October 19, 2010
Two books I bought today
Harriet is receiving The Book About Moomin, Mymble and Little My for Christmas this year, after a recommendation from Charlotte. The book is published in English by the Drawn & Quarterly children’s imprint Enfant, and is really, truly a work of art. It is our introduction to Moominism, and if this book is any indication, I think I’m in love. The drawings are vivid, whimsical, and easy to get lost in, and the characters crawl through the story through a different hole in every page. I am also obsessed with the typography, and the translation from Swedish which still seems to rhyme absolutely perfectly. I look forward to reading this one to pieces.
Also, tonight I made the world’s shortest appearance at Amy Lavender Harris‘ book launch in order to congratulate her and pick up a long-awaited copy of Imagining Toronto. An expansive and almost exhaustive study of how Toronto has been rendered in its literature, how this city we know so well has been imagined by its writers. Harris writes, “Toronto is a city of stories that accumulate in fragments between the aggressive thrust of its downtown towers and the primordial dream of the city’s ravines. In these fragments are found narratives of unfinished journeys and incomplete arrivals, chronicles of all the violence, poverty, ambition and hope that give shape to this city and the lives laid down in it.”
Nice to meet you last night at the Mansfield launch. Your blog is crazy teeming with energy. Phew! Thanks for the visit. Looking forward to coming back.
Paula
Sorry to exhaust you, Paula. And it was nice to meet you too, however fleetingly!
Oh, both of the very different books you’ve just bought look fabulous. I just love Little My 🙂
I have Amy Lavender Harris’s course description for Imagining Toronto bookmarked and I keep having a peek at it for the readings.
http://imaginingtoronto.com/course/syllabus-and-reading-list/