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Books Read in March 2024
Paved Paradise by Henry Grabar
Liked this a lot, it's an interesting urban planning book that explains how American parking laws have fucked over cities and how they explain the suburbs, the death of cities, and the current dearth of low income housing.
The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez
I haven't always liked Alvarez, but this one I really connected with. The story of an aging professor who decides to bury the stories she was unable to turn into books. It's a multi narrative that's very heartbreaking. Loved it a lot.
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Apparently the translation I read is not very literal and took lots of liberties. Nevertheless I enjoyed it a lot. It's easy to see how this was a shocking book for its time. It's a shocking perspective of war now! I can also see how all the books about war since this were influenced by it. A fascinating look at dehumanization.
The Levant Trilogy by Olivia Manning
I found this a bit underbaked plot-wise as compared to The Balkan Trilogy which proceeded it. Nevertheless Manning's writing is as sharp and observant as ever. I felt terribly for Harriet and wanted to murder Guy. A great look at one marriage set against a war.
Superfan by Jen Sookfong Lee
Thought this was going to be more heavily pop culture based but while Lee does explain how she uses pop culture to explain her life the best bits are straight memoir as she explains her nuclear family, her divorce and her writing life. She has a beautiful writing voice, I can't wait to read her fiction.
#currently reading#Superfan#Jen Sookfong Lee#The Levant Trilogy#Olivia Manning#All Quiet on the Western Front#Erich Maria Remarque#The Cemetery of Untold Stories#Julia Alvarez#Paved Paradise#Henry Grabar
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A little something different!
I used to be a TOTAL bookworm as a kid, then sort of lost it for a decade or so, then in about 2016/17 I decided to start reading more (& also moved closer to a library & got in the habit of using it).
Fast forward 7ish years and I'm back in the habit of reading & am devouring stacks of books per year, with 2023 being my most ridiculous one yet. I somehow ended up reading 120 books? Mostly because I'm terrible at managing my library holds list & kept getting stacks of books I really wanted to read (I'm also lucky to be a really fast reader, which helps).
Anyways! All that to say - I compiled a top 22 + 19ish honourable mentions, as seen below:
My Top 22:
Tear – Erica Mckeen
Our Wives Under The Sea – Julia Armfield
The Vaster Wilds – Lauren Groff
Paladin’s Strength – T. Kingfisher
Paladin’s Grace – T. Kingfisher
Great Circle – Maggie Shipstead
Between Two Fires – Christopher Buehlman
Sisters – Daisy Johnson
How High We Go In The Dark – Sequoia Nagamatsu
Moon Of The Turning Leaves – Waubgeshig Rice
The Memory Police – Yoko Ogawa
The Night Ship – Jess Kidd
The Conjoined – Jen Sookfong Lee
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter – Hazel Gaynor
If An Egyptian Cannot Speak English – Noor Naga
The Annual Migration Of Clouds – Premee Mohamed
Wandering Souls – Cecile Pin
The Only Good Indians – Stephen Graham Jones
Lone Women – Victor Lavalle
Ring Shout – P. Djèlí Clark
Lucy – Jamaica Kincaid
The Bookshop Of Yesterdays – Amy Meyerson
Honourable Mentions:
The Marigold – Andrew F. Sullivan
Five Little Indians – Michelle Good
Swordheart – T. Kingfisher…and all the other books of hers (9 of them in total) I read this year!
Even Though I Knew The End – C.L. Polk
Everything Under – Daisy Johnson
Fen – Daisy Johnson
The Animals In That Country – Laura Jean Mckay
A Prayer For The Crown-Shy – Becky Chambers
The Sea Captain’s Wife – Beth Powning
Hester – Laurie Lico Albanese
Tauhou – Kotuku Titihuia Nuttall
Ducks – Kate Beaton
You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty – Akwaeke Emezi
The Hatbox Letters – Beth Powning
And Then She Fell – Alicia Elliot
The Adult – Bronwyn Fischer
Everyone Knows Your Mother Is A Witch – Rivka Galchen
Lute – Jennifer Thorne
Monster – Mariel Ashlinn Kelly
Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway Series (I read 8 books from this series this yr & loved all of them!)
If you want to go through my entire list for 2023, you can read it on my website!
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We are finally at the end: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn 2 | Episode 350
Summary: "Look, it's a wolf thing." We are finally at the end of our re-watch of The Twilight Saga with Breaking Dawn Part 2 and we're not sure the destination was worth the journey. Also discussed: I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, the Homer car, and the incredible satisfaction of finding a comfortable bra.
LISTEN HERE
Show notes:
Billy Burke on Gilmore Girls
Recommendations:
Lisa: I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness by Clare Vaye Watkins (book)
Andrea W: Superfan by Jen Sookfong Lee
Andrea G: Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On (Crave)
Music credits:
"A1 Rogue" by Podington Bear
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Free Music Archive
CC BY 4.0
Theme song "Pyro Flow" by Kevin Macleod From:
incompetech.com
Licensed under
Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Intro bed:
"OLPC" by Marco Raaphorst
Courtesy of Free Music Archive
CC BY-SA 3.0 NL
Pop This! Links:
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Pop This! on Google Play
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Logo design by
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Intro voiced by
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Pop This! is a podcast featuring three women talking about pop culture.
Lisa Christiansen is a broadcaster, journalist and longtime metal head. Andrea Warner is a music critic, author and former horoscopes columnist. Andrea Gin is a producer and an avid figure skating fan.
Press play and come hang out with your new best friends.
Pop This! podcast is produced by Andrea Gin.
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123 - Can't Lit - Triple Treat Book Launch!
Welcome to the chaos of a book launch! Are all book launches like this? I hope so! The Triple Treat Book Launch took place on Sunday April 28th at beloved R&B Brewing. Jen Sookfong Lee was the host and books by Dina Del Bucchia (You're Gonna Love This), Daniel Zomparelli (Jump Scare) and Andrea Warner (The Time of My Life) were launched and feted and were sold by the amazing Iron Dog Books! Listen to Cynara Geissler read from Andrea's book while she recovers from surgery. Dina and Daniel read from their new books and also host three rounds of trivia: Generally Vaguely Dirty Dancing, Horror Movie Trivia, and TV Trivia. And Dina reads a poem from her book that tells you which SNL cast member you are! And that's not all, A Giant Woman (Cynara Geissler and Hannah McGregor) performs with The Jewel Tones (Martin Austwick and Helen Zaltzman). And we are treated to a performance by The Established, Shanda Leer! A wonderful night. A fun time. All of this was recorded by our wonderful sound tech, Sean Cranbury.
Check out our latest episode!
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been seeing end of year reading posts going around and wanted to share the list of everything i read this year!! it’s under the cut if you’re interested :)
1. Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
2. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin
3. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
4. Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
5. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
6. Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson
7. Educated by Tara Westover
8. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
9. Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
10. Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
11. Joan by Katherine J. Chen
12. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
13. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
14. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
15. Superfan by Jen Sookfong Lee
16. Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin
17. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
18. The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison
19. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
20. Idol Burning by Rin Usami
21. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
22. The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun
23. Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
24. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
25. Bones and All by Camille DeAngelis
26. Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
27. Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
28. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
29. Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young
30. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
31. Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski
32. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
33. Get Rich or Lie Trying by Symeon Brown
34. Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
35. A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
36. Found: An Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories
37. Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk
38. None of This Rocks by Joe Trohman
39. The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
40. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
41. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
42. Near the Bone by Christina Henry
43. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
44. The Lonely City by Olivia Laing
45. Slewfoot by Brom
46. Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
47. Uprooted by Naomi Novik
48. In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
49. Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
50. Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo
51. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
i’ve also just started Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer so we’ll see if i finish it before the new year !
i’d love to hear about the books you read this year or talk about some of the ones on my list!!! i’ve had so much fun making new mutuals and whatnot this year and i hope you all have a great year of reading in 2024! <33
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Good Mom On Paper
Award winning writers, Jen Sookfong Lee and Stacey May Fowles talk to AW’s Shelly Kawaja about thier new essay collection.
Shelly Kawaja: Good Mom on Paper is not about “having it all,” or “being a boss mom,” as you point out in the introduction to this collection of essays. Instead, it offers very real examples of what it’s like to be a mother and a writer. Why do you think this is important?…
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My Love/Hate with Popular Culture
An essay I wrote about my complicated relationship with pop culture was reprinted in a new book. Event Magazine assembled selections from their “Notes on Writing” column in a book that celebrates their 50th anniversary. This collection is packed with amazing writers, like Eden Robinson, Charlotte Gill, Jen Sookfong Lee, Zoe Whittall, Souvankham Thammavongsa, Lynn Coady, and Joshua Whitehead. Purchase your own digital or print copy now!
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Big dick energy yasss
https://mobile.twitter.com/JenSookfongLee
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Fabulous writer, editor, and podcaster Jen Sookfong Lee returns to discuss prom dresses, celeb customers, and hard sauce!
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#Alicia Tobin#Jessica Delisle#Jen Sookfong Lee#Vancouver#comedy#podcast#retail#nightmares#puppo#puppo of the week#Burnaby#prom#the odds#pudding#presents#episode 354#patreon#egg
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Orca re-releases Chinese New Year in time for the Year of the Ox
Orca re-releases Chinese New Year in time for the Year of the Ox @orcabook
Chinese New Year: A Celebration for Everyone, by Jen Sookfong Lee, (Jan. 2021, Orca Book Publishers), $12.95, ISBN: 9781459826434
Ages 9-12
Originally published in hardcover in 2017, Orca’s nonfiction Orca Origins series releases the paperback version of Chinese New Year: A Celebration for Everyone this month, just in time for the Year of the Ox celebrations beginning February 12th. Filled with…
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#celebrations#China#Chinese New Year#Chinese New Year: A Celebration for Everyone#holidays#Jen Sookfong Lee#Orca Books
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Photo by Ian Stewart/NPR
The Ten Ren tea shop in Vancouver was once the site of a barber shop belonging to author Jen Sookfong Lee’s grandfather. She met NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro there to talk about growing up in Vancouver’s Chinatown, and the Chinese-Canadian community there.
Find their conversation here.
-- Petra
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'I don't want to save the world. Maybe it's petty and small-minded, but I just want to eat chips and watch reality television right now. I'm not a hero. I don't want to be.'
Jen Sookfong Lee, The Conjoined
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The End of East by Jen Sookfong Lee
... from Vintage Canada ...
Sammy Chan was sure she’d escaped her family obligations when she fled Vancouver six years ago, but with her sister’s upcoming marriage, her turn has come to care for their aging mother. Abandoned by all four of her older sisters, jobless and stuck in a city she resents, Sammy finds herself cobbling together a makeshift family history and delving into stories that began in 1913, when her grandfather, Seid Quan, then eighteen years old, first stepped on Canadian soil.
The End of East weaves in and out of the past and the present, picking up the threads of the Chan family’s stories: Seid Quan, whose loneliness in this foreign country is profound even as he joins the Chinatown community; Shew Lin, whose hopes for her family are threatened by her own misguided actions; Pon Man, who struggles with obligation and desire; and Siu Sang, who tries to be the caregiver everyone expects, even as she feels herself unravelling. And in the background, five little girls grow up under the weight of family expectations. As the past unfolds around her, Sammy finds herself embroiled in a volatile mixture of a dangerous love affair, a difficult and duty-filled relationship with her mother, and the still-fresh memories of her father’s long illness.
An exquisite and evocative debut from one of Canada’s bright new literary stars, The End of East sets family conflicts against the backdrop of Vancouver’s Chinatown – a city within a city where dreams are shattered as quickly as they’re built, and where history repeats itself through the generations.
Published in 2010.
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A Bit Delayed - The Hosts: An Update!
It’s been a (long) while since the amazing Jen Sookfong Lee joined our team, but she’s here, she’s emotional and she’s smart and wonderful. An experienced host and delight, Can’t Lit is lucky to have someone of Jen’s s wit and intelligence. Thanks for being here, Jen!
Learn more about her here:
Jen Sookfong Lee was born and raised in Vancouver’s East Side, and she now lives with her son in North Burnaby. Her books include The Conjoined, nominated for International Dublin Literary Award and a finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, The Better Mother, a finalist for the City of Vancouver Book Award, The End of East, and Gentlemen of the Shade. Jen appears regularly as a contributor on The Next Chapter on CBC Radio, co-hosts the podcast Can’t Lit, edits books for Wolsak & Wynn, and teaches fiction at The Writers’ Studio Online with Simon Fraser University.
The same old Dina is here, but she’s angrier.
But, you might ask, is Daniel gone forever? Of course not, he is always in our hearts. And If you listen closely when a warm breeze blows you can hear his voice. Also, he will still make occasional podcast appearances.
Oh? And these delightful new photos? Well, you can thank the amazing Erin Flegg for them. We are thanking Erin right now! A dream to work with. Excellent skills. And a lovely person. High five, and highly recommend Erin.
Thanks for listening.
xo
Dina, Jen, (sometimes Daniel), and always Rosie.
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Very funny and talented writer and podcaster Jen Sookfong Lee joins the co-ghosts to discuss moon glasses, demon research and detachable bodies!
Check out Jen’s podcast Can’t Lit and her website here!
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#Alicia Tobin#Jessica Delisle#Jen Sookfong Lee#Vancouver#comedy#podcast#retail#nightmares#puppo#puppo of the week#demon#Keanu
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Jen Sookfong Lee is a Vancouver novelist whose grandfather immigrated to this city from China in the early 1900s. Lee’s writing has centered on the Vancouver area and the experiences of its Asian minority groups -- a demographic that makes up some 43% of the population.
We spoke to Lee in a tea shop in Chinatown that used to be her grandfather’s barbershop. She told us about some of the discrimination he faced in the early 20th century -- how white supremacists went through the neighborhood breaking windows and beating up Asian men. It’s not the kind of thing that Lee ever saw growing up, but she’s been deeply disturbed by some of the anti-Asian rhetoric that she’s seen in Vancouver since the election of Donald Trump. White supremacist groups have tried to rally in this city, emulating what has taken place in some places in America, albeit with little success.
She says that Canadians are aware and concerned about the deep divisions in the United States.
“Now there’s a lot of us feeling like oh thank god that we’re not you guys. Because it feels really scary and weird and awful. And I think as a sort of reaction to that, a lot of people are turning inward to Canadian culture at this point… a lot of people are not traveling to the states, a lot of people are trying not to consume American culture; they’re trying to read Canadian books or watch Canadian TV shows. It’s a thing.”
- Ravenna + Lulu
(Photo: NPR/Ian Stewart)
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