Delightful A book fountain in Budapest.

Poems like lace Actually, lace poems.

3608 keys Speaking as a former piano student and also as someone who has moved houses four times in the past five years, I can tell you that keyboards, even those with 88 weighted keys, are not pianos. For all those who, like me, long for the real thing, you have the rest of July to seek out the 41 pianos that have been placed around Toronto as a part of Play Me, I’m Yours.

What happened Fiction involves trace elements of magic; it works for reasons we can explain and also for reasons we can’t. If novels or short-story collections could be weighed strictly in terms of their components (fully developed characters, check; original voice, check; solidly crafted structure, check; serious theme, check) they might satisfy, but they would fail to enchant. A great work of fiction involves a certain frisson that occurs when its various components cohere and then ignite. The cause of the fire should, to some extent, elude the experts sent to investigate. A letter from the Pulitzer Fiction Committee.

Unwritten masterpiece by piece Daniel Perlmutter is writing a novel and wants you to help. His campaign invites monetary contributions in exchange for a chance to shape the book. For $10 you can pick an object to appear in the novel, or for $750 you can name it.

The TRB goes to the movies The Toronto Review of Books is co-presenting this Thursday night’s showing of Herman’s House at the Open Roof Festival. Movies outside are the best (experts agree), so you should come.