The Buzz...About Books

Still Bleeding Blue

Toronto hockey fans -- this is for you.

If you're still reeling from the devastating loss that was Game 7 on Monday night, know that you're not alone. Many Leafs fans across the city are still in shock, and even the bandwagon fans knew a tragedy when they saw one. The sheer volume of jaws dropping when Boston made that final goal in overtime...I'd never seen so many hearts break in an instant.

So, here's a moment for our beloved Leafs - and even more - here's a moment for the die-hard fans that love them.

Check out some titles that look into the minds of sports fans, how sports became such a huge part of Canadian culture and more.

    

 

 

And, remember...there's always next year!
 

Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted: Reading to Help Your Nothing Day

The Mary Tyler Moore Show almost didn't make it after all.  Jennifer Armstrong's Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted reveals that early audiences gave it a chilly reception. 36 years later, The Mary Tyler Moore Show is cited as setting the bar for television comedy and for women's roles on TV. Without Mary Richards, there would be no Liz Lemon. Throw your hat in the ring - reserve your copy today to get the scoop on the writers, the cast dynamics, Veal Prince Orloff and Chuckles the Clown. 

Armstrong speaks about her book. Read her interview. Advance reviews are glowing: Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly love it. Recall some fave characters here. According to the Huffington Post, the female cast members will reunite on an upcoming Hot in Cleveland episode - made bittersweet with Valerie Harper's recent announcement about her illness.

 

Further reading from MTM alumnae:

Oprah is a serious MTM fan. Watch this:

Mimzi, the MTM kitty......

The Funny Thing Is..: Stephen Leacock Medal Finalists announced

The only Canadian literary award for humour, the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal fittingly announced its shortlist on April Fool's Day.

Nominees for the 2013 award are:

Born Weird by Andrew Kaufman
• eBook
Angie Weird goes on a quest to reunite her siblings at the request of her dying grandmother who wants to remove the curses she inadvertently gave them.

Dance, Gladys, Dance by Cassie Stocks
• eBook
A ghost becomes a life coach for a young woman who has lost her creative spark.

I'll Seize the Day Tomorrow by Jonathan Goldstein
Goldstein's chronicle of the year before his 40th birthday.

Up and Down by Terry Fallis
• eBook
A man starting a new career with an international public relations firm is shocked when his idea to hold a contest to select citizen astronauts is given the green light by NASA.

Words to Live By: a Memoir by William Whitehead
Whitehead tells the story of his life including his childhood in Saskatchewan, careers in science and the arts, and his longtime relationship with Timothy Findley.

The winner will be announced on April 25.

Related Programs:

Save this Book! With Terry Fallis
Monday April 8, 7 PM, Leaside Branch

William Whitehead: Words to Live By
Saturday May 4, 2 PM, Lillian H. Smith Branch

Planning a Harlem Shake? Resources to Optimize Your 30 Seconds of Fame

Just perfected your Gangnam gallop?  Forget it - the Harlem Shake is where it's at.  Baauer, a Brooklyn producer, released this electronic dance groove last May. This month, a 30-second concept video set to Baauer's song went viral.  Not only that, 40,000+ videos have since been posted to YouTube by people doing their own version. Celebrities, office workers, firefighters, grannies, cats, campuses and the military are offering their spin on the Shake.  Check it out on CBC and CTV, in the Star, the L.A. Times, the Independant, Forbes, and the Huffington Post. 

Here's how it works: a lone dancer (wearing a helmut or mask) dances to the intro, ignored by those around them. The beat drops, a jump cut, and everyone goes nuts. Dancers in costume (or in underwear), waving props, do a very loose approximation of the Harlem Shake - an old-school hip hop dance made famous by American rapper, G-Dep in Let's Get It.  

Here is a fraction of the funniest (heads up: some are nerdishly naughty).

*Updated*  Check out this interesting video response: Harlem Reacts to 'Harlem Shake' Videos.

Planning your own Harlem Shake video?  Hurry, before the cool kids on Tumblr say this meme is over.   

• Culturematic by Grant McCracken
• Conquering YouTube: 101 Pro VideoTips to Take You to the Top by Jay Miles
• 15 Minutes of Fame: Becoming a Star in the YouTube Revolution by Frederick Levy
• eBook: YouTube: An Insider's Guide to Climbing the Charts by Alan Lastufka and Michael W. Dean
• Watching YouTube: Extraordinary Videos by Ordinary People by Michael Strangelove
• YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture by Jean Burgess
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Memes by John Gunders

  

This version has only two people, but it's sweet.  Note the bemused family dog in the background.

Con los terroristas!

 

Related Posts:

• Millions and Millions of Cats
• Reading Gangnam Style

Senior adventures: three novels about seniors who are on the move

Without planning to do so, I've recently picked up three novels that featured main characters who decided to leave on unplanned adventures.  All three also happened to be seniors.  I wonder if this is the start of a new trend.  If so, it's off to a great start.

 

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. Recently retired Harold Fry is jolted out of his quiet life by a letter from Queenie Hennessy, an old friend who he hasn't heard from in twenty years. She has written to say she is dying and wanted to say goodbye.  Quickly writing a reply, Harold tells his wife Maureen that he is walking to the corner mailbox to put the reply in the post.  When he gets there, he decides to walk to the next mailbox.  This happens several times until a chance encounter convinces him that he must deliver his message in person to Queenie--who is 600 miles away--because as long as he keeps walking, Queenie will not die.

So without hiking boots, rain gear, map or a cell phone, Harold begins his unlikely pilgrimage across England. While he is walking, he has time to think and recall many of the events, often painful, that he has tried to forget from his life with Maureen, Queenie and his son David.   Back at home, a bewildered Maureen is surprised to find that she misses him.   Will Harold be able to walk across England and will Queenie still be alive when he gets there? 

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was longlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize.  It is also available in Audiobook, eBook and eAudiobook and Talking Book (Restricted to Print Disabled Patrons) 

 

The 100 Year-Old Man who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson and translated from Swedish by Rod Bradury.  Allan Karlsson decides that he does not want to stick around for his 100th Birthday party, so he climbs out the window.  He quickly makes his way to the nearest bus station to get a ticket on the first bus out of town.  While waiting for the bus, and young man with long, greasy blond hair asks him to watch his large suitcase while he went to the washroom.  Allan agrees.  But before the young man gets back, Allan's bus arrives.  and Allan impuslively decides to take the suitcase with him.    This  decision is the beginning of Allan adventure, where he meets new friends and tries to keep ahead of the people who are looking for him - the boss of the gang who is the true owner of the suitcase (which happens to hold a lot of money) and the police.

In between the numerous events in Allan's adventure, the reader learns more about Allan's most unusual life.  Allan is an explosives expert and (Forrest Gump-like) has travelled the world and met many world leaders, including General Franco, President Truman, Stalin and Kim Jong-Il (when he was a boy).  Quirky and charming, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared is also available in eBook.

 

Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William M. Kuhn.  Britain's Queen has successfully handled the many ups and downs in her life, but the cancellation of the Royal Train is  has her feeling a bit down.   To try to shake this rare feeling, she thinks back to the happiest times in her life and realizes that many took place on the former royal yacht, Britannia, which is now moored near Edinburgh.  So, when circumstances find her alone and outside the palace, the Monarch decides to leave immediately for an impromptu visit.  Soon her royal attendants discover that she is missing.  Putting aside their own squabbles, they set out to find her and bring her back before her absence becomes a national scandal.  

While the premise is unrealistic, Mrs. Queen Takes the Train is a delightful and humorous story which is told with great affection. It is also available in eBook, eAudiobook and Talking Book (Restricted to Print Disabled patrons).

How Well Do You Know Your Neighbours?

Alexander McCall Smith has already gained many fans with his bestselling series The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and 44 Scotland Street. Now his fans will be delighted to discover a new series. Corduroy Mansions is the first book in the series and it began as an online novel in the episodic style of writing reminiscent of Charles Dickens. Just as Dickens' stories appeared chapter by chapter in newspapers during the 1800s, a chapter from Corduroy Mansions appeared online, each day over the course of 20 weeks.

Corduroy Mansions is the story of a group of residents living within a London apartment building of the same name. Throughout the novel we meet the various residents, their friends and families. The daily events of these residents are described with Smith's trademark charm and humour. The residents include William, a widowed wine merchant, who is plotting to force his lay-about son out of the house, by getting a dog. Freddie de la Hay is the dog, a pimlico terrier, who is a vegetarian, does not chase cats and prefers to wear a seat belt with riding in a car. Berthea Snark is writing her son's biography, in which she is determined to reveal all his flaws. Her son is Oedipus, a ruthless Member of Parliament. Art history student, Caroline, shares a flat with three other girls, and begins to suspect that her gay friend may actually be interested in dating women.

This novel can be found in the following formats:    

Large Print Audiobook                                                                                                                                   Talking Book (Restricted to print disabled patrons)  eBook                                                                                                                                   eAudiobook

To spend more time with the zany residents of Corduroy Mansions also check out:

Remembering David Rakoff, 1964-2012

Humourist David Rakoff was born in Montreal and moved to Toronto in 1967.  After graduating from Forest Hill Collegiate, he majored in East Asian Studies at Columbia University in New York, a city he called "the great love of my life".  He worked as a translator in Japan for a time, but returned to Canada after being diagnosed at 22 with Hodgkin's Disease.  He later said that he had "dabbled" in cancer.  Following treatment for the disease he returned to New York, where he worked in publishing before becoming a writer.  He eventually became an American citizen--a process he documented in Don't Get Too Comfortable.

Three collections of his essays were published.

	Audiobook	Audiobook

Fraud: Essays with Illustrations from the Author captured the Lambda Award for Humor in 2001. The award was also given to his second collection, Don't Get Too Comfortable.  In 2010 while he was completing Half Empty, he was diagnosed with cancer again and began treatment which he discusses in the book.  Half Empty was shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour and won the Thurber Prize for American Humor in 2011.

Doubleday will publish his final book titled Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die; Cherish, Perish in 2013.

Rakoff died of cancer on August 9, 2012 at the age of 47.

I'll Have What She's Having: Remembering Nora Ephron 1941-2012

Nora Ephron died last night in New York at the age of 71 from complications arising from leukemia. One of the great American humourists of the 20^th century, Ms. Ephron was an accomplished screenwriter, director, novelist, journalist , playwright, essayist, producer and blogger with a remarkable list of credits over many decades.  The quintessential New Yorker, Ephron's irreverence, wit, and generosity were oft cited within her large circle of writers, filmmakers, and journalists. 

Read the reaction to her passing in the New York Times, Toronto Star, National Post, Huffington Post,  Washington Post, Globe and Mail, Gaurdian, and the New Yorker.  Watch the news coverage on ABC.

She began her career as a journalist writing for the New York Post, Esquire, and New York Magazine. Her career as a screenwriter included When Harry Met Sally (who can forget the scene in Katz's delicatessen that ended with one of the best one-liners ever?) and Silkwood. She both wrote and directed Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, and Julie and Julia. 

Ephron's essays in I Feel Bad About My Neck (also available on audiobook read by the author) and in I Remember Nothing are direct, personal, and funny. And speaking of personal, her scathing novel Heartburn was inspired by the breakup of her second marriage to Carl "Watergate" Bernstein (who left her for another woman while Ephron was pregnant with their second child).  Her early essays are available in Wallflower at the Orgy.

 

 

 Watch Ephron's 2010 interview with Author Magazine:

   

 

Ephron on the set (1992) Courtesy of the Washington Academy of Achievment

 

  

Millions and Millions of Cats

Millions of cats roam the Internet, from legendary kitties like Ceiling Cat, Keyboard Cat, and the touchingly rotund Maru to the captioned "kittehs" in I Can Haz Cheeseburger. 

In less than a decade, net cats have multiplied exponentially - with no sign of letting up. Chances are, you have at least one cat right now in your inbox or posted on Facebook. In particular, library staff have a symbiotic relationship with cats (if you don't own a cat when you are hired, you are issued one).

Some popular web cats are prowling their way into print. And we can help you find them.

Check out Cat vs Human by Yasmine Surovec which originated as a personal blog.  Simon's Cat and Simon's Cat: Beyond the Fence by Simon Tofield, a British animator, started as a delightful series of Internet shorts.

 The popularity of cat videos spawned "Catvertising," a brilliant parody by a Toronto-based ad agency:

  

Watch a real commerical that used cats to their ad-vantage.

Not all Internet cats are sweet like the Talking Cats.  Some are nightmarishly creative. Watch "Welcome to Kitty City" by the UK animator, Cyriak.

 

 Want more funny felines in print (beyond Garfield)?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Fat Freddy's Cat Omnibus by Gilbert Shelton
• Great Comic Cats by Malcolm Whyte
• The New Yorker Book of All-New Cat Cartoons

 

Ceiling Cat is watching . . .

Need a Good Laugh?

I've been feeling a bit anxious lately.  There is so much to worry about--the economy, the environment, traffic, winter...The Leafs are actually doing well but that must be a portent of doom.  If you're like me and need some comic relief, you're in luck.  Winners of this year's humour awards are bound to provide some amusement. 

The Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, 2011
The Stephen Leacock Medal has promoted and celebrated Canadian humour writing since 1947.

Winner: Practical Jean by Trevor Cole

Nominees:
The High Road by Terry Fallis
Toby: a Man by Todd Babiak
How to Do Everything by Red Green
Half Empty by David Rakoff

 

The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, 2011
First awarded in 2000, the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize is the only UK award for comic literature. 

Winner: Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

Nominees:
Serious Men by Manu Joseph
Comfort and Joy by India Knight
The Coincidence Engine by Sam Leith
The News Where You Are by Catherine O'Flynn

 

The Thurber Prize for American Humor
Created in 1997, the Thurber Prize for American Humor has been given out annually since 2004. 

Winner: Half Empty by David Rakoff

Nominees:
Sports from Hell: My Search for the World's Dumbest Competition by Rick Reilly
Sleepwalk with Me and Other Painfully True Stories by Mike Birbiglia