Alistair MacLeod’s Second Spring (1980)

2022-02-17T15:54:45-05:00

Stories like Alistair MacLeod’s are often described as timeless, but many of them, like “Second Spring”, feel time-full. Immediately, MacLeod situates readers in time: “It was the summer after the seventh grade that saw me truly smitten with the calf club wish.” Then, he invites readers to fall into

Alistair MacLeod’s Second Spring (1980)2022-02-17T15:54:45-05:00

Witness: Carol Shields’ Happenstance and The Stone Diaries

2020-12-27T14:27:37-05:00

The call for witnesses in The Stone Diaries resonates throughout Shields’ work: “Life is an endless recruiting of witnesses. It seems we need to be observed in our postures of extravagance or shame, we need attention paid to us. Our own memory is altogether too cherishing, which is the

Witness: Carol Shields’ Happenstance and The Stone Diaries2020-12-27T14:27:37-05:00

June 2019, In My Stacks

2019-06-19T17:52:40-04:00

In which I stack equal numbers of books into piles and hope that nobody notices that I have maxed out the loans on my library card. But, I hasten to add, I am still reading from my own shelves too. Anyway, all of these are long-time shelf-sitters or TBR-list

June 2019, In My Stacks2019-06-19T17:52:40-04:00

Mavis Gallant’s “Mousse” (1980)

2018-02-08T19:32:22-05:00

Mavis Gallant knew “fake news” when she saw it. “The picture is an obvious and mischievous fake, and it was with great reluctance that four reputable newspapers decided to run it.” In fewer than a thousand words, “Mousse” considers the status of a once-significant political leader whose position has

Mavis Gallant’s “Mousse” (1980)2018-02-08T19:32:22-05:00

Mavis Gallant’s “A Revised Guide to Paris” (1980)

2017-12-12T10:29:43-05:00

The first story in this Mavis Gallant reading project was "The Other Paris", the title story in her first collection. Therein, a young woman's dreams of Paris fell through (with her dreams of the romance she had imagined). Even after she became engaged to be married, Carol was weary of

Mavis Gallant’s “A Revised Guide to Paris” (1980)2017-12-12T10:29:43-05:00
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