Join us every Wednesday in July and August and learn about the Decoda staff’s summer reading picks. Today Christie Case, Decoda’s Database Administrator, is sharing her summer reading plans and an interesting course she recommends.

For the past 11 years my summer reading has mainly consisted of listening to audio books or sleepily reading a few pages of print before going to bed. Often, I would read the same pages a few nights in a row, having no recollection of what I read the night before.

This year marks a change. My youngest child has started to read independently and I’m looking forward to reading alongside my kids, as well as to them! One book I am excited to read is The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy. I loved The God of Small Things, also by Roy, and am excited to read another of her novels.

I am also looking forward to spending more time on the readings for a course I am taking called Indigenous Canada. The course is taught by Dr. Tracy Bear and Dr. Paul L. Gareau, instructors with the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta.

Indigenous Canada critically examines Indigenous histories and contemporary issues in Canada from an Indigenous perspective. The course was promoted in 2020 by Canadian actor and writer Dan Levy. To date, 359,293 people have enrolled in this Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) via Coursera. Enrollment is ongoing. There is a free option to audit the course, or you can purchase a certificate of completion. I highly recommend taking this course. The information is presented in an engaging way and provides an excellent opportunity to examine history and our personal place within it.