L’homme qui plantait des arbres by Jean Giono, French narrator Jacques Bonnaffé, English narrator Malk Williams

My second French book of the year. I would read a few paragraphs or a chapter in print then switch to the French audiobook. After I finished, I listened to the English audiobook which took about 20 mins. This is a story about a man named Elzéard Bouffier in Provence who dedicated his life to planting trees. This book was great for French practice as it was short, had a lot of naturalistic vocabulary, and I could listen to the audiobook. I think it was well written. Even though I had to look up some of the words, I found the prose clear and easy to understand. As a result, the English translation was very good. It was an inspiring story but a fictional one. It is considered a parable and at times, it did have a moralistic undertone. I really enjoyed it as a French book and am considering getting my own copy if I can find another illustrated version.

1.0x in French. 1.25x English. Sept 5-7, 2024.

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan, Kate Reading (Narrator)

Back to some good old cozy fantasy. I do like low stakes but not no stakes fantasy. I was hoping this would be similar to Emily Wilde which is one of my favourite series of the last couple of years. It sounded similar as this was about an amateur scholar who studies dragons in an alternate 19th century world. The audiobook was well narrated and easy listening. It was in the style of a nonfiction memoir. Other than that, I was disappointed in the rest. I didn’t find the characters engaging. There was a romance but it’s a bit too subtle and under developed. The writing was too dry. The worse part was there were not enough dragons! They exist but they are barely interacted with. Part of me wants to listen to the next audiobook but I am afraid that the rest of the series will be the same: dragons in the background with a lukewarm protagonist.

1.5x. Sept 6-8, 2024.

Borders by Thomas King, Natasha Donovan (Illustrator)

A story about an Indigenous woman and her son trying to cross the US-Canadian border by asserting her true nation: Blackfoot. A reminder that governance and state borders is fairly new to human cultures.

Sept 8, 2024.

Death by Dumpling (A Noodle Shop Mystery, #1) by Vivien Chien, Cheryl May (Narrator)

Audiobook for about half and immersive reading with ebook. I have read cozy mysteries before and wanted to try a new series. I do not know where I found this one, probably GoodReads and my library had a few of them on Libby. The series is set in Cleveland, Ohio and centres around a biracial Chinese-American woman who works in her family Chinese restaurant. I actually preferred this over Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers except that Vera Wong had better food descriptions. Chien’s prose is clean and easy to read. Lana was, like most amateur detectives, very nosey and spent too much time breaking and entering. I did figure out the twists and the killer early on, but I do not mind it. It was satisfying to read and I really like the covers and titles. My library only has the first in audio. The narration was fine except I did not like the voice for the Detective. I will consider revisiting this series.

1.5-2.5x. Read on Kobo Mini. Sept 9-10, 2024.

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo with Timothy Basil Ering (Illustrator), Graeme Malcolm (narrator)

Audiobook for the first 15%. Narrator was great and could have listened to more, but I wanted to look at the illustrations. This was a nice but I did not enjoy it as much as the last DiCamillo mostly because of how the character of Mig was portrayed.

Sept 10-11, 2024.

Soft Science by Franny Choi

I think I am hitting a reading slump even though I’ve been reading almost a book a day this month. What’s a reading slump from reading too many books? Anyway, I do think I’ve hit a poetry slump because both the Choi and Vuong poetry collections have not been resonating with me. I like poetry, but it’s very hit or miss. Some of the poems were intriguing though, but not enough.

Sept 8-11, 2024.

Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong

After Time Is a Mother, I wanted to see if Vuong’s debut collection of poetry would be better. I think I preferred this collection but I still did not feel connected to some of the poems. Overall, the novel On Earth We are Briefly Gorgeous is my favourite of Vuong’s works.

Aug 28-Sept 1, 2024.

Everything Is OK by Debbie Tung

Debbie Tung is one of my best discoveries of this year. I loved this graphic memoir even more than the others. It hit me close to home as another Asian woman who has had anxiety and depression. It deeply resonated with my own mental health journey. Beautiful.

Sept 1-2, 2024.

The Dictionary Story by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston

Lovely, well done children’s book about a dictionary who tried to make her own story. It was sweet and there were so many details that I could read it over again.

Sept 3, 2024.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, Ramon de Ocampo (narrator)

55% on audiobook. After a month full of literary books, I wanted easy going fiction. I had low expectations going into this because I am not a big contemporary romance fan. The audiobook was a great listen to on Labour Day as I tidied up and went on walks. I could have easily listened to all of it because the narrator did a great job. I appreciated the friendships and family relationships in the book. The book had enough stakes but it was not too stressful. The author did a good job of balancing the plot and the characters. I will probably read another book by McQuiston.

1.25-1.5x. Sept 1-4, 2024.

Change Your Questions, Change Your Life: 10 Powerful Tools for Life and Work by Marilee G. Adams, Suzanne Toren (Narrator)

A CBT book that was recommended by my CBT-I instructor over a year ago. The book is written as a fictional story about a man who has a crisis at work. The actual story and plot are boring and serve only as a way to apply the process and questions. I do find this particular CBT method useful as it’s shorter and less intense than others I’ve tried in therapy. In any case, I am considering getting the print book and/workbook since I think I learn best with that method.

1.25x. Aug 26-Sept 5, 2024.

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, Patrick Egan (Narrator)

This took a long time. I have a softcover and thought I would read it by print, but ended up slowly listening to it over the summer in bursts. I had to return the audiobook twice before finishing it. It was repetitive, but maybe somewhat necessary to drive home the psychological ideas. The narration was fine. I do think I will read and/or listen to Noise which I also have in print.

1.25x. June 12-August 24, 2024.

Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami, Allison Markin Powell (Translator)

What an interesting cover. This was a May-December romance about a 37 year old woman and her retired former high school teacher. It’s about loneliness and connections. There were some nice descriptions of Japanese food and life. The characters were likeable. It was just too slow at times.

Read on Kobo Mini and Kobo Libra 2. August 22-25, 2024.

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle, Lauren Graham (narrator)

Audiobook for 30% by itself and immersive reading. This was a grief novel about a woman who had a codependent relationship with her mother. I don’t know any woman who would say their mother is the love of their life. Aside from the oddness, this book had a silly but fun twist. It was not believable but it was nice to get away to Positano, Italy for a couple hundred pages.

1.25-1.5x Read mostly on Kobo Libra 2 and a bit on Kindle Keyboard. August 25, 2024.

Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

Narrated by the author. Poetry read by the author is nice. This was short and while I liked the narration, I didn’t find myself connecting to a lot of the poems. I read Vuong for his lyricism. I am will try his first collection of poetry as well.

1.25x. Aug 26-27, 2024.

The Dallergut Dream Department Store by Lee Mi-ye, Sandy Josun Lee (translator)

This was a cute cozy fantasy about a store which sells dreams. There were some sweet moments, but it took me awhile to read this book. The characters were nice but they didn’t have enough depth for me to be very invested. The world building was good but took awhile to get a a hold of it. Maybe it was the translation. Still sweet and original. I’d consider reading more from this universe.

Aug 19-29. 2024.

The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda, Alison Watts (Translator)

Closing out on Women in Translation Month and the Storygraph Genre Challenge to read a thriller or crime novel in translation. I picked this up in the spring from my local rummage sale. I had not heard of it and it was a good find. This book and its mystery were very well written as it had several characters and their perspectives. It was very layered. I cemented a very important book appeal factor for myself. I do not like ambiguous endings especially for mysteries. This had a very ambiguous ending. It was not the cathartic ending that I wanted after all that well written build up. The whole book was really well written until the last couple of chapters which frustrated me.

Aug 31, 2024.

24 Hours in Ancient Rome: A Day in the Life of the People Who Lived There by Philip Matyszak

Narrated by John Telfer. This was a good history audiobook. It traces one hour of a Roman day through various characters and some of the stories are interlinked. The people in the book are fictional but based on accounts of real Romans from the time. I was excited to learn that Telfer narrated it. He narrated the complete Sherlock Holmes which I listened to 16 years ago. He did a great job here too. I have all the audiobooks for this history series. The narrators and the authors change, but I do like history through audiobooks so I’ll take my time to enjoy them.

1.25x. July 30-Aug 14, 2024.

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, Ginny Tapley Takemori (Translator)

Second for Women in Translation Month. Had this on TBR for awhile since a lot of people had read it. I really liked the beginning and the voice of the neurodivergent protagonist; however, I became very frustrated when they introduced a stalking misogynist. He served a purpose but I had very little patience for misogyny. The ending was fine, but I could not say I enjoyed most of it.

Read on Kindle Keyboard. Aug 13-15, 2024.

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, Thomas Teal (Translator)

This was a balm. I know of Tove Jansson but did not read or watch Moomin so this was my first experience with her work. The novel is a series of summer vignettes with a Grandmother and her granddaughter Sophie on island in the Gulf of Finland. It’s lighthearted and a breeze. There was some lovely writing. Wonderful little book. A great one for Women in Translation month.

Read on Kobo Mini. Aug 16-17, 2024.