In homage to my current book (Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure) -- not to say current need to stop brooding over the fact that PopMatters still hasn't gotten back to me regarding their offer to sign me on -- I present a couple of my favourite quotes from Patrick McManus' lovely little offhand parody, Down and Way Out in Brazil, set during a ( Read more... )

Frus*tra*tion (noun) \(ˌ)frəs-ˈtrā-shən\: 1. The discovery, made the precise instant after finding a new edition of The Annotated Sherlock Holmes, that it is marked 'For Use In-Library Only'. 2. And it's nearly closing time.

Clearly, there is a long Saturday afternoon's reading marked out in my future. I will smuggle in some chocolate drops, find ( Read more... )

In between dealing with my crazy family, I apparently feel the need to read about Crazy Nation. Thus, have just finished slogging through Stephen Colbert's I Am America (And So Can You!)...

...yes, yes, this means I'm just now reading the transcript of the 2006 White House Correspondent's Dinner. Hang in there, kids -- eventually I will have become ( Read more... )

Reflection upon ruffling nostalgically through my bookshelves this afternoon: Why has there never been an animated adaptation of Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy-Tacy and Tib stories?

I mean, the earliest ones, when they're still being illustrated by Lois Lenski. The later ones -- past Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, I believe -- drop the friends-forever ( Read more... )

So I'm on a course of kidlit lately, and have just finished Kate Douglas Wiggin's celebrated Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. Also New Chronicles of Rebecca, which tells additional stories within the timeframe of the original.

There I am, reading along, enjoying the new insights that emerge when you reread a childhood favourite... when it hits me: this ( Read more... )

 It's half-way through Earth Hour. During past EHs I have eschewed modern tech altogether and sat around staring at candles, but now I have a battery-powered laptop, and it is comforting. The solitary celebration of darkness makes it awkwardly clear that light is about people, movement, civilization. Dark is about -- among other un-nerving things ( Read more... )

 One of the great pleasures of my new on-demand lifestyle -- besides easy access to the Purdy's Chocolates in the mall -- is that the main library branch is also nearby. Of course, they waited until I showed up to start renovating the grounds, but still not much of a detour (I can hear the foreman now: "Keep the path clear, boys, her fines alone'll ( Read more... )

Finally saw Sherlock Holmes this weekend, as a farewell gift from a friend. And enjoyed it immensely, warts and all.

I have never quite understood the purists who insist on Holmesian externals as the be-all and end-all, that Victorian London be picturesque, cozy and uncomplicated largely because Holmes stands like a bulwark against evil: all-knowing ( Read more... )

OK, so have reached the point in Teh Move where am almost functioning smoothly enough to resume normal existence. Just as soon as I remember what that was. Oh, and find my songbook for tomorrow night's meeting.

But mostly functioning, yeah. Got (not-song)books tidied away on shelves, always a good sign. Made a big pot of chicken pesto fusili ( Read more... )

Moving inside. I gather by this point most of the books were ghostwritten -- and just parenthetically, this general discovery totally messed up my tender preteen mind. From an adult POV, you of course can't expect any sane human being to single-handedly crank out a monthly teen soap over years and years, but as a kid, it's nothing short of betrayal ( Read more... )