what i’m reading: a mother’s reckoning by sue klebold
On April 20, 1999, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, two teenagers from Littleton, Colorado, marched into Columbine High School with explosives and automatic weapons. Their plan to blow up the…
what i’m reading
what i’m reading: four realistic youth novels
Young-adult publishers’ mania for series, with the emphasis on fantasy, has finally ebbed. There are still plenty of fantasy series to go around, but the new crop of youth novels…
down these mean streets: raymond chandler’s "the simple art of murder"
Netflix has added many older movies to its library, including several classics and modern classics. Among them I noticed “Mean Streets,” the 1973 film that put both Martin Scorsese and…
what i’m reading: welcome to the goddamn ice cube
Canadians might be disappointed to learn that Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North is not about Canada. We sometimes refer…
what i’m reading: the underground railroad by colson whitehead
Colson Whitehead is a literary genius. In The Underground Railroad, he has found a way to tell the story of 400-plus years of African-American oppression without delivering an awkward march…
what i’m reading: born to run by bruce springsteen
This is a run-don’t-walk review. Fans of Bruce Springsteen: run to find a copy of The Boss’ memoirs, Born to Run. This book was seven years in the making, and…
what i’m reading: your heart is a muscle the size of a fist, by sunil yapa
If only Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist could be required reading. Everyone who has ever scoffed cynically at protesters. Everyone who has ever seen a…
what i’m reading: the evil hours, a biography of post-traumatic stress disorder
The Evil Hours: A Biography of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is an outstanding book -- meticulously researched, but written in a compelling, accessible style, and with great humanity and compassion. Author…
labour day readers’ advisory: books and movies that celebrate labour
I spoke to a customer yesterday who was visiting from Denmark. He described himself as a trade-unionist, and he came to the library, looking for me, to learn about our…
what i’m reading: the deserters, a hidden history of world war 2
No one knows exactly how many US soldiers deserted from the Vietnam War, nor how many young men resisted conscription by going either to jail or to another country. The…
awful library books and why we remove them from our shelves
A while back, I blogged about weeding, every library's not-so-dirty little not-so-secret. Daniel Gross, writing in The New Yorker, looks at weeding, too - from a library-users' revolt in Berkeley,…
what i’m reading: every exquisite thing by matthew quick
I recently had the pleasure of reading an advance reading copy of Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick. Quick - a/k/a Q - is the author of The Silver Linings…
what i’m reading: reckless: my life as a pretender by chrissie hynde
I'm a big fan of The Pretenders, but more than that, I'm a Chrissie Hynde fan. To me, she has always been the epitome of the female rock frontman. She's…
the great weed of 2016: the results are in
Goodbye.A while back, I announced that Allan and I were going to try weeding our books and CD collection. A few months passed until we could find the time, but…
what i’m reading: the invention of air by steven johnson
How do we know that the oxygen exists, and that oxygen is different from carbon dioxide? Well, we know it because we've been taught those facts. But how did that…
what i’m reading: ghettoside: a true story of murder in america
When we think of gun violence in the United States, chances are we think of mass shootings. These horrific events which occur with such regularity seem, to much of the…
remembrance day: 11 anti-war books
Remembrance Day readers’ advisory: eleven books to help us contemplate the reality of war, and thus oppose it. 1. All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque 2. War…
what i’m reading: thoughts on "go set a watchman"
I wasn’t planning on writing about Go Set a Watchman, the surprise second – or possibly first – novel by Harper Lee. I am among the legions of readers who…
what i’m reading: dead wake: the last crossing of the lusitania by erik larson
On May 7, 1915, the gigantic luxury ocean liner Lusitania – an engineering marvel, the fastest ship of its era – was hit by a torpedo shot from a German…
the great weed of 2015?
You will not be surprised to learn that Allan and I own a lot of books. And CDs. And even LPs! Many, many hundreds of each. We have culled our…