Amy Kay
Hooked on Books
Like a lot of readers, I often have many books on the go at the same time. Afterall, I have different reading needs for when I’m reading (bedtime vs. waiting for appointment) or where I’m reading (porch swing or walking with my earbuds in). I have paper books (both fiction and non-fiction) on bookshelves in every room of my house, including a heaping stack on the bedside table, a handful of digital books on my ereader that makes travelling with books so easy and tons of audiobooks queued up on Libby and Hoopla. Here’s a peak at what I’m reading right now.
The Story of Us by Catherine Hernandez is told from the unique perspective of the all-seeing eyes of Mary Grace’s newborn baby (and through development from unfertilized egg to fetus). It might take some getting used to for some readers but this narrator is used expertly to reinforce themes of maternal sacrifice and the strength and connection of women through generations.
Mary Grace (MG), has lived a life of sacrifice. She left her husband in the Philippines to be a caregiver in Hong Kong, eventually travelling to Canada with the hope of a future where they could be reunited. When she arrives in Toronto, MG must endure a series of privileged employers and their children. One day she comes across an ad for a personal support worker, and begins caring for Liz, an elderly patient living with Alzheimer’s disease, whose health is as fragile as her rundown bungalow beside the Rouge River in Scarborough. While MG’s time with her charge challenges her conservative beliefs, she soon becomes Liz’s biggest ally, and the friendship that grows between them will turn out to be just as legendary as Liz’s past.
The Story of Us is an emotional journey through the struggles and triumphs of mothers, blood relatives and chosen family and unlikely friendships. It’s the story of how, no matter how alone in this world we may feel, the ones who came before us are with us still.
Julie Carrick Dalton’s The Last Beekeeper is set in the near future where bees have gone extinct, the government is rationing out food and setting up hand pollination sites to try to stave off mass starvation. It’s a strange time in which people who report bee sightings regularly go missing and are deemed to suffer from hallucinations.
The daughter of the last beekeeper carries a secret, one that she’s helped to keep ever since her father was sent to jail 11 years ago, and she’s finally ready to return home to dig up his hidden research. When she arrives, however, Sasha’s surprised to find her old farmhouse populated by a group of four untrusting squatters. Desperate to hide her identify, but just as desperate to understand her father’s (and her own) role in what became known as The Great Collapse, Sasha slowly wins them over and soon finds herself with much more than she bargained for – a new family – and something she hasn’t felt in a very long time – hope – not just for herself but for the world’s future.
You can reserve these titles at your local branch of the Lennox and Addington Libraries or online at www.countylibrary.ca.