Local Book Nook #1: Manitoba, Canada

So the first person to be featured on my new Local Book Nook blog series is... me!

If you don't know, Local Book Nook is a blog series I just started today. It is a blog series featuring readers from all over the world talking about their favourite local books and authors. If you would like to learn more or if you would like to be one of these featured readers, go here or comment below with your contact info and I will contact you!

Where are you from?

I am from Canada, in particular the beautiful and often underrated prairie province Manitoba. There is a book called If You're Not From the Prairie that basically sums up my experience as a Manitoban. As a prairie girl, what other people call flat is often nowhere close to what I consider flat. I have been witness to many beautiful prairie sunsets, and I have felt the fierceness of the prairie winds in all seasons.

Manitoba has a great literary scene which I have really only dipped my toe into at this point. There are a lot of great prairie writers, lots of prairie literary magazines (one of my favourites is Prairie Fire), publishers, a literary festival, and great local bookstores that promote and feature a wide variety of books, including a great section featuring local prairie authors.

What are some of your favourite local books or authors?

While searching for local books I have read, I discovered that there are a ton of local authors whose work I've never read. I need to fix that! Anyway, here are a few of my favourite local authors whose work I have read:

1. Perry Nodelman and Carol Matas (Of Two Minds, More Minds)


I think I was probably nine or ten when I first read their MG fantasy, Of Two Minds. It was about two characters from two different kingdoms - Princess Lenora, who was from a kingdom where the subjects could make their dreams a reality, and Prince Coren, from a kingdom where the subjects could read minds. They get pushed together, and Lenora's fierce personality and Coren's much more subdued one make a perfect pairing. Everything about this book and its sequel (now I think it has two sequels?) I loved - the premise, the characters, the world building. It was so fascinating that I remembered the plot perfectly, even years later. I found it at a used book sale, reread it, and it was still as good as ever. I also realized that Lenora and Coren's relationship had subconsciously influenced my own writing, as I had created two characters in a fantasy series that were based on them. Anyway, when I came back to it years later, I found out that Perry Nodelman and Carol Matas are actually from Winnipeg, Manitoba, which made me unbelievably excited.



2. Katherena Vermette (North End Love Songs, The Break)

Katherena Vermette is becoming more and more well known on the Canadian literary scene, especially with her newest novel The Break, which was actually featured on CBC's Canada Reads this year. I have yet to read The Break (I am planning to soon!) but I have read her first poetry book, North End Love Songs, which just perfectly depicts what it is like growing up in one of the rougher neighbourhoods of Winnipeg. Her writing was absolutely exquisite and so effective at drawing out emotion. It struck me while reading her short book of poetry that she would make an excellent novelist, so I am excited to read her book.






3. Miriam Toews (A Complicated Kindness, Swing Low: A Life, All My Puny Sorrows)
 

I feel like if you are going to learn anything about Manitoba and some of the people that make up its population, you should read anything and everything by Miriam Toews. The first book of hers that I read was A Complicated Kindness, which was the book that launched her into Canada-wide fame. Then I took a Mennonite literature class (fascinating stuff), and reread A Complicated Kindness, enjoying it even more the second time. I've also read her books Swing: Low A Life and All My Puny Sorrows. All her books deal with the suffocation and sorrow of growing up in the stifling environment of conservative Mennonite communities in southern Manitoba, and the consequences of that. But she is also able to write these deeply sorrowful stories with a unique sense of humor that perfectly captures the inconsistencies of the people she portrays. A Complicated Kindness in particular I found laugh out loud funny. I would definitely encourage you to pick up one of her books.


So those are just a few Manitoba authors that I love, although I could talk about more if you want me to! ;)

And don't forget if YOU want to do a post sharing about your favourite local authors, either leave a comment with your contact info, email me at asherlockwrites(at)gmail(dot)com, or Tweet/DM me on Twitter!

5 Books by Indigenous Authors You Should Read

It's December, and 2017 is nearing, so I thought I'd revisit some of my 2016 reading goals and see how terribly I did (although seriously who wrote these goals!? They are super broad and they aren't measurable or specific... whoever wrote them should probably read my post on how to write goals.)

One of my goals was to "read more books by Indigenous authors, not just from the US and Canada but outside as well."

I didn't read as many books by Indigenous authors as I would have liked, and none outside of the US and Canada (books by Indigenous authors are very hard to find), but I thought I'd share the ones I did read.

1. Life Among the Qallunaat by Mini Aodla Freeman.


I did a review of this, so you can check that out, but I really enjoyed this book. I loved the author's voice, her story was so interesting to read, and I'm so happy that this book was republished otherwise I don't think I would have ever found it. Good on ya, U of M Press. (Also they favourited the tweet of my review, so that's fun).

 2.  Sanaaq by Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk (translated from French, translated from Inuktitut)

I was a bit surprised by this book, since the cover makes it seem like a dark, harrowing tale of life up North, when it's actually just a lot of short, quite funny stories about Inuit life. The writing was very direct which was hard to get into sometimes, but it was interesting being immersed in that culture for a bit and enjoying reading about the clumsy happenings of the community.









3. Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis and Inuit Issues in Canada by Chelsea Vowel

I picked up this book because I've read a lot of glowing reviews of it in various publications, and its hailed as being super accessible to read. There was also one review I read that said that the author contests the arguments of John Ralston Saul, and I had to read A Fair Country for a course this semester so I was curious what she had to say. The reviewers are right - Indigenous Writes is a super accessible introductory book, aimed at Canadians ignorant of Indigenous issues in Canada. It provides a starting point for understanding Indigenous issues in Canada. The chapters are kind of written like (in depth, very well researched) blog posts. Reading this book definitely changed my perspective on a lot of things, and I definitely agree with Vowel that all Canadians need to become more aware of these issues.

4. North End Love Songs by Katherena Vermette

Recently I realized that while I like writing poetry, I don't really read a lot of poetry. One of the best ways to learn about writing is to read, so I bought this poetry collection at my local bookstore a few weeks ago.  This book of poetry has been highly regarded, and in 2013 it won the Governor General's Award for Poetry, which is one of Canada's highest literary awards I think. Let me just say that it definitely deserves the award, what a gorgeous book of poetry. This collection of poems brings you deep into the life and emotion of living in Winnipeg's North End. Now I'm excited to get my hands on her new novel, The Break.


Annd bonus 5. Thunder Boy Jr. by Sherman Alexie 

I was browsing in the children's section at my local bookstore to get a gift for my friend's baby's first birthday, and stumbled across this book. The fun thing about picture books is I could read it in five minutes on the spot at the bookstore. It's SO CUTE. It's about a boy who doesn't like that he has the same name as his dad, and wants his own name. It is super funny and a great father-son story. I ended up buying it for my friend's kid to read when he's a little older. ;) 

Who are your favourite Indigenous authors? Have you read any of these books? What did you think?