January 10, 2007
Questioning
Why, you might ask, given my love/hate (and mostly hate) relationship with anthologies, am I setting out to read My Wedding Dress: True-Life Tales of Lace, Laughter, Tears and Tulle?? I’ve got high(er than usual) hopes for this anthology though. I’m thinking the concrete focus will keep the essays from being too too awful; the text is interspersed with wedding photos (and I’d look at anyone’s wedding pics, strangers and otherwise); I want to read about Michelle Landsberg’s wedding dress; and mostly because I’ll have an excuse to write about my own dress. Which doesn’t even come with a fabulous story, but I talk about my own wedding with as much relish as I look at strangers’ wedding photos. Anyway, we shall see. In addition, I think the book is very well designed.
January 10, 2007
Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson
I really didn’t think it was possible. Kate Atkinson’s second novel Human Croquet might just be better than her brilliant Behind the Scenes at the Museum. There really aren’t words to do Atkinson’s own words justice. From doorstep babies to death by mushrooms, intertextual delights to incest, doppelgangers and the disappeared. The bad guy gets his comeuppance. Everybody wins.
January 10, 2007
January Classic
I’m back to work at the library this week, which of course means that I go home after most shifts with books in my bag. I picked up The Portable Chekhov today. It’s definitely not the 13 volume Chekhov that Francine Prose recommended, but it’s a start. I’m looking forward to it. It’s my January Classic actually: I’ve decided to read one 19th century book per month this year, just to keep up my credentials.
January 9, 2007
Shift
I’m about midway through the second draft of my long project, and I’ve decided to shift from first person to third. I’m not convinced it’s the right decision, but I have to try it out and see. And so I am going through my story carefully, changing all the ‘I’s to ‘she’, and no doubt missing quite a few. It’s good though, because at this point in my work, it’s effective to go through the entire story carefully and see how its functioning as a whole. Changing the narration forces me to go through it carefully. I also have a feeling that it will make my narrator more likeable.
January 9, 2007
Yo!
The number one surprising development of my Christmas Holidays was that I became obsessed with Rocky Balboa. I certainly didn’t see it coming. (Though I’ve never seen one, I’ve always struggled with the Rocky films, for as a child I confused Rocky with Rambo and didn’t understand how one character could be so multi-dimensional.) But on the day before Christmas Eve, we caught Rocky on TV Ontario (commercial free! how novel) and though I was supposed to be reading a book while my husband watched it, I soon put the book down and was enthralled. I loved it. I don’t really know why. I’ve always had a thing for working class Italian men with big dreams, hearts of gold and problems expressing themselves, however. In accordance then, I think I am soon going to rent Saturday Night Fever.
January 9, 2007
Joy
Joy was our dinner tonight with Natalie Bay at Okonomi House, where we partook in okonomiyaki– a wonderful Nippon treat. Oishi desu! And now home, and since I worked all afternoon, now I get to have a bath and read Human Croquet— which is brilliant. And then tune in to CSI Miami, where somebody gets killed by a bookshelf! How exciting.
January 8, 2007
Only Connect
Lucky Lori Lansens, whose novel is the first Canadian book selected by Richard and Judy’s book club. Britpop enters its latest golden age. On le history of chapbooks.
I just finished reading the bizarre and wonderful Never Let Me Go, and the imaginary sounds of Judy Bridgewater are playing in my mind. Next up is Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson, who is always a treat.
The basement neighbours’ screaming match is entering its 49th hour. We’ve deciphered that she quit her job, he never shows her affection, he declared her unreliable and she is no longer allowed to eat his bread. Moreover she has outstanding debt on rental cars and owes him a ton of cigarettes. It’s difficult to keep track of because they move between inside and out, and so we have to keep moving between the vent and the window to get the details. It’s all getting a bit tiresome, however. We’re hoping they kill each other before bedtime.
In literary connexions, my mom met a man at a party yesterday who is uncle to Ms. Z. Smith’s own Laird.
January 7, 2007
OMG the Verve Pipe still toteley rawk my world
I do curse ye old Youtube for its tendency to devour large chunks of my day with its myriad offerings– clips from One Day at a Time, for example, or the video for “Colorblind” by Darius. (I refuse to link to these items. They will only contaminate your well-being). Where Youtube becomes absolutely fascinating, however, is when you read the viewers’ comments and responses. If this is zeitgeist I am frightened, but I am also sort of amused. There is something precious about nostalgic fourteen year olds.
My favourite comments ever include one to a Goo Goo Dolls song which said, “Man, what an awesome song. Whatever happened to music? They don’t make stuff like this anymore”. I love this response to Robin Beck’s “The First Time”: “I’m in luv wiv da 80’s (even though born in 1992), its such a cool era! This song tops it all!” I adore the people who comment proclaiming their love for Celine Dion, and then have to comment back a few minutes later just to clarify: “I’m not a lesbian btw”. Which is probably safe, as accusations of gayness are rampant among commenters. And then the nerve of whoever dared to assert that “NKOTB had an “IT” factor that Take That could never touch.” Power to the people. Really.
January 6, 2007
A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
It was at page 133 that Mark Haddon’s A Spot of Bother finally cast its spell upon me; I marked the page. This is the second book by the potentially one-hit-wonderish author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time, and this time he’s got an altogether different trick up his sleeve. Each chapter in this book is written from the point of view of each member of the Hall family: George is having a nervous breakdown, Jean is sleeping with George’s former coworker, Jamie is unwilling to commit to his boyfriend, and horrible Katie is about to marry a man everybody else hates. Initially, I really didn’t care about any of them and I considered whether I was actually willing to invest a whole 354 pages in such nasty souls. But then on the 133rd page, suddenly these characters began to engage with one another and the story had me in its grip.
133 pages sounds like a long time to wait, but this is a quick read and the chapters fly by. The action is unrelenting once it finally begins, culminating in a massive blow-out that is equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking. Haddon, who wrote from the point of view of a boy with Asbergers in his first novel, gets points for his portrayal of George Hall’s depression, and also for the reaction of George’s wife who just can’t understand what is wrong with him. Humour abounds through this book, even in the darkest bits. The ending was everything I wanted it to be. This story is a true-to-life portrait of family, showing the ways (unintentional and otherwise) in which we drive each other mad.
And so I’d recommend this book, but I’ve got one reservation: I sort of think it should have been a movie. It was not just the sparseness of Haddon’s prose, but rather the fact that this book didn’t seem to be about language at all. Plot plot plot, which is important and of course I was dying to get to the end, but there was nothing much to savour along the journey. For some people, I think, this isn’t a problem. And it’s not particularly a problem for me either. I certainly don’t subsist on “demanding” books, but I mention in light this novel’s nomination for the 2006 Costa Book Awards and the fact that the shortlist was cited for froth and populism. In the case of this book, I do understand. A Spot of Bother is a good enough novel after all, but there was nothing extraordinary about it. If weren’t for that curious incident awhile back, I don’t know if anyone would have taken much notice of it.
January 4, 2007
Looking back, and ahead
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is still ever growing. On bookish guilty pleasures. Forthcoming novels, and I’m looking forward to The Post Birthday World. The year in review so says the Star. And I thought their best of 06 seemed pretty thorough.
Quotidianly speaking, must get laundry out of washer, make shopping list and head out for groceries. We’ve got dinner guests tonight.
