Terry Woo is a dry, straight-talking, hilarious, bitter, genius who I don’t know very well, but who I like a lot. Here’s what I know about Terry: He once encouraged me to run away to South Korea to marry Psy, so my husband could hang out with him (Terry, not Psy) more often. He likes…
Month: July 2013
They almost understood each other: Margaret Oliphant’s Hester
Friends, the nineteenth century is a (literary) gift that just keeps on giving. A few days ago, I finished Margaret Oliphant’s excellent novel Hester (1883) and I’ve fallen in love all over again. Not that I’d ever fallen out of love; the nineteenth century is so rich, keeps surprising me, keeps reeling me further in….
Love Letter to the Toronto Public Library: Spadina Road
This is part two in my 99-part love letter to the Toronto Public Library! I began with Sanderson sort of randomly (I was just walking by and spontaneously Made the Grand Decision to begin this series); having the Spadina Road branch as my subject today is almost as random. I say almost because I spend…
The oeuvre is not enough
I recently read Julia Lovell’s excellent translation of Lu Xun’s complete fiction, The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China. As with all short story collections, it took me far too long to finish this volume and as a consequence, this isn’t going to be a very complete discussion of it. Also, I…
The definition of summer-time
Formal definition:The season of summer; the time that summer lasts. (Courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary) Ideal definition: 1. A time to sit back and unwind; a natural aphrodisiac; an air of love and of happiness. 2. A period of the year during which the following are likely to occur: drivers putting the car on…
Jam and Idleness’s most favourite albums of all time, part one
Many people have mourned the death of music, or at least the music business, over the years. They’ve erroneously blamed a number of innocents including, but not limited to: radio, video, downloading, synthesizers, MuchMusic’s and MTV’s strange love of reality TV, and Justin Bieber (well, there might be a little something in this last one;…
Storm cellar curry
On Monday night, Toronto had its ass properly kicked by a gang of vicious, snarly weather gods. At about 4:30-5pm I looked up from whatever it was I was doing (it was so compelling that I have no idea, 48 hours later, what it was) because it had incredibly quickly become as dark as midnight…
Love letter to the Toronto Public Library: Sanderson
The Toronto Public Library is a beautiful thing; not a perfect thing, maybe, but a beautiful thing. Howsoever it may be imperfect is not my concern here; I’m interested only in singing its praises, exploring its myriad faces in terms of architecture, collection development, community, etc. I have assigned myself a Project, which it will…
Jam and Idleness 
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