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!
 

What Kept Toronto Reading

This year's One Book celebrates the power of the book: its power to evoke emotion, to band people together, and ultimately, to bring about change for the future.

In honour of 2013's Keep Toronto Reading festival, let's revisit the past One Book selections and check out what kept Toronto reading in the last five years:

 

In 2012, Maggie Helwig's Girls Fall Down set the tone for readers in Toronto. Based in various parts of the city, marked by distinct Toronto hangouts, it explored themes of mental health, homelessness, belonging and the ways our bodies betray us. Helwig penned a solid novel that spurred discussions between many Torontonians.

 

 

In 2011, Judy Fong Bates introduced us to a family full of secrets in Midnight at the Dragon Cafe. In spare, intimate prose, Bates drew out the weight of culture and tradition, and the portrait of a young Chinese-Canadian girl growing up in a small Ontario town.

 

 

 

In 2010, More by Austin Clarke dove headfirst into issues of racial inequity and the experiences of a black immigrant woman in Toronto, 25 years in. Both personal and political, More examined the complexities of race in modern western culture.

 

 

 

In 2009, Glen Downie's Loyalty Management brought readers together with a collection of poems that looked at the many sides of living in this city - from the lighthearted and funny to the deeply sobering. Downie's memorable voice, unique spacing and lovely made up words ("sleepward"!) pulled together a collection suitable for those new to poetry and long-time lovers alike.

 

 

2008 kicked off the One Book festival with Michael Redhill's Consolation. This title slipped between two worlds - centuries apart - that captured the memory of a young Toronto, through photographs and lived experiences.

 

 

Many of our One Book selections had Toronto as a starting point, but you can see how much the idea of what Toronto is - and who Toronto is - can change over time.

In Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag asks: "How long is it since you were really bothered?... About something important, about something real?" Whether poetry or prose, One Book titles are chosen for the issues they bring up and the conversations they can spark all across the city.

Here's to many more One Books to come - thanks for reading, Toronto!

Andrew Borkowski wins Toronto Book Award

Last night the Toronto Book Award was presented to Andrew Borkowski for Copernicus Avenue, a collection of linked short stories. The book is set in the fictional Copernicus Avenue neighbourhood, and explores the lives of its residents, predominantly Polish immigrants in the years following World War II.

Read more about Copernicus Avenue:

• Toronto Book Awards website
• Joseph's review

The Toronto Book Award was founded in 1974 to celebrate books that are evocative of the city.

This year's other finalists were:

Paramita, Little Black by Suzanne Robertson
The complexity of modern life is explored in this poetry collection.

• More about the book and author
• Read Diana's review

Six Metres of Pavement by Farzana Doctor
Three Torontonians are drawn together by their loneliness in this novel of second chances.

• More about the book and author
• Read Soheli's review

Writing Gordon Lightfoot: the Man, the Music and the World in 1972 by Dave Bidini
An inspiring look at Gordon Lightfoot at the height of his career, and at the political and social changes that were changing Canada in 1972.

• More about the book and author
• Read C's review

Writing the Revolution by Michele Landsberg
Journalist Landsberg's collection of her favourite and most relevant columns from her tenure at the Toronto Star.

• More about the book and author
• Read Beatriz's review

Toronto Book Awards Ceremony

The Toronto Book Awards ceremony will take place on October 11 at the Bluma & Bram Appel Salon at Toronto Reference Library, hosted by Matt Galloway. The event begins at 7 pm and everyone is invited to attend.  The highlight of the evening will be the presentation of this year's Toronto Book Award.

Over the past several weeks Book Buzz bloggers have reviewed each of the nominated titles.

Copernicus Avenue by Andrew J. Borkowski
A collection of linked short stories set in a mainly Polish area of Toronto.

• More about the book and author
• Read Joseph's review

Paramita, Little Black by Suzanne Robertson
The complexity of modern life is explored in this poetry collection.

• More about the book and author
• Read Diana's review

Six Metres of Pavement by Farzana Doctor
Three Torontonians are drawn together by their loneliness in this novel of second chances.

• More about the book and author
• Read Soheli's review

Writing Gordon Lightfoot: the Man, the Music and the World in 1972 by Dave Bidini
An inspiring look at Gordon Lightfoot at the height of his career, and at the political and social changes that were changing Canada in 1972.

• More about the book and author
• Read C's review

Writing the Revolution by Michele Landsberg
Journalist Landsberg's collection of her favourite and most relevant columns from her tenure at the Toronto Star.

• More about the book and author
• Read Beatriz's review

Writing the Revolution by Michele Landsberg

 Why should Michele Landsberg's Writing the Revolution win the Toronto Book Award on October 11th? Let me tell you why:

To begin with, Writing the Revolution is a lively and unpretentious read. Composed mostly of articles selected from Landsberg's long career as a columnist for The Globe & Mail and The Toronto Star, Writing the Revolution is edited to follow the evolution of the feminist movement in North America in a neat and vivid arch.

You don't have to have stood as witness to the events Landsberg so courageously wrote about (i.e. you don't have to be middle aged) to get excited about this book, because Writing the Revolution does a good job of taking you there, exemplifying through Landsberg's own trajectory the world that was Canada in the 1950's through the 1980's.

It wasn't all that good, as it turns out. Much needed to change. The activist work of women like Florence Bird (first Chair of The Royal Commission on the Status of Women), Doris Anderson (ground-breaking Editor of Chatelaine magazine), Kay Macpherson (first woman elected to the House of Commons), Jane Doe (tireless activist for victims of rape), June Callwood, and so many more, did, in fact, constitute a revolution, a transformation of Canadian society.

Writing the Revolution is meaningful and important, not just because Michele Landsberg is a good writer willing to fight for space in the male-controlled media of the time, but because she herself was an active agent of the change she was chronicling.

Painterly in its writing, these selections are accompanied with a plethora of photographs (don't miss Michele Landsberg and Stephen Lewis' wedding photograph on page 69) which bring to life the excitement of an era that shaped who we are today.

Read on, riders.

Ever since April's Keep Toronto Reading month and the One Book Girls Fall Down ,I can't seem to escape books, reading and public transportation.

I stumbled across a fun website that documents readers on the New York subway. The Underground New York Public Library is a simple concept: take a whole slew of (usually) candid photos of engrossed readers passing the time on public transit. There are links to the books they're reading, and even a section for unidentified books that online visitors can try and solve based on blurry book covers.

There's something kind of fun about seeing other readers on the train - especially if they're reading a book you loved (or hated!). If I'm sitting across someone on the bus reading, I tend to try and sneak a peek at what they've got; as a reader, it's second nature, right? (Catching what ebook readers are into can be a little bit more of a challenge, however...I'll let you know when I find a smooth way to do this.)

Julie Wilson's book, Seen Reading, collects more than a hundred fictions inspired by sightings of people reading on Toronto transit, each reader re-invented in a poetic piece of short fiction. You can check out the website for Seen Reading as well.

Exact Fare Only is another collection of transit stories that brings together all the wonderful, memorable and downright wierd experiences we have on public transportation. You can also check out the second installment if you can't get enough commuter literature.

So, are you a transit reader? Have you spotted anyone reading a book you loved on the bus or train?

Let's hope it's a fellow rider and not the driver or conductor, like this bus driver in Oregon who was caught reading his Kindle on the highway...!

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