The Buzz...About Books

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

 

 

 

A Spy in the House of Food

When the New York Times newspaper approached Ruth Reichl about becoming their new restaurant critic, she was already reviewing restaurants for the Los Angeles Times and was in no mood to make a change.

Her husband was supportive. 

"Why on earth would you want to work at the best paper in the world?"

The Times hires her and Reichl quickly discovers that every restaurant in New York has prepared for her arrival by putting a picture of her face on their staff bulletin board. So with the help of a theatre make-up artist she creates a well-to-do, but very dowdy, disguise for herself.

Reichl's account of the shabby treatment this unfashionable character gets at the fashionable restaurant Le Cirque is refreshingly scathing.

She returns to Le Cirque as herself, the reviewer for the New York Times, and her account of the splendid treatment she gets is just as scathing. She writes a hilarious review about both experiences , and postitive responces roll in from readers.

One reader praised her as "a spy in the house of food".

So begins Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise, her memoir of reviewing restaurants in New York City, published in 2005.

Reichl is good company, never takes herself too seriously and seriously loves good food. I picked this up when I was in the mood for something light, urbane and hilarious, and I could hardly bear to put it down.

Also in Large Print.

Terry Fallis Online at Book Buzz

Book Buzz, Toronto Public Library's virtual bookclub, is delighted to welcome Terry Fallis for an online chat this evening.  His debut novel, The Best Laid Plans follows the adventures of Daniel Addison, a burned out political aide who finds himself running a hopeless political campaign with reluctant candidate Angus McLintock.  Canadian politics is unpredictable.  Soon Daniel and his offbeat crew find themselves with a real chance to win the election.

 The political satire has won praise throughout the country.  It also won The Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour and was 2011's Canada Reads winner.  It was also named to the Samara Foundation/Writers' Trust shortlist of the Best Canadian Political Books of the last 25 years.  Its sequel, The High Road, was nominated for the The Stephen Leacock Medal in 2011.

Join us for chat on Thursday September 15, 7-8 pm.

 

 

Go the [Bleep] to Sleep: Tender Tales for Sleepy Adults

No one was more surprised than Adam Mansbach when Go the Fuck to Sleep became a bestseller in advance sales.  Definitely not for children, this book is intended to reflect the frustration of parents whose little (non-sleeping) angels remain wide awake long after their bedtimes. Mansbach, a prof at Rutgers University, a novelist (The End of the Jews), and a first-time parent, was inspired to publish this book after he joked on Facebook that this would be the name of his next novel - and received an overwhelmingly postive response. See his interview on ABC news.  Listen to his interview on CBC.

Now, I don't know about you, but when I think of childrens' storytellers, American actor, Samuel L. Jackson and German director, Werner Herzog naturally spring to mind.

Listen to Samuel L. Jackson's tender interpretation. 

And here is Werner's version.

Read what the NY Times, the Washington Times, and the Globe and Mail have to say.  The U.K. Guardian writes about the curious phenonemon of children's books for adults.

Read what the New Yorker says about nervous publishers dealing with profanity-laced bestsellers in a post-Cee Lo universe.  Forget you, indeed.

Will parents find this funny?  Of course.  No doubt some parents will find this offensive, or dismiss it as a one-joke gimmick.  Serious parenting pundits will wade in to argue for or against the book's "premise."  One thing is for sure - this book stands to make a lot of money. 

For those who prefer to hear bedtime tales with an old lady whispering 'hush,' there is always the classic Goodnight Moon.

(author Adam Mansbach with his daughter)

"You tweeted a photo of WHAT??"

Anthony Weiner's recent admission of inappropriate conduct via the social media is simply the latest scandal involving icky behaviour by people who really should know better. This member (no pun intended) of the U.S. House of Representatives for New York was a Democratic hopeful destined for higher office. This article appeared in today's Toronto Star.

Spectacular falls from grace make for great comedy, cautionary tales, and of course, great reading.

 
 

 

 

 

Further Research:

• Try Jennifer Weiner's (no relation to Rep. Weiner) novel, Fly Away Home, about a politician's wife who gets blindsided by her husband's infidelity.

• Check out the the L.A. Times helpful reading list compiled for Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Maria Shriver.

• Watch the Daily Show's coverage of "Weinergate" (just wait - the video starts after the ads).

The Big Wang Theory June 2, 2011

Jon Stewart Press Conference June 7, 2011

Weird fact: Weiner was Jon Stewart's old roomate after college (Weiner's remarks in this 2009 article in New York Magazine are uncannily prescient with regard to his current predicament)

 

Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize

American writer Gary Shteyngart was recently awarded the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction for his third novel Super Sad True Love Story.  Set in the near future, the novel is set in a rapidly disintegrating America.  The United States is at war with Venezuela and on the brink of financial collapse.  Privacy is obsolete; citizens are equipped with a device that live-streams their thoughts so conversations are unnecessary.  Thirty-nine year old Lenny is out of touch with technology.  He prefers reading books to text-scanning for data.  Hopelessly naïve he falls in love with the much younger Eleanor Park.  Despite their differences, she begins to reciprocate.

The book trailer features cameos from leading figures in the literary world and actor James Franco, a former student of Shteyngart.

 

 

The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize  prize was founded in 2000 and is named after humourist PG Wodehouse.  It is the UK’s only award for comic writing.  The winner receives a bottle of champagne and a collection of works by PG Wodehouse.  In addition a Gloucester Old Spot pig like the one pictured here, is named in the author's honour.  

The other nominated books were:

The Coincidence Engine by Sam Leith

Comfort and Joy by India Knight

The News Where You Are by Catherine O'Flynn

Serious Men by Manu Joseph

 

 

 

 

Worst. Play. Ever.

Jazz Hands!

Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark could be one of the most expensive Broadway flops of all time. Budget woes, delays, cast changes and spectacular injuries plagued this 65 million dollar production from the start. A Spider-Man stuntman (apparently unable to do whatever a spider can) plunged into the orchestra pit after his safety harness detached. The critics were merciless. Charles Spencer of the Telegraph wrote "I spent much of this dreadful new musical muttering Please, Lord, make it stop."

This recent cover of the New Yorker says it all.

Theatrical flops have a long and venerable history - and make for fun reading.  Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops by Ken Mandelbaum chronicles the worst of the worst including the infamous Carrie, a musical based on the Steven King novel (how could that go wrong?). 

I loved Diana Rigg's No Turn Unstoned: the Worst Ever Theatrical Reviews - it also has some of the funniest anecdotes.  Bad Press: the Worst Critical Reviews Ever! by Laura Ward collects the wittiest (and nastiest) reviews across the arts. At the Toronto Reference Library, you can read Second Act Trouble: Behind the Scenes at Broadway's Big Musical Bombs. 

Another legendary disaster was Arthur Bicknell's Moose Murders which closed on opening night. Frank Rich of the New York Times wrote "Those of us who have witnessed the play that opened at the Eugene O'Neill Theater last night will undoubtedly hold periodic reunions, in the noble tradition of survivors of the Titanic." You can check out Broadway Musicals by Ken Bloom, who collects the good with the bad in this recently updated guide.

Mel Brooks 1968 film, The Producers, is about two men (Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder) who plot to engineer a Broadway flop in order to abscond with investors' money. They believe they have a sure-fire bomb with a jaw-droppingly tasteless musical, Springtime for Hitler, written by a lunatic (played by Kenneth Mars, who passed away last week at the age of 75). This Academy Award-winning film eventually became a successful Broadway musical starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. 

Click here to watch a musical round-up of reviews for Turn off the Dark. Enjoy!

 
 

Do these boots match my gun?

Gossip Girl is a wildly popular book series by Cicely von Ziegesar, focusing on the lives, loves, and clothing of privileged teenagers attending an elite private school in Manhattan.  Over the course of thirteen books, central characters Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodson navigate the perilous waters of high society in Christian Louboutin ostrich pumps while their every move and accessory is documented by an anonymous blogger.  Often criticised for its superficiality, casual sex and recreational drugs, the series has nevertheless become a favourite among young adult readers, spawning numerous imitations and an equally popular television series. 

The books are an obvious target for parody but in this case the satire is coming from an unexpected source--the author herself.  In October 2011, Cicely von Ziegesar will publish her own send-up,  Gossip Girl, Psycho Killer.  This novel will be based  on the first book in the series but this time Blair and Serena add murder to their already packed social calendar. New characters with tragically short life expectancies have been created as cannon fodder for our sociopathic socialites.  It's unlikely actual cannons will be used, however--they're so last season.

It all makes sense.  The backstabbing in Gossip Girl was bound to turn into actual stabbing at some point.  Besides, you can pack a lot of weapons into one of those outsized Valentino 360 Hobo bags and with servants to take care of the blood stains, there is no good reason Blair and Serena wouldn't start murdering people.  

It sounds like a lot of fun.  If you're unfamiliar with the series, it's best to start with the first book, Gossip Girl.

Murder Most Yummy

 

 

 

 

 

The craze for culinary mysteries continues.  Personally, I'd rather curl up with a delicious dish of Dexter, but these cozy, women-centred mysteries are witty, well-written and often loaded with great receipes.  Here are some of the best:

Goldy Bear Mysteries by Diane Mott Davidson. Goldy Schultz is divorced and living in Colarado as a caterer/investigator. Davidson's latest in this bestselling series is Crunch Time.  

Coffeehouse Mysteries by Cleo Coyle. Clare Cosi is the crime-solving manager of the Village Blend coffee house in New York City. Written by the husband-wife writing team, Alice Alfonsi and Marc Cerasini, Roast Mortem is #9 in this series.  

Hannah Swenson Mysteries by Joanne Fluke.  The Apple Turnover Murder is the latest installment of Hannah's exploits as detective and owner of The Cookie Jar, a Minnesota bakery.  

The Tea Shop Mysteries by Laura Childs. The Teaberry Strangler is #11.  Set in South Charleston, SouthCarolina, Theodosia Browning of the Indigo Tea Shop is steeped in mysteries.

Pennsylvania Dutch Mysteries by Tamar Myers.  Butter Safe Than Sorry is #18 in this series brimming with slapstick humour starring Magdalena Yoder of the Mennonite Inn.

Gourmet Girls Mysteries by Jessica Conant-Park and Susan Conant.  Follows the exploits of Chloe Carter, a food connoisseur in Boston.  Cook the Books is hot out of the oven.

Chocoholics Mysteries by Joanna Carl.  Chocolate Cupid Killings is the next mystery with Lee McKinney, a chocolatier who works at her Aunt Nettie's luxury chocolate store TenHuis - and solves murders.

Faith Fairchild Series by Katherine Hall Page. In Body in the Sleigh, Faith Fairchild, a New England's minister's wife and manager of Have Faith Catering returns to crime fighting.

Catered Mysteries by Isis Crawford.  A Catered Thanksgiving is the latest with Bernie and Libby Simmons - sisters who solve mysteries in between running their catering firm, A Little Taste of Heaven in New York State.

Hemlock Falls Mysteries by Claudia Bishop (who also writes as Mary Stanton).  Death in Two Courses is the newest with Sarah and Meg Quilliam, detectives who work and cook at the Hemlock Falls Inn in upstate New York.

Pizza Lovers Mysteries by Chris Cavener.  Pepperoni Pizza Can Be Murder is the 2nd in the new series about Eleanor Swift, investigator & owner of A Slice of Delight pizzeria in Timber Ridge, North Carolina.

Enjoy!