@ Your Library
I have done two 1,000 jigsaw puzzles since the beginning of the year. It has definitely been stress relieving and a favorite winter activity. The library has a variety of puzzles available to borrow ranging from kids 2 piece beginner puzzles to a number of 1,000 piece puzzles. They check out for 2 weeks and can be renewed if you need longer.
Board games can also be a fun winter activity and the library has both classic and new games for everyone from young children to adults to loan out. Stop by and take a look at the collection of games available.
Time for a road trip with Tilly and the Crazy Eights by Monique Gray Smith. This book was on the Canada Reads list for 2021 and a delightful story of a young woman invited to drive eight elders on their ultimate bucket list road trip ending up at the Gathering of Nations Pow Wow in Albuquerque. Other titles featuring native American characters include Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice, In the Night of Memory by Linda LeGarde Grover, Winter of the Wolf Moon by Steve Hamilton, Louise Erdrich titles including The Night Watchman, The Round House and Love Medicine.
I know I’ve said it before, but I really like historical fiction. I like learning about life in the past (I also like thinking about life in the future, the present, not as much). Lost in Darkness by Michelle Griep is set in England in 1815. Amelia has one dream, to tour Egypt as a travel writer, but just as she thinks her dream is within reach fate intervenes when her father dies and her malformed brother is dependent on her to arrange a revolutionary surgery for him.
I haven’t heard or learned much about Australia in World War II. All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton begins in Darwin, 1942 as Japanese bombs rain from the sky. I haven’t read a lot of fiction set in Australia, but what I have read has been mesmerizing and delightful.
I’ll end this week with Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead, an epic tale of two extraordinary women whose fates collide as they each try to determine their own fate and not be restricted by societal pressure. Marian Graves and her twin brother are saved from a sinking ocean liner in 1914 and raised by an uncle in Missoula, Montana. She drops out of school after encountering barnstorming pilots to follow her dream of flying. A century later Hadley is given a chance to resurrect her film career by bringing Marian to life on the big screen.
Gather with fellow readers at noon on January 25th in the library meeting room for an open book discussion currently hosted by Kathy Fluke. You are welcome to bring your lunch or beverage of choice. Share what you’ve been reading, the good, the bad or the ugly. Or just listen to what others are recommending or not. Masks and/or vaccinations strongly recommended, but not required.