At first it is surprising. To come across the word ‘defenestration’ in a Mavis Gallant story. Often these are inward-looking stories, detailed and expansive glimpses into the interior lives of quiet – and often solitary – characters. Someone drives too quickly or protests the contents of a sermon, someone
In which I discuss some of the skinny volumes which have kept me company while on the move, while heavier volumes (like Steven Price's By Gaslight and Ami McKay's The Witches of New York) stayed home. The Selected Poetry of Ryszard Kapuściński is the first in the International Translation Series
Such good reading this summer, so far. In other respects, perhaps mine has not been the most productive summer. But it all depends what one puts on a to-do list, doesn't it! What if your to-do list was all about the books in your stacks? Doubleday Canada - Penguin Random
Tomorrow, I will be on the move. So many of the books currently occupying a position in my stacks are bulky and heavy, that it was easy to choose amongst the skinny residents. I have one more story to read in Gabrielle Roy's The Road Past Altamont. There are only three in
"The more I write, the more I discover that the partition between real and invented is as thin as a wall in a cheap hotel room." So says Jeanette Winterson, but thinking of Mary Novik's novel Muse, one might think the partition as thin as the pope's bedroom chamber curtain.
