Mya's Strategy to Save the World

Finished May 23

Mya's Strategy to Save the World by Tanya Lloyd Kyi

This children's novel is narrated by Mya, a 12-year-old girl, living in Vancouver. Mya and her best friend Cleo are the co-leaders of her school's social justice club. Each month they pick a cause or theme and work to support it. Mya's dream is of working for the United Nations. 

As the novel begins, Mya's mother leaves for Myanmar where Mya's grandmother has taken ill, where she plans to look after her until she is able to travel back to Canada. 

Mya is engaging is a lot of things typical for her age: trying to convince her parents that she deserves to have a phone like most of her friends do, beginning to take an interest in boys, and starting to make money from babysitting. With her mom away, Mya also takes on more responsibilities around the house like learning how to cook. She is also tasked with picking up her younger sister from school and supervising her skateboarding lessons. 

There are successes and missteps in her various endeavours. When an accident leaves Mya to take charge without warning, she proves herself up to the challenge.

I enjoyed seeing Mya come to live and grow as a person. She's earnest, but also has a lighter side. A fun read. 

Rose Addams

Finished February 5

Rose Addams by Margie Taylor

Rose Addams is in her early sixties and working at a Vancouver area public library. She's a woman who enjoys her work, and takes an interest in her children's lives. On her way home one day in late August, her daughter Morgan calls and asks her to call back when she gets home. Morgan, who lives in Toronto with her fiancé Ian, and is nearing the final portion of her Ph.D. dissertation tells her that the engagement is off.

A few days later, she on her way to work when a young man she's seen sitting outside the nearby grocery store approaches her and tells her how he knows her. Rose is surprised and saddened. This reminds her of the early days of motherhood and how her and her husband Charles had handled an earlier childcare challenge in their lives. 

When she arrives home, she has more surprises in store. Her husband Charles, just a few years older than her, informs her that he has retired from his job as a university professor, and chair of his department. He tells her that it is due to a conversation that he had with an undergraduate student around student expectations. She is surprised and disappointed that he made such a big decision without even talking about it with her first. She is further surprised by a call from Morgan saying that she is coming home in a few days, just after the Labour Day weekend. 

As Rose and Charles host a dinner party the following evening with friends and colleagues, and he announces his retirement, the guests are surprised and dismayed. They include another professor and friend, Garnet, and his newest paramour a young graduate student, Lauren; the department secretary Bernadette and her brother Richard; and Rose's best friend Marie, a children's author, and her accountant husband Jeff. Bernadette is particularly dismayed and surprised, but Garnet is also disappointed that he wasn't consulted about the move, since he originally took Charles under his wing when Charles joined the department as a young professor. 

Rose likes Morgan's partner Ian, but is less enamored of her son Jason's partner Lee, who she feels judges her. She hasn't spent much time with Lee though, and not everyone see what Rose feels. 

As Rose deals with all these changes, and more, she questions her own feelings, second guesses her impulses, and finds herself dealing with a future she didn't imagine. 

I really enjoyed this book, and many of the issues that Rose is faced with felt very real and relatable. A book from a Canadian writer new to me, that I will definitely look out for. 

The Better Mother

Finished December 24
The Better Mother by Jen Sookfong Lee
A wonderful novel, moving between years. The main character is Danny Lim. Danny grew up in Vancouver's Chinatown, but left as soon as he became 18, not wanting the life his parents envisioned for him. Danny is struggling to come to terms with his homosexuality and remains in the closet to all but his sister and close friends. He works as a wedding photographer but dreams of a photography exhibit of his personal work. When Danny was a child he had an encounter with an exotic dancer that he has never forgotten. When something reawakens that memory, he is determined to find out more about her. So part of this book is Val's story too. Her act was the 'Siamese Kitten' and her story is also one of not facing up to her truth. The two bolster and encourage each other to move forward in their lives by being open about who they are and what made them that way. A novel of secrets, and of self-awareness, this book is hard to put down.

A Thoroughly Wicked Woman

Finished September 5
A Thoroughly Wicked Woman by Betty Keller
This book is based on a true story of a murder that took place in Vancouver in late 1905. Thomas Jackson was the victim. He had been away from home for some time, staking claims, and had only been back in Vancouver a couple of days when he was poisoned. He lived with his wife Theresa, who was much younger than him, and his mother-in-law Esther Jones, who took in boarders. The boarders in the house were Harry Fisher, a nephew of Jones, and Ernest Exall, a young man who worked for the CPR.
There was already a case of theft pending against Esther Jones by her landlord. When the poisoning took place suspicion fell on both women and the boarders. Harry Fisher took off for the states and the two women were arrested for perjury, alleged to have been given at the coroner's inquest.
Keller sets the scene in the introduction, giving us the legal environment, the political environment, and the news scene of the day. Much of the information here comes from newspaper stories, and Keller has created a couple of reporters to assist with this end. Most stories of the day didn't have bylines, so particular reporters were not associated with the stories at the time. This device helps to give a personal touch to the book, without influencing the facts of the case.
It was very interesting to see the legal maneuverings and see how different things are now. One does wonder what eventually happened to all the key players and where they ended up.

Visual Tale

Finished September 9
Back + Forth: a novel in linocuts by Marta Chudolinska
This book is like nothing I've ever read before. I loved it.
Although wordless, this book uses images to convey a story that evoked my emotions. A young women looks both at her present life in Vancouver and back to a previous time in Toronto with sadness.
The images, all prints done from linocuts, are detailed enough to show what you need to know, but not fussy with detail. You can see emotions from facial expressions and rain, but still the drawings stay simple. I found myself studying each image carefully to see the story.
The author is a recent graduate of OCA (Ontario College of Art) and includes a brief history of linocut novels and her inspiration for this book. That I also found very interesting.