, this imprint is specifically to make graphic novels and non-fiction. I think specifically non-fiction graphic novels but non-fiction that has to do, sorry, graphic novels that have to do with social issues of today which this is definitely one of those. And so my mom had been spending some time at our chalet which is near to where this bookstore is. So the bookstore is not local to where I live most of the time but it's local to our chalet. And my mom was near there and she had texted me, I'm in your favorite place which was code for, I'm in your favorite bookstore. And I said, I hadn't placed this order and I was just looking at this book, can you try and find it? And we know the owners a little bit and my mom looked for this book in the store, the owner looked for the book in the store, he had a couple other people help them look for the book in the store, they could not find it. So my mom let me know, yeah, they couldn't find it. And I was like, that's okay, tell the owner, it's all good. If he finds it, let me know. And then blah, blah, blah, I'll order it instead of just finding the one that's in the store. And indeed, they couldn't find it. And so they ordered a copy but apparently I wasn't the only one looking for a copy so they ordered a couple in. And then when the owner emailed me to say, hey, yeah, your book's ready for you to pick up or you want me to ship it to you, I was able to send my parents back to the bookstore for them to go pick it up. And my mom had asked, so did you find it? And then he apparently the owner was like, no, I had to order some. So I just thought it was a really funny story overall that I was just like, oh, I didn't mean to cause trouble but apparently book store sellers love to find and play scavenger hunt in their own store. So it was overall a very fun story and I'm excited to read some very important nonfiction about Indigenous peoples in Quebec. - And what a way to do it through a graphic. - Yeah. - And I actually looked up online 'cause I was like, I feel like I remember another quote unquote graphic novel that was nonfiction. And so it's called a graphic narrative. - Oh, a graphic narrative. I like that. - Because the one I was thinking of was The Ducks, one by Kate B. - Yes, ducks, right, yes. - So I was like, pretty sure that's nonfiction. - Yeah, so this book when it came in was so much bigger than I expected. Like I, it's a good book. - It's like the size of printer paper almost. - Yeah, exactly. I can't reach my ruler from here but it is a fair big book. So like the pages are gonna be giant and beautiful and incredible to admire. And so like some pages are just art. It's not always text on every page and just, oh, I'm very excited to dive into this. And I actually, I remember, I just remembered I have clear sticky notes. I think this could be fun to annotate with clear sticky notes and not cover anything but to add my notes in the margins and stuff. So yeah, that's the before last bookish update 'cause you're gonna help me pick what I read next. - Yeah, and as you're reading, I'll be really curious to know kind of what your opinion is on why you think the author chose a graphic narrative to tell the story instead of something that was more of just like a nonfiction memoir. I don't think it's more like a collection of notes and things. So I'll be curious to know why, has she done other, sorry, I know I said she, was is the author? - I apologize if you can hear vacuum in the background. I really hope you can't. So the author, I did say the name Immanuel and in French you cannot hear a difference in the genders but it's a feminine Immanuel. So I'm assuming that because you said, I know this author went to, she was in New Zealand. I think you said she was in New Zealand. She was in New Zealand. And yeah, I'm really curious like, has she written other anthropological works or done other graphic novels or graphic narratives or she just was like, this is it. This is how I'm gonna, I mean, she must have some sort of art, some sort of art background to take this on because that's an ordeal to take on. - It is definitely an ordeal. I don't think she did the art. I think somebody else did the art, but that makes more sense. - Yes. - That makes more sense. - Yeah. So yeah, then yeah, there's a whole reference section at the end, so that must include a lot. - And so yeah, I don't think this is, I think this is like her first book. Oh yes, this is her first, it actually even says, this is her first comic book by herself in big format. And I think, I think that means the large size. - What a weird word. - I'd also be crazy to get this. - Yeah, so she has a master's in anthropology and a doctorate in education and. - Wow. - Well, I'll definitely be, I'm definitely curious of why she chose a graphic. - I don't know, it says she draws, she draws, she back here. She just draws, okay. So this, maybe she did the art. Very curious to read. - Yeah. - Very, very. - Okay. - Okay. I love it. And now I'm ready for my decision making time. You know me, I love to make decisions. - Yes, I have five different ways you could pick. - Oh my gosh. - A book. - Hey, it's not that bad, okay. - Five, okay, okay. - This is just to pick how I pick the book, okay? - I know, I'm saying five, just, okay. - The first one, pull from the TBR cup I've mentioned a few times. - Okay, the default. - The default, I guess. A random number generator to pick any of my unread books. - Okay. - My most recent purchase being the graphic novel, or graphic narrative, like you said. - Okay. - A book from my bachelorette. So I had gotten five books from my bachelorette earlier this year and I've only read two out of those five. So this is three left. Or finally, a book from my list of things the library has audio books of where I also own the physical book. - Oh, okay, all right. So we've got, okay. So remind me again, in your TBR cup jar, that's just things that are owned by you that you haven't read yet, correct? - That I bought in the last two years. So that I bought in 2022 or 2023 and I haven't read, it went in the cup. - And that goes toward your goal? - Yes. - Hmm, okay. I feel like it's cheating for me to say your last purchase, do the comic book, 'cause I kinda feel like you're gonna end up reading that on the site anyway. So we're just gonna, we're gonna do a strike through on that because knowing you, you're gonna be like, okay, I'm halfway through. And let's see. I feel like the TBR jar is too, I wanna do something other than the default. - Okay. - Remind me, remind me the last two again. - So pick one of the three books that I got from my Bachelorette that I haven't read yet or I will send you the list of things the library has as audio books that I also own physically. - I think we should do the Bachelorette. I think that-- - Yeah. - I feel like you need something that's kind of nice to read. It's, but I feel like you're kinda reading heavy things. And I feel like I remember hearing that during your Bachelorette that they were mostly on the lighter side, so I feel like let's go with that. - I feel like there's a, yeah, I think that's gonna be really good and I have been feeling drawn towards those three, 'cause I'd be like, oh man, it would feel really good to be able to say I read all five books from my Bachelorette in the same year. So I do have those three books off the top of my head, would you like it that I messaged them to you later or would you like to hear them and pick one right now? - Oh, I get to make another decision. Yes, give me the inside, this is it. - So I don't have the snobsies off the top of my head, but I can do my best. The first one is "Fresh Water" by Iquake Amezi. This is a strange book that I've heard. The cover has a snake with two heads on it, which I just think is so cool. And I think our main character is dealing with the associative identity disorder. - Okay. Then we have "Scarbrough" by Katherine Hernandez. And "Scarbrough" is a suburb of Toronto that faces all kinds of social issues. And I think it's just about a family growing up there. But I think "Scarbrough" being this suburb is really the focus of what's it like to grow up there. And it almost feels like a creative non-fiction, like I'm sure it's really based off the author's life, but it is fiction. And the last one is "Non-fiction." I have "Brading Sweetgrass," "Indigenous Wisdom," "Scientific Knowledge," and "The Teaching of Plants" by Robin Wall Kimmerer. - Ooh, okay. - What's that book is so famous? It doesn't need any introduction? - I know, it doesn't need any introduction, as you said. The "Scarbrough" one sounds to, I'm looking at it online and it says it's a community struggling through poverty, racism, discrimination, crime, drugs, domestic abuse, developmental and learning issues and health-related issues. And then it goes dot, dot, dot, 'cause that's just, I was like, oh my gosh. And the list continues. Those are all, of course, extremely important issues that need to be dealt with, but let's save that for another time. So we're gonna cross that one off, goodbye. And I feel like you are, I know you and I really feel like you're gonna end up picking up that comic, that graphic narrative anyway. So to have two different native, like stories going on at the same time, I feel like that maybe will be kinda hard to keep straight. So I feel like we should go with fresh water. - I love that, thank you so, so much. Actually, extremely excited. I think if I was forced to pick which one of those three to pick up next, it would have been fresh water for exactly those reasons. "Scarbrough" is gonna be heavy. I'm gonna need my full brain power to process those really important topics. And then "Braining Sweetgrass", I will also need my brain to also understand the important topics in there as well. And yeah, having two non-fiction about indigenous topics, although both important are just, they might be too much for my brain to handle two non-fiction at once, so yeah. (laughs) - Thank you, thank you, thank you. - Exciting, all right, well, those were all my book updates. I have my, like I said, my two non-fiction and then my Jane Austen. I feel like I need to get something fun going to. Maybe I'll have to shop my shelves and see what I can-- - Yes. - I know I said I have my light therapy book, but that's self-help is hard to be-- - It's still non-fiction. - Self-help is hard to be light about it. It's possible, but it's difficult. So I'll see what I have on my shelves and what's going on with my reading. Did you have any other reading updates to share? - Those were all of my reading updates. We covered everything I wanted to talk about too. - All right, that's probably it for today then. So we will place the bookmark and pick it up next time. Thanks to you everyone, bye. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)