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.