Bcteagirls Roots Challenge

Hello! My name is Bcteagirl and I live in Toronto, Canada. A little late to the party, but better late than never right?
Early in Corona I was distracted by light new reading, but I am getting down to business.

For me a Root means a book that I entered in Librarything between 2010 and 2012, not counting re-reads(going back a ways...).
My goal so far this year is 20, hoping to increase that.

As of starting this thread I have 5 read:
1. The Boat That Wouldn't Float (Farley Mowat)
2. And No Birds Sang (Farley Mowat)
3.Barometer Rising
4. Grand Slam: More Recipes from the Best of Bridge
5. Further Chronicles of Avonlea
6. Food Rules by Michael Pollan
7. Short Stories About Saskatchewan by Leslie Dybvig

For me the best to books thus far are both the ones by Farley Mowat. For those who don't know of him, he was a free thinking/environmentalist/adventurer in Canada, who was also a fantastic author. He has a wonderful way with phrases, and a biting sarcasm. The Boat that Wouldn't Float is a non-fiction story about repairing a boat in the Maritimes and taking out to sea. Frankly I'm surprised they are still alive! Great escape reading. I also highly recommend Never Cry Wolf where he lives among the wolves up north for a time.

Barometer Rising is a fiction set around the Halifax Explosion, which is a true event where an American munitions ship exploded in the Halifax harbour and took out more than half the town. Sadly it was my most disappointing read thus far. You might enjoy it if you really know Halifax. They spent 90% of the book describing the town and setting up the plot. There was comparably little on the time around the explosion itself.

Right now I have 2 other roots seriously underway and two that I am toying with. Wish me luck!

Welcome to the group, and good luck with your reading goal!

Welcome aboard! Enjoy your challenge!

Welcome and good ROOTing!

Welcome to the ROOTers, Janice.

Finished another (albeit small) ROOT! This one coincided with my Food Reading challenge in the Food Reading group.

I finished Food Rules a light read by Michael Pollan. This book contains a different rule on each page, with a simple line drawing. The book is split into categories (What to eat, how to eat, etc). While the rules can be slightly repetitive they make sense and are simple enough to follow along. The also intuitively make sense.

Looking through my bookmarks I see that a few caught my eye.

Rule # 20: 'Its not food if it arrived through the window of your car' may no longer apply post-COVID!

Rule 24: 'Eating what stands on one leg (mushrooms and plant foods) is better than eating what stands on two legs (fowl) which is better than eating what stands on four legs (pigs, cows etc)' is an old Chinese Proverb. Pollan wondered how they forgot about the no-legged fish. :P

Another short ROOT is Short Stories about Saskatchewan the Canadian province where I was born and raised. It is a very prairie province (with lakes and forest on top) and at the time largely a farming province. As such many of the short stories are set in towns, farms, and more remote areas. I was able to dig all the way back to 2010 and clear this off my TBR pile!

This is a nice set of (mostly) heartwarming short stories with a few sad ones worked in. There are a few that tell the sad truth about negative attitudes towards First Nations at the time (and today). Many of the tales are very humorous. For example in Betting Sam's Last Bet the entire town catches a fever of betting on who can find the grasshopper that can make the largest jump, and all are on the trail of legendary 'Jumping Jake'.

If you are looking for something different to read, and enjoy short stories I would highly recommend this short set. I gave this one five stars.

Good job, Janice.