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On a rainy Sunday last weekend

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On a rainy Sunday last weekend

we went to the bookstore to browse around for new reading material and I came across Ruth Reichl’s new anthology, History in a Glass, made up of (as it is subtitled) “Sixty Years of Wine Writing from Gourmet”. I’ve been devouring it ever since – it’s a wonderful read, something you can read all at once or come back to again and again. Wine is a bit like baseball – even if you aren’t a huge aficionado, it is a subject that has always provoked wonderful writing. In both cases, as well, any human treatment of the subject invariably pokes into dusty corners of the world that are populated by amazing characters. Highly recommended!

There’s a huge stink

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There’s a huge stink

in the air about James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces and the fact that although it is being marketed as a memoir, which many people assume is a synonym for “autobiography”, Frey seems to have taken some liberties with the “truth”. However, when the book was first published, the following appeared in an interview with Frey:

Speaking of memoirs, are there any autobiographies or memoirs that you’re particularly fond of?
I love Charles Baudelaire. I love Celine and Henry Miller. I love Charles Bukowski and Pat Conroy and Tim O’Brien and Brett Easton Ellis. None of these guys actually wrote memoirs, but they all wrote about themselves. Though I used my real name, I consider my work in the same tradition.

I think if people are upset, they should be upset at the marketing people who convinced Frey to play along with this “nonfiction” business. They’ve likely screwed up his long-term career. On the other hand, he has seemed quite eager to play along – I don’t think anyone has put anything over on the guy.

The Book thing going around:

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The Book thing going around:

Number of books I own:
About 2000 or so, all tolled. Packed for moving, between the two of us we have about 20 boxes. That includes cookbooks!
Last books bought:
The Collapse of Globalism and the Reinvention of the World, John Ralston Saul
Letters of Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf
Last Book Read:
London: the Biography, Peter Ackroyd (non-fiction)
The System of the World, Neal Stephenson (fiction)
Five Books that Mean a Lot to Me:
The Famished Road, Ben Okri
Digital Delirium, Arthur and Marilouise Kroker, eds. (I devoted a great deal of time working on it with the editors)
Selections from the Prison Notebooks, Antonio Gramsci
In the Skin of a Lion, Michael Ondaatje
The Deptford Trilogy (Fifth Business, The Manticore, and World of Wonders), Robertson Davies
Best UnAsked Meme Question:
What is the breakdown of fiction and non-fiction in your reading habits? How do you account for this?
Tag Five People with this Meme:
AJ (West of the Expressway)
Ed (Blork blog)
Kevin (Mobtown Blues)
Patrick (i.never.nu)
Heather (Lectio.ca)

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