THREE RIVERS
Juri Peepre presents Three Rivers: The Yukon's Great Boreal Wilderness. Packed with photography, art and writings by such notables as Courtney Milne, Margaret Atwood and John Ralston Saul, this sumptuous volume offers an unforgettable tour of a natural wonderland. Monday, May 14 at 7:00pm. Vancouver Public Libary, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. Info: www.cpaws.org/.
THE 100-MILE DIET
Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon chronicle their attempt to feed themselves for a year on food grown and produced within 100 miles of Vancouver. Monday, May 14 , 7:30 - 9:00 PM, UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Vancouver. Admission is free but please pre-register at info.talkofthetown@ubc.ca or by phoning 604-827-3491.
ETCHINGS AND ARTIST'S BOOKS
Book artist and bookbinder, Briony-Morrow Cribbs, will give an illustrated talk on the production of Iskandariya: A Prose Poem by Brigit Pegeen Kelly. Monday, May 14 at 7:30pm. Peter Kaye Room, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
ANGE ZHANG
Join Red Land, Yellow River author Ange Zhang for his autobiographical account of growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution. Suitable for ages 10 and up. Tuesday, May 15 at 10:15am. Terry Fox Library (2470 Mary Hill Road), Port Coquitlam. Info: 604.927.7999.
AMANDA HALE
32 Books Co. Inc. present the author reading from her new literary novel The Reddening Path. Wednesday, May 16 at 7:00pm, free admission and refreshments will be served. 32 Books Co, 3185 Edgemont Blvd., North Vancouver. More information at 604.980.9032 or info@32books.com.
ARLENE PARE
Author celebrates the launch of her first novel, Paper Trail, with a reading and signing. Wednesday, May 16, 7:30 pm, People's Co-op Bookstore (1391 Commercial). Free admission, info 604-253-6442.
Pulp Fiction Books presents
An Evening With Clint Burnham and Stuart Ross
Wednesday 16 May 2007, 7-9pm
2422 Main Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Admission free. Everyone is welcome to attend.
(Co-presented by Anvil Press)
BRUCE SANGUIN
Talks about his book Darwin, Divinity, and the Dance of the Cosmos, an ecological and truly evolutionary Christian theology. Thursday, May 17 at 7:30pm. Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603. Sponsored by Banyen Books
PLAY CHTHONICS READING SERIES
Readings by Meredith Quartermain, Hiromi Goto, Dorothy Trujillo Lusk, and Fred Booker. Thursday, May 17, 7:30 pm, Coach House, Green College (6201 Cecil Green Park Rd., UBC). Info 604-734-2928.
Showing posts with label novel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label novel. Show all posts
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Monday, May 7, 2007
I try to think of characters who on the surface of their actions are deeply unsympathetic.
It's the writer's job to make them sympathetic, in spite of themselves. - John Irving
It's always a difficult thing to write through a child's eyes-now, I'm a fan of the device for several reasons: it allows for an unreliable narrator, it gives people a protagonist who's sympathetic and it lets the author set up a sort of feedback tension that's more difficult with an adult character.
Which is why I couldn't figure out why the latest Canada Reads winner, Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill was leaving me cold.
Until I mentioned the book to a friend who leaped into a passionate diatribe against it. Her problem with it was that the main character, "Baby", a thirteen year old girl with a drug addict father and a life path you can see clearly from the outset can only go one way, had no agency, no volition of her own. Everything that happens, happens TO her. My friends' position was that this is rarely true but that people don't LIKE books that intimate that someone could contribute to the horrific events that befall them and still not deserve them.
I see her point, and it's an interesting one. I think that sort of 'innocent bystander' trope is integral to the genre but I'd like to see someone make an attempt at writing from the point of view of a child who's an active participant in their life, not a victim of it. A nuanced portrait of a somewhat unlikeable youth who isn't precocious or otherwise endearing to the reader but who transcends the label of victim.
THAT would be a neat trick for a writer to pull off.
Anyone know of one that fits the bill?
It's always a difficult thing to write through a child's eyes-now, I'm a fan of the device for several reasons: it allows for an unreliable narrator, it gives people a protagonist who's sympathetic and it lets the author set up a sort of feedback tension that's more difficult with an adult character.
Which is why I couldn't figure out why the latest Canada Reads winner, Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill was leaving me cold.
Until I mentioned the book to a friend who leaped into a passionate diatribe against it. Her problem with it was that the main character, "Baby", a thirteen year old girl with a drug addict father and a life path you can see clearly from the outset can only go one way, had no agency, no volition of her own. Everything that happens, happens TO her. My friends' position was that this is rarely true but that people don't LIKE books that intimate that someone could contribute to the horrific events that befall them and still not deserve them.
I see her point, and it's an interesting one. I think that sort of 'innocent bystander' trope is integral to the genre but I'd like to see someone make an attempt at writing from the point of view of a child who's an active participant in their life, not a victim of it. A nuanced portrait of a somewhat unlikeable youth who isn't precocious or otherwise endearing to the reader but who transcends the label of victim.
THAT would be a neat trick for a writer to pull off.
Anyone know of one that fits the bill?
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Rant: An Oral History of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk
Ah, the joys of a new book.
Especially ones with cool covers. Opinion may be divided on this issue but if you're a Chip Kidd fan, you'll get what I'm talking about.
Not going to get too into the constantly mutating storyline, if you like Paula-Nick,(the pronunciation he avers to be correct. There, now you know!) you already know what you're getting into.
I know some bookish folks who turn up their noses at Chuck's output but if nothing else, you really can't deny his ability to take the pop cultural pulse in a timely fashion. After musing on the subject for some time, my best guess is that their distaste stems from A) for Accessibility-there are people who "don't read" but will happily shell out for his latest B) for genre- Bending- I've noticed they're often the sort of folk that will read Ian Banks but find his sci-fi output as Ian M. Banks leaves them cold , and C) for Commercial- the dreaded accusation levelled at authors who are read by the masses, rather than the 5% elite who buy more than one book a year.
A wise and experienced bookseller once advised me to only read the last paragraph of any book review because everything I needed to know would be summed up there- a time saving devise I've never been able to bring myself to enact but for those who agree, here's my anti-screed synopsis of "Rant", in haiku form. Warning, may contain spoilers for those convoluted enough to follow it:
Rabid Casey, rams my car
space/time collapses
Grandfather Paradox?
Especially ones with cool covers. Opinion may be divided on this issue but if you're a Chip Kidd fan, you'll get what I'm talking about.
Not going to get too into the constantly mutating storyline, if you like Paula-Nick,(the pronunciation he avers to be correct. There, now you know!) you already know what you're getting into.
I know some bookish folks who turn up their noses at Chuck's output but if nothing else, you really can't deny his ability to take the pop cultural pulse in a timely fashion. After musing on the subject for some time, my best guess is that their distaste stems from A) for Accessibility-there are people who "don't read" but will happily shell out for his latest B) for genre- Bending- I've noticed they're often the sort of folk that will read Ian Banks but find his sci-fi output as Ian M. Banks leaves them cold , and C) for Commercial- the dreaded accusation levelled at authors who are read by the masses, rather than the 5% elite who buy more than one book a year.
A wise and experienced bookseller once advised me to only read the last paragraph of any book review because everything I needed to know would be summed up there- a time saving devise I've never been able to bring myself to enact but for those who agree, here's my anti-screed synopsis of "Rant", in haiku form. Warning, may contain spoilers for those convoluted enough to follow it:
Rabid Casey, rams my car
space/time collapses
Grandfather Paradox?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)