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Bina
Bina: A Novel in Warnings | Anakana Schofield
15 posts | 5 read | 15 to read
The mind-blowing new novel from a blazingly talented writer whose last book, Martin John, was shortlisted for the Giller Prize, and whose debut, Malarky, won the Amazon First Novel Award. Schofield's writing "spins and glitters like a coin flipped in the air--now searingly tragic, now darkly funny.... Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant." (Annabel Lyon) "My name is Bina and I'm a very busy woman. That's Bye-na, not Beena. I don't know who Beena is but I expect she's having a happy life. And I don't know who you are, or the state of your life. But if you've come this way to listen to me, your life will undoubtedly get worse. I'm here to warn you ..." So begins this self-declared "novel in warnings"--an unforgettable, riotous and heartbreaking tour de force. At its centre is Bina, a bracingly plain-spoken older Irishwoman who, we gradually learn, is under police surveillance for a crime considered so unspeakable and incendiary that she cannot refer to it directly upon threat of immediate arrest. As a last resort, Bina has taken to her bed to write out her own version of her story in a series of "warnings"--punctuated by occasional "remarkings"--on the backs of old envelopes. Slowly, while Bina elliptically orbits around the events that led to her great crime, we piece together the poignant truth: at the heart of this book is a deliberate act of merciful euthanasia that brings with it an awful burden, one that an anguished Bina cannot bear to face. Through the voice of sharp-tongued Bina, an extremely challenged and challenging character who is also immensely endearing, Anakana Schofield filters a whole world, giving us a singular novel filled with light and dark, humour and sadness, love and rage. A work of great power, skill, urgency, and above all, transformative empathy from a unique and astonishing writer.
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sarahbarnes
Bina: A Novel in Warnings | Anakana Schofield
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Pickpick

I really enjoyed this book and developed deep affection and respect for the narrator. It deals with an interesting combination of topics through a narrative style that reflects the way our minds circle around things that are hard for us to face or that cause stress or grief. A great read.

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BookishTrish
Bina: A Novel in Warnings | Anakana Schofield
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#HappyCanadaDay! So many favourites! Bina is by a Vancouver author. 2. Mona Awad is a fantastic writer - I could read Bunny all day long 3. Hawkins Cheesies

FantasyChick LOVE Mona Awad!!! 4y
KVanRead Thanks for playing! Need to try both of these, maybe with some cheesies on the side. 4y
LeahBergen Hawkins Cheezies are the best! 4y
46 likes2 stack adds5 comments
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Lindy
Bina: A Novel in Warnings | Anakana Schofield
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Favourite fiction of the decade, audiobook format. Note that volume 1 in Martha Wells‘ Murderbot Diaries is standing in for all four; they are short, so enjoy them all! Also note that I have trouble counting to ten... #top10ofthedecade #audiobookedition

Rissreads Fantastic list! I have alot of these on my tbr, and there are a couple I have not heard of so I will screenshot and check them out! 😊 4y
merelybookish I adored Goon Squad and Milkman (they made my top 10) and I listened to them on audio as well! 4y
Lindy @merelybookish The second time I read Goon Squad, I decided to try audio because I was really curious how the PowerPoint chapter would be interpreted. It was brilliantly done. 4y
See All 13 Comments
merelybookish @Lindy I know! I almost said I loved Good Squad on audio even the PowerPoint chapter! 😁 4y
Lindy @merelybookish 😁👯‍♀️ 4y
Cinfhen You know what im about to say.... screenshot 🙌🏻 and im tagging @BarbaraTheBibliophage who started the audio thread and @Megabooks who loves a good audio 4y
Lindy @Cinfhen 😁😁😁 4y
batsy Omg! I've read none of these 🙈 4y
Freespirit So many good books! 4y
Lindy @batsy You‘ve read so many other great books. I add to my TBR all the time based on your reviews. 😊 4y
batsy @Lindy You enrich my TBR too 😘 4y
Lindy @batsy Let‘s keep blowing kisses at each other across the world. Bookish people rock! 🥰😘 4y
54 likes13 comments
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Lindy
Bina: A Novel in Warnings | Anakana Schofield
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“Recording my own audiobook was the hardest thing I‘ve ever done. No. Childbirth was harder. I actually don‘t recommend either one.” —Anakana Schofield at #VWF2019

LeahBergen I saw her at Wordfest. 👍🏻 5y
Lindy @LeahBergen Isn‘t she a live wire? 5y
34 likes4 comments
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Lindy
Bina: A Novel in Warnings | Anakana Schofield
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Reinventing the Novel at #VWF2019
Anakana Schofield: The novel is the place to posit philosophical questions. It‘s the place to subvert & disrupt. We‘ll never know what the novel can be; that‘s the nature of art making.
Bindu Suresh: There‘s a lot of unpopulated space to explore between established forms like between poetry & short fiction.
Sara Peters: Interested in how the novel can become more fluid. Sound & sense are inextricable when writing.

review
BookishTrish
Bina: A Novel in Warnings | Anakana Schofield
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Pickpick

Listen to the author-narrated audiobook if you can! Schofield is a gifted reader and really does her own highly quotable prose justice. Highly recommended.

Lindy @BookishTrish Look for me in the lobby at the Waterfront before the event tonight, ok? 5y
60 likes1 comment
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BookishTrish
Bina: A Novel in Warnings | Anakana Schofield
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So far I am VERY along for the ride #audiowine

Cathythoughts Sounds really good. I have it stacked already 👍🏻 5y
57 likes1 comment
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BookishTrish
Bina: A Novel in Warnings | Anakana Schofield
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Sorry I‘ve been MIA lately! I haven‘t really been reading much at all and reading slumps are rare for me. This audiobook might be just the thing to hoist me out of it #sunset #audiowalk

CoffeeCatsBooks Hope this ends your reading slump! I just came out of one myself and they are the worst. 5y
BookishTrish @CoffeeCatsBooks I NEVER seem to have one because I live more in books than anywhere else so maybe I was overdue #arentipunny 5y
Sleepswithbooks This is a gorgeous picture! 5y
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BookishTrish @Stacypatrice Thank you! We have lovely sunsets her in Vancouver 5y
Lcsmcat Beautiful photo! 5y
Come-read-with-me @BookishTrish Simply breathtaking! 5y
LA_Mead Gorgeous sunset! 5y
53 likes7 comments
blurb
Lindy
Bina: A Novel in Warnings | Anakana Schofield
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Out of 30 books in July, eight were 5-star reads. See which ones they were in my reading round up blog post: https://lindypratch.blogspot.com/2019/07/july-2019-reading-round-up.html?m=1
#readingstats #booknerd

review
Lindy
Bina: A Novel in Warnings | Anakana Schofield
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Pickpick

If you like the voices of feisty old women in your fiction, Bina is for you. She warns her readers: “Know this much—know it firm, know it tall, know it wide: I will not shut up.” Her trials include being unable to rid herself of a younger man who started living in her west Ireland home after he crashed into her stone fence, having a crowd of activists camped in her yard, and facing criminal charges for things she didn‘t do. It is seriously funny.

Lindy The #audiobook is narrated by the author with an Irish lilt. Schofield is an Irish Canadian. 5y
Cathythoughts That‘s a great quote : “ know this ...... ✨ 5y
Lindy @Cathythoughts This whole book is quotable. I loved it so much that I listened twice in a row. 😊 5y
Fridameetslucy Ordering it on audible. Ty 5y
Lindy @Fridameetslucy Enjoy! 👍 5y
44 likes4 stack adds5 comments
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Lindy
Bina: A Novel in Warnings | Anakana Schofield
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Sacrifice is a stupid thing that women do. Don‘t do it. The men don‘t notice and all the women around you spend their lives mopping you up, so you‘re only making more and more work for the women who‘ll have to repair you.

43 likes1 stack add
quote
Lindy
Bina: A Novel in Warnings | Anakana Schofield
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Why was it we weren‘t rewarded with children? And did I think it was timing, or was it God‘s decision? And, were some chosen and some not? I said no. I said it was nothing to do with timing, but rather some of us had more sense, and could avoid a bucket of trouble being sloshed into our laps.

(Author photo from internet)

batsy I thought Martin John by this author was a brilliant (though disturbing) book and it looks like this new one is much in the same vein... 5y
Lindy @batsy I haven‘t read her earlier books but I will now. What a powerhouse! 5y
38 likes2 comments
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Lindy
Bina: A Novel in Warnings | Anakana Schofield
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He‘d hit me in sly ways and only in the kitchen, where if I‘d cause to hand him a cup, I kept forgetting this. “Give me that cup,” he‘d say, and I‘d reach for the cup and he‘d strike me every time. He would slam the bottom of his hand into the cup and if there was hot liquid in it, up to scald me it would.
(Internet photo)

Cathythoughts Absolutely stacked 5y
Lindy @Cathythoughts It‘s a hilarious take on serious subjects. 5y
batsy @Lindy @Cathythoughts I'm so bummed that it doesn't seem to have international distribution yet. 5y
Lindy @batsy I think it‘s only just come out in Canada. I borrowed a digital audiobook edition from the public library. 5y
37 likes4 comments
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Lindy
Bina: A Novel in Warnings | Anakana Schofield
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Eddie was an eruption, a natural disaster. The first human one. Won‘t be the last. Plus, he‘s still going, erupting & disrupting. Like today. He might be gone, but look at what he left in his wake. A wake is an absolutely cheery goodbye. There will be no wake with Eddie except an earthquake. It‘d take an earthquake, maybe, to really be shut of him. Pity you can‘t order them over the phone, underneath specific people.

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Lindy
Bina: A Novel in Warnings | Anakana Schofield
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I started thinking about Canada and what kind of people might be there. I didn‘t like their prime minister. He was flighty. He looked like he‘d take off if he went rolling up an escalator too fast.
(Internet photo)

CarolynM I think he looks rather lovely, myself. He certainly looks better than ours - he looks like Grumpy Cat. 5y
RowReads1 I‘d be happy to trade ours for him. In fact, you can have ours completely free. 5y
tournevis Trudeau jr is flighty. Fluffy even. A good brain for math and geeky things but not for other types of complex thought. 5y
40 likes2 stack adds3 comments