I‘m just finishing up this read for my IRL bookclub and (disappointingly) finding the ending a tad overwrought, after what was an overall pretty impressive reading experience. 😒
pickI love a good community-focused novel, and SCARBOROUGH is IT. Catherine Hernandez explores the challenges a group of young children, their parents, and their literacy group coordinator face throughout the 2011/12 school year. It‘s powerful, affecting, relatable stuff, and while it hasn‘t quite taken over the top spot in my Canada Reads ranking, I won‘t be at all upset if it wins. It‘ll stick with me for a long time.
I started the last Canada Reads book over breakfast. Will it kick LIFE IN THE CITY OF DIRTY WATER out of my top spot? Stay tuned to find out!
pickThis is on the CanadaReads list for this year. A sensitive portrayal of the challenges and despair of a poverty-stricken community. It was pretty easy to guess who would be the villains.
Library haul! I‘m so, so glad SCARBOROUGH came in for me. This is the first year I‘ll be able to read all the Canada Reads finalists before the debates start!
I also got a couple more from the longlist, two Litsy-inspired requests, new nonfiction from Vivek Shraya, new poetry by Duncan Mercredi, and old fiction from Mary Stewart.
pickCanada Reads, book 4. This one broke me. It‘s very intense. So much beauty, poverty, abuse, diversity, racism, friendship, and despair. Having lived in a few, I think it could have been set in any city in the country. I don‘t know how she fit so much into so few words. I think they are trying to turn on the country‘s empathy with the choices this year. It‘s going to be a great debate. But I‘m going to need something uplifting soon.
pickWow! So much heartache, passion and hope. This is a beautiful, empathetic and richly diverse story about struggle, humanity and family. Through the POV of multiple children, their parents, and their teachers, we learn about issues that expertly intersect poverty, abuse, neglect, mental illness, disability, LGBTQ, race, racism and, of course, love between children and the adults who care for them. I could not put it down.
5 stars!!!
What a beautiful book dedication 💗
audible.ca has a Canada Day sale, now through July 3rd 🇨🇦
Considering this wish list item, Scarborough.
Scarborough life ☀️🏖😍 having a lovely time away and managed to do abit of reading on the beach 📖
pickThis story weaves together the struggles and inner lives of kids and their parents who attend a modest family literacy centre in Scarborough, a complex, multifaceted part of Toronto.
Read February 2-5
Book 9/55
so-soGiven the theme of this year's Canada Reads, I'm shocked this book wasn't shortlisted. Hernandez paints a vivid portrait of an impoverished community and gives us an advocate in Miss Hina who truly sees the families in the community. In all, there were too many voices to make a satisfying story without making the book longer. Toward the end - Laura's last chapter, the karaoke scene - the book lacked nuance. Recommended, especially for book clubs.
pickGripping and raw with characters that feel like real people, this book packs an emotional gut punch. The writing is sparse and draws you in with it's solid sense of place and the community it describes. I'm pretty confident this will be in my top 10 of 2018. Highly recommend!
pickA heartbreaking look at poverty in Scarborough, Ontario. It‘s so important, as a Canadian, to read content from my own backyard. I highly recommend this one.
Full review: https://reneereadsbooks.wordpress.com/2018/01/27/book-review-scarborough-by-cath...
pickThe stories in this book were painful and hopeful and needed. I loved reading about the bold and brave kids who thrived despite their burdens but I mostly loved reading about the strong, single mamas doing their best for the kids they adore. I also appreciated the fierce support of Ms. Hina, who recognized that learning without love and full tummies was pointless.
pickI am so glad #canadareads brought this book to my attention. It deals with a school in Scarborough, CA where immigration and poverty are prevalent. The book is told through the lenses of the children, parents, and teacher from this school. The book deals with poverty, racism, Indigenous culture, and Islamophobia. It has a tough ending too. I hope this makes one of the 5 books.
My next novel is another that was long-listed for CBC‘s #CanadaReads #currentlyreading
pickI‘m not sure I have ever cried like I did reading this book. Sometimes cries of joy ( Bing and his wonderful mother) but a lot of ugly crying at the brutal reality of poverty. I know too many kids like the ones in this book and my heart breaks at their reality. God bless Hina Hassani and all the real life versions of her. I hope I can make even the slightest difference in some of their lives because everyone deserves love, understanding and joy
I‘m sitting in a corner of Dave and Busters reading with a glass of red 🍷while the teens play games waiting for our table for dinner
This is honestly one of the sweetest book dedications I've ever read! 😍❤️ #queerbooks
Revisiting this book for my book club meeting tomorrow am #queerbooks
pickThis was a hard hitting, heavy, emotional book about a community trying to survive, and thrive, under the weight of poverty. Hernandez, who clearly loves and respects the community she's writing about, brings the neighbourhood to life, as well as its unique characters. It's a treat to see such ppl treated with dignity in fiction. However, the constantly changing POVs didn't work for me, and the pacing was uneven. Still, a promising debut! #CanLit
pickThis book was gorgeous and raw and hard at times. Many different characters narrate this tale of community set in low-income, culturally diverse Scarborough. This book skillfully weaves resilience, loss, struggle and hope with complexity and care. It deeply moved me. Strongly recommend. #queerbooks #diversebooks
This passage is this character's reaction to watching her son dance to Whitney Houston in a pink bedazzled halter top in front of his school! ❤️😍😭😭😭😍❤️
I'm fully in tears at the hair salon after reading this passage of fierce parental love for a queer kid. #queerbooks
Reading with a beautiful view!! 📚☕
Scarborough | 
