The Buzz...About Books

The Empress Strikes Back

Toronto author Eva Stachniak's new novel The Winter Palace is the story of the rise of the Russian Empress Catherine II, who is better known to history as Catherine the Great. 

The novel starts in 1743 and is told from the perspective of Varvara, a bookseller's daughter, who begins work in the Winter Palace in the Royal Wardrobe of the Empress Elizabeth.  She soon starts to train as a spy under the guidance of Chancellor Bestuzhev. 

When the young princess Sophia arrives from Zerbst as a potential bride for the Grand Duke Peter, the nephew of the Empress and heir to the Russian throne, Varvara's life changes forever.  She becomes a friend and later a spy for Sophia, who is renamed Catherine after her wedding to Grand Duke Peter.

We follow the lives of Varvara and Catherine, these unlikely friends, through their marriages and children and watch them survive in the very lethal enviroment of the Winter Palace.  The Empress Elizabeth can be quite mercurial, so everyone has to keep their wits about them, and have 'Tongues' (spies) around the palace to keep them informed and prepared for anything that may happen.

As the potential bride, and later wife, of Grand Duke Peter, Catherine's life is very difficult.  She needs all her wits, and her friends, to survive and ultimately triumph.

For those who enjoy historical fiction, this is a sumptuous read.  The characterization is fantastic.  You will feel you really get to know these characters.  The novel is quite descriptive, so all the beautiful gowns and rooms of the Winter Palace come into the mind's eye quite easily.  The pace is fairly leisurely, but there is enough tension due to the back-stabbing environment of the Winter Palace that it will keep you turning the pages and perhaps reading past your bedtime.

After you finish and wait for Stachniak's second novel to continue the story, you may want to learn more about Catherine the Great.  Have a look at her memoirs or one of the biographies written about her. 

• The Memoirs of Catherine the Great by Catherine II, Empress of Russia
• Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie
• Catherine the Great: A Short History by Isabel De Madariaga

 

 

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.

 

Toronto Book Awards Shortlist

The shortlist for the Toronto Book Awards was announced on September 6.  Established in 1974 by Toronto City Council, this award celebrates the diversity in Toronto writing.  It is not limited to a single type of work; both fiction and nonfiction are considered for the prize.  This year, the biography What Disturbs Our Blood by James FitzGerald is the only nonfiction work under consideration.

The winner will be announced on October 13 at Toronto Reference Library.

Toronto Book Awards Shortlist:

The Amazing Absorbing Boy by Rabindranath Maharaj

Étienne's Alphabet by James King

Fauna by Alissa York

The Parabolist by Nicholas Ruddock

What Disturbs Our Blood: a Son's Quest to Redeem the Past by James FitzGerald

Toronto Heritage Awards

Winners of the Toronto Heritage Awards were announced on October 5. 

The awards honour outstanding contributions to promoting and preserving  Toronto's history and heritage landmarks.  The aw ards are presented in four categories including books.

Award of Excellence:
 A Progressive Traditionalist: John M. Lyle, Architect by Glenn McArthur 

Award of Merit:
Art Deco Architecture in Toronto: A Guide to the City's Buildings from the Roaring Twenties and the Depression by Tim Morawetz

Death or Canada: The Irish Famine Migration to Toronto, 1847 by Mark G. McGowan 

University of Toronto: The Campus Guide: An Architectural Tour by Larry
Richards

Other Nominees

The Beach: An Illustrated History from the Lake to Kingston Road by Glenn Cochrane and Jean Cochrane

The Humber River: The Carrying Place by Toronto and Region Conservation Authority

The Plate: 150 Years of Royal Tradition from Don Juan to Square Eddie by Louis E. Cauz and Beverley A. Smith

Toronto's Visual Legacy: Official City Photography from 1856 to the Present by Steve MacKinnon, Karen Teeple and Michele Dale

The York Club: A Centennial History by Mary Byers

York University: The Way Must be Tried by Michiel Horn

A list of award winners in all categories can be found at Heritage Toronto.

 

Toronto Book Awards Winner Announced

Tonight Mayor David Miller revealed the winner of the 2010 Toronto Book Awards  at a gala held at Toronto Reference Library.  This year's winner is The Carnivore by Mark Sinnett, a novel about Hurricane Hazel and its impact on Toronto and its residents.

The other finalists for the award were:
Diary of Interrupted Days by Dragan Todorović 
Prince of Neither Here Nor There by Seán Cullen
Valentine's Fall by Cary Fagan
Where We Have to Go by Lauren Kirshner

 

  
 

Toronto Book Awards 2010 Shortlist Announced

This morning Mayor David Miller and City Librarian Jane Pyper announced the shortlist for the Toronto Book Awards.  The awards, established in 1974, honour books that are evocative of Toronto.  Previous winners have included Austin Clarke, Margaret Atwood and Robertson Davies. 

The titles on this year's shortlist are:

The Carnivore by Mark Sinnett

Diary of Interrupted Days by Dragan Todorović

Prince of Neither Here Nor There by Seán Cullen

Valentine's Fall by Cary Fagan

Where We Have to Go by Lauren Kirshner

The winner will be announced at a gala in The Appel Salon at the Toronto Reference Library on October 14.

NYCL Book Club: Donna Bailey Nurse discusses "More"

The North York Central Book Club members had a rare treat at their April meeting.  Critic and writer Donna Bailey Nurse was invited to talk to the group of 20+ members about Austin Clarke's latest novel More. 

Ms. Bailey Nurse spoke with personal insight about the book's main themes of the Caribbean-Canadian immigrant experience, racism and police profiling in Toronto.  Ms. Bailey Nurse ably moderated an illuminating discussion about the kind of racism that happens in Toronto vs the United States. We came to understand that its subtlety makes it harder to recognize, let alone fight here in Toronto.

We all enjoyed talking about Mr. Clarke's obvious love of this city.  The book's main character, Idora, moves around Toronto in her mind while she spends four days examining her life in the self-imposed exile of her Regent Park basement apartment.  She makes a memorable visit to Kensington Market and describes a very funny incident where no one on a crowded TTC Street Car will move back until the driver refuses to move forward!

Ms Bailey Nurse also spoke at length about the author, Austin Clarke, and how much fun it is to interview him especially over dinner and martinis.

"More" won the 2009 Toronto Book Award and was Toronto Public Library's Keep Toronto Reading One Book choice for April. TPL Book Buzz members have been discussing this book all month too!

Words in Place

Some of you may have read the coverage of the unveiling of the first plaque by Project Bookmark Canada. The project aims to post pieces of prose next to geographic features all over Canada.

This first plaque stands in a little parkette on the east end of the Bloor Street Viaduct immortalizing a passage from Michael Ondaatje's novel, In the Skin of a Lion.

The project’s next two bookmarks will be a passage from Anne Michaels’ Fugitive Pieces, on Grace Street in Little Italy, and one from Dennis Lee’s poem The Cat and the Wizard, at Casa Loma.

The story of this fantastic project which honours narrative and place in Canadian fiction has caught the interest of the Brits. Alison Flood of the Guardian writes: Why can't we do the same thing in the UK? It'd be great to have a mini-extract from Notes on a Scandal enshrined on Hampstead Heath, or JG Ballard in Shepperton, or To the Lighthouse on Skye.

As Project Bookmark Canada builds funds through donations and sponsorship for the next plaques, what Canadian passages would you like to see honoured?