Catching Up On My Reading

Received today from Chapters.ca (a cheaper alternative to Amazon.com for Canadians):

  • Traveling Mercies – Anne Lamott (heard lots of good things about this book)
  • Swing Low – Miriam Toews (discovered this Canadian writer through Open Letters, where she wrote for a while as “X”)

I have a lot of reading to do. In addition to these books, I’m reading:

  • Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee – Dee Brown

which has been incredible so far (incredibly sad, too). Next up, even before my newest purchases, is:

  • A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius – Dave Eggers (Brooke bought it as an anniversary gift for me)

Plus, I want to re-read The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton. It’s hard reading books when I read so many magazines (5-6 a month), plus all the reading I do on-line. I worry that my attention span (as well as everyone else’s) has atrophied beyond rescue due to the web and television. We get our information so many more ways now. But I miss having the time to curl up with a good book. And there are still so many of them!

Back Pain

I missed work today, the first time that’s happened since I started my job in March. Why? I woke up (or rather, was awake most of the night) with the most excruciating back pain. It seems to have subsided, but I just couldn’t face the 90 minute commute, not the way our bus drivers drive. The day wasn’t a total loss, though. I wrote a column on blogging for Cherrymag. Find it under Tech Talk in the left hand column. And I was able to pick up my plane tickets for SXSW! I know it’s still four months away, but I can’t help it. I’m really excited.

New U2 CD

I’m really enjoying the new U2 cd. I think they’ve dropped a lot of the ironic posing of the ’90s and seem to be returning to a simpler musical style, too. It actually inspired me to finally get the faith section up.

Hornby on Kid A

From the October 30 New Yorker, Nick Hornby (author of High Fidelity) on Radiohead’s Kid A: “Nobody is asking Radiohead not to grow, or change, or do something different. It would be nice, however, if the band’s members recognized that the enormous, occasionally breathtaking gifts they have–for songwriting, and singing, and playing, and connecting, and inspiring–are really nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, they might even come in handy next time around.”

Purchased:

  • U2 – All That You Can’t Leave Behind ($13.99)
  • DVD – American Beauty ($21.99)

Canadian Election Goes To Pot?

We’re having our own election here in Canada on November 27, and our company is even doing some work for one of the parties. Happily, it’s the party that I support. Most interesting about this election is the emergence of the Marijuana Party, who are fielding candidates in 70 of the 301 national ridings (electoral districts). One candidate stated that if Canada decriminalized possession of marijuana, that we would experience a huge influx of American tourists to “buy bud.” The whole thing makes me laugh, though. It’s as if someone had this great idea one weekend, but instead of waking up Monday morning and forgetting about it, they actually organized and followed through. It is funny to read some of the interviews with the candidates, though. One guy says he’ll be campaigning on marijuana, “in more ways than one.”

My favourite quote from the New Yorker article: “[Ev] has a beetling brow and a Tintin coif.” (Note: My own coif has often been compared to Tintin’s.)