Cosy Nook

 I am admittedly a fan of books. I like being surprised by a book, and I love receiving them as gifts. I've tried a few book subscriptions in the past few years, and I've liked most of them, but found that often the postage costs can be a deterrent, especially for subscriptions coming from outside of Canada.

I heard about a book box subscription that ships from Canada and decided to try them out. My timing was good and I received my first box yesterday. 

The name of the subscription is Cosy Nook Book Box, and I was pleased with the variety of items that came along with it. 

The box was delivered by courier and was well packed.

Opening the box, I could see that it was nicely presented as well. 

Even the way it was packed was appealing.

What book box would be complete without a bookmark. This one is cute and coordinates with the small label on the tissue paper. 

I can immediately see an eye mask, some cosy-looking items and an intriguing bubble-wrapped item.

There were several edibles, including a couple of maple cookies, a tea bag, and a packet for an instant cappuccino. I liked that they included both tea and coffee, although I am a tea drinker myself.

Other nibbles included some jelly beans and a package of Mike and Ike's (a candy that I've heard of but never tried). 

The next product I noticed was a "clarifying mask". Glam Up is a K-Beauty company, and they make twelve different masks. The one included here is good for dry skin and is supposed to provide deep moisturizing. 

Now, on to those cosy items I saw. They are all in coordinating tones of peach. The first is a headband with a twist, great for protecting one's ears in the cold while not creating hat head. The second is a soft pom-pom on a key chain, a unique and fun attachment for a key chain. The last item is an circular scarf/cowl that can be worn a variety of ways. 

 

And of course, the last item I unwrapped was the one in bubby wrap, which proved to be a candle with a pleasant and mild scent. It's not a brand I've bought before so it should be interesting to try.

Now of course, I'm not forgetting the main purpose of this box, the book! This month the book is Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier. Jennifer is Filipino-Canadian and this book is a mystery thriller set in the Seattle area. I like that it is a Canadian author.  

 

I was pleased overall with the items in the box and will be interested to see how much Canadian content there is going forward. Watch for the book review later this year. 

Birds on Wishbone Street

Finished October 6

Birds on Wishbone Street by Suzanne Del Rizzo

This picture book is another lovely creation of Suzanne Del Rizzo. Her books are illustrated with her mixed media creations including a lot of polymer clay elements. This 3D effect really makes the pictures special and lively.

Here we have Moe (Maureen) who father immigrated to North America from Ireland. She is friends with many of the more recent immigrants on her street, who have come from a variety of places around the world. The most recent addition is Sami and his family who have come from Syria. Meo delivers a gift to Sami with winter mitts, hot cocoa and a feather. This is especially apt as Sami is a bird lover. He has a treasured pair of binoculars to watch to the birds and his box of treasures contains other bird-related items. When a female cardinal is found downed after a snowstorm, the children work with a local vet to ensure that she doesn't have injuries they can't see, and Moe learns that Sami had pigeons back home and can look after the cardinal until she is well enough to go back to her mate. 

This is a story of friendship, caring, and community told through one experience. A lovely story that will find a treasured place in many homes. 

The Silence of the Library

Finished October 4

The Silence of the Library by Miranda James

This is the fifth book in the "Cat in the Stacks" series featuring retired librarian Charlie Harris. Charlie is a widower and lives with his two adult children, Sean and Laura; a boarder; and his beloved Maine coon cat Diesel in Athena, Mississippi. Diesel goes almost everywhere with Charlie, and most people are familiar with him. Charlie is close friends with the library director and seems to give her advice and help with events as well as volunteer at the service desk on a regular basis. 

They have an upcoming event planned that is focused on classic children's and youth mystery series like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. One of the series is Veronica Thane and as the book opens they find out that the author is still alive, even though she is over a hundred. She also lives fairly locally, so plans begin to visit her and see if she might be willing to make an appearance at the event. 

Charlie grew up with these books, after being introduced to them by his favourite aunt. 

When word begins to leak out about the author, some of her most ardent fans show up, and when someone associated ends up dead, things start to get worrisome for the library and Charlie. 

This is a cosy series I hadn't come across before, and I found it didn't grab me as much as others. Charlie's role with the library was vague and for a small town, it was surprising how many people seemed to be unfamiliar with library staff and the other main players. 

The plot was interesting in some ways, and I did like how the old series books played a role in figuring out what was going on. 

Animals Move

Finished October 1

Animals Move by Jane Whittingham

This picture book for toddlers introduces new concepts around animals and movement. Inside the front and back covers of the book are pictures of adult and baby animals with the names for both. Within the pages of the book, there are pictures of the baby animals engaged in a variety of movements alongside pictures of children engaged in the same movement. 

The text is simple and easy to understand, and the pictures provide lots to look at. There are a wide variety of animals included here, and a wide variety of kids as well. I loved the inclusion of so many different children, including children we don't often see included.

The details of the animals are easy to look at and explore.

At the end of the book are a series of activities to provide further exploration for the reader. These include taking pictures of the child doing movements inspired by animals and using them to create a book of their own, coming up with tunes and dances for the different movements, charades, creating memory cards, and engaging in different movements during everyday activities.

A fun book that encourages children to get active, use their imaginations, and observe the world around them. 

Life Without Children

Finished September 30

Life Without Children: Short Stories by Roddy Doyle

I always enjoy reading Roddy Doyle and this collection is an intriguing one. This book contains ten short stories, all taking place in Ireland during the pandemic, and all are around relationships.

Box Sets has a couple, Sam and Emer, reacting in their own ways to the pandemic. Sam has lost his job and doesn't muster the energy to look for a new one, instead losing himself in watching season after season of TV series, catching up on many he'd never watched when they came out. Emer is calm but removed. When Sam's frustration reaches a point where he finds himself having angry outbursts, this changes the dynamic and forces change on both of them.

Curfew has issues of health as well as bringing the male character memories of his own father.

Life without Children looks at a couple whose children have left home and how the pandemic changes the family dynamic.

Gone has alternating viewpoints of a couple where the wife has left the home just before the lockdown begins.

Nurse focuses on health and death in the context of a family.

Masks has a man walking through the streets, finding himself frustrated and disgusted by the discarded masks that he see everywhere and taking an unusual and provoking action as a result.

The Charger is told by a man who has come late to the ownership of a cellphone and, in the context of a stressful situation, finds himself focused on finding the phone charger, while he feels alone despite having all four of his daughters living back home during this time. The situation brings back the feelings from his childhood of abandonment.

The Funeral has Bob and Nell as a long-married couple with Bob's reaction to the death of his mother and the circumstances of his position as the responsible son.

Worms has Joe finding himself with earworms linked to specific places or tasks in his life, a quirk that at first he keeps to himself and then when his wife Thelma learns about it and joins in, finds himself reacting emotionally in a negative way until he realizes his underlying feelings towards her.

The last story, Five Lamps, has a man defying the lockdown and driving for hours to the city to look for his estranged son. He walks the streets, returning to his car each night, interacting with the shopkeepers and homeless as he plans on what to say to repair the relationship.

These stories show Doyle's skill with showing the complexities of human relationships, the emotions and resentments, the closeness and the frustration, all set within a very stressful time for everyone. A brilliant collection

November Reviews for the 16th Annual Canadian Reading Challenge

Add your link for reviews to books read in November. 

Here in Ontario, it's been crazy warm the last few days, but those colder days that make us want to cuddle up with a book inside are coming. 

This is the Boat that Ben Built

Finished September 25

This is the Boat that Ben Built by Jen Lynn Bailey, illustrated by Maggie Zeng

I loved the illustrations for this picture book, the colour nuances and the way the drawings suggested more beyond what was drawn. There are so many things to draw the eye and make one wonder. One prominent example is the girl and dog watching Ben throughout the book. They aren't in the boat with him, but seem glad to see what he's doing and at the end join him. 

The subtler ones include the butterfly jar on the boat. Sometimes it has a butterfly, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the jar isn't even there. 

There are so many things to look for and notice.

The words are also lovely and so well chosen. A cumulative tale like the classic "The House That Jack Built" rhyme, with the building up of additional elements and yet different too as the actions of the elements change at the high point of the story, creating a disturbance through a domino effect. 

The grey-green colours of the scenes in the book, landscape and water, provide a neutral, natural background that is soothing

The book also includes information after the story, here on the river ecosystem and the concept of ecosystems in general. It also gives information on the animals in the story, introducing concepts such predator and omnivore. The reader is also encouraged to think of ways to add to the story through the use of additional animals in the river ecosystem. 

I like how books like this encourage readers to explore the ideas presented more deeply, while still providing entertainment. 

Jen Lynn Bailey's background in and passion for environmental science and education lend itself to excellence in conveying the concepts here.

The Other's Gold

Finished September 22

The Other's Gold by Elizabeth Ames

This novel follows four young women from their arrival at Quincy-Hawthorne College as freshmen through their late 30s. The girls share a suite in student housing, but come from a variety of backgrounds, although they discover they are all second daughters in their families. The background of the girls is dished out slowly, piece by piece during the events of their freshman year. Lainey, Ji Sun, Margaret, and Alice find themselves a tight group, not often sharing classes, but still studying together and socializing a lot together. They are all attractive young women and draw interest from the young men at the college. We see them develop romantic relationships and find their future careers. Besides the friendships between these four women, there are other friends that each of the women have, some during the college years and some later. 

There are marriages and children, celebrations and losses, times when the link between them grows more tenuous, but never do they completely break each other off. 

These are complex characters, with good and bad qualities, insecurities, and secrets. Some have money, while other live closer to the edge in terms of their financial situation. The lives these women lead sound believable, mundane at times, and with crisis points for each. Lives not so different from our own. 

For me, this was a read that brought reflection and insight. 

Lipstick and Lies

Finished September 21

Lipstick and Lies by Lesley Grant-Adamson

This slowly revealing novel focuses on a murder from decades earlier, in the 1950s. The narrator is Anna, and it was her mother that was murdered back then. As the book opens, the reader learns that there are questions being asked about that long ago murder. Even though someone was convicted of the murder and hanged for it, the questions open up old memories for the few people still around.

There are memories that Anna tells the reader, ones of her and her mother. We also see Anna's present day situation, back in England after working in many places over the years. 

The organization that is asking questions is represented by two characters, one relatively new to the job. For them, this case is one of many, with links to other things that they are working on. The more senior investigator, lawyer Gillian Spry seems almost to be anticipating Anna's questions and movements. 

Anna was a child at the time, and both her and her friend Sandy were questioned about whether they saw anything, but back then it was easy to believe that children wouldn't lie. 

As the reader learns more and more about the people involved with the victim and the convicted killer back then, they have more questions themselves about what happened. 

I found this book interesting, with the narrator talking to the reader at times, sharing memories, raising questions, and revealing things without perhaps meaning to.

A Perfect Escape

Finished September 18

A Perfect Escape by M.L. Jameson

Megan Thomas knew soon after she got married that she'd made a mistake, but it took years for her to figure out how to leave. Megan married a man who seemed to love her, but her really wanted to control her. Now he is planning a political career and she knows that she has to leave as his threats are getting more serious and his violence is escalating. 

She's found another woman in his circle willing to help her, and chosen her time carefully. She knows that she has to leave Chicago as he has too many eyes there. Megan thought about going to the home she grew up in, one she inherited when her grandmother died, but fears it is too obvious, so she runs southeast instead. She rents a house in the off-season on the Carolina coast and begins more long-term plans.

But when the owner of the house shows up unexpectedly, both Megan and him find themselves with feelings that they hadn't planned for.

Smyth Parker has also chosen badly in marriage. He has let the responsibilities he inherited be taken on by others and and let others believe he is someone he is not. He doesn't need more complications in his life, and Megan is definitely a complication. But he can see that she is running from something, and he can't shake the feeling of wanting to protect her. 

As they both gradually open up to each other, they must also deal with their pasts rather than running from them. 

This novel has some different plot lines, and characters that engaged with me. I found myself easily caught up in the story, and hoping for an end that boded a better future. There is lots going on, and it kept me totally engaged.