BookLust

Silly Poetry Friday 7

Eep! You know what's really silly? Forgetting to post a poem on Silly Poetry Friday! Many appy polly loggies. But I was distracted for a good reason – the mother's over for a visit, and the house had to get into some semblance of order.

Today's poem is from one of my favourite writers – the witty and wonderful Ms. Dorothy Parker. I won't blather on because I'm just too darn tired right now. Enjoy!

General Review Of The Sex Situation
      
Woman wants monogamy;
Man delights in novelty.
Love is woman's moon and sun;
Man has other forms of fun.
Woman lives but in her lord;
Count to ten, and man is bored.
With this the gist and sum of it,
What earthly good can come of it?

Book Autopsies

Like, whoa. Check these out. I'm speechless.

Fiddle Me This

Here's an illo I did recently for the September/October issue of City Bites magazine. The article was written by chef and food writer Signe Langford. In the piece, Signe recounts her childhood in a small Quebec town, where her father harvested strange food items like fiddleheads and Puffball mushrooms, and then sautéd them in lots of butter and salt. As a child she didn't quite appreciate these unique flavours (she understood mushrooms, but they came in a can, or on a pizza), but she certainly appreciates her early culinary training now.

Me, I could do without the strange mushrooms, but I've always been curious about fiddleheads. Anyone out there ever eat 'em? Are they any good?

Are You a Poet, and Do You Know It?

Any serious poets out there? I don't mean people who write only serious poetry, I mean people who are serious about their poetry, and might actually purchase the 2008 Poet's Market guide. Well if you do, you will notice my cover illustration of Gargoyle 51 alongside the listing for Gargoyle Magazine. Throughout the Poet's Market covers of various literary magazines are highlighted, and as luck would have it, the Gargoyle cover was one of the chosen few.

I will more than likely never actually use my copy of 2008 Poet's Market, but I shall treasure it forever.

Open Book Toronto

Huzzah! It's official, folks – Fall is finally here! And what better way to celebrate this beautiful and blustery season than with book talk? Because what is Autumn without books? They go together like...I dunno, Atwood and that Longpen. Well, maybe not. But anyway, back to book talk. Have you heard of the fabulous new site Open Book Toronto? Here's what it's all about:

Open Book: Toronto celebrates the new and wonderful books, authors and events coming out with Ontario's independent, Canadian-owned publishers. Open Book is committed to showcasing the outstanding range and quality of contemporary Canadian writing and invites Torontonians to connect with their very own vibrant and cutting-edge publishing scene.

October 2007 marks the launch of Open Book's annual celebration of the Fall book season. Throughout the month, Ontario publishers, bookstores, literary festivals and Open Book (along with several partners) will host a fabulous series of events to introduce Torontonians to this season's new books. Our website and newsletter will keep you up-to-date on our festivities.

This site is amazing. I'm exhausted trying to devour everything it offers. They've even got a section called Words With where Canadian authors talk about what Canadian literature means to them. I really like the one by comedian and children's author Sean Cullen.

Hmmm...he's a celebrity who is now venturing into children's books...I should probably review him for my BACA Off! segment, shouldn't I? I've actually been meaning to read his books. I must confess that I do like a kid's book with the name Hamish in it. It is, after all, the name of one of my cats. However, upon close inspection, I'm not impressed with the fact that the illustrator's name, Johann Wessels, is not mentioned on the cover of the book. Not off to a good start.

Silly Poetry Friday 6

I'm going to cheat again for this week's silly poetry – don't worry, I'm not sharing more of my own silly poems, but I'm choosing a little silly poem just so's I can show a silly drawing I did many years ago.

Today's silly poem is by that really silly guy Lewis Carroll. It's from The Mad Tea-Party, which is a chapter from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:

The Hatter shook his head mournfully. "Not I!" he replied. "We quarrelled last March – just before he went mad, you know –" (pointing with his teaspoon at the March Hare,) "–it was at the great concert given by the Queen of Hearts, and I had to sing

Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you're at!"

You know the song, perhaps?"
"I've heard something like it," said Alice.
"It goes on, you know," the Hatter continued, "in this way:–

Up above the world you fly,
Like a tea-tray in the sky.
Twinkle twinkle–"

Here the Dormouse shook itself and began singing in its sleep "Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle,  twinkle–" and went on so long that they had to pinch it to make it stop.

And here is the accompanying illustration:

Yes, I copied Tenniel's illustration (and using one of those old nib pens, no less! Took one hell of a long time to complete), but using a little artistic licence, I added a couple of people to the picture. This was drawn in the early 80's, when I was working at one of McMaster University's libraries, and taking some university courses. The bearded gentleman in the picture is Dr. Alan Bishop, my professor for my first year university English course. He was (and I'm sure still is) extremely sweet and kind, and blessed with a very sensitive soul (he would often get very choked up in class whenever discussing the darker chapters of Dickens' Oliver Twist). The lady sitting next to Dr. Bishop was the teaching assistant for my English course. This drawing was actually a gift for her, as a thank-you for helping me out with my essay-writing during the course of the year. I very wisely made a photocopy of the original illustration before I gave it away. I'm afraid I'm not sure I can remember the TA's name – I believe her first name was Leila, but I'm not certain about that. What was so wonderful about this gift was that unbeknownst to me, Leila had a very special fondness for Lewis Carroll. I do hope she still has the drawing.

I just did some searching online and found out her name is Leila Ryan. Wow. She's accomplished a lot since I knew her. Cool.

Don't 5

I Love a Crooked House

There's a new blog in town and you must go read it. It's called Crooked House and it's penned by the very talented and funny Stephany Aulenback. She has a unique perspective on life (her dry sense humour makes me laugh out loud),  and I adore her taste in books and art. Of special note is her  brilliant post Beckett For Babies; you must go over there and tell her to get this idea published toot sweet.

Bertie Escapes!

This was a fun illo to do, I must say! And I love doing illustration work for folks in the U.K., which is where Cage and Aviary Birds magazine is published.

The story which accompanied my illustration was very sweet – a father recounting the traumatic day the family budgie Bertie escaped from his cage and flew off into the wild blue yonder. The story ends happily, thank goodness – Bertie is caught and placed back in his cage where he will be safe and secure.

The funny thing is, about a week after this magazine came out, I saw one of my neighbours wandering around the schoolyard across the street from our house, with a big towel flapping in her hands, like she was ready to do some serious business with a renegade bull. I quickly found out that she was trying to capture, guess what – a budgie! Apparently it had escaped from it's cage in the school. It was a pretty little thing, fluttering about, enjoying the great big beautiful sky. Problem was, the poor dumb bird didn't realize that freedom has a price, and it usually comes in nasty packages like hungry cats and bigger birds and cold weather. My neighbour was not able to catch the budgie that day, and about a week later I saw the little creature hanging around the convenience store down the street, where the owners like to feed the birds bread in the morning. For now, the little guy is safe. But I'm afraid the ending of this story won't be as happy as that of lucky Bertie.

Lurverly Links

Just  a quick note to say hooray! My pal Sandra Bell-Lundy, creator of the comic strip Between Friends has a brand-spanking-new website, and she's started a blog! Whoo-hoo! Why not drop by and say hello? She's bright and funny and just so darn talented!

Also, for those who have wondered when the hell my husband Guy was ever gonna update his blog, Nixon is in Hell, your waiting days are over. Guy apologizes for the delay, but he's a very serious blogger, and takes his time collecting quotes and information for his very thoughtful posts. So pop by and find out how he feels about the taxing situation in Canada (which could also very easily apply to our friends south of the border).

And to finish off my blatant nepotism, might I suggest you take a gander at my mom's most recent posts on her blog, My Jamaican Family? You'll find out all about the many quirky, charming and delightful uncles she grew up with on the Island in the Sun.

Ok, that's all. Go forth and link away. Really. Shoo.