My reading in February has taken me from the U.S.S.R. to Japan, from Austria to Syria. My plan for reading in March has been all about Ireland and Wales. And because I love making lists, I’ve been making plans since January: searching the library catalogue, searching my shelves. (Springsteen fans
I've worked in a bookstore twice in my life. Between those jobs, the Giller Prize burst onto the Canadian literary scene, in 1994. So when Bonnie Burnard's Casino and Other Stories and Eliza Clark's What You Need were shortlisted that first year, I was still fresh from the store, still returning weekly
This season, I took a break from my reading projects and played with the longlists for some of the Canadian literary prizes. Before I'd quite finished, I started in with the next Mavis Gallant short story collection. Still, I might yet finish the three remaining books. Alternatively, they might wait
As September comes closer, a big part of the reading-me shudders in panic. With the new catalogues and the tempting pitches, the prizelists and the festivals: how to fit in all-the-books. When one's reading plans back in January are still all needy and stuff. Oh, and some of those
Back in the summer, I was planning my reading list for this year's International Festival of Authors in Toronto. It always seems like it will be possible to read all the books which are calling to me from the schedule of events and list of participants. And maybe it would be,
