January 19, 2007
More than words can say
I like words a great deal, but I’ve never been tempted to decorate my house with them. Except in the form of bookshelves of course, but does that not go without saying? No, I’m talking about those letters you can buy that spell out “JOY” or “HAPPY”. There’s something just a bit too desperate about them really. I mean, my ever-battling Enrique-blasting basement neighbours have a cream PEACE spelled out above their fridge, and I don’t think it’s doing them much good. Yesterday I saw “IT’S ALL GOOD” spelled out in glitter script, for sale at the local card store, and I just wondered how manic must you have to be to want to proclaim that insipid phrase in your home decor. “LAUGHTER” is another one, though if I had it at my house, I think I’d just assume the walls were mocking me.
January 18, 2007
How I wasted my time today (and what I learned in the process!)
Productive mornings never make for productive afternoons, but I guess I’m just grateful for my morning. Nevertheless, I’ve still received quite an education today.
All right, we begin with the lyric “Love of my life, you are all I’ve ever wanted”, which has been running through my head for years now. Where from? I consult the Great God Goog. And after much searching (and I realize it’s “you are all I ever wanted”), I discover I’ve been fixated by “Dream Come True” by Canadian Rock Mullets, “Frozen Ghost”. Of course! “I’ve been waited my whole life for you, you’re my dream come true.” Further investigation reveals that half of “Frozen Ghost” was the early eighties band “Sheriff”, which had a hit with legendary power ballad, “When I’m With You”. And more research unearths the fact that the other half of “Sheriff” went on to be “Alias”, which soared to the top of the power ballad heights with “More Than Words (Can Say)”. Which explains so much: mostly why “Dream Come True”, “When I’m With You” and “More Than Words (Can Say)” sound like the exact same song. Who knew? I mean, other than the Great God Goog.
And so then I head over to Youtube (as you do), hoping to hear a bit of Sheriff. and I discover there is someone whose hobby is using clips from Three’s Company to make Jack and Janet Love Videos, set to beautiful music (like Sheriff and REO Speedwagon!). As far as I know, Jack and Janet never got together, which must cause this individual particular regret.
How absolutely fascinating. So I’m learning all the livelong day.
January 18, 2007
Joons and Places
Last night’s Asian meal out was brought to us by Joons for Korean with Curtis, and I had bibimbap– the deliciousist. We have to stop going out for dinner though, before we become chronic. In other news, I’m reading The Hunters by Claire Messud, which is actually two novellas. The first was stunning, and the second currently has me in its grip. Remarkable too, as the first story (“A Simple Tale”) takes place in Toronto, and the second (“The Hunters”) is set in London. And of course, The Emperor’s Children, which I read last November, is all about New York. I like that writer can evoke so many different places, but then again Claire Messud gets around.
January 17, 2007
The End of the Ugliest Boots in the World
Last winter we were going through a period of great impecuniousness. I had just started graduate school, and Stuart was in the midst of a long wait before receiving his permanent residency and being able to work in Canada. And so when the snow came in late November 2005, we didn’t have a lot of choice in terms of winter boots. We had to buy the Cheapest Winter Boots in the World, which were on sale two for one and came to about $80 for both pairs. And the Cheapest Winter Boots in the World were also the Ugliest Boots in the World. I was absolutely ashamed of them. They were also horribly uncomfortable too. We both hated them from the start, but they were what we had. And I’d forgotten about their awfulness until this week when I hauled them out of the back of the closet. I wore them to work and back Monday and Tuesday morning this week. Last night I showed Stuart the damage to my ankles which had resulted: blisters bubbling up on the bone, and the top of the boot also cut in through my skin a few centimetres above. In addition, these boots put holes in socks. Anyway, the happy ending is that upon seeing my ankles, Stuart proclaimed that I can buy new boots this weekend. He’s not being so generous. He hates his boots too. I am pleased, however, as I was intending to put in another season on account of thrift. Thrift schrift, though, apparently. How nice.
January 17, 2007
My Wedding Dress by Whelehan and Carter (eds)
I can provide you with some sort of an idea of what it’s like to read My Wedding Dress: True-life Tales of Lace, Laughter, Tears and Tulle. Read the post below, and the imagine in ten times as long, and multiplied by twenty six. It’s a bit much, but then it also works.
It works because most of the pieces in this anthology are truly excellent. With contributions by such well-known names as Michelle Landsberg, Stevie Cameron, Lorna Crozier, Kerri Sakamoto, Edeet Ravel and Ami McKay, this is unsurprising. The wedding photos included are also a great addition to the text. There are an assortment of happy tales, hard lessons learned, and sadness endured. Jenny Manzer’s story of her wedding, just days after her mother’s death from cancer, had me in tears. When, after all the drama, Ilana Stanger-Ross’s mother stepped on them hem of her dress and it ripped, and Stanger-Ross just laughed. I do wish that Elyse Pomeranz had been a little less earnest about the fact that she knit the clothes she and her husband wore on their wedding day. She’s included a photo. I won’t say any more.
At their very core, anthologies are terribly self-indulgent. My blog post below is an example of this, I know it: my story, and I want you to hear it– no, I want to TELL it– and I won’t consider the likelihood that it’s not so extraordinary to you. Where My Wedding Dress succeeds is when contributers stick to the focus, as most of the strongest pieces do. The few pieces that faltered use the dress motif to springboard over to what they really want to talk about, which could be anything, and I didn’t find these contributions so interesting unless they were in the hands of a very good writer. My other criticism of this book is my first one: it’s a bit much. Naturally, stories like these are inspiring (my blog entry case in point), and everybody wants a turn, but I don’t think this book with its twenty-six pieces really required a forward, and afterword and two introductions. (I have a feeling this book will also inspire a sequel).
Target audience here would be quite specific: recent brides, and mothers of brides, I think. This book will be appreciated. Forthcoming brides, of course, don’t read because they are way too busy with calligraphy and decoupage.
January 17, 2007
My Wedding Dress
My wedding dress came off the rack. It wasn’t even a wedding dress. I’d set out that day with the sole specification that my dress be the prettiest one I find, and it was only by chance that the one I found was white.
My friend Bronwyn and I went shopping for dresses on Oxford Street in London a month before my wedding. Bronwyn had seen one already that she thought might be right, and I liked it too. A strapless dress from Coast, with red flowers beaded and embroidered around one side. I appreciated that it was white enough to be bridey, and the red was perfect. Red is my favourite colour. But of course, I still wanted to look around a bit. I tried on bridal dresses in a few other high street shops, and other distinctly non-bridal dresses. I don’t remember any of them. I do remember that by lunch time we knew the Coast dress was right, and when we found it in Debenhams with 20% off, we knew the universe was in agreement. We found a matching wrap in the accessories section, a pair of sandals, and got the underthings from M&S. Everything except the hair accessory, which I ended up making myself out of beads and a headband. And so basically, I was outfitted in a day, at a discounted rate no less. This is no romantic tale, but the dress was perfect. Bronwyn has good taste. I had the most beautiful bouquet in the world to match, and the red and white became our wedding theme. It was such a lovely day.
And so of course, I’ve got to weave a metaphor out of all of this. Which would be that I bought my wedding dress off the rack, on sale. The dress was gorgeous no doubt, but absolutely ordinary. The odds are that I will wear it again. And that ordinariness is my point. Our love for each other is so ordinary and absolutely unremarkable (and I mean this in the most romantic way one can), and I would not have to put on a costume to proclaim that. On my wedding day, I was dressed as myself, which was all that I had to be for us to work. It wasn’t a fairy tale, but it was our real life, and one which is wonderful every day.
January 17, 2007
This is My Country, What's Yours? by Noah Richler
A literary atlas plots our places with their stories, and the product of this one is Richler’s country (though of course, he invites us to consider our own). His Canada is much more than just the sum of parts, which is a daring stance to take in some circles, but one that is perhaps supported better by stories than any other foundation. He draws out the connections between Canadians. “You can forget about provincial boundaries and think about the singing of work as a calling these writers have in common. Do so, and our sense of the map of Canada as one of a disparate country is eroded and in its place another one appears, in which novels arising out of shared experiences wash over the territory”. And indeed, Richler manages to show this about more than just work, and our stories become what we have in common.
In the sense of a Canadian Literary Guide, this is an updated Survival, but it’s more a literary guide to Canada than a guide to CanLit. Also, (as Richler’s title suggests), this is a very personal guide. Richler comes to his text decisively, taking controversial stances (refusing to equate the novel with oral traditions, for example), but objectivity is never his intention. Which is more interesting to read than tiptoeing anyway, and his perspectives are well argued.
From sea to sea is not good enough for Richler. He believes that Canada would be a more unified nation had our route across it developed as a loop as opposed to a straight line along the Southern border, back and forth. If we could traverse Canada along the south and back around through the north, we’d be able to take in our country in its entirety. The North would not be missed. We’d arrive at the end and it would be where we started. And in a sense, Richler follows such a trajectory throughout his text. He begins with the Inuit, and the Natives further south, and discusses how Native writers are using the novel for their own purposes. Throughout the book, Richler’s ideas are ruminated over, developed and argued in conversations with other writers. His reader is privy to some excellent conversation. It’s akin to being a fly on the wall at a clever party. From the north, to Vancouver, and then the prairies. And finally, he considers what he sees as Canada’s three distinct societies: Newfoundland, Quebec and the City. Along the way, taking into account Multiculturalism (the new guiding force in CanLit, he says), the legacy of colonialism, the experiences of the Metis and the Acadians, and the seminal Canadian idea of “Nowhere”. As you might imagine, it’s quite a tour.
I liked this book because it taught me things I didn’t know, which is rarer in a book than one might think. I also like it for its rendering of a whole Canada, one in which we all share a part of each other’s story. This is not always an easy assertion to make these days, but one I appreciated this vision. And finally, with its emphasis on contemporary Canadian writing, Richler demonstrates the continuation of a rich and vibrant literary tradition in this country. Nowhere is definitively somewhere after all, and the future is full of possibility.
January 15, 2007
I'm all alone.
Thanks to copious amounts of ice and snow, my husband has been stranded in Montreal. He’s hoping to be back tomorrow.
Update: He’s back! Spent a lovely night in a hotel, caught and early flight back to TO and then worked all day. He’s knackerered. Bless.
January 14, 2007
This land
I’m about halfway through This Is My Country, What’s Yours?, and it’s so overwhelmingly good, I’m not sure what I’ll be able to say about it once I’m finished. Though undoubtedly a book about literature, this is a book about Canada first and foremont, informed by its stories. And so to read this book is to learn more about Canada than CanLit, really. In the past day, I’ve come across this program on the Westray Mining Disaster, and this article on violence and suicide in Nunavut, and my perspective on both is different than it would have been had I not just encountered these issues/places in Richler’s book. How incredibly current and important this book is. And I’m so glad I’ve got the hardcover, because I think it’s only going to mean more with time.
