December 11, 2006
Not the End of the World by Kate Atkinson
After I had read just three of her novels, Kate Atkinson was added to my list of favourite writers, and I am currently exploring the rest of her work with glee. Her collection of short stories Not the End of the World(2003) was a brilliant read, fun and a bit mind-bending. My favourite thing about this collection was its collectionness. These stories belong together, linked through different characters’ relationships. A passing reference in one story might become the main character in another, which makes for an engaging reading process (and much rereading to understand the emphasis of what you might have passed over the first time). The stories are also link through a theme of “end of the worldness”, though this is interpreted in such various ways that the collection is entirely diverse and at times surprising. She is remarkably adept at portraying lost and loneliness, and she is so edgy, and yet humour ever-present. Some of the stories straddle a strange place in between magic and realist, but I soon found myself trusting Atkinson and her universe entirely. She is a distinctly literary writer, as evidenced by the numerous classical allusions woven throughout the text, but these stories are also heavy in terms of Buffy-content (the vampire slaying variety). These contrasts underline Kate Atkinson’s fundamental unclassifiability, and so we’ll just have to file her (and this book) under “wonderful”.
December 10, 2006
Heartburn/Not the End of the World
Reading Nora Ephron’s Heartburn was a treat. Like her essays, the novel straddles an “in-between space” that doesn’t quite fit into any genre, but she’s such a funny woman and the story is hilariously absurd. The novel is like candy, but really expensive well-made candy. And it’s one of many novels I’ve read lately that have made me wish I knew more Hebrew. So it goes. Now reading Not the End of the World by the brilliant Kate Atkinson and I expect it will be “bloody marvelous”.
December 10, 2006
Bring on the Carols
It’s been a wonderful weekend, as our houseguests turned out to be brilliant fun, and Christmas plans are well underway. Saffrina and Stu went to university together, and she rolled into town Thursday night with her fantastic boyfriend Ivan, en route to England after two and a half years in New Zealand. They are coming to Canada next, they’ve decided, and they’re touring the country now to choose a city. I think we sold Toronto well, though the city sort of sold itself. We had a lovely time together, out for dinner in Little Italy, and cooking dinner at our place the other two nights. They kept themselves busy in the day while Stuart worked and I did my work at home. Yesterday I’d already scheduled a day off the toil, and so we all partook in fun (and Curtis came too). Sleeping late, and then out for lunch in Chinatown. Saff and Ivan set off for the afternoon, and we came home to buy our Christmas tree and start the Christmas baking. All of us decorated the tree together later, and I baked a pie for Stuart’s potluck at work, made a tray of nanaimo bars, and a big batch of dough for Christmas cookies which all of us made together. Dinner was started at this point, and our house was completely chaos, but the carols were going on, and we were deep into glasses of wine and Baileys. Leaves stuck in the table and we all sat down for supper, and it was a splendid splendid night that went on well into morning. Our houseguests left this morning and we were so sad to see them go.
December 10, 2006
Pickle Me This Kudos
Congratulations to my friend Jennie, who received her Masters on Thursday, adding yet another item to her long list of distinguished attributes (which also include the fine man on her left).
December 7, 2006
A Wonderful Story
“The Third and Final Continent” by Jhumpa Lahiri is the best short story I’ve ever read, and has been endorsed by the likes of Rebecca Rosenblum and my husband Stuart. And I’ve just found a copy of it online. For some absolute reading pleasure, I direct you here. And you absolutely won’t be sorry.
December 7, 2006
The Remains of the Day
I just finished reading The Remains of the Day, which in its subtlety just snuck up on me and stole the ground. I’ve lately been thinking about negative capability, and I think this book answered so many questions. A most powerful whisper, and I’m not quite myself as a result of having overheard it.
December 7, 2006
Footnotes
If my academic career were to continue beyond next Friday, I would require some sort of rehabilitation program for my addiction to footnotes. I suspect this is a common graduate student affliction, but it feels personal to me. I wonder how we ever got along without them. Moreover, I wish I could scatter them throughout my conversations. Not my fiction so much; I think that’s not clever anymore. But yes, if I could find a way to talk with footnotes. I think it would cut down on the number of times I change topic within a single sentence.
