Litsy

pick

Days by Moonlight (Quincunx 5), by André Alexis (2019 ??)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A quiet botanist accompanies a family friend on a road trip through southern Ontario to uncover the story of a vanished poet and discovers a far stranger set of places than he could have imagined.

Review: This is such an odd series of books that I enjoy more in retrospect than in the reading. ⬇️

Mattsbookaday This is something of an Odyssey or Divine Comedy style story, a strange journey through a heightened world. In the end it leaves the reader questioning reality, faith, and goodness, and I‘ll think about it for a while. 1h

4 likes1 comment

monalyisha

The Ghost Orchard | Helen Humphreys

pick

I understand why Humphreys titled the book The Ghost Orchard. It is absolutely the strongest section (followed by that on Robert Frost, and The Imagined Discovery of the White Winter Pearmain). The way in which she grafts the story of her relationship with both her friend and her father, and their deaths, onto the story of the apple is brilliant. The Parafilm that seamlessly binds the stories is Frost‘s friendship with the poet Edward Thomas.👇🏻

monalyisha 1/2: As she writes, “A hundred years is very old for an apple tree, as it is for a person. An apple tree exists for the same amount of time that we do, and this gives our relationship with the trees a certain poignancy.” It makes sense that the book would be equal parts plant & human-animal. We are capable of having all sorts of relationships (with the land and with each other). 1d

monalyisha 2/2: I almost wish that there was *more* memoir…but it‘s perfectly eloquent (and almost bite-sized — or, “of small to medium size,” as the catalogs would put it) the way that it is. 1d

Chelsea.Poole Great review! 1d

monalyisha Thanks, @Chelsea.Poole! Embarrassingly, I‘d totally confused Helen Humphreys with Helen MacDonald in my head. Now, having read this, I‘m just a Helen fan. Thirty Helens Agree: Helens can write! 21h

rockpools I learnt just yesterday that the Apple orchard I grew up with/in had been scrubbed up - this ‘100 years‘ fact makes me feel much more at ease (the trees weren‘t young when I knew them! Thank you - perfect timing for me. I‘ll try and find the book (which apparently I stacked years ago). And I thought Helen Humphreys and Helen Garner were the same person, so… 20h

55 likes2 stack adds5 comments

monalyisha

The Ghost Orchard | Helen Humphreys

“It was all praise and miracle. Edward Thomas was right about a line of apples being the same as a line of poetry in another language.”

36 likes

monalyisha

The Ghost Orchard | Helen Humphreys

It‘s fun to be reading about the Robert Frost Interpretive Trail.

I always stop on the way home from visiting one of my friends in VT. It‘s not a long trail (nor is it The Long Trail) but it‘s one of my favorite little walks!

It‘s nice to remember, especially in November, that it can be a blessing to live in New England. Romanticize your life, right?

AnnCrystal 🤩💝. 2d

dabbe 💚💙💚 2d

Amiable I ❤️ living in New England in all seasons. Even in November. But in February it‘s close. 😬😀 24h

40 likes3 comments

Enchanted_Bibliophile

X in Flight | Karen Rivers

pan

2½✨

Teen drama and turmoil at full throttle

The way this story was told from three different perspectives—first, second, and third person—really threw off the flow. It felt like I had to reset my brain with every chapter.

#BookChain2025 #LowerRating @TheAromaofBooks
#LitsyAtoZ #X @Texreader
#Pantone2025 #CrownBlue @Lauredhel

Texreader Oooh hard read. I was excited at first to see a book starting with #letterX but that would too much resetting of the brain 3d

Enchanted_Bibliophile @Texreader It's only 250 pages, but it feels like 500 with all the switching. X really is a hard letter. 3d

TheAromaofBooks Great progress!!! 3d

40 likes3 comments

squirrelbrain

The Lost Garden | Helen Humphreys

Thank you so much for this lovely gift, Megan! @TheKidUpstairs ☺️

I bet you thought it was lost in the post, didn‘t you? It looks like you posted it in September! 🤨

I‘m glad you like it so much and that makes me look forward to reading it even more! ❤️

TheKidUpstairs I'm so glad it finally arrived! Between overseas shipping and the Canada Post strikes, I thought it might not get there 🤦‍♀️🤣 5d

TheLudicReader Such a beautiful book. I loved it. 4d

LeahBergen I loved this book! 4d

squirrelbrain It sounds like it was worth the wait! @TheKidUpstairs If @LeahBergen @TheLudicReader love it too then I‘m sure I will! 4d

46 likes4 comments

Robotswithpersonality

Half-Breed | Maria Campbell

pick

There's no way I'm going to do this book justice in attempting to explain why it should be read.
This isn't about the quality of the writing, though it's staggering to recognize a young woman wrote this and conveyed such a strong feeling of being present at the moments of growing up, those early years of childhood innocence and joy, considering everything that came after, the brief moments of pure storytelling relaying family foibles, 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? ghost stories or legends, or that she relayed clearly, even sparely, so many traumas and heartbreaks.
I've never encountered such a comprehensive overview of all the issues that can negatively impact Indigenous woman in one self-portrait, only to be floored by the same person's quiet resolve to work for the solace and improvement of her community, all while recognizing how many government programs have failed them, 5d

Robotswithpersonality 3/? or actively worked against their interests. And the book offers still more in being a window into a specific time and place which provides history for later generations.
Campbell's new afterword is full of joy that there are so many examples of Indigenous art, writing, tradition-sharing, etc working towards decolonization. 5d

Robotswithpersonality 4/? I'll list the content warnings so you know what you're in for, but I truly think if this book isn't in curriculum it should be. First person experience relayed by one so often marginalized as both a woman and a Métis person is valuable in and of itself. The hope is we're always ready when someone chooses to share about their life, and this is an opportunity to learn and gain resolve, to hold space and listen to know how to help, 5d

Robotswithpersonality 5/5 so Campbell's hopes for the future can come true. ❤️‍🩹

⚠️racism, misogyny, domestic abuse,child abuse, substance abuse, death in childbirth, death of a parent, SA, withdrawal, internalized racism, mental health concerns, generational trauma, self-harm, institutionalization, separation of children 5d

10 likes1 stack add4 comments

Robotswithpersonality

Half-Breed | Maria Campbell

“Dreams are so important in one's life, yet when followed blindly they can lead to the disintegration of one's soul.“ 💔

9 likes

Mattsbookaday

The Hidden Keys | Andr? Alexis

pick

The Hidden Keys (Quincunx 3/4), by André Alexis (2016 ??)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️?

Premise: A thief is drawn into a series of heists intended to solve a puzzle about gifts given by an eccentric billionaire to his grown children.

Review: This wasn‘t at all what I was expecting it to be. It‘s a fun heist story with a satisfying mystery.⬇️

Mattsbookaday But it also has some insightful engagement with literary themes of class difference, gentrification, criminal justice, and a certain former Toronto mayor. I would have liked the denouement to be a bit more engaging, but overall, this was a pleasant and satisfying surprise 6d

11 likes1 comment