June 12, 2007
Know more
I hope you got the print edition of The Globe this weekend, because Ali Smith’s “Torontode” wonderful, and I cannot find it online. She writes, “I love wandering about in Toronto. I dream about wandering about in Toronto, which could not be more perfect for the wanderer-about, with its leafiness, its windy wide streets in spring and autumn, the smell of sweetness and coffee on Bloor Street by that big grand hotel opposite the museum, the dainty suddenness of Yorkville tucked down the back of all the big-gun commerce like an afterthought, and especially Queen Street, I love wandering around Queen Street, I nearly saw Baby Spice once on Queen Street…” Of course she did.
Also in the same paper, I was impressed that Rex Murphy managed to connect Edward Causabon to global warming, though I am not so sure that I agree with him. Margaret Atwood on Polish writer Ryszard Kapuscinski: a magnificent article, because I’d never heard of him, but now I want to know more. And Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in The Guardian. Cool thing about that? I got to read it first on paper.
June 11, 2007
Unbooks
Though I do love books, I have a particular aversion to books that aren’t actually books. I am unfond of gift books, decorative books, foam books, faking books, and faux books. I do believe that these inferior items unjustly ride on the coattails of a sacred object. And so it was quite remarkable when I fell in love with this treasure up in the Lakes, though the price tag put it out of my league. 
I suppose I have a particular aversion to books that aren’t books, unless the book happens to be a teapot.
June 10, 2007
You are a shining light
I’ve just realized why “Intervention” by Arcade Fire has been driving me nuts since the first time I heard it: it is exactly the same song as “Shining Light” by Ash! In further music news, I bought tickets for Crowded House this morning.
June 10, 2007
Lettuce
Last night was a very exciting one in the land of Pickle, as our vegetable garden has yielded its first crop. The tomatoes aren’t ready yet, and so our salad was a scant one, only one of lettuce, but never, ever, has lettuce tasted so good.
June 9, 2007
Home Again
It’s bad to be home, only because away was so extraordinarily good. Our landing was delayed by last night by a fierce thunderstorm which forced us to land for an hour in Ottawa. We finally got home to find that lightning or wind had wrangled with our tree, knocking most of it down, which is quite sad. But otherwise all is fine, and we’re exhausted after a week of super touring and nonstop fun. Stay tuned for pictures, and for more pictures throughout the summer as I extend my vacation in spirit. Now rereading Bliss and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield, on the tale of the marvelous Thieves. Coming up: On Chesil Beach!!
June 9, 2007
Town House by Tish Cohen
Three cheers for Tish Cohen’s Town House, which proves that popular fiction does not have to be stupid. The eponymous town house is in Boston, home to Jack Madigan, the agoraphobic son of a dead rockstar. Life presents particular challenges for him, unable to step beyond the front door. These challenges are only underlined when they involve Jack’s teenage son, his somewhat batty real estate agent, and the precocious little girl who crawls in from next door through a hole in the wall. Cohen has created a cast along the lines of a John Irving novel, or The Royal Tenenbaums, and she uses sympathy to negotiate a balance between quirky and real. It was apparent to me that Cohen must have so loved these characters, to invest them with multi-dimensions and have them keep surprising us. When their lives turn out a little too tidily, we’re glad they do, because we have come to love them too.
