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TRB Podcast: The Master Critic and the Review – Robert Cushman at York University
On October 18, 2011, renowned critic Robert Cushman spoke on “The Master Critic and the Review” at York University: the TRB is delighted to be able to bring you his lecture. [audio:cushman.mp3] Cushman’s bio on the York event page is as follows: Born in London and educated at Cambridge University, worked for the BBC’s radio…
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TRB Podcast: Mike Carey at the 2nd Annual Toronto SpecFic Colloquium
As part of the Toronto SpecFic Colloquium on October 15, 2011, and sponsored by The Beguiling, comic-writer Mike Carey presented a talk entitled “Speak of the Dazzling Wings”: Myth, Language, and Modern Fantasy.” Listen, and enjoy. [audio:carey.mp3] From the SpecFic site: MIKE CAREY was born in 1959 in Liverpool, England, where both his parents worked…
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TRB Issue Two: Now Live!
Today we’re thrilled to bring you the second issue of The Toronto Review of Books, complete with seven great essays, two marvelous poems and a Q&A, not to mention a spiffy new webdesign. If you’re free, join us at our launch party tomorrow, January 10th, at 8 p.m. at Poetry Jazz Cafe, 224 Augusta Ave.,…
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Species Counterpoint: Reverberations of Jenny Sampirisi’s Croak
Reviewed in this Sight-Reading: Croak, by Jenny Sampirisi. Coach House Press, 2011. Why did I introduce into the text all those extraordinary frogs and legs and things, all that fermenting matter, isolating them on the page only by the style, the cold and disciplined tone, and demonstrating to the reader how completely I dominated the…
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On the Real Way to Eat like a Caveman
Hear this piece read by its author, Dylan Gordon: [audio: issuetwo/dylan.mp3] Reviewed in this essay: Ancestral Appetites: Food in Prehistory by Kristen J. Gremillion. Cambridge University Press, 2011. We humans have learned to eat a great number of foods, prepared in an ever more astounding variety of ways. And as Ancestral Appetites demonstrates, this range…
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Need-to-Know: On Area 51
Hear this piece read by its author, Matthew Farish: [audio: issuetwo/matt.mp3] Reviewed in this essay: Annie Jacobsen, Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base Little, Brown and Co., 2011. Trevor Paglen, Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon’s Secret World. New American Library, 2010. For two days…
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On Learning How to Share: A Review of the Seven Billion
Hear this piece read by its author, Mary Albino: [audio: issuetwo/mary.mp3] With baby Danica’s Halloween arrival, the planet’s population officially reached seven billion. It’s an estimate of course—the margin of error is six months in either direction—but the point is humanity has reached a milestone: there are twice as many people alive as there were…
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Chris Stevens on Alice for the iPad, Book Apps, and Toronto: a Q & A
TRB: Released in the spring of 2010, Alice for the iPad became a huge, Oprah-featured hit that is credited with convincing reading publics of how book apps could be even more fun and engaging than paper books. How many times has Alice been downloaded by now? Were you surprised by its reception? How have traditional…
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Donna-Michelle St. Bernard’s Gas Girls
For this piece, Will Goldbloom, a theatre historian, and Zack Russell, a theatre artist, read Donna-Michelle St. Bernard’s Gas Girls, published in 2011 by Playwrights Canada Press. They wrote up their thoughts separately, then the TRB recorded their first conversation about the play. Listen to their discussion: [audio: issuetwo/willzack.mp3] WILL: “Love for gas, gas for…
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Going to bed for the holidays…
Dear avid readers: Many books, back issues, and missed blog posts are crying out for attention, so the TRB is curling up in bed to read till January. Thank you for an immensely fun first few months on the planet. All the best for all your seasonable fests—and don’t forget to join us in welcoming the…
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TRB Podcast: Umberto Eco at the Toronto Reference Library
On November 16, the CBC’s Michael Enright interviewed Umberto Eco on his latest novel, The Prague Cemetery, at the Toronto Reference Library.* [audio:UmbertoEco.mp3] Unfortunately, our file is a little quiet—so you may prefer to watch the TPL’s video of the event. Meanwhile, see here for Talia Zajac’s TRB review of Eco’s new book. *Though we…
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TRB Podcast: Polar Imprints: Book Historian Hester Blum at the University of Toronto
[audio:Hester.mp3] On November 17 as part of the Toronto Centre for the Book lecture series, and in Association with the Centre for the Study of the United States, Hester Blum (Penn State University) spoke on “Polar Imprints”: Narratives of polar voyages enjoyed wide circulation in Anglo-American cultural and political spheres during the long nineteenth century.…