City of Glass was the first Paul Auster I was introduced to, in college. I loved it; he packed so much into such a short novel.

Last month (or was it March! Yikes!) I borrowed this from amarylliss: City of Glass, the Graphic Novel.

I was intrigued and even slightly horrified at how could someone do such a thing? But amarylliss gave it a thumbs-up, and sent it ( Read more... )

[where did this post go? I thought it got posted last night, but here it is in the unsaved cache. Fortunately!]

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles is a breezy read through the world of American Chinese food. The main takeaway (sorry) is how the American Chinese food experience is so... actually... American. She examines nearly every facet you might ( Read more... )

Unclutterer reports that O'Reilly tech books has an ebook promotion for $4.99 per book you already own. This looks quite useful to me ( Read more... )

I finished the audio-book version of Stumbling on Happiness on the drive back from my parents' place.

I wrote about Daniel Gilbert last August when he was interviewed on Tapestry, the CBC radio program on faith and spirituality (and so did d., which I link to from that post). Re-reading my impressions at the time, I conclude his book made a much ( Read more... )

The Geographer's Library is Jon Fasman's first novel; I will probably read his second when it comes out in OctoberIt's rare for a mystery novel to draw me in. Successful points: a likable but somewhat unreliable narrator, wide-ranging storylines (Moscow, Siberia, Estonia, Turkey; 1200 through modern times) and just a bit of magic ( Read more... )

The author of Unlikely Utopia: the Surprising Triumph of Canadian Pluralism spoke here last night.

[...and I'll fill in the details later.]

[and I suck. I didn't get to this until today, Sunday the 18th, and I barely remember any of the talk's details.]

Michael Adams is an engaging speaker (as well as a good writer, judging by Fire and IceThe ( Read more... )

A bit over a month ago, I saw Paprika, and its plot reminded me of one of the novels that turned me on to Greg Bear- Queen of Angels, a police thriller set in 2048 where an illegal device can read the "Geography of the Mind"- a remapping of one person's brain so it will make sense to others. I remember I had been really impressed by this book, ( Read more... )

http://noonebelongsheremorethanyou.com is great.

I've read one of her stories, "The Swim Team" in Harpers (Jan '07). It was clever, but I need to re-read it before I decide to buy the book.

Now I want to see "Me and You and Everyone We Know."

Blame America... and oh yeah, the Jews is a review in this week's Globe and Mail Books section, of a new book, Uncouth Nation: Why Europe Dislikes America by Andrei Markovits. The book sounds challenging: how opinion of the US in Europe has been prejudicially negative (giving a number of "damned if you do, damned if you don't" examples, such as ( Read more... )

It always starts somewhere small. I just wanted a better todo list. That search, around when I started my new job, led me to this book.

Getting Things Done by David Allen, a California business-coach and consultant, is a 250-page quick read (I skimmed it in three days) on improving one's self-organization and work management. It was an enjoyable ( Read more... )