The Buzz...About Books

Thanks, Toronto - and Keep Reading!

I’m a little sad; I can’t deny it.

April is almost over…and that means Keep Toronto Reading month is coming to an end. Here are just a couple of highlights to keep you reading and get a little excited all over again…

There were tons of things happening on the library’s Facebook page. Every Tuesday in April, readers posted three favourite books, and librarians across the city suggested one (or two!) more to try. I had a lot of fun answering some of the recommendations myself, and had an even better time checking out the huge variety of posted books. If there was ever a doubt that Toronto is a reading city, one only had to take a look at the eclectic mix of favourites!

This year’s thought provoking One Book, Girls Fall Down, incited a number of events throughout Toronto. These included everything from a city-wide photo contest to graffiti workshops, to guest lecturers exploring key issues like homelessness and mental health. In addition, there were numerous other Keep Toronto Reading events, both online and in branches that had all ages and all types of readers coming around. These included author visits, like those part of the eh List author series (which is ongoing!)

This year’s theme, What Are You Reading Where?, kept us all connected through books and spaces, and you may have noticed the Reader Walls and other displays in library branches. We also had a chance to get some YouTube videos up of what Torontonians were reading this month – so be sure to check that out!

If you’re still looking for something to read, don’t forget to check out our booklists. These are updated regularly, with different themes to fit a variety of reading tastes and interests. For example, if you really liked the Toronto-based aspect of Girls Fall Down, you may want to check out other titles that also have a Toronto connection.

 

Hope you enjoyed this April’s Keep Toronto Reading features and events – we certainly had fun being a part of it!

Seen Reading Toronto Fiction

If it's April it must be Keep Toronto Reading at the library.  As part of this festival of reading people all over Toronto can be seen reading the library's One Book choice "Girls fall Down" by Maggie Helwig.  The library has planned some fascinating and fun events around the content which includes our subway system and our wonderful ravines.

 

I highly recommend "Girls Fall Down".  It's part love-in for the city of Toronto, part love story, part mystery.   It is so much fun reading a book  and knowing exactly where the characters are walking or the subway stop they get off at or streetcar line they're taking.   Still, I've lived here a long, long time and there some places I've never seen but now want to visit like the Terraced Garden in High Park or the Brickworks in the Don Valley.   As to the story girls do indeed start falling.  Are they being poisoned or faking it?   Will the main characters, Alex and Susie, figure out what's actually going on in time and perhaps rekindle their grand passion?   See also Tita's blog review.

 

For those who have already read the book and want more fiction featuring Toronto Library Staff have a list of recommended reads called Toronto Fiction and I have a few to add below:

Amazing Absorbing Boy by Rabindanrath Maharaj

Fauna by Alissa York

Unless by Carol Shields

And here is some just published fiction set in Toronto:

Everybody has Everything by Katrina Onstad

Spoiled Rotten by Mary Jackman

Web of Angels by Lilian Nattel

 

I'm looking forward to Julie Wilson's "Seen Reading"  which contains short stories inspired by sightings of people reading in public, on Toronto's transit system.  See also her great Seen Reading blog.

 

What are you reading?   Where are you reading?    Join the conversation and be seen reading this month and all year round.

 

The eh List presents Peter Robinson

Meet crime novelist Peter Robinson, back with the nineteenth installment of the award-winning Inspector Banks series.  In Bad Boy, the inspector's professional and personal lives collide--never a good thing for a homicide detective.

Inspector Banks first appeared in print in 1988's Gallows View.  More recently, Banks found his way onto the small screen with a British television adaptation of the 2001 novel Aftermath.  Additional episodes are now being filmed.

Wednesday  May 25 
S. Walter Stewart Branch, 7 PM

Thursday May 26
Toronto Reference Library, 12:30 PM

The eh List, May 17-18

Meet the authors everyone's reading at The eh List Author Series.

Tuesday May 17

 

Meet David Homel, author of Midway.  Ben Allan is a a college professor studying dromomania, an obscure mental illness which causes otherwise normal men to wander aimlessly.  As he approaches his fiftieth birthday, Allan suddenly becomes a victim of the disorder himself.

Taylor Branch, 7 pm

 

 

Wednesday May 18

 Meet Dany Laferrière, one of French Canada's most celebrated writers. In his latest novel a black writer in Montreal has sold a book on the basis of its title--I am a Japanese Writer.  Unfortunately, there is no book, just a title and the author is suffering from writer's block.  Novelist David Homel, Laferrière's translator and collaborator will be on hand to join in the fun.

Runnymede Branch, 7 pm

Wednesday May 18

Note: Our program with Anne Fortier has been cancelled.  We apologize for the inconvenience.

 

 

The eh List, May 19

Meet  the authors everyone's reading at The eh List Author Series.

Thursday May 19

Join Dany Laferrière and his English-language translator, David Homel for an evening exploring their creative collaboration. 

This program is in French.
Ce programme est en français.

Yorkville Branch, 7 pm

 

Anne Fortier's blockbuster novel Juliet follows a young American woman as she travels to Siena, Italy in search of treasure and discovers the true story of her ancestor, Shakespeare's Juliet.

Barbara Frum Branch, 7 pm

 

 
 
Meet Nazneen Sheikh and hear her read from her delightful memoir, Moon Over Marrakech.  Following the death of her husband, Sheikh returns to the place of their honeymoon to write and unexpectedly falls in love.

Northern District Branch, 7 pm

Dr. Brian Goldman at North York Central

Meet host of CBC's White Coat, Black Art, Dr. Brian Goldman

Emergency room doctor and popular medical journalist Brian Goldman will share amusing and disturbing tales from The Night Shift at a busy downtown hospital. Goldman opens the doors and examines what is really going on inside hospitals and in the minds of those who run them.

Meet the writers everyone's reading at The eh List Author Series.

Wednesday, May 4, 7 pm

North York Central Library, Concourse
FREE.  Call to register at 416-395-5639

The eh List, March 28-April 2

This week meet Russell Smith--novelist and cultural commentator.

The author of eight books, he also writes two weekly columns for the Globe and Mail.  In Girl Crazy, Russell Smith gives us the straight goods on what Justin, a modern, white, overeducated man thinks of the women he loves, likes, or even just sees on the street.  From what they wear to what they want, Justin believes he's on target until he begins to spiral into a lifestyle he never expected. 

The Walrus described Girl Crazy as "a darkly comic study of fractured masculinity".

Other books by Russell Smith:

Fiction

Diana: A Diary in the Second Person
Muriella Pent
The Princess and the Whiskheads
Young Men
Noise
How Insensitive

Non-Fiction

Men's Style: The Thinking Man's Guide to Dress

Wednesday March 30, 7 pm
North York Central Library
Call to register.  Space is limited.
416-395-5639

The eh List March 15-19

March Break isn't just for the kids.  Come and meet the authors everyone's reading in Toronto Public Library's author series, The eh List. 

Tuesday March 15

Join André Alexis, author of novels, plays and short stories, for a reading and discussion of his controversial new book, Beauty and Sadness, a collection of stories and essays on Canadian literature and criticism. 

Runnymede Branch, 7 pm

 

 

Thursday March 17

Award-winning mystery writer, Giles Blunt will be reading and discussing the latest book in his John Cardinal series, Crime Machine.

Toronto Reference Library, 7 pm

 

 

Thursday March 17

Terry Fallis, author of 2011 Canada Reads winner, The Best Laid Plans, will discuss his adventures in Canadian literature and his latest novel The High Road.

Barbara Frum Branch, 7 pm

 

Her Majesty Requests

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anticipating some royal fever this year, the North York Central Library Film Club presents:

• Jan 17 - The Queen  w/ Helen Mirren, James Cromwell, Sylvia Syms
• Feb 23 - Young Victoria w/ Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson
• Mar 14 - Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown w/ Judy Dench, Billy Connolly, Geoffrey Palmer (which is currently unavailable on DVD)

All films start at 6:00 p.m. in the North York Central Library Auditorium. Admission is free. To register, call 416-395-5672 or visit the Browsery on the main floor.

Some great films about Elizabeth I:

Elizabeth  w/ Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Joseph Fiennes, Richard Attenborough, John Gielgud. (Blanchett, in the title role, was robbed of her Oscar by Gywneth Paltrow for her role in...oh, I forget.)

Elizabeth: The Golden Age w/ Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Clive Owen. The sequel to Elizabeth. The versatile Blanchett was nominated for an Oscar twice that year - for her role as Elizabeth I and for her role as Bob Dylan.

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex w/ Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland. This 1939 Hollywood version, directed by Michael Curtiz, focused on the bad romance between Elizabeth and Essex, the latter played by 30s hottie, Flynn.

and some thrilling television series:

Elizabeth I (Channel 4, 2005) Helen Mirren, Jeremy Irons, Hugh Dancy. Emmy and Golden Globe winning series. Mirren demonstrates she is suited to play royalty.

Elizabeth I: The Virgin Queen (Masterpiece Theatre, 2005) 4-part series w/ Anne-Marie Duff, Tom Hardy focusing on Elizabeth's personal life. (Elizabeth R, the original 1971 BBC series starring Glenda Jackson, is finally being re-released on DVD later this month).

And, if you want to check out Elizabeth's dad, there is always the bawdy, blood-soaked Irish-Canadian television series, The Tudors Seasons 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Bertie and Elizabeth is the 2002 Masterpiece Theatre story of King George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (better known as the Queen Mother).

Want to go further back?  Try Warrior Queen Boudica, the bodacious Brit who fought the Roman occupation.

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Sale!

The North York Central Library Youth Advisory Group members will be hosting a Word Out Book Sale at North York Central Library on Sat. July 10 from 2-4 p.m.

Buy great teen reads for cheap, cheap prices!

Don't miss out on this awesome sale. Many thanks to Book Ends for the book donations.

Youth can check out Word Out 2010 online. They can read great books, win cool prizes, make video book reviews, and get their library fines forgiven!