A prescription for loneliness “Books that fill you with friends are… great – such as Robert Graves’ I Claudius. And Emil Zola’s Rougon -maquart series, 19 novels, which will fill your mind with an amazing population of characters!” Maclean’s takes a look at bibliotherapy. Millionaire, librarian, and my newest hero An Ohio librarian secretly amassed a...
For coffee nerds of the ages (book nerds, too) Ask the past: How to make instant coffee. Read, read, read “It’s no secret that great writers are great readers, and that if you can’t read, your writing will often suffer. Similarly, if you can read but have to move your lips to get through the longer words, you’ll still be a pretty bad writer. Also, if you pronounce “espresso” like “expresso...
Corey Mintz sets out to become an ex-vegan The food writer cut out animal products for four days. And gets the chance to see his vegetarian friends. Naturally, you have questions about embarking on your new life: Will you ever be able to resume your old identity? What happens to your Netflix queue? You are now under witness protection. Hank bought a bus Follow along. Jack has your back “I...
Finalists! “Once again I’m struck by the range of perspectives on the city… A novel and a memoir each tackle questions of identity; a volume of poetry connects an iconic Canadian artist to urban life; a book of photographs invites us to really look at the city around us; and a second novel paints an intimate portrait of a marriage. They all make for wonderful reading, and I congratulate...
Wim Wenders’s number one rule of filmmaking “You have a choice of being “in the business” or of making movies. If you’d rather do business, don’t hesitate. You’ll get richer, but you won’t have as much fun!” + 49 more. Woody Allen movies as infographics More at Vulture. Rapunzel Syndrome “How disgusting could a condition be if it’s named after a beautiful maiden with...
Reading more than beer bottle labels “The reality is, going to a bar alone and ordering a drink doesn’t have to reek of sad, lonely cowboy syndrome.” BlogTO rounds up Toronto’s best bars for reading while drinking. Come Sit By Me: A Literary Alternative to Missed Connections “An idea started to gel. Maybe if I’m choosy about what I read on my longish interborough...
Mystery (author) solved “Readers described it as complex, compelling and scintillating. They compared the author — a former military police investigator writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith — to P. D. James, Ruth Rendell and Kate Atkinson. They said the book seemed almost too assured and sophisticated to be a first novel… As it happens, they were right.” Your bookish...
The earnings to go with those tuxedos Countries whose GDP is below the projected revenue of the newly formed Penguin Random House Accio Diagon Alley Unable to transport yourself into the pages of Harry Pottery (or Orlando)? Summon Diagon Alley with Google Street View. Flock or flee as you see fit Yelp introduces a hipster map of Toronto (and elsewhere). Genre-E “Digital has replaced the...
How not to be a dick to a librarian “Don’t tell us you can ‘just Google it’ or find everything you need to know on the Interwebs. We hate that.” Still alive STOP The telegram industry is – well, maybe not booming, but certainly still kicking. (Image via.) Not born that way? French artist Orlan sues Lady Gaga. Poets at the movies “My favorite scene from a movie...
This could mean many things. New research out of U of T shows that reading literary fiction makes us more comfortable with ambiguity. Hipsters take over the Louvre Leo Caillard reimagines classic statues as contemporary hipsters. Meet Toronto’s Legolord Legoland is his kingdom. Restaurants where you’d be better off without a date …the better to focus on your book. Ten bookish...
Why you should always read the book first
Want
The read nest.
Homegrown National Park
Meet Toronto’s latest Park Rangers charged with creating Canada’s first “homegrown national park.”
The Seattle Public Library sets a new record for the longest book chain
Professor Old Skull Lynda Barry “strip[s] away the stiffness of adulthood and plug[s] people into their creativity.” Everyone steal this idea I’d like to visit a library lawn in every city ever, please and thank you. Every misspelled word in the 2013 Scripps spelling bee Including so many words I have never, ever heard before. BUT Was even the winning word misspelled? You guys...