Special thanks to Leontine from Leontine's Book Realm for the super header.


Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Don't have much to say

I've only read one book so we'll delve into that and since it's set in Canada I have definite opinions. LOL Oh did I mention I hate my job with the fiery passion of a thousand suns? No? Oh well I do. Today anyway. Thankfully there are two of us who feel this way, so I have someone to vent with. Really, I guess sucking up and reporting every dinky thing you do, every phone call, etc. during the staff meeting is the way to impress. Silly me. Oh and being psychic would help so that I would KNOW I didn't do something that no one told me to do. Duh. Let me work on that. Vent over. If I don't stop now I never will. Oh and when will the freaking heat STOP? 100F (40C) with the humidity AGAIN? Give me a break.

What else. Umm. Got my daughter's schedule for Grade 10 today since she's at camp (sweating her ass off I'm sure). First semester English 10 and 3 lame electives. Second semester, math, English 11, science and history. Ack. I have a feeling she'll be in the office begging to get math moved to first term because that's cruel and unusual punishment.

Okay, I only read one book lately. I find when it's hot I just can't focus on reading. My house isn't too bad since I keep it closed up tight during the day when no one is home and the only appliance I've been using is the toaster. But it's still not "cool" and I'm too lazy to go up to my air conditioned bedroom. See? I'm a whiny lazy ... Well, we'll just leave the ending of that sentence to your imagination.

The Manituw by Lisbeth Jenkins (91 pages)
Amber Quill Press

Robert is a British ocean scientist who has hired a boat in New Foundland to help him gather research data. When he arrives he finds his hot captain July in jail for drunken brawling. He's sure it's going to be a disaster but once they get going things are great *wink wink nudge nudge* Robert AND July both fall in love quickly but July has problems with the locals. He is a metis (half native American - or First Nations or Aboriginal as we say). Lots of the local townspeople take issue with him and they only have an RCMP officer who comes once a week so July doesn't want to stir up trouble. Robert meanwhile tries to get him to stand up for himself or at least leave with him. Doesn't end so well for them as they both have secrets. Of course it's a romance so it all ends HFN.

My issues: (Since I only did one book I can yammer more - and bore you more). I have no clue if the author is Canadian or lives on in the East Coast (the bio didn't say and I didn't search) but I think she represented that kind of small isolated village very well, and I'm kind of ashamed of that. You hear stories of aboriginal (or metis or white) women and men being treated badly, things happening that would lead to arrests in a larger area but no one wants to confront them because there isn't appropriate law enforcement. I find it appalling and something I'm not proud of about Canada, but it seems to be the nature of remote northern community.

I found the whole deal with the author/landlord a bit confusing. What was his purpose? And then how could Robert have a job in Toronto but be renting a place in NF? Umm, It's about a 3 hour between St. John's and TO, probably closer to six to whatever rinky dink town he was in. Was he going to commute? That would be a bitch. Was he just visiting? I didn't get it?

On the upside, the descriptions of the ocean and the boat and even a small village in NF was pretty amazing. Although of the two provinces I've never visited, NF is one of them, so I'm taking that impression from things people have told me. I liked both characters a lot although I wanted to smack July a bit for just "taking it", but such is life. LOL I did enjoy it but sometimes when our own warts are exposed it makes us cringe a bit. I love the cover too. I would definitely check out more work by the author and it is a quite different story so worth a read.
If you skimmed over that, someone posted this on Twitter and beside the fact that it's fairly hot guys in underwear, it's pretty amazing what they can do. They could give lessons to strippers.


20 comments:

Average Reader said...

Hi, Tam! You have my sympathy. You shouldn't have to suffer two bad heatwaves in a row. :) Especially with humidity! I loved reading your take on the book, and hopefully it will cool down so you'll feel like reading some more. I had a friend from Minneapolis tell me once that it's not unheard-of for them to get 3 feet of snow at Halloween (and the kids go trick-or-treating anyway, ha, ha!), so it can't be too much longer until cold weather rolls in where you are!

Chris said...

Eh, suddenly I'm not minding that I haven't gotten around to picking up that book. :)

I've seen the pole gymnastics before - CRAZY.

Tam said...

I'm not sure I'm ready for that much cool air Val, but living in Manitoba, waaaaay further north than Minneapolis I've gone trick or treating in the snow and even here when my daughter was little a few times she was in a snow suit on Halloween to keep warm. LOL Then we get years where it's t-shirt weather. So you never know.

Chris said...

Val: That was once and nearly 20 years ago! The Halloween Blizzard! Sheesh.

Our heat broke Monday night/Tuesday morning, Tam, and the humidity broke last night. Here's hoping it makes its way to you. The high Saturday's supposed to be 67F...

Tam said...

It was a good book Chris, probably a few more pages might have explained a few things better but the descriptions were great and I enjoyed the two guys, but it made me wince a bit as it paints a picture of Canada I'm not exactly proud of, but it's a fact of life for many people in remote communities.

Tam said...

Ours will go from "feels like 108" on Friday Chris to a high of 64 on Saturday. WTF? Mother Nature is messing with us.

Average Reader said...

Val: That was once and nearly 20 years ago! The Halloween Blizzard! Sheesh.

Chris, seriously??? And here I had the impression that Minneapolis always got that much snow on Halloween! Whoa, I'm disillusioned. :) And Tam, that's a big range of unpredictable Canadian weather -- from snowsuits to t-shirts?

Chris said...

Val: Sorry to disillusion you. :) In fact, there's been more than one year when I've been outside in a tank top in November - and definitely more of those years than snow at Halloween years.

Your friend's messin' with you. :)

Tam said...

That's why we watch the weather channel like other people tune into ABC or ESPN. LOL It's been really nice the last few years, we'll be in San Francisco this year so who knows. Kristen and Kris was to go trick or treating. Sigh.

Average Reader said...

Your friend's messin' with you. :)

Apparently so!

And San Francisco? It'll probably be cool and foggy in October. Trick or treating in San Francisco? Not to be missed. :)

Lily said...

Our heat wave broke a few days ago. It's still hot but at least it doesn't feel like 105 any longer. Sorry to hear you've still been suffering. And wow, then you go down 40 degrees in a few hours. Crazy weather!

Interesting story, I'll get to it eventually I'm sure. :)

Tam said...

I know Lily, it's a bit crazy. But at least we don't have a hurricane bearing down us so I should stop complaining. No one's house ever collapsed from excessive heat.

It's less than a 100 pages so a pretty quick read as well and worth the time.

Sweet Vernal Zephyr said...

Our heat wave has been ramping up all week here in Northern NY. Today will be over 100. Thank goodness for an airconditioned office. :D

Glad you have someone to vent to Tam! Hugs for you to get through. I know those days.

You review is pretty cool. I wasn't aware of the remote villages you guys have up there. I might consider picking it up, but I kinda chafe under whimpy characters "I wanted to smack July a bit".

As for the video - ouch. They hit that pole hard and fast! How many times do they eat their own balls before the figure out how to do it right? :) *I know, lovely visual, right?*

Tam, darlkink. Still no email from you. I think it is in the Edit User Profile for Blogger. I have my "Show my email address" box checked. Perhaps you don't?

Have a great Thursday!

Tam said...

Well, it's not that he was wimpy but he didn't want to make things worse, kind of the typical bullying situation, where kids fear reporting it without any way to back it up (no police 24/7) will only make it worse. Which may be true, but it chafes the little justice crusader in me. LOL

I know, they really smack that thing. Maybe they have some kind of padding in their shorts. LOL

Okay, I went and clicked show e-mail. We'll see if next time I post at your house it works. Stupid technology.

Polt said...

Tam, my love, if you wanna see that kinda pole dancing in person, I'll take you to Remmington's nest time I'm in Toronto. And while it may not be as...gymnastically accomplished as these guys, the fact that they make these guys seem overdressed more than makes up for it. :)

HUGS...

Tam said...

I'm holding you to that Polt. :-)

Janna said...

I hope the heat wave broke by now, Tam!
The Manituw is on my tbr, I bought it on an impulse after reading a very positive review. I'm still curious about it. :)

Tam said...

I enjoyed it Janna. Just a few little things I had questions about, but on the whole a good read in an unusual setting.

Today is our last hot day. It's going to go from "feels like" 35C to 20C tomorrow. Not quite so hot today, but still very humid and makes it feel like you're moving in slow motion. LOL Have a great weekend.

Erotic Horizon said...

Val pimped this book outo t me a while ago - good to know your thoughts on it...

A few days late - but hope the weather is a bit cooler for you now...

A feel your kid's pain with those subject set-up...

E.H>

Tam said...

We are now freezing our butts off EH. LOL Wet and cloudy and 15C. Quite a change from one week to the next.

She's stuck with her subjects, unable to switch so she's grinning and bearing it. Not that she has any choice. LOL