When regularly relying on the library in Toronto, with dozens of bookmarks holding my place in borrowed stacks, the idea of writing about my library usage seemed impossible. Now living a few hours north, where funding for libraries is limited, my visitor’s card gets relatively little use. In the
This is the final story in the single volume of Alistair MacLeod's collected stories, Island (if you're discovering this project after it's complete, you will be able to find the schedule for this reading project here). After spending a little more than a year with Alistair MacLeod’s short stories,
If a title story could talk, I’m sure it would ask for understanding; it must feel the pressure of both encapsulating the spirit and intent of the entire collection, as though any single story could have also borne that title, and simultaneously revealing some profound concept that is not
Lisa at AnzLitLovers is hosting a week dedicated to the works of indigenous authors, an event she has retitled First Nations Reading Week, July 3rd-10th, which is an excellent opportunity for me to mention a poetry collection that I absolutely loved earlier this year, in the company of a
Those of you who are reading here now, but not reading Alistair MacLeod’s short stories, will probably only be interested in the first couple of paragraphs after this introduction. Feel free to skip past the section that I've titled The Underneath, written with those who know the story-or other
