Summer is for laying in the grass. However...

Reading, watching, seeing... I haven’t written for ages. I finished Open by Lisa Moore and moved on to another Newfoundlander, Wayne Johnston. He wrote Colony of Unrequited Dreams, which I own, but haven’t read yet. I have just finished reading his The Divine Ryans, which is in the genre of stories told through a child’s perspective, like Paddy Clark, Ha, Ha, Ha by Roddy Doyle, and The Secret Life of Bees by Sue... and even To Kill a Mockingbird which I think is the gold standard of the “profound insights delivered through the innocence of a child” type book. I generally like this genre, but The Divine Ryans really stood out. It ends up being quite a dark book while still being funny, but not at all heavy - and there is one plot twist near the end that blew my mind. After that I felt like I wanted to go back and read the entire book over again.

As well, two nights ago I saw a movie that also fits into that genre, called Off the Map. Loved it. Beau is the best movie kid character that I think I can ever remember from a film. Smart, funny, energetic, long pigtails flowing behind her as she runs out to shoot bottles with a 22 at the dump, she is jaded to the life she has been brought up in (her parents live off the land with no electricity or plumbing, grow their own food) and when a tax collector visits them, she is enamoured with the trappings of the rat race (appointment books, briefcase, tie)... Loved it. did I mention that I loved it? I want to watch it again. And watch the special features.