Brook Nymark is just some guy I met in Halifax, years ago. I don’t know much about him except that he likes books, food, running, has a gigantic head, and looks like a dock worker. ————————————————————————————————————————————– Who is your literary boyfriend or girlfriend? (They need not still be living, or they can be a character…
Month: October 2013
I read a romance and I liked it: Mary Stewart’s Madam, will you Talk?
Speaking of taking risks, it’s easy to take risks when the book is less than 200 pages long and you got it for free in your apartment’s laundry room. Risk-taking becomes even more manageable when your bestie, who you know is smarter than everyone else in the world, tells you the author is generally amazing….
Love Letter to the Toronto Public Library: Gerrard/Ashdale
I thought I might not get to write a love letter to my darling Toronto Public Library this month. Things are kind of crazy busy anyway, but now that the sun doesn’t come up till after 7:30 am, it’s been hard as seven hells to get up early. But flaming out in the middle of…
No: A Reading Manifesto
Friends, something truly wonderful has happened to me. All my life, I’ve been plagued with a particular mental block when it comes to books; specifically, that if I start one and get past a certain point–around page 50–I must finish it, regardless of its quality. Because of this strange form of what often turns out…
Breathe it and breathe it: Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden
I think I might be one of the only grown women in the world who didn’t read The Secret Garden (1911) as a child. Had I done so, I’m sure it would have been a life-long favourite; there is magic in this book. I don’t mean the weird mystical stuff that young Colin believes in;…
Humblebragging
I love this word–humblebrag (v.); it’s been used by two separate people this week in conversations with me; yes, both of those people are Canadian. I also am Canadian, so I’m going to use this word, too. See what I did there? I made a syllogism; or maybe it was science. Imagine this has all…
We do have meanings now and then but they seldom come to much: Margaret Oliphant’s Salem Chapel
In 1863, Margaret Oliphant gifted the world with Salem Chapel, which is book one of the immensely popular Carlingford Chronicles. The novel opens in a way that is, I think, meant to remind us of the gentle satire of Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford (1851): the story is about a small town’s small Dissenting congregation and how…
When good people write bad books: Hiromi Kawakami’s Manazuru
Alright, here’s the thing: I kind of hated Hiromi Kawakami’s Manazuru; or, at least, I spent about 95% of my time with it being alternately irritated, bored, and exasperated. What’s wrong with it, you’re wondering? For me, pretty much everything, and I don’t think I can blame the translator (Michael Emmerich–I really admired his translation…
Jam and Idleness 
You must be logged in to post a comment.