KTR2010: Stephen Troister recommends The Invisibility Exhibit

It’s Day 21 of our 30-day filmfest to Keep Toronto Reading, and we’ve finally nabbed another gentleman participant. I don’t know Stephen very well, but he does have a most excellent beard (and one that makes him a trustworthy guy, according to this handy chart) and he’s the first person to recommend some poetry to us. So big kudos there. Stephen recommends The Invisibility Exhibit by Sachiko Murakami:

Stephen Troister is a highly employable publishing intern looking for a real job. He once met Mario Lemieux, who called him Stewart. Mr. Lemieux was not corrected.

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Time’s running out, contributors! But my arms are still open for welcoming. Don’t leave me hangin’. Drop me an email: j.k.knoch[at]gmail.com.

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Announcing the Keepin’ it Real Cookin’ Club!

A couple of KIRBC alumni have decided to keep it even real-er with a new kind of online club. Sarah Labrie (@SarahLabrie) and Erin Balser (@booksin140) announced The Keepin’ it Real Cookin’ Club this afternoon, and it’s full of booky and foodie goodness.

From the site:  “we decided to create an online space where we use our bookish expertise and budding cookery skills to review cookbooks; we’ll pick a book, talk about why we love it, and give it a review based on a few sample recipes. Each post will include an account of our attempt to recreate a recipe, photos of the finished product (and, sometimes, of the mess along the way), and the occasional video for when we’ve mastered a new technique (what the hell are stiff peaks anyway?). What could be more fun than that? Only the assigning of each recipe with the perfect book to read while enjoying the finished product! That’s right – this is where cookbooks and novels come to fall in love.”

Visit www.keepingitrealcookingclub.com for all the tasty details.

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Pioneery Preserves

I was reading an article in this Saturday’s Globe on the canning/preserving craze that’s sweeping the nation, and it re-ignited a simmering desire I’ve had to read a good pioneer-living novel. Because while the 18 uses of one hog or the healing properties of the cranberry make some people run for the hills, I find it completely fascinating. I have enough trouble surviving the Long Winter with central heating and the grocery store two minutes away.

I think my fascination started when I was hooked on Little

In my younger days

House on the Prairie (the books and the television series) as a kid. (Incidentally, my celeb lookalike? Totally Melissa Gilbert.) Now that I’m older, I’ve got a penchant for hist-fic that’s heavy on the how-to-survive-the-winter details. I’ve read all of Diana Gabaldon’s Jamie and Claire books, which I enjoy both for the bodice ripping and the old-timey medicines and food preparation.

In any case, I’ve been craving a little pioneer savvy lately, and want some recommendations. Should I be Roughing it in the Bush with Ms. Moodie? (I confess, by avoiding CanLit classes in university, I missed out on this classic canon fodder). So rather than recommending, I’m looking for help: Leave your recos here, I could use some of these literary preserves to get me through the Long Winter.

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