tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-98560772024-03-07T09:53:37.717-04:00House of All SortsA reading and writing journal, where all sorts of ideas, thoughts, comments can be lodged happilycanaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.comBlogger185125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-2150104141327081912011-07-13T22:58:00.003-03:002011-07-13T23:48:46.191-03:00Virtual bookshelvesIn 2006 I signed up to an application called Bibliophil to keep track of the books I had read, mostly with the book club I belonged to at the time, but also documenting past reading going back even to my childhood. I thought it was a neat idea and had a lot of potential, an online place for a community of book-lovers to share their experiences with books .I have to admit I haven't accessed my canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-61617050847629225412011-03-06T19:20:00.003-04:002011-03-06T20:38:49.818-04:00A marginal postEvery once in a while I come across an article which inspires me to post here. (I just wished it happened more often!) This is from the National Post and talks about marginalia. When a beam of sunlight fell on her mother-in-law’s red hymn book, Heather Jackson rose from the couch to fetch it from the bookshelf. She and her husband were planning the late woman’s funeral, struggling to decide canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-6414062247051965382011-01-03T12:38:00.003-04:002011-01-03T12:54:37.707-04:00Book buyer bewareI personally depend mostly on word of mouth recommendations for books, not website rankings or reviews, but I suppose that many readers do at least see these, and they may have some influence, so the following story is disturbing (but perhaps not surprising).Authors, publishers and agents live and die inside — mostly die — by monitoring their product's position on the Amazon charts, which are canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-43211410408149799572010-12-26T15:55:00.002-04:002010-12-26T16:02:55.409-04:00How not to be a librarianThis is truly awful. It is supposed to be funny but as a librarian I find it almost offensive.canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-55318873092340331992010-11-20T21:47:00.002-04:002010-11-20T21:49:50.714-04:00Women who readI've heard this before but came across it again. I found it funny even the second time ao I thought I would share it here:Never Argue With A Woman Who ReadsA couple goes on vacation to a fishing resort. The husband likes to fish at the crack of dawn. The wife likes to read. One morning the husband returns after several hours of fishing and decides to take a short nap. Although she isn't canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-86620315041171021952010-11-13T16:01:00.002-04:002011-01-03T12:58:30.225-04:00SentimentalistsI haven't read the book The Sentimentalists which won the Giller, published by our highly esteemed and principled local press . I had to go to the Gaspereau Press website to find out what the book was about since this hasn't been the subject of much of recent the press I have seen The publisher says, Johanna Skibsrud’s debut novel connects the flooding of an Ontario town, the Vietnam War, a canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-71252634825042465342010-11-10T19:09:00.005-04:002010-11-10T19:30:07.861-04:00Gaspereau Press has a decision to makeJohanna Skibsrud has won the Giller prize with her book The Sentimentalists. Her publisher is The Gaspereau Press a quality, small press just down the road from us in Kentville. They can manage only a tiny run. This has unlocked a whole Pandora's box of trouble for the author and for readers who are clamouring to read the book.Skibsrud bit her lip when Gaspereau co-publishers Andrew Steeves and canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-6145826137855467732010-08-24T14:59:00.002-03:002010-08-24T16:00:50.814-03:00Over rated authorsI have to agree with this list of over rated Canadian authors - with perhaps one exception. I have to admit that I haven't read some of their recent work but that makes the point doesn't it? Mostly I didn't even care for the first book by them that I read!The one exception is Douglas Coupland - I haven't read anything by him, at least I don't think so, so I can't comment. To be fair I should canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-6244655511369154592010-08-11T21:08:00.007-03:002010-08-11T22:07:37.650-03:00You have to eat eggs on the roadI like books about writers, written by writers, about their journey, usually to some kind of success. I always think I might gain some magic insight from them which would help me get to the next level in my writing.A writer's road isn't easy as we writers, or wannabe writers, know. It is full of potholes, narrow bridges and detours. There are times when we are motivated, times when we are devoid canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-32868935315085322382010-04-17T15:50:00.003-03:002010-04-17T15:57:04.432-03:00E books coming to librariesI have a friend who thinks books are passe. I am not of the same mind as I believe there will always be books in some form or another. Books have changed quite a lot since the first ones; technology is about to change the format again now that e-books are here. And libraries want to keep up.The New Brunswick public libraries are planning to start offering e-books in the next few months to allow canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-72304167572017296702010-04-12T22:23:00.005-03:002010-04-12T22:57:37.116-03:00Another library, sort ofAs an addendum to our last post on wonderful libraries we have to add this one, which is not exactly a library but a Library Parking Garage in Kansas City, Missouri. Not in the same class as the old library interiors but still extraordinary. Note the titles of the books chosen, which are easier to read in the second view.Those shown in the photo - from left to right -Tao Ie Ching by Lao Tsu, The canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-10284594082948149392010-04-08T21:39:00.003-03:002010-04-08T22:52:33.260-03:00For LibrophilesHere is a wonderful site that appeals to several of my (too many) interests. Since I am trained as a Librarian and love books, and also have an interest in history, how could I not be intrigued by this post on Beautiful libraries which I came across a little while ago. It has taken me a while to get around to sharing it.Wouldn't it be wonderful to do a grand tour of even some of these? My hat canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-84244495115670293632009-09-01T19:05:00.004-03:002009-09-01T20:32:41.541-03:00Ernest Buckler"Writing is regarded as at most a harmless eccentricity, like an abnormal appetite for marsh greens."I liked this quotation of Ernest Buckler's which I read on this short bio of this Nova Scotian author from the NS archives for the 25th anniversary of his death .I'm embarrassed to say I haven't read one book by Ernest Buckler. I would say his work isn't well known at all although he is described canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-1659669366270751842009-07-26T13:17:00.001-03:002009-07-26T13:18:36.482-03:00ProverbsThe NY Times has a little section which I often enjoy reading -Schott's VocabSchott’s Vocab is a repository of unconsidered lexicographical trifles — some serious, others frivolous, some neologized, others newly newsworthy. Each day, Schott's Vocab explores news sites around the world to find words and phrases that encapsulate the times in which we live or shed light on a story of note. If canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-78030433034567342042009-06-23T23:34:00.004-03:002009-06-24T22:21:38.909-03:00For grammar grumpsI have my pet peeves when it comes to grammar and punctuation. I am a fan of Lynne Truss and I have passed on my enthusiasm to our daughter. She has been know to use "The Panda says no" stickers when she sees a misplaced apostrophe. But I have to admit I am sloppy sometimes in my writing and I am always willing to improve so I found the NY Times article, Tangled Passages, on some points of "canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-61034774160755974982009-06-20T19:10:00.002-03:002009-06-20T19:29:27.210-03:00Libraries raised meI was quite a science fiction fan in my youth. I still love science stories and Sci Fi movies, and although I don't read as much science fiction as I used to, Ray Bradbury's name in an article can still attract my attention, especially when it is in connection to libraries. ...among Mr. Bradbury’s passions, none burn quite as hot as his lifelong enthusiasm for halls of books. His most famous canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-30056965447558841452009-06-19T13:38:00.005-03:002009-06-19T15:50:40.755-03:00Jane Austen atwitterAs my friends and family, and perhaps my few readers here might know, I am a Jane Austen fan. My daughter is perhaps following in my footsteps; she came across a cute and funny piece and posted the link on her facebook page. It is Pride and Prejudice played out as if the characters had twitter and blog technology. You perhaps have to be at least slightly familiar with twitter to appreciate the canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-90739159591114474962009-03-27T13:44:00.003-03:002009-03-28T09:38:48.710-03:00Book sale booksYou can tell a lot about a person by the books they read. Today we went to buy books at the giant book sale which a local group holds every year, raising money which is put to good use in the community. The bargains are real and I always come away with a big bag full, but I can't buy everything - as much as I might like to- and I do have to make choices. The ones I picked out say something about canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-36847253467207276932009-02-24T21:21:00.005-04:002009-02-24T22:22:43.565-04:00Toxic books?Is this for real? It is hard to believe there are people in government who have so little sense of proportion. Have the environmental protection people been smoking something that has addled their brains? They want to ban old books because of minute, and we mean very minute, quantities of lead in old illustrations.... under a law Congress passed last year aimed at regulating hazards in children’scanaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-76320305095005226922009-01-18T19:39:00.006-04:002009-01-18T20:36:38.483-04:00Art is long" Life is short but Art is long" - as some ancient Greek said once. This has been taken many ways but one way of looking at the meaning is that while a man (or woman- I am not being sexist here) dies, his art (skill, knowledge) can live on beyond him and others build on the work of those before.The artist Wyeth died the other day:The son of famed painter and book illustrator N.C. Wyeth, Andrew canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-36437712944626619682009-01-11T22:17:00.003-04:002009-01-12T12:15:41.926-04:00The Globe and Mail's Book SiteA year or so ago the Globe and Mail phoned us up to ask us to renew our subscription which we had let lapse a few years ago. We told them no thank you, there wasn't that much in it that we wanted to read except in the book section, so we only get the Globe and Mail on the weekends. Perhaps we aren't the only ones that have told them that as the G&M have revamped their book section and canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-63175812555463902492009-01-02T10:36:00.006-04:002009-01-02T11:14:00.052-04:00Shakespeare?In the Christian Science Monitor which I sometimes look into ( not often enough) there is an article by Kathryn Streeter on reading Shakespeare. She made it a 2007 New Year's Resolution to read a drama a month. It got me thinking about making a reading, and writing, resolution. Since I no longer belong to a book group it seems a good idea to put some discipline into my reading myself, or at leastcanaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-29815653056600002232008-12-08T14:06:00.005-04:002008-12-08T14:50:07.196-04:00Books for a tripAgain I haven't posted for a long while. I have been so sporadic it is embarrassing. I can't use the excuse of my daughter's wedding any more as I did last year, but I have been busy.I signed up for Nanowrimo again this November. I didn't win this time round but I did have a lot of fun attending two write-ins at the coffee shop downtown and I did get 15,000 words down which might be the kernel ofcanaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-73937726572837485472008-09-22T21:45:00.004-03:002008-09-22T22:14:24.374-03:00From DeborahI look in on Deborah Gayapong's blog occasionally and this time when I did I found her promoting her new book The Defilers. It sounds like an interesting book and different than a lot of crime or mystery thrillers on the market. It also has not only a Canadian setting which you might expect from a Canadian author (these days anyway) but also a Nova Scotia setting.One reviewer summarises the book canaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9856077.post-22511330566410700692008-09-22T21:38:00.003-03:002008-09-22T21:43:18.296-03:00ResurrectedGosh, has it been so long since I posted here? Hard to believe. So much has happened. My daughter's marriage to a very nice fellow was the highlight of the past many months and perhaps explains my absence from this House of All Sorts. So much got put on hold while I planned this very special and important event.And now a new season has started- September is new year for me- so again I will try tocanaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676078694517781563noreply@blogger.com0