My Misspent Youth, by Meghan Daum. Pub 2001 Tepid, vapid, insipid - are there any other -id words in this vein? They would apply here. I can't remember how I was tricked into starting this book, but if I ever remember or find the culprit, I'll buy them the blandest, most boring and lukewarm glass... Continue Reading →
Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman. Book report #8 (2017)
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. Pub 2017. I picked this one up for a few reasons. One, I’ve always meant to read Neil Gaiman and just never have. Two, I enjoy mythological tales and have never really known the Norse versions. Third, I thought it was published in 2016, so could check that off my... Continue Reading →
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. Book report #7 (2017)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Pub 1951. A classic of the dystopia genre, I was familiar with the essence of the story but had never read this one, nor anything else by Bradbury. There is much more going on in the story than the burning of books, and a fantastical future world is described. However,... Continue Reading →
Item #17: Pin Collection
One of a collection of items kept in the brown suitcase, this small box contains a diverse collection of buttons, badges and lapel pins from various points in my childhood. Spilling the box out was little trip down memory lane. Various pins and buttons from places lived, events attended, and memorable dates, I remember having... Continue Reading →
The Children Act, by Ian McEwan. Book report #6 (2017)
The Children Act, by Ian McEwan. Pub 2014 A friend who shares my fondness for “authors from the Brit circle”, such as Julian Barnes, sent me this book, a thoughtful and loving get-well gift. I had read just one other by McEwan – On Chesil Beach – which I did not love, or even really... Continue Reading →
The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes. Book report #5 (2017)
The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes. Pub 2011 This is a book I've read before (more than once), which is something I've done with a few books by Julian Barnes. This is a short one - just ~150 pages - but it is as full and evocative as his other writings. The characters are... Continue Reading →
Foodville, by Timothy Taylor. Book report #4 (2017)
Foodville: Biting dispatches from a food-obsessed city, by Timothy Taylor. Pub 2014. This little slip of a book is especially appealing to me as it highlights some of restaurant culture and history in Vancouver over the past 20 years, overlapping exactly with my own time period of dining here. From that point of view, this... Continue Reading →
Love Sonnets and Elegies, by Louise Labé. Book report #2 (2017)
Love Sonnets and Elegies, by Louise Labé. I was introduced to Louise Labé last year - a site on FaceBook posted one of her poems (Sonnet 18, "Kiss me, rekiss me, & kiss me again") on Valentines Day, as a promotion for a reissue of their English translation. I was hooked. A 16th-century quasi-feminist (I... Continue Reading →
Shady Characters, by Keith Houston. Book report #1 (2017).
Sh@dy Charac+ers: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols & Other Typographical Marks. By Ke!th H*uston. Pub. 2013. Fun and interesting read, but not for non-pedants, there is some very interesting history about lesser known marks (pilcrow, anyone?) and more common ones. The book is enlightening and fun, especially for fans of the written word. There... Continue Reading →
2017 Reading Challenge
I started a new list and challenge this year, borrowed from something I saw on Facebook - read 26 books this year, satisfying a list of criteria designed to keep the list diverse and encourage exploring new styles, genres, etc. With a few friends, we came up with our own version of the list, and... Continue Reading →
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