While I still have far too much actual work do to and not nearly enough time to do it in, the tasks that were really dragging me down, so I am mentally in a better place. The remaining tasks are at least interesting, even if I still don't have enough hours in the day to get to them, and I am still working out whom I can delegate these tasks to (and have them done to a reasonable standard). Consequently, it is slightly easier to balance work against other activities, like seeing plays or going to The Rex (which I just did). It's a little harder to spend time on truly time-sucking activities like working on this long, long-delayed quilt or restarting the jigsaw puzzle, but I'll probably be able to get to them in Nov.
Anyway, I'll try to briefly wrap up the remaining book news. As it so happens, I was able to get over to Word on the Street twice this year! First, I went over just to see if there were any good sales. I had to go back and forth several time to find Brick Books. In the end, I didn't pick up anything from them, as I have been a subscriber for a few years, so have all of their recent back catalog items.
I think but am not 100% sure that I saw Mayor Olivia Chow walking through the fair. She did have a booth where people could tell her what they wanted changed about the city.
I was a bit amused by the TPL signing people up for cards right there, but then also bringing a book mobile to Queens Park. I haven't been inside a book mobile in years.
I ended up picking up several books from Exile Books, which is run by the grandson of Morley Callaghan, and they have a very tempting 4 volume set of his short stories. However, they also make them available as e-books, and while I probably would actually read them sooner if I had them in print, I at least have access to his stories. I settled on getting a volume of Callaghan's New Yorker stories, which I assume are among his best, and then his memoir of life in Paris in 1929 with all the other American writers in exile. Also, I picked up Lisa Foad's The Night is a Mouth, which is a collection of short stories.
I seemed to be in a short story state of mind, as at other booths I got Alix Ohlin's We Want What We Want, Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu and How to Pronounce Knife (the last being an extra-low cost item at the BMV booth).
I then went over to University College and checked out their book sale. I picked up Billy Budd (as I mentioned) and then got a couple of Carol Shields' novel, another copy of Ian Williams's Reproduction and DuPont's Songs for the Cold of Heart. I figured for $3, I could give a copy of these to friends. As it turns out, the DuPont was a signed edition! It turns out that the art books were upstairs, so I checked my bag and went up there. I didn't see any art books that caught my eye, but I did get two poetry books, and they were both signed as well! (Someone had cut the dedicatee out from the page, which was a bit annoying...)
The bad news was that it was very hard squeezing everything into the panier but I just managed it and came home.
Sunday I had wanted to get back to see a reading by Canisia Lubrin, though this was at 10. I also needed to get through buying the groceries that morning! I cut it far too close, and I really had to book over to Queens Park on my bike. (At least the rain held off most of the weekend, but it warmed up too much, and then I was way too hot after biking over.) I rolled up at 10:03, and they hadn't quite gotten started, so I grabbed a seat. The morning slot was a bit of a challenge for Ms. Lubrin as well...
She read a short passage from Code Noir, her latest book, and then the rest of the time was an interview/conversation with the moderator. I hung out and picked up a copy of Code Noir at the signing table and had it dedicated to my son.
I debated getting a graphic novel, but the cost was just too high. It turned out that it was available on Amazon for much less, though in the end this set off a whole chain of events leading me to upgrading my Kindle software and then giving up and deleting this (because it essentially disabled Kindle completely) and finally finding a slightly older version of the software that does still work. Had I known everything, I would not have bought the graphic novel; it certainly wasn't worth the hassle.
While I still debated getting the Morley Callaghan stories, I ended up just getting a bunch of poetry collections (mostly by Roxana Bennett but also Night Lunch by Mike Chaulk) from Gordon Hill Press, as they as one of the few presses that refuses to have anything to do with Kindle or e-books, so the only way to read the work is to read it in hard copy.
I think the next thing I did was head back to Regent Park to go swimming. And I perhaps went to Gerrard Square to get a new pair of dress shoes and headphones for my daughter, and then I had a concert at Tafelmusik (actually playing at Koerner Hall). So it felt like I went in circles a lot that day...
I'm making decent progress on Billy Budd now. Not sure when I will get around to any of the other books I bought that weekend, though I am expecting to bring DuPont's long novel along with my on the next Stratford trip, which is coming up soon.
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