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The brief literary history of a cocktail: The Gin and Tonic
Like the Mint Julep, the Gin and Tonic is of unusual provenance. Similarly born out of a unique historical conjuncture of East and West, the seemingly timeless combination of gin, lime, sugar, and tonic water came into being almost by pure chance, at the intersections of colonialism, modern medicine and, well, boredom. The now famous drink was invented by…
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Forging Connections at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (2013) was not your average convention. People weren’t dressed in carefully considered costumes or walking around in character stockpiling freebies indiscriminately. Set in the Toronto Reference Library over the second weekend of May, the intimate space lent itself to discovery and spontaneous conversation more than sweaty-palmed, star struck fervor. TCAF opened…
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Choosing genres, missing art, and Wes Anderson presents the Bible: Bookishness for May 13, 2013
What to expect when you’re expecting a book “I waited until my first book was published to learn the genre, and when Oprah announced “It’s literary fiction!” just seconds after my pub date, I was overcome with joy. When we found out that I’d written a second book, however, we decided to find out ourselves…
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Punishing Wealth: The Great Gatsby’s Critics in 2013
Why is the opulence of The Great Gatsby so controversial? Thanks to Baz Luhrmann’s production, the book has a new set of critics with a common refrain: Gatsby-esque affluence is bad news. “Did anyone actually read The Great Gatsby?” asks Zachary M. Seward in Quartz, citing the perennial popularity of Gatsby-themed parties before complaining that…
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Record Store Review: Kops Records
Founded in 1976 with a focus on soul music and mod subculture, Kops Records (229 Queen St. West) is Toronto’s oldest independent record store. It’s known for housing the largest selection of seven inch 45s in Canada and for an abiding dedication to musical roots. According to General Manager Patrick Grant, “[Kops] specializes in unveiling…
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Borderless Cinema: Edward Yang’s YiYi
Inaugurating “Borderless Cinema,” our new series profiling lesser-known gems of world cinema, this essay reviews “YiYi”, written and directed by Edward Yang. Starring Nien-Jen Wu, Elaine Jin, and Issei Ogata. Running time 173 minutes. Available on DVD via Criterion Collection. Edward Yang’s Yi Yi (A One and a Two) is the final work of one…
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The no-spin zone: A review of Jonathan Dee’s A Thousand Pardons
Reviewed in this essay: A Thousand Pardons, by Jonathan Dee. Random House, 2013. Lance Armstrong could have used a hand from Helen Armstead, the inexperienced public relations guru at the heart of Jonathan Dee’s novel A Thousand Pardons. Whereas Armstrong’s stone-faced mea culpa was undermined by years of deceit, Helen would have had him prostrate…
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TRB Issue Six: Small and Sundry
Welcome to Issue Six of The Toronto Review of Books, our charismatic first offering in a new punchier issue format. In this single-sitting issue size, we’re cutting through the noise to bring you six pieces that matter. You’ll attend succinct gatherings in our new short issues—the kind of conversations that are worth joining because they’re big…
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Agreeing on Fables at 1812.gc.ca
A slick commercial appeared on Canadian television last year, featuring redcoats and period warships, with narrator intoning: “Two hundred years ago, the United States invaded our territory.” It’s 2013 and the invaders are long gone, but our leaders have set to work driving any ambiguity out of our collective memory. As we enter year two…
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Translating Challawa: Pakistani Writing Between Urdu, English, and Lesbian Erotica
A small but vibrant literary scene has emerged in Pakistan over the last decade. After the events of 9/11 pushed their country into the media’s spotlight, many authors wanted to write their own narratives rather than have them transposed from elsewhere. Big names soon garnered global fame. Among multiple other awards and nominations, Mohsin Hamid’s…
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XVII, from The Minutes
Let’s begin: Come man know your span sing wilde curcles with no circumference where even the birds cannot pass an emptiness that contracts to a point no count is sure, there is no point to the act if you already know what will come to pass passes, bird- brained song man you know too well…
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Hokkien Lesson 1: The Granddaughter’s Phrasebook
ang mo red hair jin sui very beautiful wah pah de leao see I will beat you to death wah zaiiyah I know wah gaiigee I can do it myself