Out of the Shadows
“Daniel arrived at the sprawling round hall, a virtual basilica of shadows spiraling up under a high glass dome. A labyrinth of passageways and crammed bookshelves rose from base to pinnacle like a beehive, woven with tunnels, steps, platforms and bridges that presaged an immense library of seemingly impossible geometry.”
This was The Cemetery of Forgotten […]
The Writer’s Voice
The 10th annual Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival is over. It was, for me at least, a treasure trove. I always take copious notes when I attend a lecture or panel discussion because I know I will end up dwelling on the more interesting concepts and using some of the ideas as starting points for […]
Map Quest
When there is enough of anything, a cluster pattern will appear. This is the case even if the anything is randomly distributed. Cows, clouds and coffee drinkers cluster or clump, depending on how many there are and how wet it is. So do books. Dewey knew this and figured there was a future for his […]
Blue Skies Ahead
Montreal may not go far in the National Hockey League playoffs, but it is going the distance with the 2008 Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival. The Blue Met runs from April 30 to May 4. With some 200 different events conducted in eight languages bringing together talent from around the world, Blue Met reflects the […]
Wilde Thing
Oscar Wilde: I wish I had said that.
James Whistler: You will, Oscar, you will.
A few words on Oscar Wilde and James Whistler are merited. Whistler, of course, is best known for his nearly black-and-white full-length portrait of his mother, in fact titled Arrangement in Gray and Black: Portrait of the Artist’s Mother, but usually referred […]
Take a Ride on the Reading
Alberto Manguel is an erudite and eloquent observer of the human condition. A Reading Diary (Knopf Canada, 2004) is his one-a-month, later-in-life revisiting of his favorite classics. Each book is a point of departure for philosophical musings and philological mischief. Each spins off quotes and anecdotes that lead the reader behind and beyond the text. […]
Descent into Madness
In Bee Season (Doubleday, New York, 2000), Myla Goldberg describes the slow disintegration of a dysfunctional family and the brave attempt of one little girl to keep it together. It is a coming-of-age novel entangled in the cobwebs of an obsessive compulsive mother coming apart.
The mother’s obsession with The Perfect leads her to collect items […]
