November 23, 2006
She doing things like havin her boys come from her neighborhood
I just finished knitting the final scarf of the season. See it over at Now Doing.
November 23, 2006
I miss English pop culture
The Beatles, U2, Westlife and Oasis are vying for the top spot on the UK album chart this week. Elton John has been forced to back Westlife due to a dispute over milk. The Sun is excited. Tesco sales are expected to tip the scales in Westlife’s favour. Which is sort of unfortunate. Oh, but I am on the edge of me seat.
November 23, 2006
Fun at the Guardians Books Blog, and elsewhere.
My favourite blog Maud Newton has had a makeover! Fun stuff at the GBB- is it wrong to throw old books away? I now make a point of pruning my shelves twice a year, and any books I don’t love go to the Vic Book Sale or to someone I know who just might love it. In spite of this editing of my collection, the collection continues to grow but at a rate that is partially manageable (ie we only needed to get one new bookcase last year). On how to sell a book by its cover, namely call it after a penguin.? On favouritizing books, and oh I wouldn’t know where to start. On poetry reading misgivings. Lionel Shriver comments. Honours for Bookstart, which is the organization in the world I most want to work for.
November 23, 2006
Dreams are boring but…
last night I had a bookish nightmare! I dreamt that I somehow ended up with a copy of this rather controversial book, and didn’t know what to do with it. I didn’t want to give it away as then people would know I owned it, I didn’t want to sell it as that would be unethical, I couldn’t just throw it out because I didn’t want to be responsible for that filth in the world, and I couldn’t have kept it because then I would have been turned into a pillar of salt. Dilemma was solved by the alarm clock, I think.
Now reading Tristram Shandy, which I am enjoying actually, but I think it’s gonna be a long long time.
November 23, 2006
Happy Birthday to Stuart
(To the right, please find a picture of Stuart rapt by the strains of You Shook Me All Night Long [and also rapt by the effects of far too much alcohol]).
May your birthday celebrations be a delight and the year ahead absolutely brilliant, though you’re certainly off to a excellent start. Happy days to the best person I know.
~Wow, look at you now. Flowers in the window, it’s such a lovely day and I’m glad you feel the same. Because to stand up, out in the crowd- you are one in a million and I love you so. Let’s watch the flowers grow~
November 22, 2006
I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
I think some of I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron is lost on me. I don’t feel bad about my neck, I’ve got four grey hairs, and according to Ephron, I’m still in the heart of my bikini years, and so perhaps I miss what is most wise about her wisdom. I love her writing though, and I liked this book. It’s essential to note that I read it last evening in the bathtub. More essentially, however, I cared if it fell in. It didn’t and I think I’m going to lend it to my mother.
I read Ephron’s Collected Essays early this Fall, after reading her newest book being hyped by Heather Mallick and Jennifer Weiner. The new book is written in the same funny and conversational tone as the essays, with an emphasis on what it is to be a woman in her sixties. Obviously, Ephron feels bad about her neck. But she also reflects on marriage, parenthood, cooking, reading and living in New York. This book had a bit of the appeal of The Year of Magical Thinking, in that it is a glimpse into a pretty brilliant life (because I too want a five bedroom apartment in New York City).
Its lightness is deceptive, however, with an edge most apparent in the final essay “Considering the Alternative” about when your friends start dying and you stop skimping on bath oil. “On Maintenence” is an eye-opening treatise on beauty regimines. Ephron believes she was the only White House Intern JFK never made a pass at, and in fact during her tenure there, nobody even bothered to give her a chair. Oh, she’s funny and she’s got stories to tell. Sometimes I wish she’d tell them in a way that was less flip and throwaway, but such is the essay form we are working with here. I am looking forward to reading her novel and finding out how her voice translates into fiction, and I suspect I’ll come away satisfied.
November 22, 2006
Raise a glass for everyone
The unexciting thing is that our household is a bit ill, but we have to pretend we aren’t because there is too much to be done (and one of us has to go to work afterall). And that the next few weeks are coming on like an onslaught and I don’t feel well enough to ward them off. And that Homeland Security is now consulting with Horatio “Trigger Happy” Caine, but that actually is sort of funny. We like to keep track of how long it takes for an episode of CSI Miami to go off the rails. Last night it clocked in at about eleven minutes.
The exciting thing is that I got a haircut and I love it, and it is very short. And that Stuart’s birthday is on Thursday, so naturally I’ve got cake baking ahead of me. That my much adored PK is in town this weekend and we’ve got a lunch date Saturday. And that we’re just days away from it being appropriate to start playing Do They Know It’s Christmas. And most of all, that come New Years, we’ll have a Kate!
November 21, 2006
echolocation launch
You are invited to attend the launch of echolocation Issue 5, Thursday, November 23, 9:30pm at the Victory Cafe (581 Markham St., 2nd Floor) on this Thursday, November 23, from 9:30pm. This event is free. Snacks will be provided and readers will be reading, and one of those readers will be me.
November 19, 2006
After Words
Da Vinci Code was abandoned after thirty pages because it seemed too long and uncompelling to finish. If it were the last book on earth, however, I’d definitely read to the end. I am tired/hung over as to be incoherent. In this sort of mood, I giggle a lot and Stuart seems like a comedy genius. Because he is. We’ve had a brilliant whirlwind of a weekend and it was wonderful to be a part of it. Wedding was beautiful, bride was stunning, groom handsome, weather was fine, fun was had, company was nice, food was good, husband was danced with, party was excellent and indeed, the whole thing was a sweet dream and I’ll remember it for the rest of my life. There is nothing better than seeing your friend with somebody so perfect for her.
The only fairy tale element absent was the horse and buggy. Katie was forbidden one, because of P. Bernardo’s strictly early 90s wedding.
November 19, 2006
Happily Ever After
And it’s you and me and all of the people
and I don’t know why I can’t keep my eyes off you
