City Lights Bookstore

Todd and I were in San Francisco for a brief vacation, and I discovered the historic City Lights bookstore. City Lights is also a publisher and it was here that the Beat movement flourished. Among its publications are works by Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac.

The bookstore is in a building as unique as its history. Located at the edge of San Francisco's Chinatown, the building is triangular in shape and features a large Zapatista mural on one side. Inside, it has what I'd expect from a good independent bookstore: thoughtful staff recommendations, an eclectic mix of books on a variety of subjects and a feeling of being totally surrounded by many, many books. While it is refreshing to walk through a spacious and orderly Chapters or Borders store, there's nothing like going into a place where books are jammed into every square inch possible, and there's something interesting and perhaps unexpected to catch your eye every time you turn around.

I was tempted to pick up some beat poetry but I ended up getting a mystery novel by Arnaldur Indridason, set in Iceland. The latter is more my style, but I left the building with a greater appreciation of what this bookseller/publisher had contributed to American literature.

Word on the Street

On Sunday, Kate and I attended Word on the Street in Kitchener. This festival occurs simultaneously in several other Canadian cities. The Kitchener festival is much smaller than some of the others, but there was a terrific line-up of authors, both for adult and children's literature.

I started the day volunteering at The Literacy Group's booth, where people who gave a donation of any amount could take away a bagful of books, chosen from the piles of used books we had scattered around the booth. There were some real gems there, including a dozen Dr. Who books that were snatched up fairly early in the day. We were located right across from the authors' tent, and I initially had some hope of hearing the readings from the booth, but we had so much traffic (a good thing, of course) that I didn't have a free moment the entire time.

Kate joined me in the afternoon and we went to hear Erin Bow (in the photo above) reading from her debut novel, Plain Kate. All the reviews of this book that I've seen so far have been very positive, and we were excited about getting a copy and having it signed by Erin. How cool would it have been to have a message addressed to Kate on a copy of Plain Kate, and from an author who had once studied particle physics! Alas, there were no more copies available for sale at the reading, so we'll have to pick up a copy from our local bookstore and track down Erin Bow another time.

I missed seeing Louise Penny because she was scheduled to read the same time as Erin Bow. I'm a big fan of her Inspector Armand Gamache series, and it seems that a great number of other people are fans too, as her tent was packed. I did catch the last five minutes of the Q&A session, and was amused to hear that she too was annoyed with the narrator's pronunciation of tuque as "toke" in the audiobook version of her books. I should add that this is the only complaint I had about the audiobooks. Ralph Cosham does a fine job otherwise.

There were several more authors I would have liked to see, including Claire Holden Rothman, author of The Heart Specialist, but we had to take off early because of another commitment for that afternoon. All in all, it was a good event and I look forward to going again next year.

Never Let Me Go

Unlike the books Kate and I have reviewed so far for this blog, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is neither recently published nor written by a Canadian, but I had to say something about it, as it was part of my TIFF 2010 experience. I'd been meaning to read one of Ishiguro's works for a long time. After all, he is a Booker prize winner and several of his works are on Peter Boxall's 1001 list. In July, finally, I picked up Never Let Me Go in an Ithaca, NY used-book store, and after finishing it, I couldn't help regretting that I'd waited so long to discover this author's works. Never Let Me Go is well-known and has been thoroughly reviewed, so I won't say too much about it here, except that it was haunting and subtle, and the story stayed with me for a long time afterward.

When I bought the book, I had no clue that a movie was forthcoming. My older daughter, Julia, who keeps a closer eye on Hollywood than I do, was the one who informed me of this fact, and she mentioned that Keira Knightley was starring in it. Well, when I saw it on the TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) schedule, I just had to go see it. It was one of the premium showings, which meant that it cost twice as much as the regular showings, but the whole TIFF experience, including the after-film Q&A (featuring, among others, director Mark Romanek and Ishiguro himself!) made it very worthwhile.

Usually, seeing a movie based on a book I loved is a huge disappointment, so my expectations were low, but I went away reasonably satisfied. Knightley as Ruth was good, but Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield, playing Kathy and Tommy, were fantastic. There were some minor disappointments: the pacing is different compared to the book, a few significant scenes were cut, and certain pieces of information were given to us upfront, rather than revealed slowly as in the novel. Still, the film is beautifully shot and really does capture the essence of the novel, which explores the innocence of childhood and the definition of humanity.

Here is a final book-related anecdote. In my last post, I talked about my new BookCrossing experiences. A few weeks before TIFF, I finished Ishiguro's Remains of the Day, and I decided that the showing of Never Let Me Go would be the perfect place to release it into the wild. I arrived at Ryerson Theatre half-an-hour before the start of the film, and the queue went most of the way around a city block. Figuring that someone in the queue would want to take the book home, I gave it to the person in front of me and asked her to either keep it or pass it along to the front. I have no idea where the book ended up but I hope it now has a new owner who enjoys it as much as I did.

How I (Re)Discovered BookCrossing

Three years ago, Julia picked up a book on someone's doorstep as she was trick-or-treating on Halloween night. She showed me the book, All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor, and the BookCrossing.com sticker that someone had pasted on it. I had good intentions of checking out this site but never got around to it. The book ended up somewhere in the black hole that we call Julia's room.

When summer break began, Julia decided to do a major clean-up of her room, and this book ended up on top of one of the many piles scattered throughout the hallway. Kate spotted it and insisted we look it up on the BookCrossing site. Well, I did just that and ended up joining as a member. I even shamefacedly admitted in my journal entry that we'd kept the book buried away for all those years. In the week that followed, Kate and I both read the book, a classic children's story about a Jewish family growing up in New York. Then we released it by passing it onto my sister-in-law Jill. It's now in Singapore, after some brief stops in Western Canada.

Since then, I've had loads of fun releasing books "in the wild". I've never liked hoarding books and I've regularly culled my shelves and given books away to friends, family members and charity shops. However, it's much more exciting leaving them in coffee shops, food courts, highway rest stops and other places, where anyone might find them. I've had two catches so far out of a dozen books released. That's not too bad, considering that only 10% of released books get follow-up journal entries. However, I'm sure many of the released books get read and passed around, even if the readers don't record the experience on-line. That, of course, is the point: to share books we love and spread the joy of reading!

Interview with Nan Forler

Nan Forler has answered some questions about her book, Bird Child, and her life as an author.

Q: What inspired you to write this book? Did the story come from a personal experience?

A: I am often asked this question, but to be honest, Bird Child did not come from a particular incident. As a teacher, I see a great deal of bullying. I wanted to empower kids with the knowledge that we can each make a difference in the life of another. The idea of standing up for someone who needs you is a message that has always been close to my heart and this came across through my writing.

One day, I was driving home through the country, listening to Erik Satie, and the idea of flying beyond these difficulties came to me. I pulled over and jotted down my ideas and this was the beginning of Bird Child.

Q: Do you think you are more like Lainey or Eliza?

A: First of all, I must tell you that I love this question. No one has ever asked me this before!

I think growing up, I was probably more Lainey. I was quite shy and I am not sure I would have had the confidence to stand up and say stop. I remember both bullying others as a bystander within a group, and also being bullied. Bullying seemed to be an accepted part of growing up back then. I think we are finally seeing it for what it is: cruel anti-social behaviour that can destroy the life and self-esteem of another.

As an adult, I believe I have become an Eliza and I really focus on convincing others - my children, my students, or groups of students at a reading - to speak out when they see injustice. My husband and I have done some traveling in developing countries and this has made me painfully aware of the global injustices in the world. We really try to live our lives and raise our kids to be aware of injustices in our community and in our world and to do something about it. Craig and Marc Kielburger and Greg Mortensen have some great books for kids and adults on these topics. One of my favourites for parents is “The World Needs Your Kid” by Craig and Marc Kielburger.

Q: How did you come up with the message, "Look down and see what is. Now, look up and see what can be." Was this told to you by your own parents?

A: No, this message did not come to me from my parents, though my parents did instill in me a deep respect for all and a belief that everyone should be treated with equality and dignity. I think the message came from the idea of flight. I am big on description and after I described what Eliza was seeing from the air, both above her and below her, the line about looking upwards toward possibilities evolved.

Q: What do you suggest to people who are being bullied or watching someone get bullied?

A: I think the most important thing you can do is to not be silent. Talk with an adult about the bullying you are experiencing or the bullying you are witnessing. Speak with a parent or a teacher or anyone you trust. If that adult doesn’t seem to listen, or does nothing, tell another adult. Not only can an adult intervene to stop the situation, if necessary, but he or she can also give you the courage, support and guidance for you to stand up to the bully.

Speaking up and telling the bully to stop and challenging the bully to see the point of view of the person being bullied is also a brave and important step to stopping the bully. When we do nothing, we are giving the bully more and more power.

And finally, befriending the person who is being bullied, even standing close to that person, takes some power away from the bully and gives the person being bullied greater confidence and a needed sense of belonging.

I recently read an amazing quote by Martin Luther King Jr. that said, “It’s not the violence of the few that scares me. It’s the silence of the many.”

Q: Do you write full time? Or do you have another job?

A: In addition to being a writer, I am a mother and a teacher. I currently teach Kindergarten in Kitchener. Though it takes time away from my writing, teaching and being out in the world gives me much inspiration. I also get ideas from my own children and the things they say and do.

Q: What is the first thing that you think about when you sit down to write? How do you start a story?

A: I rarely start a story by sitting down and writing. I usually take little notes on the backs of napkins, scraps of paper, sticky notes. I notice something when I am out somewhere or think of an idea I want to explore. That idea keeps growing and changing in my mind and in notebooks long before I actually sit down to begin the story. With a picture book, I like to have the entire arc of the story in my mind before I begin. With a novel, I write little chapters and excerpts, not necessarily in order, until a story begins to form.

When I have the story ready in my mind, I like to read the very best books I can find, in the style I am trying to achieve. This seems to give me a rhythm for my writing and something great to strive for. Just as watching Sidney Crosby can improve your hockey game, reading great books can really improve your writing abilities!

Q: Are you working on any other books now?

A: I do have a couple of new books coming out. In Fall 2011, I have another picture book forthcoming with Tundra Books about an Old Order Mennonite girl. This is a subtle coming-of-age story told through a series of narrative poems. The poems go through each month of the year and describe little happenings in the life of Naomi, such as trying to ride her brother’s bike that she is forbidden to ride, attending her first quilting bee, and imagining a dress in a more “worldly” fabric. There is a recipe, using seasonal ingredients, to accompany each month.

I am especially excited about the illustrations for this story. Peter Etril Snyder is an amazing artist, specializing in artwork depicting Old Order Mennonites. He has come out of retirement for this commission. He is using my 9-year-old daughter as the model, as Old Order Mennonites cannot be photographed because of their faith. We take specific pictures and he sends us the sketches and paintings. It has been an exciting process.

I also have something coming out for the educational market this fall that will be in the form of a Big Book and CD for classroom use. Scholastic is actually setting my kid’s poem to music and I am looking forward to that!

After that, I will hand my editor some more of my work and see if something catches her eye. I have a number of picture book manuscripts completed and I have some partial novels on the go. As my children are getting older, I am spending the summer reading as many novels for young people as I can find, and I may see if this genre wears off on me a bit. A novel is a big commitment and I want to make sure I find a topic I can live with for an extended amount of time.

My mom and I would just like to say a big thanks to Nan Forler for answering all our questions!

Bird Child

My kids are in their preteen/teen years now, so I haven't kept up with newer picture books. However, I kept running into author Nan Forler, who lives in my community, and decided to pick up Bird Child, published by Tundra Books.

The story is about Eliza, a girl who can "fly". Ever since she was a baby, her loving mother has been encouraging her to see all the possibilities in her life. One day, she sees children bullying the new girl at school, Lainey. Summoning her courage, Eliza shows how she can indeed "see what can be" and make things better in the world.

The writing is lovely and lyrical, and the story conveys a great message for kids. With the stunningly beautiful illustrations from Francois Thisdale, this book would make an excellent gift for a special child.

Coming soon: Kate's interview with author Nan Forler!

Reviewed by Paulina

Two by Marthe Jocelyn

I had the good fortune to win recently two books by Canadian writer Marthe Jocelyn through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. Both novels are published by Tundra Books.

Folly was released just this spring, and it is a young-adult historical novel based in the late 1800's. The title refers to the folly of Mary, a young woman working as a servant in a London household. Through Mary's eyes and those of three other characters, we see how the consequences of her actions are played out.

This is a well-written, easy-to-read and engaging story that shows the brutal reality of life for the very poor in Victorian London. The paths of the characters intertwine and slowly work toward a satisfactory, if perhaps somewhat predictable, ending.

Would You?, published a year earlier, is also written for teens. It is set in contemporary times and it is an honest account of how a teenager deals with the days following an accident which sends her older sister into a coma. It is a short, intense novel, in which the ordeal is seen through the eyes of the narrator, Claire.

One aspect of the novel I particularly liked is how Jocelyn contrasts the unthinkable with the mundane. This is not so much a novel that one enjoys but rather experiences, and I found at times, it was hard to put down. Would You? is a fast, easy read in simple language suitable for a reluctant teen reader.

After reading both books, I am most impressed by Jocelyn's range. If there's one thing that Jocelyn does particularly well, it's that she gives characters believable voices, whatever the setting may be. On a personal note, I was pleasantly surprised to find out from the bio on Jocelyn's Web site that she spends her summers in Stratford, Ontario, a town I visit regularly to attend the Shakespeare festival. It's always nice to find talent just around the corner.

Reviewed by Paulina.