Margaret Atwood

DISEMBARKING AT QUEBEC

Is it my clothes, my way of walking,
the things I carry in my hand
- a book, a bag with knitting -
the incongruous pink of my shawl

this space cannot hear

or is it my own lack
of conviction which makes
these vistas of desolation,
long hills, the swamps, the barren sand, the glare
of sun on the bone-white
driftlogs, omens of winter,
the moon alien in day-
time a thin refusal

The others leap, shout

Freedom!

The moving water will not show me my reflection.

The rocks ignore.

I am a word
in a foreign language.

From The Journals of Susanna Moodie (1970)

Margaret Atwood was born on November 18, 1939, in Ottawa, Ontario. 

She has written award-winning poetry, short stories and novels, including The Circle Game (1966), The Handmaid's Tale (1985), The Blind Assassin (2000), Oryx and Crake (2003) and The Tent (2006). 

Her works have been translated into an array of different languages and seen several screen adaptations.

April is poetry month (no joke)!

My readers may not know that, though I've lived in the U.S. for over 25 years, I'm a dual Canadian-American citizen.

Because of the current political climate, this year, for the month of April, I will be honouring  Canadian poets.

I'll be including well-known poets such as Margaret Atwood and Leonard Cohen, not-so-well-known poets like Joy Kogawa and Phyllis Webb, and writers you might not know as poets, like Charles de Lint and L.M. Montgomery.

Poetry Month posts will begin tomorrow, April 2.

Please read, (hopefully) enjoy, and let me know what you think!

March favorites

 

The Mudpuddle Manual of Natural Magic by Ciara Blume.  Dolce Villa Press,                                  1 October 2024.

The Boxcar Librarian by Brianna Labuskes.  William Morrow, 4 March 2025.

The Perfect Passion Company by Alexander McCall Smith.  Knopf Doubleday,                               13 February 2024.

The Year of What If by Phaedra Patrick.  Park Row Books, 25 June 2024.

History repeats itself...

 The Boxcar Librarian by Brianna Labuskes.  William Morrow, 4 March 2025.

Brianna Labuskes has become one of my favorite historical fiction authors.

Her previous two historical novels, The Librarian of Burned Books (2023) and The Lost Book of Bonn (2024) each made my "best of the year" list.  

The location of the most recent book moves from Europe to the USA.  

The story follows the lives of three women in the 1900s, and takes place primarily in Montana, where, at the time, "copper was king".

Millie Lang grew up on a ranch in Texas, an orphan who was raised by her aunt and uncle.  Desperate to get away from being treated as an unpaid servant, she ran away to seek her fortune, and ended up taking a job as an editor with the Federal Writers' Project, part of the Federal One Project.  The FWP produced the American Guide series, travel guides for each state.  After rescuing a colleague who was being sexually assulted (and punching the attacker in the nose), she's sent to Montana to work on that guidebook as well as to get her out of the line of fire.

Alice Monroe is the daughter of the wealthy Clark Monroe, an influential businessman in Missoula.  Having had health issues as a child, she is over-protected by her widowed father, but has managed to get a job at the local library.  Her father does allow her to deliver library books to people at nearby mining camps, but she must be accompanied by her Clark's right-hand-man, Murdoch "Mac" MacTavish.  Alice is frustrated that the number of camps she can visit is so limited, and vows to find a way to go further afield.

We meet Colette Durand in 1914, when she's 11 years old.  Her father, Claude, works for the Anaconda Mining Company in Hell Raisin' Gulch.  Although he supports himself and his daughter by working as a miner, Claude is able to recite most of Shakespeare's plays from memory.  His love of literature and storytelling is passed on to Collette, who runs freely around the tiny town.

In 1924, when Alice comes up with the idea of creating a library in a boxcar on the train that travels the network of railways that serve the logging and mining camps, the paths of the three women finally begin to intersect.

The themes of this story are very pertinent to the events unfolding in the United States today, and it is heartening to see that the "Robber Barons" did not prevail.

This book will definitely be on my 2025 "best" list!

March Releases

 I'm looking forward to reading these books releasing this month!

Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone. The Dial Press, 4 March 2025.

Grieving the loss of her best friend, a young woman’s life is turned upside down when she meets a grumpy stranger who swears he can help her live again, in this heartwarming, story by the author of Ready or Not.

Kate & Frida by Kim Fay. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 11 March 2025.

From the author of instant national bestseller Love & Saffron, this bright and comforting novel follows the surprising friendship between two young women in 1990s Seattle and Paris, illuminating the power of books to change our lives.

The Boxcar Librarian by Brianna Labuskes. William Morrow, 4 March 2025.

Inspired by true events, a thrilling Depression-era novel from the author of The Librarian of Burned Books about a woman’s quest to uncover a mystery surrounding a local librarian and the Boxcar Library—a converted mining train that brought books to isolated rural towns in Montana.

Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder by Bellamy Rose. Atria Books, 18 March 2025.

A spoiled heiress must investigate her grandmother’s death in order to gain back her trust fund, all while discovering how to be her own person and maybe even in falling in love in this rom-com meets murder mystery.

February Favorites

 Hall, Rachel Howzell.  The Last One.  Entangled Publishing, 3 December 2024.

This unputdownable fantasy begins when Kai wakes up not knowing who, or where she is, but she knows she's been assaulted because her attacker is still on top of her. Frustratingly, she must depend upon this attacker to find out who she is.

****

Heath, Sue.  The Secret Ingredient. One Last Chapter, 18 January 2024.

Kate is having a hard time recovering from her husband's death in a car accident.  Just over three years later, with the help of friends and neighbors, she begins to find herself again.  

****

MacDonald, Janice.  Victor and Me in Paris (An Imogene Durant Mystery).  Ravenstone, 15 November 2024.

Novelist and retired professor Imogene Durant rents an apartment in Paris to heal from her divorce and find inspiration for a new novel. She didn't expect to get involved in a murder investigation...

****

Simonson, Helen.  The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club.  

Spending the summer of 1919 as a companion to a rich, elderly woman would be more enjoyable for Constance if she weren't worried about how she'd survive when summer ended. Then she meets Poppy, who scandalously wears trousers and drives a motorcycle...

Book Review - Dressmakers of London

 The Dressmakers of London by Julia Kelly.  Gallery Books, 18 February 2025.

Julia Kelly specializes in historical novels with strong female protagonists, and so far, I’ve loved every one of them.

It’s November of 1941.  Twenty-eight-year-old Isabelle Shelton is content to work in her mother’s dressmaking shop in London.  Her older sister Sylvia had been married wealthy Hugo Pearsall for several years, and due to the difference in their lifestyles, the sisters had drifted apart.

That all changed when their mother Maggie passed away in her sleep, leaving the shop to both of her daughters. 

Izzy is shocked and hurt.  She’d been working for her mother since she was fourteen, while Sylvia had never shown any interest in the business. She’s determined to buy out Sylvia’s share of the shop, but when she’s conscripted to join the WAAF, she’s forced to accept Sylvia’s help to keep the shop open.

While this is a story of the relationship between the two sisters, there are several other themes here.  We all know about the rationing of food, medicine, and other necessities, but fabric and notions for making clothing were also rationed. 

We also learn about the travails of the young women who were called up to serve in the war.  Isabelle’s unit works on testing and repairing barrage balloons, and we learn much about their living circumstances, including the fact that the female conscripts had to wear ill-fitting and uncomfortable uniforms sized for men.

I finished this gripping novel in a day, and I recommend it highly!

 

Many thanks to Edelweiss for the e-galley.