Shades of Green

This book presents insights on how “helping professions” affect Aboriginal peoples. It looks at how helping professions have not done enough to meet the needs of Aboriginal people. This is the outcome of inadequate attempts to include the opinions and traditions of the Indigenous people. The sharing circle is an Aboriginal way of helping that is covered thoroughly in this book. The author outlines the different situations in which this technique could be used to direct practices with people, families, and groups.

I loved how the book was informative, without an information overload, and also included personal anecdotes, stories, and case examples. Each anecdote/story included was significant in its own way. This book was eye-opening and taught me about things that I wasn’t aware of before, including a few Indigenous terms. However, I do wish that a pronunciation guide was included. One thing that the book was especially focused on was sharing circles, a practice often used by many Aboriginal helpers. It went in-depth into how they’re conducted, various people’s experiences with them, and more. I really enjoyed learning more about the sharing circle, its cultural importance, and its power to unite people.

This book was well-written. It seems like there was a lot of effort that went into this book. Other than the sharing and healing circles, the book discussed many other topics such as ontological imperialism, the Medicine Wheel, expropriation, and decolonizing social work. I felt like this book did a fantastic job of bringing attention to important subjects. Many readers can learn from this book.

This was an enlightening book, and I highly recommend this meaningful and informative read. This is the perfect read for those looking to learn more about sharing circles and other Indigenous foundations. Those pursuing “helping professions” such as social work could also benefit by reading this book.

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o Country of Poxes is a book that targets a very niche audience, and reading this book I was trying to figure out if I fit that audience. Country of Poxes is a very informational and educational book. It’s great if you want to read up about modern medicine, and the past, and I was learning a lot about the different diseases that were present and are still present today.

Some new things I learned were how the British and the French brought in diseases, and the indigenous were blamed for passing them. I thought this was really interesting, and an example of how things were back then. Indigenous used to be to blame for everything, and the British and the French continued to do pretty much whatever they wanted to.
There was a section on syphilis as well, and I actually learned what syphilis was for the first time, so that was good. I will say that the section on syphilis is very long and it was a lot of words. I had a hard time retaining all of it, and I feel like it could have been written better. Maybe like a textbook. With pictures! Pictures are good.

I will say that I expected this book to be a little bit more on Indigenous themes, especially since in the synopsis it really puts emphasis on how these diseases affected both colonial and Indigenous life, but I didn’t find as much of that as I expected? I genuinely questioned whether this book fit into my B2P (Bridge to Publishing) qualifications at times, due to the lack of mentions of Indgenous issues and history.

I liked how in-depth this book went, and one chapter was over 60 pages. Which is a VERY long chapter. I feel like it would have been better served as different parts with each chapter being a different section about that specific part. And I think that was a drawback while trying to read this book; information is presented in one solid slab. And there are no pictures. I think I would have benefitted from some illustrations covering the main points. And honestly, I have trouble identifying the main points in this book. I read it like a school textbook, but the problem was that it wasn’t quite like a school textbook, because at least with a textbook it’s points come across easily. The prose wasn’t bad, but from a casual reader’s perspective, I wasn’t able to absorb all of the information. I guess I would call this “too wordy” in a certain way.

I did like how this book looked at not only the past, but also the future. Predictions of what the world will be like from the perspective of someone who sees a lot of things and gets a lot of different perspectives in his daily life. I also like how this book is told from a perspective that I don’t have, which furthers my understanding of how others view the world. I think this also ties into the Indigenous ways of knowing, like two-eyed seeing, and although I may not have understood all of it, I can tell that this book challenges a lot of things.

I was very surprised to learn that infections are more common than you might think, the history of smallpox and other diseases like chickenpox, monkeypox, I about how certain diseases spread, and just how dangerous a lot of them are.

Honestly, I don’t have that much to say about this book, other than it’s really good if you want to learn more about medicine, and the history of medicine. I’m honestly not too sure what I thought of this book, but I give it 4 stars because I think it’s useful and it serves it purpose well. I don’t think I was the intended audience for it, but I tried to read it as best as I could, while also soaking up all of the information in it.

Ohhohohohoho. A good book. Yes. I loved this one and I will be doing a fanart for it soon. So, I really enjoyed this book, as you can probably tell from my rating. Recipe for a Good Life by Lesley Crewe follows the story of Kitty Wagner, a writer of murder mystery novels suffering from writer’s block. Her publisher arranges for her to get out of the city of Montreal and spend some time in Cape Breton on a writer’s retreat. In Cape Breton she finds a family that she loves, and is able to feel freer and more fulfilled with her life. She gets away from her husband who makes her feel miserable and discovers a much needed sense of community that she had been missing all of her life.

Characters

Kitty

Kitty is such a strong character. I enjoyed reading about her and her adventures, and I think she was such a great character to drive this story. She was really a compelling protagonist. She had enough cleverness and wit to get her way, and I loved seeing her character development throughout the story. Going from a sad, miserable, and grumpy woman, to a woman that can stand up for what she wants and pursue her own happiness was something that I thought was a really strong character development. I could really see her mind changing, and the shift in her attitude throughout the story. Her stubbornness filled the story at the right times, and I didn’t feel annoyed at her, I felt annoyed with her, in a good way. When she was angry about something, I felt this anger was justified, and I wanted Kitty to win and I was rooting for her because I liked her character. The only complaint I think I have with Kitty is that she has so many names. Haha.

Wallace

At first glance, Wallace is the perfect boyfriend character that’s in every webtoon or romance book, but there’s a huge difference between Wallace and any other male lead in a story. It’s that Wallace makes sense, and it’s that Wallace isn’t perfect all of the time. He’s a sheltered guy, living in Cape Breton with not that much real world experience. He’s always willing to help out within their community, and he treats everyone like family. His character development is where he really starts to show that he’s not all perfect, and it still works. I really liked him, and I think he suited Kitty, and played a decent part in the story.

Kurt

Oh goodness. Kurt, I really wanted to SMACK this man. I think Ms. Lesley Crewe did a wonderful job at writing him. Throughout a good portion the book, we don’t even get to see a lot of him, but we get an idea of his character. Then when we actually get to see more of him, we realize that “oh, he might actually be a good person”, and that he might not be as horrible as we were lead to believe… but it’s all just executed so well. His character the way he was written was so entertaining to read about. I really liked it.

Ethel, Bertha, and Gaynor

I can’t make a character review without reviewing more of my favourite women on here. Ethel was actually hilarious and I loved her so much. The comedy in this book is very good and it’s usually done by Ethel and Gaynor. I love all three of these woman, and Bertha played the role of such a good mother to not only her own family, but Kitty as well. Not to mention they are exactly the kind of people that I would love to find in a small town. They’re warm and welcoming comfort characters. Also did I mention Ethel is hilarious?

Leo

Kitty’s dad is also a good character, I think his portrayal of grief and love and loss is very well done also. I liked his character development as well, I liked that he really tried to reconcile with Kitty and that he didn’t completely forget about his daughter and not care about her. He wasn’t a bad dad, and that was really good to read about. We like happy ending and once-broken relationships that start to come together again.

All of the characters in Recipe for a Good Life are really good, and they are all pretty fleshed out, and they make the story seem very real. They also make this book read like a nice big hug with their words or their actions. It’s all very nice.

Plot

I really liked the concept for this story. I also really like it when the main character is a writer. I feel like I really do relate to them a lot, and sometimes I learn something new about writing, or the publishing industry, and as an aspiring writer myself, I enjoyed reading Recipe for a Good Life (Although that quote at the beginning of the book really had me). I liked the concept of a murder mystery novelist lost in the city trying to adjust to her new country lifestyle and navigate her failing marriage. It’s certainly very interesting, and it makes such a lovely story. It’s about struggles, but then happy endings. It’s about Kitty realizing she doesn’t like the way her life is and then doing something about it. I feel like that’s another story that’s just as important for some people as well.


Why I liked it

So, I think it’s safe to say that I really enjoyed this book. And, I see you, Ms. Lesley Crewe, I see that Nosy Parker title hidden in this book. I see you. That was a fun little Easter egg, and I just really loved the writing style of this. I want to read all of the Lesley Crewe books now, and I’m just sad that I don’t have this masterpiece as a physical copy. I will be getting the physical copy as soon as I can. It’s great. Such a fun story, and I would totally recommend it to anyone. I think it’s suits young adult, and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a fun heartwarming and heartfelt story about a city girl coming to the country.
Definitely 5 stars from me and I highly recommend it!

A Blinding Light
By: Julie Lawson
Olivia Schneider, (Livy), lives in Halifax Nova Scotia with her brother Wilhelm, (Will), and her mom. Its 1917 and the First World War is raging on. Livy enjoys playing the piano because it reminds her of her dad. Her dad mysteriously disappeared after he goes out on his boat during a storm. Will wants to be a pilot just like his dad and he spends quite a bit of time writing for his school newspaper. Both kids are bullied because their dad is German and face bulling on a daily basis. One day Livy is playing her piano and accidentally breaks her mom’s favorite vase. Livy immediately leaves the house putting the blame on Kathleen, the servant, and she promptly gets fired. Days later Livy finally comes clean and tells her mom the truth. Mrs. Schneider is upset with Livy and demands that she goes and apologizes to Kathleen and tell her she is welcomed to come back to her job. While Livy is walking to Kathleen’s house she sees two ships in the harbor collide and one of them catches on fire. Upon arrival to Kathleen’s Livy apologizes and tells Kathleen she can come back to work. Kathleen is very grateful and asks Livy to help her get her younger siblings ready for school as they have been preoccupied watching the fire on the boat in the harbour. Will was on his way to school when his friend Henry brings the fire to Wills attention. Henry wants to go to the dock to get a closer look but Will decides to climb up Citadel Hill to see all of the events unfold as this will make for a great story. Before everyone’s eyes the Imo and Mount Blanc blow up! What has happened? Will Livy, her family and friends survive?
I really enjoyed this book. It went into a lot of detail about the moments before and after the explosion. The author also discussed many of the different injuries that the characters had and made you feel empathetic for all of them even if they had a small part in the book. This book was a fast read and even though I knew the outcome of the book the author had me turning every page with anticipation! I give this book a rating of 5/ 5 stars!!