I know, I know, its only the end of February so technically its not spring yet, but I am ready to publish and I'll be damned if I am going to wait until March 21. Anyway, with a little bit of positive [i.e. wishful] thinking, maybe we can coax spring into coming a bit early this year.
On long winter nights in Oakville, with no cable TV to feed us mental pablum, there isn't much to do but read. So this is going to be the first ever "Literary Edition" of Dispatches.
My reading habits tend to go in fits and starts...months can pass whithout me opening anything more challenging than the latest Lands' End catalogue, and at other times I sink into some stuff which looks dreadfully dull. My most recent readings have included How We Die, a discussion of the various diseases and ailments which end our existence; The Moral Animal, an examination of the idea that our emotions, our sense of purpose and our ideas of right and wrong, are not learned, but are based in our DNA; and Simple Rules for a Complex World, a lawyer's attempt to sketch the basis on which we should organize our society. None of this stuff keeps you up late into the night to see how it turns out.
New story by Alice Munro
One of the most promising literary surprises of the season arrived gratis with my Globe + Mail one day. The January edition of Saturday Night magazine contained a new story by Alice Munro. I confess to being a relatively recent admirer of Munro...I remember working in the Guelph Public Library when her book Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You came out in the mid-70's, but I never actually cracked the cover of any of her books until I read Friend of My Youth in 1992. I have been an ardent admirer ever since. Munro's most recent book of new stories was Open Secrets which I considered to be quite wonderful.
The story in Saturday Night is called "Jakarta" and the cover promised "Politics, Disappearances, Sex" or something equally tantallizing.
What the Dickens?
There was a time a few years ago that I made a promise to myself that, if I read nothing else all year, I would always read the book which wins the Booker Prize. In a very roundabout way, this is where it led me.
Riven
Is playing a computer game the same as reading a novel? Answer: No, but it is heading in that direction. For a report from the leading edge, check out my experience with Riven.
Big, bigger, best
January 23rd was a bizarre day. A snowstorm and a surprise announcement made for curious goings-on at the Bank. Read all about it.
Quasi-Monty
I've been tryin' to write this line
But the years have gone by in no timeThose are the opening lines from a song from the seventies, which some of you might remember, but most won't. Seeing "The Full Monty" triggered some thoughts on the seventies.
Photos
I got photos. I have done way too much writing in the rest of this edition of Dispatches, so these photos pretty much have to speak for themselves.
Enjoy
Stuart