As you might guess, many kilometres north now, I’ve found that the weather grows cold more quickly. It was a shock to change the bedding, to the December-Freeze set, at the end of September. To pull the scarves and toques from the closet (but not, quite, mittens and gloves). To realise that planting fall bulbs meant I should have been digging on Labour Day weekend (the first in September) rather than Thanksgiving weekend (the second in October). To convince myself that it’s actually October, I’ve pulled a childhood copy of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown into my stack.
The Massey Lecture for 2022 is Tomson Highway’s Laughing with the Trickster. You might recall that Highway is a MRE (MustReadEverything author of mine) and recently I enjoyed some of his illustrated children’s books, about growing up on the land with his brother as a Cree boy. (As an accomplished pianist, he also played in the Ottawa ceremony that marked Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, following the official event in London.) The Massey Lectures are broadcast every November, after they are published in book form and favourites include those by Thomas King (on Indigenous storytelling) and Adam Gopnik (on winter).
This reminded me that I’ve never read Margaret Atwood’s Payback, only listened to the five Massey Lecture segments on CBC’s Ideas in 2008. (These are available for listening in Canada, but I’m not sure if they’ll play for international listeners.) So, I pulled them off the shelf because next month, November, is also Margaret Atwood Reading Month for me, and you are most welcome to join.
You can follow links from previous participants’ posts, from previous years, here, if you’re unsure where to begin and you’re new to Margaret Atwood’s work. Or maybe, as a dedicated fan, you’ve already got a volume in mind, whether to reread or read. Here, in the stack, also, is one of her earlier essay collections: Moving Targets. I’ll post each week during November about my #MARM activities, but I’m going to be more whimsical about my selections this year, curious to see where that leads.
Harold Johnson’s The Cast Stone (2011) landed in my stacks because I picked up his Corvus and realised it might be connected to this previous dystopian novel. Whether the two works are directly linked, I’m not sure—I’ll read them both regardless. His political and environmental wisdom is sorely needed now, and although I haven’t formally added him to my MRE list, I’ve scribbled his name there in my mind.
Hassan Al Kontar’s man@the_airport (2021) is one of the books in my ongoing reading about migration. I’m reading Cecil Foster’s They Call Me George: The Untold Story of Black Train Porters and the Birth of Modern Canada as research for an essay on the subject. Lyndsie Bourgon’s Tree Thieves is part of my continuing exploration of writers confronting the climate crisis. (I thought Lee recommended it, but apparently not, so who was it?) And every day I read a few pages from Alice Walker’s journals, Gathering Blossoms Under Fire. She just wrote a letter to Langston Hughes on the day he died, which brought my recent Writing Life project to mind.
Is there a stubborn resident in your current stack, a book you cannot seem to finish reading?
Or, is there a brand new addition about which you’re extraordinarily excited?
I will try to participate in MARM next month – one of my favorite blog events of the year! I might try Burning Questions, which I haven’t read, or a reread of The Robber Bride, since it’s been 20 years or more since I read it.
If enough people reading Burning Questions, y’all could divvy up the essays and each only read one with everyone else’s MARM posts. Hee hee
Looks like you’re still managing to stock your stacks from the local library. Sometimes having a smaller pool to choose from focuses the mind! I recently returned a huge load of books unread so that I can give attention to my own shelves for a while. I’ll see how many one-sitting reads I can accomplish for Novellas in November. Looking forward to my one planned MARM contribution, The Door. Lovely to see the leaves out your window. I miss having a view of mature trees.
That’s it exactly! I had a stint where I was mostly reading from my shelves, then swung back to the library for a pile while taking some time off, and I was just about to finish all that when their new book orders arrived, so I guess I’ll finish those before swinging back to home shelves, as you are now. (I think they must order seasonally because I had about 40 holds I’d placed on new books months ago and ten of them arrived on the weekend suddenly.) Thank you, maybe I’ll post more tree pictures!
I’m always getting excited about new reading projects and feeling guilty over neglected ones. But as long as I always have something good to read, I have no complaints! No real ones, anyway. Lol
I have Harold Johnson’s new book in my big stack of new books, and I keep seeing Laughing with the Trickster at the library, wondering why it’s not at someone’s house. Soon, hopefully, I’ll bring it home to mine.
Hooray for #MARM! So many possibilities!
Feeling that I’ve neglected some of my reading on various subject this year (climate, migation, etc.), I’ve just tried to focus on one book at a time. And enjoying the moment, as you say.
I liked that one a lot too. And Highway’s Massey Lecture is a good one. I’ve reviewed it for World Lit Today, so I think it’ll be in the next issue.
Trying to catch up a bit with some blogs, having been a bit quieter recently.
It looks like you have a great pile of books ready as the colder weather sets in. I do hope you can keep warm and cosy.
Thanks for the reminder about Margaret Atwood reading month, I will try to join in. I have her recent essay collection Burning Questions in a big hardback edition, which I may try to tackle.
Lovely to see you here. I often think of you and hope you’re well. It’s up and down, I know, and I relate.
If you’re keen to join, why not just think of one single essay…you don’t need to power through a whole collection. You can still attend the celebration without eating the whooooole cake. We WERE talking about cake, right?
I read Margaret Atwood’s payback awhile back, and found it quite dry. You’re a much closer reader than I am however, so you may enjoy it! I seem to recall doing a bit of skimming in it…
Northern Ontario is much like the mountains here I suspect – the weather turns faster. Its been frosting in the mountains since the middle of SEptember, already they have a light dusting of snow even though we haven’t gotten any here in Calgary yet. We’ve actually been quite lucky – usually there’s a snowstorm in October, but it’s been warm and sunny!!!
I’ll have to be in the right mood, that’s true. The Massey Lectures have a particular flavour, both very broad and very specific at the same time, and sometimes I lose focus with them too.
That’s an interesting analogy and maybe it’s true. One thing that’s fascinating is how the clouds appear up here because there are so many lakes and waterways. The skies are just awe-some and I have a hard time just not lying around and staring at them. #niceproblemtohave
That’s a great stack of books to work your way through as the weather gets more wintry! You may have answered this before, but I can’t remember—is the library in your new town as well stocked as the one in Toronto?
By the way, I’m happy to report that those Massey lectures play just fine here in Serbia! I just tested them out and will have a proper listen later on.
It’s not, but there are more books by Indigenous authors than there would be in a small city library down south, so that’s great. And a short browse still yields books of interest and more translations than I would have expected.
Oh, that’s great! Are you reading/listening with NF November in mind too? I haven’t done that for years, but I still remember that’s how I started to follow your site in the first place.
That’s good news about the library, especially the part about having more books by Indigenous authors. Must be nice to have a new library to explore!
Oh, I’d forgotten about Nonfiction November! No, I’m not participating this year. I’m barely keeping my head above water with travelling, writing, freelancing and blogging, so I need to keep things simple for a while and avoid signing up for stuff 🙂
Good luck with winter! If it’s any consolation you’ve made me feel ashamed of my miseries about the season here in the temperate UK.
It’s definitely interesting, and I suspect there will even more indoor activities than in past winters! More time for books, board games, and other fun.
Woo hoo, seems like responding to this on my iPad browser as against within the WP app is going to work ! Let’s see.
We of course have the Boyer lectures, but I haven’t been good at assiduously following these of late.
I’m with Bill, and hare books next to my bed that I just dont read though they were put there for a purpose. Too many to name. My current book I have been reading for 2 months even though I’m really enjoying it, Carmel Bird’s Telltale. It’s a contemplative book, in away, that I’ve kept putting aside for others, like reading group books, but I hope to post on it this week!
Poor you with the coming winter, I say! I am hanging out for some warm, sunny days.
That worked for me, too, with the recent kerfuffle with WP’s comments.
I’ve missed many of the Masseys, too; it’s all about timing, I suppose, as they always sound interesting.
Some books, perhaps, are just not bedside-table reading? Even though they have a proximity advantage?
Winter has been my favourite season for a few years, but when the library loans out snowshoes, I can see this is going to be a whole ‘other experience.
I’m glad MARM is happening again! I’ll try to join in.
It’s such a busy reading month, I know, but her writing is always worthwhile!
Remind me never to come visit you! I would struggle with such an early onset of winter
One positive result, however, is the way that the leaves change and fall: the process lasts much longer and is less moldy. Oh, nevermind, I thought it would sound like a bigger deal, but when I type it out, I can see that you will remain steadfast in your desire to NOT visit anytime other than July.
Ooooh, #MARM – I will have to dig in the stacks!!!
I’m sure you’ll come up with something interesting!
Sadly, if you stay where you are one enough, the cold will come later, and later.
Just finished reading Atwood’s Burning Questions. So much fun.
Just started reading Thrust by Lidia Yuknavitch. I had planned to read it eventually but after hearing her talk about it on the Tin House podcast Between the Covers, I moved it to the top of my pile and I am glad I did!
I hear what you’re saying: from an environmental perspective, it’s been fascinating to see how different an “issue” it seems to be for many longtime-residents here. Definitely on my mind, almost non-stop.
That’s a fantastic collection. To give you an idea how different the library access/acquisition is up here, that book is still listed “on order” and has a 40-week wait for the single copy that’s not here.
It would be borderline-rude, I suppose, but I want to write how much I love BtC in all-caps letters. Have you listened to the Dionne Brand episode yet? I’m saaaaving it….
The Massey lectures may be heard on Australia’s ABC Radio National. I looked quickly but couldn’t see if they carry repeats.
I put books beside my bed and still don’t read them. Does that make them stubborn, or me.
Thank you for checking: the new ones are probably even more in demand, so I’d bet the older series are also there!
I’m sure they’re cosier there, than on the shelves, however, so there’s that!