cherry-picked data and undisclosed bias: the failure of freakonomics
Allan came home from one of his used-book sale sprees with copies of both Freakonomics and Super Freakonomics. I had read so many excerpts from, and reviews of, these books…
what i’m reading
what i’m reading: four youth books and some kind-of spoilers
Flight is a thought-provoking short novel by one of my favourite youth writers, Sherman Alexie. The main character in Flight, a Native American boy who goes by the derisive nickname…
james frey: author, liar, sweatshop boss
Today I break one of my own rules, and write about a book I didn’t enjoy. Not only that, but I trash the author, too. But perhaps author is the…
"in the midst of madness, one soldier has refused to participate": let them stay week, revolutionary thought of the day, and other coincidences
Don’t you love it when everything comes together? It’s Let Them Stay Week 2014, I’m thinking about the US war resisters in Canada, and about war resistance in general. And…
what i’m reading: just kids by patti smith
Just Kids is a memoir by the artist and musician Patti Smith, about her life and relationship with the artist Robert Mapplethorpe. The book is a memoir of both Smith’s…
what i’m reading: the immortal life of henrietta lacks, by roberta skloot
I’ve just finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot. I’m sure many of you have read it, but if you have not, please run to your local…
rtod
Revolutionary thought of the day: …something is significantly wrong with a creature that sacrifices its children’s lives to settle its differences. Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay
two not-so-youth novels: another great one by john green, and part two of the hunger games
Looking for Alaska, John Green (2005) Some months back I blogged about The Fault in our Stars, by John Green. I absolutely loved this book. I went in search of…
buzzfeed announces no negative book reviews: what that means (and doesn’t mean) and why it’s good
In a New York Times op-ed, I’ve learned that BuzzFeed has announced the hiring of its first book editor, and will start publishing book reviews. But it will not run…
what i’m reading: nw by zadie smith
If you haven’t read anything by Zadie Smith, I highly recommend finding White Teeth, her debut novel, and diving in. Smith wrote White Teeth while still attending university, and it…
11.11: lest we forget, let’s not forget: there is no glory in war.
For Canadians who fear and distrust the steadily growing militarism suffusing the culture of our country, two recent books are indispensable: What We Talk About When We Talk About War,…
noah richler on the language of war propaganda, and the dishonesty of present ideology
From Noah Richler’s What We Talk About When We Talk About War: We have a duty to be honest and rigorous, with ourselves and with others, and to be able…
noah richler: canada was shaped by discussion and compromise, not through war
distorts and downplays the significant roles that Canadian politicians, diplomats, jurists and a variety of other civilians (such as artists) have had in shaping not just the domestic Canadian polity…
faludi: corporatist pseudo-feminism vs radical change for women and all working people
I would like to draw your attention to an excellent article by Susan Faludi in The Baffler: Facebook Feminism: Like It or Not. Faludi contrasts the corporatist, individualistic, me-first, privileged,…
what i’m reading, children’s books edition # 9: wonderstruck
Over the summer, I wrote about The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, a children’s book with a suspenseful, convoluted story, lavishly illustrated with Selznick’s beautiful pencil drawings. (I…
my favourite customers and two-way readers’ advisory
The children’s library where I work services a huge age-range of young people and their caregivers, from birth up to around age 12. I enjoy the full range – helping…
what i’m reading: the maze runner, a youth novel
There’s a subgenre of youth books in which young people are cast into an alien and dangerous world, where they must struggle to understand their purpose, struggle to survive. If…
what i’m reading: man’s search for meaning by viktor frankl
I’ve just finished reading Man’s Search for Meaning, a classic written by Dr. Viktor E. Frankl in 1959, republished with various forewords and epilogues in 1984, 1992, and 2006. It’s…
what i’m reading: clarence darrow, attorney for the damned, by john a. farrell
I last wrote about Clarence Darrow in early 2012, after reading a piece by one of my favourite New Yorker writers, Jill Lepore. Two new biographies of Darrow had been…
what i’m reading: the fault in our stars, a truly great novel for youth and not-youth
I am in the middle of reading The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, a book almost too painful to read but impossible to put down. It’s achingly funny,…