Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian (2007) Art by Ellen Forney Little Brown, 2009 A few years ago I saw Sherman Alexie at a ridiculously underattended reading in a small Toronto bookstore on a fine Friday night in summer. I remember wondering if there wasn't something
Arnold Bennett, Riceyman Steps Grosset & Dunlap (1923) My experience with Arnold Bennett's fiction can be easily summed up: The Old Wives' Tale (1908). But what I lack in experience, I make up for in enthusiasm: I loved that novel. I was expecting it to be old-fashioned, dreary and a
Remember how I said that I started reading these stories because I wanted to get ahead of the reading game? That The New Yorker's list of 20Under40 was kind of a random pick for me to try to redirect my habit of ignoring similar lists (yes, I even mentioned Granta's
The IFOA, International Festival of Authors, is an annual event in Toronto for the bookish. Warning: if you don't live in Toronto, you might not want to check out their line-up unless you're prepared to book transportation and purchase memberships and whole backlists to boot. It's not that much of
With my reading time somewhat fragmented this summer, I ended up reading quite a few short stories and essays, which has inspired me to methodically read through "The New Yorker's 20 Under 40" collection. Chatter about that is already underway, and it will keep me busy on Mondays and Thursdays
