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review
Mattsbookaday
Street of Riches | Gabrielle Roy
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Pickpick

Street of Riches, by Gabrielle Roy (1955, trans. 1957 🇨🇦)

Premise: A series of stories about the author‘s childhood in Manitoba‘s francophone community.

Review: This was a marvelous surprise. These stories — seventy years old themselves, but recounting events of thirty years earlier — strike a perfect balance: You feel the foreignness of this version of Canada from a century ago, while also seeing the seeds for the country we‘ve become. Cont.

Mattsbookaday But it‘s the little common touches of universal humanity that I‘ll remember most about this tender and beautiful, deserved Canadian classic.

Bookish Pair:This would be an interesting pairing with a more contemporary collection, such as Bernardine Evaristo‘s Girl Woman Other (2019).

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
2d
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review
merelybookish
Street of Riches | Gabrielle Roy
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Pickpick

Loved!
Roy was a successful mid-century 🇨🇦 writer. Her novel Tin Flute still gets assigned in Canlit classes but otherwise her reputation has dimmed. Which, it turns out, is a shame because this is wonderful! A semi-autobiographical collection of linked stories told from the perspective of a young girl growing up in a large French family in Manitoba. Nothing flashy. Just lovely, rich insights into the complexity of people through innocent eyes.

merelybookish I pulled this off my shelf for the #192025 challenge. So glad I did!! @Librarybelle 1w
Sace I just ordered a copy from ThriftBooks. When I googled the author, I saw that some consider her “the Canadian Willa Cather”. I generally dislike comparisons like this, but I am a fan of Cather. 1w
Librarybelle This sounds good! 1w
See All 8 Comments
merelybookish @Sace Interesting! She's from the prairies so I guess that fits. Also her style is unadorned like Cather's so it's not totally inaccurate. I will be excited to hear what you think!! Also, be forewarned that it does contain some ideas about race (the first story is called The Two Negros) that are not okay. 1w
Sace That comes with the territory when reading older books. 1w
Suet624 Sounds like one I would enjoy. Stacked! 3d
merelybookish @Suet624 I think you'd enjoy it too!! 3d
kwmg40 Another fan of Gabrielle Roy here. I've not read Street of Riches but I really liked Where Nests the Water Hen, also set in Manitoba. 10h
60 likes3 stack adds8 comments
blurb
merelybookish
Street of Riches | Gabrielle Roy
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Nice to see the river open again. And a duck!
More 🇨🇦 #Canlit 🇨🇦 for my #weekendreads.
Print: Streets of Riches (1957) by Gabrielle Roy
Audio: Beautiful Losers (1966) by Leonard Cohen. (This one is challenging. 😬)
@rachelsbrittain

eclectic-reader Hi, Margot 👋 I hope you are doing well 3w
merelybookish @eclectic-reader Hey Scott!! I'm doing okay. How are you? 3w
eclectic-reader @merelybookish I'm okay; it's been a strange winter: political turmoil, waylaid by covid & blizzards & then had to move in February. Settling into spring now. Def enjoying the calm. 3w
See All 6 Comments
eclectic-reader Also, I'm curious why you say the Cohen is challenging. Is it the format or the content? I love him as a singer, but I haven't read any of his novels. I can see how some of his novels might not work so well, though... 3w
merelybookish @eclectic-reader Agree it has not been an easy winter for lots of reasons! Hope you like your new place. Is it still in NKC? As for the Cohen....well ... It's postmodern and so difficult to follow (allusive, plot-less, meandering, etc.) AND sexually explicit to the extreme. Every sexual act, organ,and conquest is described at length. Repeatedly. It's A LOT!! 🤣 3w
eclectic-reader I hope that your family is doing okay. I'm still in the same area, I moved only a few minutes away from my old place. The Cohen does sound like a lot. I think I had one of his novels on my shelves, don't think I'll bother.
Although the following isn't really explicit, it was certainly a very unusual and intense novel by a singer
3w
49 likes6 comments
blurb
TheKidUpstairs
The Diviners | Margaret Laurence
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I've read 24. Being a theatre major definitely helped there, lots of plays listed. And presently surprised by the amount of Canadian content.

Three of my all time favourites were on the list:
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood
The Diviners - Margaret Laurence

Thanks @dabbe for another fun #ThreeListThursday

dabbe Yay for Canadian writers! All 3 of yours are now on my TBR! I've read Atwood, but not ALIAS GRACE--yet. 🤩 Thanks for playing and sharing. 🩶🩵🩶 2mo
41 likes1 comment
blurb
Bookwormjillk
The Break | Katherena Vermette
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#12BooksOfChristmas November @Andrew65

I think November was my best reading month of the year so it was hard to pick. This book stuck with me the most though- and I never would have read it if it weren‘t for #FoodAndLit #Canada

LeeRHarry I finished this just before the end of 2024 and know I‘ll be thinking of it for some time. 3mo
Andrew65 Not a book I know but looks good. 3mo
BarbaraBB I purchased this (probably based on your review) but haven‘t read it yet 3mo
kspenmoll This sounds intriguing! 3mo
Tamra This one is so good! I look for this book every time I go to a bookshop, but haven‘t found it yet. 3mo
74 likes3 stack adds5 comments
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Dilara
river woman | Katherena Vermette
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From a fantastic poetry collection by Katherena Vermette, a Métis author. Found on Everand.
#FoodandLit #Canada
@Catsandbooks @Texreader

Pic of St Theresa Point, Island Lake by Timkal, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24819273

Catsandbooks Wonderful! 🇨🇦 4mo
28 likes1 stack add1 comment
review
Bookwormjillk
The Break | Katherena Vermette
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Pickpick

This book was sad and covered some hard topics, but an incredibly good read. I didn‘t want the story of these women to end. #FoodAndLit #Canada

JuniperWilde I loved this one too. 4mo
Bookwormjillk @JuniperWilde it was so good 4mo
64 likes2 comments
blurb
Bookwormjillk
The Break | Katherena Vermette
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I am worn out tonight but in a good way. #hyggehour

mcctrish Oh I loved this book 4mo
Chrissyreadit 🧡🧡🧡🧡 4mo
Tamra Love this one! 4mo
Bookwormjillk @Tamra @mcctrish It‘s so good 4mo
67 likes4 comments