![[Werking Title] Book Club Blog](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8tjITn6mUVxeGBWbf_5oMvkM_v8IgyrNoN-L0Q0o1NpQe3Hyy83mhfi7ezOiJamtqUHOraZZud9qnns82YOysOxhjs1SojF3yTpI4B5OJcEnKuLtKcpIBHMhA_aK1ch7njbRPFw/s1600-r/bookbanner04.jpg)
The writer of our current book club pick, Joseph Boyden, is taking part in a TINARS event, on Tuesday May 9th at the Gladstone. Him and his wife (Amanda Boyden, also a writer) will be interviewed by Quill and Quire editor James Grainger. There's ALSO a magician performing. It's free, and relevant, so I'm gonna try my damndest to make it. Who can resist a good ole' magic show!?!?!?
Coupland will be at the U of T Faculty of Music Building promoting his newest release, jPod, on May 23rd. I might attend, if I get off my ass and order a ticket before they're all sold out. More info HERE.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Da Vinci Code
I am reading the Da Vinci code and as soon as I'm done will post a review here. The main reason I decided to finally read it is because it came out on massmarket paperback, so it's not heavy to carry around.
Also, I will soon write my rant about the Latin-Latino issue. No, really. I'll write it soon, I promise.
Also, I will soon write my rant about the Latin-Latino issue. No, really. I'll write it soon, I promise.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
And the winner is...
Not that I remembered to actually listen to the Canada Reads debate on CBC Radio...
Musician John K. Samson was the winner of this year's debate, defending Miriam Toews' A Complicated Kindness. I really wish that I'd remembered to listen- I think the whole Canada Reads program is so cool. I'm such a book nerd- I know. Especially since I would've been able to consider the arguments more personally, seeing that we read Deafening a couple months ago (which I thought was excellent- good choice Erin- wherever you are!) Why didn't they broadcast it on television, like last year, I wonder? They need to make it as big a deal as like, Canadian Idol. Imagine that? It'd be cool if we could choose the books that were discussed. Books as popular as pop stars? LOL
I'd actually forgotten that Three Day Road was on the list for Canada Reads, also. I hope everyone enjoys it- I'm gonna start it soon, on this rainy Saturday.
Musician John K. Samson was the winner of this year's debate, defending Miriam Toews' A Complicated Kindness. I really wish that I'd remembered to listen- I think the whole Canada Reads program is so cool. I'm such a book nerd- I know. Especially since I would've been able to consider the arguments more personally, seeing that we read Deafening a couple months ago (which I thought was excellent- good choice Erin- wherever you are!) Why didn't they broadcast it on television, like last year, I wonder? They need to make it as big a deal as like, Canadian Idol. Imagine that? It'd be cool if we could choose the books that were discussed. Books as popular as pop stars? LOL
I'd actually forgotten that Three Day Road was on the list for Canada Reads, also. I hope everyone enjoys it- I'm gonna start it soon, on this rainy Saturday.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Breakfast at... errr... dinner at Nestor and Tims!
The book club meeting last night was really good- thanks to new member Gabriella, some phenomenal bean burgers by Tim and entertainment provided by Baby, the fat cat with the sweetest smushiest face in the world!
The menu included martinis (of which Holly Golightly and the narrator shared prior to 11am on the morning of her arrest), apples (eaten by Holly at the beginning of the story) with peanut butter (sent to Holly's brother Fred in the army), burgers (because Holly and Mr. O'Shaughnessy always met at Burger Heaven) with tabouleh (uh- just because it goes good with burgers- it did have tomatoes in it- so there's the connection- Sally Tomatos are my favourite!), with lemon meringue pie for dessert (I really don't remember the connection there... but it was yummy!)
The book discussion went well I think. The only discussion questions I could find were here, so I skimmed through and asked the tougher ones, to keep the conversation going. I think my favourite question was, "What language is spoken in Brazil?" That sparked a whole other discussion on the words "Latino" and "Latina", and whether or not Nestor (who is Chilean) and Maria (Mexican) could be classified as such. Maria was infuriated, of course, since these aren't even real words!! Maria's so cute when she gets angry- she uses the eff word like it's a fluffy knee-high moccasin (going out of style)!All in all, another successful book club meeting. Next month's book is my pick- FINALLY! I chose Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden. I've been wanting to read this book for a while, and when I saw that it was out in paper back already, I figured I'd suggest it!
Monday, April 10, 2006
Union Station by Joe Fiorito
One of the best books I've read that features Toronto is The Song Beneath the Ice, by Joe Fiorito. It is just amazing, I really recommend that everyone reads it. He always writes about Toronto and the way he explains the city, by how it sounds, is just amazing.
Now his most recent book, Union Station, is out. This time it's not a novel, but a collection of stories, again about Toronto. I am really looking forward to put my hands on this one.
Now his most recent book, Union Station, is out. This time it's not a novel, but a collection of stories, again about Toronto. I am really looking forward to put my hands on this one.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Movie Night... Capote and Breakfast at Tiffany's
Hiya!
I'm planning on renting Capote and Breakfast at Tiffany's this Saturday night, so I can be all knowledgable and whatnot for the meeting on Wednesday. If anyone wants to join me, come on over!!
Also, who's bringing what for dinner on Wednesday? Is there a grocery store within walking distance of your place, Nes?
I can't wait to see the fat cat. I should I say.... pudgy goodness?
I'm planning on renting Capote and Breakfast at Tiffany's this Saturday night, so I can be all knowledgable and whatnot for the meeting on Wednesday. If anyone wants to join me, come on over!!
Also, who's bringing what for dinner on Wednesday? Is there a grocery store within walking distance of your place, Nes?
I can't wait to see the fat cat. I should I say.... pudgy goodness?
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
This Is Not A Reading Series presents...
April 20th -- Conservationist TIM FLANNERY in conversation with BOB McDONALD on the dangers of climate change @ OISE Auditorium... $5
April 26 -- Comics artists HARVEY PEKAR, JESSICA ABEL & MATT MADDEN with SPACE Producer MARK ASKWITH @ Innis Town Hall... $5
April 27 -- DR SHIRIN EBADI, 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, in conversation with TINA SREBOTNJAK @ OISE Auditorium... $5
April 26 -- Comics artists HARVEY PEKAR, JESSICA ABEL & MATT MADDEN with SPACE Producer MARK ASKWITH @ Innis Town Hall... $5
April 27 -- DR SHIRIN EBADI, 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, in conversation with TINA SREBOTNJAK @ OISE Auditorium... $5
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Capote
I finished Breakfast at Tiffany's and decided I wanted to watch Capote, so I rented it.
It is a good and interesting movie. Since I didn't know much about Truman Capote I looked him up on Wikipedia.
It was exciting to see that he was a childhood friend of Harper Lee's (and she is in the movie too), some people thought that he had ghost written To Kill a Mockingbird. The character of Dill was inspired on him.
I haven't seen the movie in a long time, but after reading the book I remembered that Breakfast at Tiffany's (the movie) was a bit different. First, Holly Golightly is supposed to be a blonde, and Audrey Hepburn is most certainly not. Well, apparently Capote was not amused with the character being toned down to appeal to the mass audiences for the movie.
Really interesting.
It is a good and interesting movie. Since I didn't know much about Truman Capote I looked him up on Wikipedia.
It was exciting to see that he was a childhood friend of Harper Lee's (and she is in the movie too), some people thought that he had ghost written To Kill a Mockingbird. The character of Dill was inspired on him.
I haven't seen the movie in a long time, but after reading the book I remembered that Breakfast at Tiffany's (the movie) was a bit different. First, Holly Golightly is supposed to be a blonde, and Audrey Hepburn is most certainly not. Well, apparently Capote was not amused with the character being toned down to appeal to the mass audiences for the movie.
Really interesting.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Tonight at the Gladstone Hotel Ballroom...
Martha Baillie - The Shape I Gave You (Knopf Canada)
Author Martha Baillie launches her new novel with jazz by Lightstone, Katz & Quarrington, songs by vocalist Theo Heras accompanied by Cindy Fairbank, art exhibits by Colm MacCool & Vid Ingelevics, and an interview with Marc Glassman.
Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen St W, TorontoTues, Mar 21, 7-10pm (doors 7pm), free
Join us as author Martha Baillie celebrates the publication of her new novel, The Shape I Gave You (Knopf Canada).
The Shape I Gave You (Knopf Canada) - The night before she leaves to give a recital in another city, Ulrike Huguenot, a young pianist, arrives at her Berlin apartment to find an unexpected and unwelcome letter. It is from Beatrice Mann, a Canadian sculptor, a friend of her father, Gustave, and also, Ulrike believes, his lover. What could this woman possibly have to say to her? And why now, seven years after her father’s death? “I am writing to you because my daughter has died,” begins Beatrice’s extraordinary letter of confession. Her only child, Ines, has been killed at the age of eighteen, and Beatrice has closed herself in her Toronto studio. Unable to speak openly with her grieving husband, Isaac, she turns to Ulrike, a young woman she barely knows. While Beatrice retells and possibly reshapes the past, Isaac sets out on a journey of his own. As Ulrike reads about Beatrice’s life and Gustave’s role in it, she reluctantly revisits the world of her own memories and starts to see her present in a different light. In The Shape I Gave You, acclaimed novelist and poet Martha Baillie explores the complex relationships between parents and children, men and women, to create a novel of spare elegance that gives piercing insight into the nature of confession and how we choose who to ask for absolution.
Martha Baillie was born in Toronto. Her poems have been widely published in journals such as Descant, Prairie Fire and the Antigonish Review. Her first novel, My Sister Esther, was published by Turnstone Press in 1995. Her second, Madame Balashovskaya’s Apartment, was published by Turnstone Press in 1999 and then published in Germany and Hungary. After stints in Edinburgh, Paris and Asia, Baillie returned to Toronto where she lives with her family.
Author Martha Baillie launches her new novel with jazz by Lightstone, Katz & Quarrington, songs by vocalist Theo Heras accompanied by Cindy Fairbank, art exhibits by Colm MacCool & Vid Ingelevics, and an interview with Marc Glassman.
Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen St W, TorontoTues, Mar 21, 7-10pm (doors 7pm), free
Join us as author Martha Baillie celebrates the publication of her new novel, The Shape I Gave You (Knopf Canada).
The Shape I Gave You (Knopf Canada) - The night before she leaves to give a recital in another city, Ulrike Huguenot, a young pianist, arrives at her Berlin apartment to find an unexpected and unwelcome letter. It is from Beatrice Mann, a Canadian sculptor, a friend of her father, Gustave, and also, Ulrike believes, his lover. What could this woman possibly have to say to her? And why now, seven years after her father’s death? “I am writing to you because my daughter has died,” begins Beatrice’s extraordinary letter of confession. Her only child, Ines, has been killed at the age of eighteen, and Beatrice has closed herself in her Toronto studio. Unable to speak openly with her grieving husband, Isaac, she turns to Ulrike, a young woman she barely knows. While Beatrice retells and possibly reshapes the past, Isaac sets out on a journey of his own. As Ulrike reads about Beatrice’s life and Gustave’s role in it, she reluctantly revisits the world of her own memories and starts to see her present in a different light. In The Shape I Gave You, acclaimed novelist and poet Martha Baillie explores the complex relationships between parents and children, men and women, to create a novel of spare elegance that gives piercing insight into the nature of confession and how we choose who to ask for absolution.
Martha Baillie was born in Toronto. Her poems have been widely published in journals such as Descant, Prairie Fire and the Antigonish Review. Her first novel, My Sister Esther, was published by Turnstone Press in 1995. Her second, Madame Balashovskaya’s Apartment, was published by Turnstone Press in 1999 and then published in Germany and Hungary. After stints in Edinburgh, Paris and Asia, Baillie returned to Toronto where she lives with her family.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Book City Spring Warehouse Sale
Book City is having their spring warehouse sale at the Leaside Community Centre. It is located at the intersection of Millwood and Laird.
Hours are Friday March 17 from 10 til 8 and Saturday March 18 and Sunday March 19 from 10 til 6.
Hours are Friday March 17 from 10 til 8 and Saturday March 18 and Sunday March 19 from 10 til 6.
Monday, March 13, 2006
To be in a book.
"To be in a book. To slip into the crease where two pages meet. To live in the place where your eyes alight upon the words to ignite a world of smoke and peril, colour and serene delight. That is a journey no one can end with the change of a channel. Enduring magic."
-- from The Way the Crow Flies, by Anne-Marie MacDonald
-- from The Way the Crow Flies, by Anne-Marie MacDonald
Essential Toronto Reading...
I found this on Torontoist...
http://readingt.readingcities.com/index.php
It's a list of books based in Toronto. I figured I'd post this, since I know we all love to read books where we recognize the setting. Oh, and BTW- an Austen Clarke book is on there, just to warn you! I thought of commenting, and bad mouthing Clarke for pompousness and banality, but I figure I'd hear it pretty good from Clarke supporters. Meh!
http://readingt.readingcities.com/index.php
It's a list of books based in Toronto. I figured I'd post this, since I know we all love to read books where we recognize the setting. Oh, and BTW- an Austen Clarke book is on there, just to warn you! I thought of commenting, and bad mouthing Clarke for pompousness and banality, but I figure I'd hear it pretty good from Clarke supporters. Meh!
Thursday, March 09, 2006
April's Book choice has been decided...
The pick is Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote (unanimously I think!)
This will be cool; I had no idea B at T's was even written by Truman Capote, and with the Oscar buzz, it makes it even more exciting to be reading it (I know, I know, I'm such a loser!) It will be very interesting to read... I'm gonna try to see Capote before I pick up the book. Knowing a bit about the author always gives the book a bit more depth, I find. Of course, we could always just read about Capote on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_capote
We're meeting at Nestor's place... check your email for the address!
Oh, and thanks to Nes for the group email set up- it's a bit confusing, but I think it'll be helpful in the long run.
This will be cool; I had no idea B at T's was even written by Truman Capote, and with the Oscar buzz, it makes it even more exciting to be reading it (I know, I know, I'm such a loser!) It will be very interesting to read... I'm gonna try to see Capote before I pick up the book. Knowing a bit about the author always gives the book a bit more depth, I find. Of course, we could always just read about Capote on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_capote
We're meeting at Nestor's place... check your email for the address!
Oh, and thanks to Nes for the group email set up- it's a bit confusing, but I think it'll be helpful in the long run.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
It was six o'clock and Kevin had the beer. Nestor opened the door for him.
This time, everyone had read the book. It was Cannery Row by John Steinbeck.
I chose the book because I have actually been to Monterey California, and when you go there they always tell you that that's where Steinbeck wrote Cannery Row, I had only read East of Eden and was curious about it.
We always try to have a dinner related to what people eat in the book. They drink lots of beer on Cannery Row and eat cheeseburgers and fried steak. It was a bit difficult to have that, so I made chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes.
We did drink beer, though.
We also ate some cake (they eat cake in the book) and drank even more beer.
This time we actually talked about the book and talked just a little bit about sex (unlike other times where the only thing we do is gossip, eat and drink).
Everyone liked the book. I was laughing out loud while reading it on the subway. It's about this group of people, who live in Monterey in between wars. One of them is a scientist. He is very well liked by all his neighbours and they decide to throw a party for him.
The book is surrounded by chapters that seem to be random, but in my opinion they are actually the chapters that make this book a classic. They are about people and about life. Even 60 years after the book has gone, the underlying meaning of it is still valid. It's about community, it's about human beings. It's about everyday living.
This time, everyone had read the book. It was Cannery Row by John Steinbeck.
I chose the book because I have actually been to Monterey California, and when you go there they always tell you that that's where Steinbeck wrote Cannery Row, I had only read East of Eden and was curious about it.
We always try to have a dinner related to what people eat in the book. They drink lots of beer on Cannery Row and eat cheeseburgers and fried steak. It was a bit difficult to have that, so I made chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes.
We did drink beer, though.
We also ate some cake (they eat cake in the book) and drank even more beer.
This time we actually talked about the book and talked just a little bit about sex (unlike other times where the only thing we do is gossip, eat and drink).
Everyone liked the book. I was laughing out loud while reading it on the subway. It's about this group of people, who live in Monterey in between wars. One of them is a scientist. He is very well liked by all his neighbours and they decide to throw a party for him.
The book is surrounded by chapters that seem to be random, but in my opinion they are actually the chapters that make this book a classic. They are about people and about life. Even 60 years after the book has gone, the underlying meaning of it is still valid. It's about community, it's about human beings. It's about everyday living.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
This Is Not A Reading Series... upcoming events.
This Is Not A Reading Series tickets go on sale today... I wouldn't mind checking out Coupland! TINARS is put on by Pages Books & Magazines, the book shop on Queen Street West.
April 20 - Tim Flannery in conversation with Bob MacDonald - $5 (also available through www.theweathermakers.ca)
April 26 - Harvey Pekar, Jessica Abel and Matt Madden hosted by Mark Askwith - $5 (also available at The Beguiling, 601 Markham St)
April 27 - Dr Shirin Ebadi in conversation with Tina Srebotnjak - $5
May 23 - Douglas Coupland: jPod - $5
AND... Jonathan Ames (who is supposedly hilarious) is coming to town for a free event on March 7th at the Gladstone. I think I'm definitely going to try to check this out. It's free, and close to my place. And at the Gladstone! I love that place.
April 20 - Tim Flannery in conversation with Bob MacDonald - $5 (also available through www.theweathermakers.ca)
April 26 - Harvey Pekar, Jessica Abel and Matt Madden hosted by Mark Askwith - $5 (also available at The Beguiling, 601 Markham St)
April 27 - Dr Shirin Ebadi in conversation with Tina Srebotnjak - $5
May 23 - Douglas Coupland: jPod - $5
AND... Jonathan Ames (who is supposedly hilarious) is coming to town for a free event on March 7th at the Gladstone. I think I'm definitely going to try to check this out. It's free, and close to my place. And at the Gladstone! I love that place.
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