July 10, 2006
News
The heights of today were insomnia well into the night and walking to work in a thunderstorm. Better things were to come along, however, in the form of the news that my story “A Big Enough Army” has won second place in the Toronto Star Short Story Contest. The story will be published soon and I’ll link to it online when that happens.
July 10, 2006
A wide selection of cakes
We added another link to our chain of brilliant weekends. On Friday night, we went out for a patio dinner on College Street with Curtis, and capped the evening off with a trip to The Big Chill and a bit of porching. I woke up early Saturday to do some work, and after lunch we set out to see what we could see. And we saw the 25th Anniversary celebrations at The World’s Biggest Bookstore, where we got complimentary snowcones. We checked out the Yonge Street Festival after that, and then ventured over to Nathan Philips Square for the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. A particular highlight was wading in the fountain. And then we went to see The City of Beaver Exhibit at The Design Exchange, and we absolutely loved that. And then finally, we caught a showing of Superman, which was everything we wanted it to be. Today was spent in absolute contentment at a pool party with a wide selection of cakes. Perfect, as you might expect.
July 9, 2006
The Radiant Way
I first read The Radiant Way nearly two years ago while we were living in Japan and moving house and I should have been packing but wasn’t, I was so absorbed. I note from the inside cover that this book (a ratty paperback that required taping up upon rereading) cost me just one hundred yen from the English Used Book Shop in Kobe. (Technically, this was not my first book by Margaret Drabble, as I’d read The Millstone in 2001 but I had not really liked it at the time, and had forgotten about it by then.) I think I only bought this book because I knew Drabble was AS Byatt’s sister and I had liked Possession. I had no premonition that The Radiant Way would create a Drabble devotee of me.
In my opinion, MD was at her peak around the time of The Radiant Way. The Middle Ground, which I believe preceded it, was also pretty fantastic, as was the Realms of Gold. (Oh don’t get me started, I never met a Drabble I didn’t like). Her early works are very interesting, but perhaps too fashionable, as forty years later, they’re quite dated- perhaps the reason The Millstone didn’t grab me first time around. By the late-1970s, MD was no less concerned with current events and society, but these issues become contextualized in a way that remains relevant. Her later books (since the mid-1990s) are more focused and deliberate and they’re great, but I do particularly love the sprawling nature of The Radiant Way, and her other such books. When Margaret Drabble was trying to write the world. Here, there be England I think- another reason The Millstone mightn’t have so appealed to me. There is particular Englishness about her works that I wouldn’t have understood before I lived there- what it means to be “suffering from a case of the Midlands” for example, which I remember from a book I cannot remember which.
And so I finished reading The Radiant Way this morning before I got out of bed. It did not read so differently from the first time, as I read it only two years ago, though I have since read the rest of the trilogy and so I got to be all omnipotent and know how things turned out. And having since read all of Margaret Drabble’s novels, it’s interesting to see her peculiarities that I wouldn’t have noted first time around. The Radiant Way is a wonderful book about ideas and history, and I am particularly fond of the narrative style. That Margaret Drabble has, through her works, created an entire universe and the ease with which she maneuvers her people within it is amazing. I also like that as readers, we are privy to the author’s view in a way that characters are not. That two characters who are complete strangers pass one another in the street, and nobody else knows it but we do. That characters from her other books keep popping up surprisingly. That the narrator doesn’t profess to make or know the story, just to tell it. To read as a writer, such a narrative is deeply humbling. Through the progression of Drabble’s work, it is clear that it takes ages and ages to get this good, but the thing is so few people ever get this good.
July 7, 2006
Knot Physics
~One problem in tracing the history of knots is the belief by ancient civilizations that knots had magical powers. Tying any knot is an adventure in space-a single piece of cord or twine is used to create two of three dimensions. It is easy to see why they believed magic was needed~ Donna M. Lightbody in Let’s Knot: A Macrame Book
July 6, 2006
Put Your Boots On
This review delves into the short story. And I’ve been wanting to read This Friend Who Got Away for a while now, and ordered it from the public library (!) after finding this old article on it. And I love Heather Mallick. As always.
I also love Franz Ferdinand’s Eleanor, Put Your Boots On.
And Pickle Me This Press will be publishing a new book by summer’s end! How positively exciting.
July 5, 2006
My New Library Card
Today was exciting because I joined the Toronto Public Library! One might wonder why I’d never done so before, but you see, I’ve always had the EJ Pratt Library at my disposal before. Pratt, however, does not contain such treasures as Let’s Knot: A Macrame Book, and so to Lillian H. Smith I went. I am learning macrame for research purposes, as any story about a 1970s housewife must inevitably include such crafting. So that was that. Any day in which I obtain a new library card is a fine day.
Also notable, books in the post! Jpod by Douglas Coupland and Every Day is Mother’s Day by Hilary Mantel were delivered, both thanks to birthday gift vouchers. I am too spoiled.
In Corporate Governance news, Ken Lay’s convenient death. Elsewhere, Canada Books. Like many of us, Zoe Williams has, and is not ashamed. Here on book trailers; incidentally this trailer is appalling. And an article on deciphering blurbs.
July 3, 2006
Even my toenails love long weekends
This weekend was out to Erin’s on Friday night to see her beautiful apartment at Chester and Danforth, and to eat homemade sherbet. She also gave me by birthday present, which was one of her Blythe photos against a streetcar background and it’s amazing. Saturday morning was spent reading, and then watching World Cup. We don’t have cable and our game (with Chinese commentary and the volume down low) was a few seconds ahead of everyone else’s we think, and upon each goal scored on England, the world outside was silent for a brief eternity, and then all at once, I felt like we were in the middle of a stadium. At the Portugal victory, we jumped on our bikes to get out of the neighbourhood (and the horns were blasting well into the night) and cycled to High Park, which was sort of like cycling into a magical world and we had enormous fun. Cycled home in time to get dinner ready, for Katie and Alan were coming over. A fantastic night with them, and we had an excuse to use the cake stand Jennie gave me for my birthday and it was wonderful. On Sunday morning, Stuart cooked the closest thing to a full English we could manage in our meat-free kitchen (eggs, beans and toast) and it was delicious, and we read the paper and hung about until hopped on our bikes again (I feel like a character from ET except we do not have BMXs) and sailed through Trinity Bellwoods Park down to Queen Street, Type Books specifically, where I spent my birthday gift certificiates.
I got Cathedral by Raymond Carver, Angel by Elizabeth Taylor (as recommended by Hilary Mantel), and When I Was Young and in My Prime by Alayna Munce. I was happy with my selections. It was very fair, I think. A Canadian, American and a Brit. Two novels and a short story collection. And I was good enough to support a male author, as well as the two women. They’re on my shelf now, just waiting to be read.
After that we went to Caban. Now I HATE Caban, except that the last time I was there (which was actually the first time), it seemed to be full of treasures and also it is going out of business, so everything was on sale. I thought I would come home with discounted treasures. Was not to be. I have never been in a store in which I wanted so few things. Everything was ugly, cheap or both. And what wasn’t was always over forty dollars. I wanted stainless steel measuring spoons but felt forty dollars was a bit much. Similarly for the Nigella Lawson garlic grater. Or the 80 dollar teapot. Or the hideous overpriced vases. We did find a book of six glasses marked at $5 however, which seemed reasonable. And we needed some glasses. And we were so desparate to make our trek to Caban somewhat worthwhile, we decided to brave the queue. Twenty minutes later, at the check out. Cashier rings them up, and oh yes, they’re five dollars per glass, which comes to $30, which I guess I should have known, but I am just way too accustomed to Wal Mart. Needless to say, we left.
And thereafter was Scrabble and Wine on the porch, reading, dinner and watching About a Boy, which we love. And today I have to do some work, but we have a rooftop dinner scheduled tonight at the home of the marvelous Carolyn.
All in all, it has been a very good weekend.
July 3, 2006
I think I cheated
I finished reading The Master and Margarita on Saturday. I read it last for my Soviet Cultural History class in 2001 and liked it then, but couldn’t much remember it after all this time. I loved it. The rich intertextuality and multitudinous levels of meaning were fascinating and the story was great. But it’s a very heavy book, in every sense. So upon finishing it, I decided to read Don’t You Want Me? by India Knight, which I’d received as a birthday gift. Now I had read My Life On a Plate by India Knight when I lived in England, and thought I’d read this second book too. Upon completion, I realized that I really hadn’t read it. Which I sort of knew all along I think, but after Bulgakov’s epic tale, I wanted a pink novel which a cartoon on the front. I hope that’s ok. Oh my, I read it in a day. A day in which I rolled around laughing hysterically at that little pink book. India Knight is one of my favourite newspaper columnists- deeply provocative, hilarious and well-argued, no matter how outlandish her claim. And she writes funny books. They’re not perfect novels, because as in her columns, Knight fills her books with asides and incidentallys, that don’t exactly carry a plot along. But because one likes India Knight, one is carried along. One is I. This book was absolutely brilliant for a summer’s day involving scrabble and wine on the porch. And I’m now reading The Radiant Way by Margaret Drabble, which is very exciting because this is the book that made me love her (only?) two years ago.
June 30, 2006
Congratulations to Stuart!
Congratulations to my brilliant husband Stuart, who, as of June 30th, has lived in Canada for one year. And who, thanks to bureaucratic inefficiency, is still on a tourist visa. Here is photographic evidence, however, that he has used the past year to become well initiated with our nation’s ways.
*UPDATE: In honour of Stuart’s anniversary and the fact of Canada Day tomorrow, let’s link to this article in The Globe today by a Canadian-via-New Zealand. I am a fervid anti-nationalist, so not down with patriotism and you’ll rarely catch me waving a flag, but I must admit to getting quite emotional at displays of national pride by those who have chosen to live here. As opposed to the rest of us, of course, who were just really lucky, and should be grateful more than proud of anything.
