Therapeutic Tarot for the 21st Century

This is heartfelt support — not shameless promotion — for one of my nearest and dearest friends, Maria Amore, who has just launched her Tarot with Amore website. And this is no ordinary tarot card reader. Maria speaks four languages, has two degrees in law, an undergraduate degree in psychology, and is a published author and professionally trained chef. She has also travelled the world extensively and recently returned to Canada after living in Mexico for 10 years.

Per her website:

Tarot is a transcendental tool which helps us access our inner world so that we can understand ourselves, our path and our relationships on the deepest level. With this new awareness, we feel empowered to actively create the future we desire. I am here to support you, and offer you my readings for your highest good and for the highest good of everyone involved.

Maria has a variety of services she offers, whether by one-on-one live reading through video chat, text message, or a written report delivered right to your electronic door. Even if you’re just curious, don’t be shy about visiting her website. Better yet, contact her directly if you want to learn more. As Maria likes to say, “In everything, there is a gift. I always look for that gift. This guides me in my readings.”

TPL (Kinda) Back Up and (Sorta) Running

This is what you are likely to confront on your next visit to the TPL

Here’s the good news: You can take out, put holds on, and return books once again at the Toronto Public Library (TPL). Here’s the bad news: The TPL branches look like the above picture because their website is still down after some backhanded biblioclasts carried out a cyberattack on the TPL last October. Yes, you read that correctly. For the last three and a half months, the TPL has had no functioning website — and still doesn’t.

However, you can now visit a branch, let the kind and kindly librarians know of a title you are looking for (only two at a time until further notice, I was told), and then take out said title(s) for the usual three-week literary party.

In related news (i.e., my beef with the news outlets), the British Library was also the victim of a cyberattack in November 2023, and it’s online services are still down, too. I know what you’re asking yourself right now: Where’s the beef? Unfortunately, Wendy’s does not have the answer to this one.

The British Library, along with the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., is the largest library in the world. The TPL is the largest library system in Canada and averaged a higher circulation per capita than any other public library system in 2023. And yet the news has been conspicuously lacking any news about two major events in the world of knowledge sharing and literature.

Books — and by extension libraries — may not be cool or relevant to some people in 2024, but I can assure all the people who make a living on reporting the news that there are still enough antiquated bibliophiles out there who thirst for more information on the cyberattacks to warrant greater coverage than has been made available up to now. And be careful journalists; we (wannabe) literary savants will not be easily ignored — and we carry a big bookmark.

UPDATE: As of March 15, 2024, the TPL is fully operational once again, online and at all branches.

New Words for 2023

Colleagues, Netizens, countrypeople, lend me your two peepers. There are some new English words and terms out for 2023 that are officially in the dictionary and ready for you to do with what you please — and there are some real doozies.

First of all, I’m ecstatic that hanbok is now officially a loan word in English. No more italics for that beautiful piece of fashion! Here are some of my other faves: information pollution, hostile architecture, coffee nap, sleep debt, mountweazel, and gastrodiplomacy.

However, the crowning glory of the newest words and terms goes to something I’d never heard of before reading it today, but the moment I did (and got over my infectious case of the giggles), I knew it was not only a keeper but also so, so, so true, at least in North America:

Godwin’s Law

noun. an adage of internet culture stating that as any discussion or debate grows longer, there is a proportionate increase in the probability that someone will invoke a comparison to Hitler or the Nazi party.

–> Named after U.S. lawyer and author Mike Godwin (born 1956), who formulated the adage in 1991.

For a full rundown of the newest words and terms, check out dictionary.com.

Sarah Bernstein & The Booker Prize 2023 Longlist

This Year’s (Literary) Crown Jewels

The Booker Prize 2023 Longlist has just been announced and there’s only one thing you need to know: there’s a Canuck on the world’s most prestigious literary list. Congratulations to Sarah Bernstein and her novel Study for Obedience, Ms. Bernstein’s second novel and first nomination for a Booker Prize. Per the Booker website:

Sarah Bernstein is a Canadian writer and scholar who was born in Montreal and now lives in the Scottish Highlands, where she teaches literature and creative writing.

Also per the same site, here’s a brief intro to the novel:

Study for Obedience is an absurdist, darkly funny novel about the rise of xenophobia, as seen through the eyes of a stranger in an unnamed town – or is it? Bernstein’s urgent, crystalline prose upsets all our expectations, and what transpires is a meditation on survival itself.

It goes without saying that if Justin Trudeau can persuade Taylor Swift to end her Eras Tour in Canada, then he can get the Booker Prize jury to properly see the chesterfield for the sofas, the two-fer for the cases, and the klick for the miles, and have #BookerSarah become Canada’s fourth Booker Prize-winning author. Here’s the complete list of books and authors up for the Holy Grail of Literature.

The Booker Prize 2023 Longlist

The House of Doors, by Tan Twan Eng

The Bee Sting, by Paul Murray

Western Lane, by Chetna Maroo

In Ascension, by Martin MacInnes

Prophet Song, by Paul Lynch

All the Little Bird-Hearts, by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow

Pearl, by Siân Hughes 

This Other Eden, by Paul Harding

How to Build a Boat, by Elaine Feeney

If I Survive You, by Jonathan Escoffery

Study for Obedience, by Sarah Bernstein

Old God’s Time, Sebastian Barry

A Spell of Good Things, by Ayòbámi Adébáyò

Summer Reading 2023: NYT Fiction

If you have a digital subscription to The New York Times, then you can click here to read Kate Dwyer’s “24 Works of Fiction to Read This Summer.”

If, however, you do not, then I am choosing five titles to titillate your senses, arouse your curiosity, whet your appetite, and have you perked up about getting hot and heavy with reading this summer…in case you’re, you know, into that kind of thing. (Please note that I have NOT read any of these titles and have based my choices solely on their write-up in the Times or my knowledge of the author’s past work.)

1. Nothing Special, by Nicole Flattery

A disaffected and adrift teenager, Mae, becomes a transcriber for Andy Warhol as the artist records the Factory’s happenings as source material for a novel. Along with her fellow secretary Shelley, Mae grapples with vanity, commodification and fame.

2. Happiness Falls, by Angie Kim

Kim, who won acclaim for her debut novel, “Miracle Creek,” follows a Korean American family in Virginia grappling with a crisis: When a teenager named Eugene — who has a rare genetic condition that prevents him from speaking — comes home from a walk covered in blood and without his father, the family must investigate the disappearance and find a way for Eugene to reveal what happened.

3. Crook Manifesto, by Colson Whitehead

Ray Carney, the antihero of Whitehead’s 2021 novel “Harlem Shuffle,” is back, trying to keep his life on track: He’s stopped fencing stolen goods, and runs a thriving furniture store in Harlem. Things seem to be going according to plan until his daughter asks for Jackson 5 tickets, and a corrupt NYPD officer offers seats in exchange for a jewelry heist.

4. Loot, by Tania James

In James’s third novel, set in 18th-century India and France, a teenage artisan named Abbas is recruited by the ruler of Mysore, in southern India, to apprentice with a French clockmaker who is building an automaton of a tiger attacking a British soldier. Years later, after Mysore falls to the British, Abbas must steal back the artifact from a country estate.

5. Kairos, by Jenny Erpenbeck

After the death of her former lover, a woman receives two cardboard boxes full of his possessions, prompting her to relive their relationship: It began when she was 19, he was 53, and 1980s Berlin was on the precipice of seismic change. The novel, which was translated by Michael Hofmann, is her sixth to be released in English; our critic Dwight Garner noted that this “profound and moving book has a subterranean force.”

Summer Reading 2023: The Mixed Bag Edition

A Heartfelt Bibliophile of Books

Summer. Sun. Sand. Suds. Salaciousness. Books.

Q. Which of the above words does NOT belong there?

If you fell into the oldest trap in the, er, book, then you are guilty of alliterative fever. Don’t worry. There’s a cure — and it ain’t more cowbell (close second). It’s books!

Kudos to Deborah Dundas (@debdundas), Books Editor @TorontoStar, for putting together an eclectic list of books to read this summer in your hammock…while not portaging, reupholstering your chesterfield, escaping a black/brown/grizzly/polar bear attack, or tapping for maple syrup (just kidding…it’s not winter, duh!).

Check out her article, “Summer is here, and the reading is amazing. These are the 20 best books to pile by your hammock,” for more details aboot (wink, wink) the list, which has offerings in the categories of Fiction, Non-fiction, Diversions, Mystery & True Crime, and Beach Reads.

Iceland: Fire & Ice & Books

As many people know, Canada has an intimate relationship with Iceland. Aside from that fact that we can obviously see the Land of Fire and Ice from our backyards in the Great White North, the country’s president, Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson, is married to a Canadian woman from Ontario, Eliza Reid.

However, did you also know that some Icelandic towns have a curfew for cats? Well, according to interestingfacts.com, there may be something else you didn’t know about those wild and crazy Icelanders: they love them some books! Per the aforementioned website:

Iceland is often called “the land of fire and ice,” a nickname describing two of the nation’s most prominent geological features — volcanoes and glaciers. But in recent years, the world’s 18th largest island has gotten a new reputation as a destination for readers and book lovers, and it’s because Iceland has more authors per capita than any other country in the world. It’s estimated that on an island with a population around 372,500 people, one in 10 will publish a book. There’s even a phrase in Icelandic that relates to the popularity of writing — “ad ganga med bok I maganum,” which roughly translates to “everyone gives birth to a book.” Many writers reside in the island’s capital city of Reykjavik, a major publishing hub that in 2011 was named a UNESCO City of Literature.

Why Artists Love Ireland So Much

Short answer — taxes. Long answer — taxes and a new pilot program in which Ireland’s federal government supports artists financially.

So I have a friend. He’s a writer. Although he wasn’t born in Ireland, he’s got one of those flashy blue EU passports. Said friend decides years back to move on over to Ireland and keep pecking away at his Underwood. Aside from lovely stout beers and charming accents, Ireland also has something called the Artists Tax Exemption Scheme, which “allows earnings made by artists from the sale of original and creative works to be exempt from income tax. It applies to visual artists, sculptors, composers of music, and writers.”

However, the same aforementioned friend started running into trouble when he began selling a lot of books. Why? Because of the High Income Individuals Restriction which came into effect in 2007. Since then, the amount an artist can claim as tax exempt has been steadily declining. Today, the Artist Exemption stands at €40,000 anually, which, if you think about it, is still better than nothing.

But there’s another reason to love Ireland these days! (Wait, isn’t there always?) And that’s because “A government pilot program in Ireland is sending artists a weekly $350 check with no strings attached, allowing them to concentrate on creative pursuits without the pressures of a day job.”

I says pardon.

Per The New York Times, “Ireland’s program stands out because of its rigor. Officials will study the 2,000 recipients’ finances, work patterns and well-being and compare them with those of a control group of artists getting no payments.”

TPL Book Sanctuary Collection

There is a reason why I am a proud supporter of the Toronto Public Library (TPL), the busiest urban public library system in the world. Yes, you read that correctly. With its 4 million branch visits and 33.3 million visits to TPL online platforms in 2021, it is extremely meaningful on a worldwide scale that the TPL has established The Book Sanctuary Collection, which “represents books that have been challenged, censored or removed from a public library or school in North America. The 50 adult, teen and children’s books in our collection are available for browsing and borrowing in our branches and online.”

Among the 50 books on this TPL-protected list: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (profanity, sexual overtones, being anti-religious, 2SLGTQ+ characters and for being morally bankrupt), Atonement by Ian McEwan (poor grammar and sentence structure), The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (portrayal of childhood sexual abuse), The Diary of Anne Frank (Anne’s discussion of her sexuality and genitalia), and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (sexual content and situations dealing with alcoholism and abuse).

I’d like to rant and rave about the idiots who tried so hard to have these works of art excised from our libraries and education systems, but in truth I’d rather use my time to read a book. Perhaps one of the books listed above.

P.S. For all the bibliophiles out there, I highly recommend two feel-good books about books — and most definitely for bookish bookies — by Alberto Manguel that are not banned (to my knowledge) in any library: A History of Reading and The Library at Night. Oh, and for all the other bibliolaters and bibliophages, be sure to check out this list of wicked-awesome book-related words.

The Book of Eels

This past month, I read Swedish author Patrik Svensson’s The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World along with my fellow book club members. Strangely enough, not everyone in my book club thought it would literally be about eels. Well, it is and it was. In fact, Svensson has accomplished something I never thought I would say: He has written an enthralling, highly informative, and (dare I say) enticing book about the snake-like fish you (possibly/probably) find gross.

What makes the book so special is not just the facts about eels that will kinda/sorta blow your mind; it’s also the father-son story behind every chapter and the thought-provoking inclusion of, among other things, politics, philosophy religion, psychology, and literature. Or, as the publisher puts it: “Blending memoir and nature writing, Svensson’s journey to understand the eel becomes an exploration of the human condition that delves into overarching issues about our roots and destiny, both as humans and as animals, and, ultimately, how to handle the biggest question of all: death.”

Oh, and in case you were wondering, of the ten book club members who read this book, every single person gave it a thumbs-up, something we have done fewer times in fourteen years together than you can count on one hand.