BookLust

Gettin' Nailed

An assortment of nails found in the past year while digging garden beds and cleaning up the garden shed.

Random Readings 9

I have been a writer my entire life. As a writer, even as a child, long before what I wrote began to be published, I developed a sense that meaning itself was resident in the rhythms of words and sentences and paragraphs, a technique for withholding whatever it was I thought or believed behind an increasingly impenitrable polish.

– from The Year Of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Mmmmmmm.....

...Gardenporn....can't wait to start planting! How 'bout you?

All In Together Girls

Like I said in my previous post, Sunday night I headed over to Clinton's Tavern to see Kate Sutherland read from her collection of short stories All In Together Girls. Also reading that night was the poet Stuart Ross, who read a selection of poems from his new collection, I Cut My Finger.

As expected, it was a great turnout. So crowded, in fact, that it got pretty damn hot pretty damn fast. But that's ok – I had some gin and tonics to cool me off. At first I thought I wouldn't know anyone there other than Kate, but was very fortunate to run into quite a few familiar faces I hadn't seen in quite a while. Here's a pic of Kate signing one of her books:

Kate gave an amazing reading. She read the story Checking Out, a rather wry look at addiction – specifically the addiction to alcohol and certain types of people.  What was really impressive about Kate's reading was that for the most part, she read the entire story (nine pages) by memory. When I asked her about it later in the evening, she explained that she had the story pretty much memorized because as she wrote it, she would read it aloud over and over again. And, smart girl that she is, she practised beforehand.

Sorry, this pic of her just about to start her reading is really dark – and I did use a flash, go figure.

Here's a shot of Stuart Ross chatting with friends after the reading. I've seen Stuart read from some of his writings at various book events in the past, but I'm still not really familiar with his work. He's got a great sense of humour which often shows up in many of his poems. And he just seems like a really warm and friendly guy. Must make an effort to explore more of his writing. Unbeknownst to me, at one point early on in the evening I had been standing next to the very gifted cartoonist Gary Clement. Gary had illustrated the cover of Stuart's book, which looks pretty cool. I had seen this guy standing next to me, and thought he looked like an interesting person, but only found out from reading Stuart's blog post about the reading who that interesting guy truly was! Bummer. I would have loved to talk to him – I think the guy is brilliant.

And of course, a pic of me and Kate together. (Thanks to Paul Vermeersch, for taking this one!)

And what did I think of Kate's collection of short stories? Beautiful. Delightful. Clever. Funny. Sometimes a little too close to home!  The stories (14 in total) are all quite brief (averaging about eight pages), but they pack a lot of quiet strength and keen observation about women's lives – childhood rivalries, teenage angst, struggling for one's independence and self discovery, not to mention the joys of purchasing that life-altering bra. I highly recommend All In Together Girls. And now I must get a copy of her earlier work, Summer Reading.

Congrats, Kate!!

Libraryhead

Sorry for the lack of posts – been busy with work, but also been busy with working in the garden (oh joy!) and then trying to survive a subsequent horrendous allergy attack. I don't care that I felt like crap for almost two days – it was worth it!!

Anyway, on Sunday night I attended a lovely book launch for the collection of short stories All In Together Girls, written by the very talented and charming Kate Sutherland of Kate's Book Blog, and I promise that I will blog about it some time tomorrow.

In the mean time, why not groove on this fascinating little animation, Libraryhead by David Bazelon. Hmmm...I think I'm married to a Libraryhead.

"You Fight Like Anne Rice!"

Remember when I mentioned there was going to be a Simpsons episode with Franzen and Chabon duking it out? Well, I missed it, dammit! But there is a little clip from YouTube that you might enjoy.

Cute, but I must confess...I like my version better. Heh.

Who Knew I was a Slasher?

Many thanks to Isabella, for bringing this little gem to my attention! I've been distracted with this and that of late, so as a consequence I completely missed this little write-up in the Wired Blog about my Lethem and Chabon strip. In this interview with Lethem, he mentions that he'd love to be in a slash fiction story. As far as he knows, he's only been slashed once, by none other than moi. Boy do I feel uncool. I didn't even really know what slash fiction was, and apparently I've done it!

I love Lethem's description of my strip as  "a sublimated homoerotic comic that was just an inch away from being Kirk and Spock." Heh. And I'd never made the connection with the Kirk and Spock homoerotic thing in my strip before. That's another duo that I love, by the way. Maybe there's another strip there, somewhere...wait a minute, my brother and I already did that, though mind you, we neglected to add any homoerotic humour.

I leave you with this very silly cartoon of the Star Trek dudes, drawn many years ago. I found it a few weeks ago, when I was cleaning out all my old portfolio cases. Sorry for the crappy scan, but I had to scan it in sections, 'cuz it's this huge poster! For the life of me, I don't know what motivated me to create this. And why did I draw it in crayon? Only my therapist knows for sure...

A 13 Ghosty Sneaky Peaky

Guess what I got delivered to me yesterday? Advance copies of my first illustrated trade picture book, 13 Ghosts of Halloween! Whoo-hoo!! Ahhh...what to say? You know...I've illustrated small educational books, and will hopefully continue to do so, but I gotta say – it's a very different, almost indescribable feeling, holding one's first illustrated picturebook in one's hands!! I'm so pleased with the results. And you know the best part? The author, Robin Muller, an award-winning writer and illustrator himself, told my art director that he loves it!! Yippee!!

Ok, enough blather – here's a peak at the cover:

Now you might notice that this cover is a bit different from the original cover I showed not too long ago. That's because it is different! The original plan was for me to do the entire book in watercolour (as you can see from my scan from the Scholastic Summer catalogue), but the art director decided that dark spooky watercolours would not print too well. So thank goodness, we went digital! So even though it is a Halloween book with a spooky dark theme, the colours are great! (In my humble opinion). Here's the introductory page:

A couple of personal secrets about this book. You may recognize that red-haired girl with the glassess, hmmm? I just adore her. I created her a few years ago, and even put her in a comic strip that I thought I might try and get syndicated, but alas, my energies were directed elsewhere, and the poor little red-haired girl was sadly neglected. So I had to put her in the book! You will also notice that one of the pets is a pug. Here's something about me that you might not have known. I love pugs. Love 'em!! They're so ugly, they're adorable.  I'd love to own one, but alas, the cats would not be pleased, and the hubby does not exactly groove on pugs, either. So, I stole an idea from the cartoonist Lynn Johnston. Years ago, she had her character Ellie get pregnant a third time, because Lynn really wanted a baby, but for her own reasons, didn't choose to have another. So she created April as her third baby! And so every chance I get, I will put cute, cuddly-wuddly pugs in my artwork, 'cuz that's the only way I'll ever get to own one!

One spread to whet your appetite. But no more! You gotta buy the book to see the rest of the story! (And it really is a fun story, believe me!)

If you're interested, you can pre-order it at Amazon.ca. According to the info online, the book won't be available until August. Can you hold out until then? I know I can't!

I'd Go to Kimbooktu and Back Again!

You do know all about Kimbooktu, right? You know – that fabulous and fun blog that's all about the most delightful book gadgets you could ever imagine for all of us booklusters out there? So if you didn't know, you know now.

And did you also know that Ms. Kimbooktu, the creator of said wonderful blog, recently won the honour of Best of Blogs 2006 in the catagory Best book/literary blog? So now you know that, too!

But here is the best part about my Kimbooktu news! Kim has created an amazing contest, and if you are a lover of all things book-related, well, you must take part! 'Cuz it's fun! And there are wondrous biblio prizes! In Kim's words, here's what the contest is all about:

I want you to come up with a reading gadget / bookish thingy. (Do not take the phrase ‘gadget’ too literally.) You can let your creativity run free and make it as wacky as you like. It can be – for instance - a piece of jewellery, clothing, a book shelf or some nifty product that comes in handy when reading. It can also be a piece of art that has something to do with books and/or reading. It is all up to you, as long as it’s bookish! You can use the products on this website for reference.

You can read more about the contest here.

So come on! The contest closes on June 1st! People have been slow to submit (myself included! Yikes! But I have at least two ideas that I shall send soon) and Kim would love to see some fun, crazy, biblio-beauteous ideas! And I'm not kidding – the prizes are to die for!

So put your biblio-thinking caps on, folks!

Kid Lit Spice?

Sweet Jesus, when will it end? Geri Halliwell is set to release a series of children's books. And apparently the protagonist is based on that nasty Posh Spice. 'Cuz that's what kids should be learnin' about, folks!

The series follows a schoolgirl called Ugenia Lavender, who shares Geri's red hair and striking blue eyes, and has a talent for solving mysteries.

She describes Ugenia as "flawed, demanding and obnoxious" but adds that she "cares about the world she lives in".

Posh Vatoria, created with Victoria's blessing, intimidates the flame-haired heroine in one story by arriving at a party in a limousine.

So...just off the top of my head...here's a list of celebrities who have penned kids books:

Maddona
Katie Couric
Jamie Lee Curtis
Ed Koch
Julie Andrews
John Lithgow
Jerry Seinfeld
Tiki and Ronde Barber
James Carville
Jay Leno
Maria Shriver
Sarah Ferguson
Spike Lee
Jane Seymour
John Travolta
Billy Crystal
Whoopie Goldberg
Jimmy Carter

Someone. Please. Make. It. Stop.