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Staging history: A review of Susan Steudel’s poetry collection, New Theatre
Reviewed in this essay: New Theatre by Susan Steudel, Coach House Press, 2012. A high school teacher once passed an antique book of fairy tales around our creative writing class, asking us to make new poems by blacking out and decorating the printed words. Susan Steudel’s debut book of poetry, New Theatre, reminds me of…
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Post-apocalyptic collaboration: A review of Margaret Atwood and Naomi Alderman’s The Happy Zombie Sunrise Home
Reviewed in this essay: The Happy Zombie Sunrise Home, by Margaret Atwood and Naomi Alderman, Wattpad, 2013. “I dabble in modernity,” Margaret Atwood joked to George Stroumboulopoulos when pressed to explain her recent foray into online self-publishing on Wattpad. Wattpad is a YouTube for digital scribblings, a free online database where writers can instantly upload and…
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Hobo-inspired art, cartoons of the past, and the world’s prettiest libraries: Bookishness Jan. 28, 2013
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Buyer becomes victim: When online piracy protection abuses users’ rights
Over the past couple of months, a number of rather odd confessions of piracy have been appearing on Twitter. “How about we all stop using pirated iOS apps? I promise to stop. I really will. #softwarepirateconfession,” they declare, much like a kid reluctantly apologising in the principal’s office. But for many of the supposed repentants,…
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Public books: What Torontonians are reading at the Gladstone Hotel
Welcome to the Gladstone Hotel, where you can check in when you arrive, but you don’t have to leave when you check out. With such a philosophy it’s no surprise that the Victorian-era, Richardsonian Romanesque railroad stopover turned premier Art Hotel manifests Toronto’s eclectic personage. What is surprising is the natural serendipity of this Parkdale…
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Goldstein’s Novels of Ideas: Saul Bellow’s Herzog
This piece completes a series of reviews highlighting philosopher-novelist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein’s list of the best “novels of ideas”. Saul Bellow’s Herzog (1964) was ranked first on her list. Herzog is an excellent contender for the top position on a list of novels of ideas. It was instantly heralded as a literary “masterpiece” when it…
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Musical hockey, the dark side of kitsch, and classic Canadian TV: Bookishness, Jan. 21, 2013
MOCCA is alright Starting Feb. 1, Toronto’s Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art will be showing “ARE YOU ALRIGHT? New Art From Britain.” The exhibition’s works portray “allusions tothe grotesquely beautiful and explor[e] the darker side of kitsch… reveal[ing] a trend of disillusionment with contemporary British society.” Find out what all that means with a perusal…
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Reading for mental wealth: Second-hand books a source of business and pleasure in Nairobi streets
Three-year-old Maxwell Gitau has a lot to live up to. He is named for his father’s hero: John C. Maxwell the self-styled leadership guru and motivational speaker from Garden City, Michigan, whose books have sold over 19 million copies and hit the New York Times bestseller list. Maxwell’s father, David Gitau, makes his living selling…
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Changing the narrative on peace: A review of What We Talk About When We Talk About War
Reviewed in this essay: What We Talk About When We Talk About War, Noah Richler, Goose Lane Editions, 2012. George Grant wrote Lament for a Nation before official multiculturalism, before the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, before the liberalization of Canada had begun in earnest. But he understood that his preferred canon of national stories…
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CanLit Canon Review #12: Harold Innis’s Empire and Communications
In an attempt to make himself a better Canadian, Craig MacBride is reading and reviewing the books that shaped this country. What is most remarkable about Harold Innis is his consistency through the years. Whether it’s his first book, The Fur Trade in Canada or, 20 years later, his last book, Empire and Communications, Innis is…
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DNA poetry, thinking like Sherlock, and defining Toronto: Bookishness, Jan. 14, 2013
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Dr. Pamela Palmater To Speak at U of T’s Centre for Aboriginal Initiatives
Dr. Pamela Palmater, a Mi’kmaw lawyer and Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University, will be speaking at the Centre for Aboriginal Initiatives Hart House (7 Hart House Circle, in the 2nd floor Debates Room) at the University of Toronto on January 17, 2013 at 2pm. Dr. Palmater will be speaking on…