BookLust

I Got Posted

For those who have access to The National Post today, check out the article regarding the roundtable discussion of the state of the Conservative Party. I did the illo! I hope it turned out okay (I'm writing this post before I've actually even seen the paper, and I won't get access to a paper until about 8:00am, when I go in to work with Guy, who is, if you remember, doing his book talk today. Thought I'd give him some moral support!)

It's been a while since I've done any illos for newspapers, and I must say that I miss it, in spite of the stress of having to draw up something at the last minute (I got called for this job at about 3:30 and had to have it in for around 5:30). I really hope that I can do a lot more newspaper illustration in the future.

I'll eventually put a larger sized copy of the illustration on my web site (which is in desperate need of updating!)

What is it with me and maps? I have always sucked at geography, and yet in my freelance career, I have had to draw quite a few goddam maps. Someone is trying to tell me something.

That Book Guy

I have mentioned this before, but it begs repeating: my husband is just as much of a biblio-nut as I am, if not more so, because he works in a library, so all those books on all those shelves beckon to him every day. Did I also mention that we met in a library? Many years ago I used to work for the Toronto Public Library, and it was there among the stacks that I first encountered that burly beard and those big blue eyes. My career has taken a different path, but Guy has stayed the course, because for him, working in a library is indeed his bliss that he was meant to follow.

I wish I could tell you in great detail my husband's life story to date, but I know he would throttle me if I did. Suffice to say that he came from the 'school of hard knocks', a poor kid from 'the other side of the tracks' in Oshawa, Ontario. He quit school when he was in grade 10, and has been supporting himself since the age of 16. With such little formal education, you can imagine the kind of back-breaking jobs he had to do over the years in order to survive. But just because you don't have a formal education, doesn't mean you aren't smart. Always a voracious reader, the library was a blessed haven for this young man. I can't remember how many times over the years he has said to me, "Books and music saved my life".

Eventually this hard-working fellow finished his highschool education, and saved enough money to go to college so that he could fulfill his dream: to work in a library. It makes me think about how I create stories about the lives of strangers I enounter in my neighbourhood. Some people who meet my husband now at the library where he works might assume that this man has had a bland middle-class cushy background, and now has 'settled' for a government job in a library, to coast out the rest of his days. But I know different. I know the path which led him to where he is now, and it is a remarkable, heart-breaking, life-affirming story of perseverance in the face of great hardship. In many ways, a story not unlike the life of my father. Is that one of the many reasons I fell in love with him? I have no doubt. What is that well-known quote by Henry David Thoreau? Most men lead lives of quiet desperation. I would say that my husband leads a life of quiet unabashed joy and overwhelming gratitude.

One of the many interesting jobs which Guy does for the Toronto Public Library are free book talks for the public. I think in the What's On monthly magazine for TPL the book talks are described as Tea and Books, and for some strange reason I think this program is only offered in the west end of the city. Basically, a staff member from the library volunteers about an hour of their time to go to a branch in the city and discuss a list of books that they have read, which will hopefully encourage discussion as well encourage patrons to sign out any of the books which pique their interest. And yes, tea, coffee and cookies are available at these events. My husband has done quite a few of these talks over the years, and he just loves them. I think it just tickles him pink that he gets paid to sit with a group of avid listeners and discuss the books which matter to him, and hopefully will matter to the customers as well.

Because of the the many challenging and unique life experiences my husband has lived through, I think it has had a dramatic effect on his views of the world, of the justice system, and especially politics. So don't expect to discuss any fun fiction at his book talks! Off and on over the years I have tried to encourage Guy to add more fiction to his list of books, and he has relented a few times, but lately he has made it very clear that he is there to talk about the books that he loves, and if people want to talk about fiction, well they'll just have to attend another book talk. Fair enough. And he is one of the few people involved in this program who recommends a lot of non-fiction, so I guess it all evens out in the end. (I would be remiss if I did not mention the fact that my husband did read a great deal of the fiction classics in his youth: the Russian classics, Dickens, Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Orwell, Huxley, Ray Bradbury, O Henry, de Maupassant and many, many others. I just can't convince him to crack open any contemporary fiction at all. But I haven't given up the fight!)

So if you're in the city on Wednesday, September 28th, and you've got some spare time in the morning, be sure to drop by the Weston Branch Library at 10:30am to partake in tea, cookies and some scintillating book talk from a remarkable (and adorable) man who is passionate about books, ideas and politics. Here's a list of the books Guy will be discussing that day:

Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
by Jared Diamond

Gag rule : on the suppression of dissent and the stifling of democracy
by Lewis H. Lapham

The iron triangle : inside the secret world of the Carlyle Group
by Dan Briody

The sociopath next door : the ruthless versus the rest of us
by Martha Stout

Toxic sludge is good for you : lies, damn lies, and the public relations industry
by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton

Imperial America : reflections on the United States of amnesia
by Gore Vidal

Art Imitating Lit 5

Have you ever noticed how you feel internally when you walk into a mega-bookstore, compared to how you feel when you walk into an indie bookstore? I sure notice the difference.

And so I decided to channel some of those emotions into my latest strip.

The Name Game

I came across a copy this old cartoon yesterday, and thought I'd post it, just for fun. It's always been a fave of mine (the original is framed in my studio).

The brilliant Isabella of Magnificent Octopus has written a fascinating post about the art of naming things, like toys, pets and children. It got me thinking about my obsession with finding the perfect name for so many things in my life: all my past stuffed toys, my past and present pets, all my many cartoon characters that I have created over the years. I've always been drawn to men with interesting names, so when an impressive fellow named Guy Storms breezed into my life, I had no choice but to marry him; his name was just too damn good to pass up.

Back to the cartoon. Before I had created this gag, I had wanted to use the name Günter in some sort of creative way for a long time. And then one day, just like the indomitable Guy, Günter came into my life, and I just couldn't pass him up.

Fall in Love, Yet Again...

For those not in the know, Fall is my favourite time of year. The sentiments from last year's post still apply. Yes, the weather is still a tad too warm right now for my tastes, but soon, very soon, the bittersweet blustery weather will be upon us, and I will revel in it's aching beauty.

What's The Dewey Decimal Number For Ego? Pt2

Remember this post, when I raved about being catalogued? Well I still haven't received copies of my 2nd illustrated children's book yet (soon, I hope! Soon!), but I did receive the Scholastic Literacy Place catalogue in the mail, and lookie lookie!! There I am, my cover and my name in a book catalogue. Hot damn but that feels nice.

Sigh....

Ok. Back to work.

Would You Like Some Lies With That Wine?

There's nothing I love better than a mix of writing, wine and a little white lies. And if you like those combos too, why not try your hand at the Lie to Win writing contest, sponsored by White Lie Wine.

All you have to do is write a short story about your favourite white lie, and you could win an opportunity to meet best-selling chick-lit author Jennifer Weiner in New York City. I must confess that I haven't read any of Jennifer's books yet (or seen the movie based on her book In Her Shoes), but I do read her blog Snarkspot, which is hilarious. I was going to enter this contest myself, because I love writing contests, but being a Canuck, I am not qualified to enter, according the the rules of the contest. Nuts. So all you writers in the U.S enter the contest, win, and then invite me, ok?

Seen in the Village 2

I've lived in Toronto for 16 years, all of that time spent in the west end of the city. When you live in the same area for that length of time, familiar landmarks and faces eventually become imprinted on you, and in a sense, they become an extension of who you are, because without meaning to, you create personalities and life stories around these markers in your neighbourhood. There are familiar faces that I encounter on a regular basis whom I have never spoken to, but in spite of not getting to know them on a more intimate level, I have created their entire life stories, just from observing their appearance, their behaviour, how they react to the world around them. Is that strange? I hope I'm not the only person who does this. Of all the many people I see in my neighbourhood, I think these two gentlemen above are the most fascinating, the most mysterious. They certainly have elicited a lot of stories from my imagination over the years.

They are brothers, though I am not sure if they are twins. They certainly look very much alike, except that the one brother is slightly taller. They look to be somewhere in the range of 65-70 years old. I have come to the conclusion that they are of Italian descent, though of course I have no way of knowing this, unless I ask them, which of course, I will never do. The one thing I know for sure, of course, is that the one brother is blind. The two are always together, the blind brother's arm gently holding on to the arm of his sighted brother, the leader, the guide, the rock. I have never seen the sighted brother walking alone. Ever. Fate has deemed them to be separated conjoined twins.

Every time I see them in the neighbourhood, so many stories enter my mind. How did the one brother become blind? Was he blind from birth, and so the sighted brother has always had the responsibility of being the guide? Or was the blindness the result of some illness later in life, and thus the sighted brother had to change his life plans in order to help his brother? Perhaps the blindness was the result of an accident, and in fact it was the sighted brother's fault, and so he gave up his life as a way to make amends to his now blind brother, who perhaps in his previously sighted life was a gifted artist? Or perhaps it was a vow made to their cherished mother on her deathbed? I can just hear the mother, her frail voice, whispering in her haulting English to her sighted son, her breathing strained: "Promise me, Vito, promise me ... you'll take care of Tony!" And Vito, the full weight of his future pressing down on his aching heart, knowing that he can no longer marry his one true love, Lucia (who unbeknownst to the both of them is carrying their unborn son, who will spend the rest of his life searching for his birth father), says to his beloved mother, the tears welling up in his eyes, "Yes, Mama, yes. I promise Tony will always be safe with me."

See? So many possible stories. And other thoughts occur to me, too. Why did the blind brother never make an effort to learn to cope on his own? Perhaps the sighted brother deeply resents his lot in life, and welcomes the day when he no longer bears this burden. No, I can't imagine that. The care he takes in his brother is too real, too kind for there to be any bitterness. I hope, anyway. Other terrible thoughts enter my mind. How will the other cope, when one of them is gone? I cannot imagine either brother's life without the other, it's simply too painful to think about. And yet, I know it will happen one day. Lately the blind brother has been looking very weak and frail, and my heart aches for both of them, for the life they have had to live, for the devotion they have for each other, for the pain that they carry together every day, with such silent, gentle grace.

Born to Blog?

One of my most treasured blog friends is the esteemed RJ, author of The Daily Blague, an exceptional blog overflowing in wit and humour and insight. The Daily Blague hails from the voluminous Portico, an astounding panoply of essays, reviews, letters, recipes, and assorted intellectual ephemera all penned by the unsinkable RJ himself. It is best, I believe, when exploring Portico, to set aside at least a few hours of uninterrupted time; one doesn't 'breeze through' this magnum opus; wandering through Portico is like suddenly discovering a secret vault in your home which houses an astounding library full of undiscovered intellectual delights.

As well as itroducing you to The Daily Blague and Portico, I also wanted to bring to your attention a recent post by RJ, which I enjoyed immensely. In it, he discusses his reasons why he blogs, and in fact, why he believes that he was "born to blog". It's a delightful, elegant ode to writing and blogging.

And so why do I blog? I love to write, and wanted to share my thoughts with a larger audience than my husband and my cats. Although I have many book-loving friends, it's not always so easy to get the time to meet with them in person and discuss books and writing and well ... stuff. I also wanted to share my artwork with a larger audience, and yes, hoped that it might boost my creative career (it has). Without a doubt though, the best part about blogging has been the amazing people I have met (some only online, some in the flesh). People who more than likely I would never have encountered in my daily life, were it not for BookLust. Of course there is a negative side to blogging; yes I have met in my blogging travels a few idiots and blowhards, but that will happen in your day-to-day life, too. It's hard to escape from these people in the 'real world', but it's a whole lot easier to ignore them in the blogosphere.

So like RJ, I think I, too, was born to blog. How 'bout you?

TGIF Illustration 9!

The word for this week's Illustration Friday was escape.

For me, dreaming is a wonderful (and inexpensive) way to escape.