Library visit,
today.
Been going,
to the library,
a lot lately,
When I’m,
bored and broke,
the library,
is a good option.
I still have,
Giovanni’s Room,
and,
Gertrude Stein’s Selected Writings,
I am going to be reading,
the Baldwin this week.
I took out two more books,
a biography of,
Bruce Chatwin,
by Nicolas Shakespeare,
and a,
Ford Madox Ford tetralogy,
Parade’s End.
I have long held a fascination,
for Bruce Chatwin,
I think,
strangely enough,
it stems from my love,
for Moleskin notebooks.
Chatwin lived a dream life,
travelling all over the planet,
and writing about it.
The Chatwin stuff,
I’ve read I really liked.
I like the look of him,
the romance of him,
and his tragic end.
It’s a big book,
should take me a while,
to get through,
I’ll let you know.
Ford Madox Ford,
is a British writer from,
the teens and twenties,
he was a very influential editor,
and was a major influence,
on Hemingway and company,
the Lost Generation.
This tetralogy is often referred to,
as some of the best novels,
about the Great War,
First World War.
I know next to nothing,
about the War to End All Wars,
as a Canadian,
I really should,
so many of ours,
died in that war.
Instead of taking,
the subway,
straight home,
I walked up,
Ste-Catherine street.
I love Ste-Catherine street,
through the,
good times and the bad.
Hers and mine.
It’s my street.
To me,
the heart of the city.
I walked from,
St-Denis to Jeanne-Mance,
a lot of change going on,
in that part,
they are totally transforming,
the Main, St-Laurent,
making it into a gentrified,
place for the Jazz Fest and company.
I like the Jazz Fest,
and I like tourists,
but,
when a city looses some of it’s,
decay,
in favour of ,
uniformity and slickness,
it looses history and character.
Cities aren’t,
only about postcard vistas,
they are also,
about people,
pigeons,
alleys,
and tough, weary,
cats.
Pretending there are no,
homeless,
and poor,
doesn’t solve the problem.
Urban renewal,
is important,
but, at what cost?
I’m a little bit sick of condos,
and concert halls,
I’d like some trees,
and social housing.
But, hey,
I’m no urban planner.
Tonight,
the Oscars,
I can’t say I really care,
except,
I’d like to see,
our nominee,
Incendie by Denis Villeneuve,
win best foreign film,
fingers crossed:-)
Later girls,
BB
I read The Songlines during my long flight to Australia a couple years ago, after my mother sent it to me as a going-away present. I can’t say that I loved it, though it was interesting… I was put off by the way that Chatwin exotified the Aboriginals. I never looked into Chatwin himself, and had no idea that he was queer. Now I’m intrigued and have added Shakespeare’s biography to my to-read list.
I haven’t read Songlines, but, I have read What Am I Doing Here? a book of essays, I enjoyed it very much. Last year, I read a book that was in my biography section in the bookstore, With Chatwin by Susannah Clapp a small and interesting book, worth reading. I’ll let you know what I think of the Shakeaspeare.
Please do.
As an aside, you mention that you have a biography section in your store, which got me thinking: How do you arrange the books? How do you decide what sections to create? I ask because I’m always chuffed when I find a few shelves designated “QGLBT2Setc.” in a used book store, but then I have a good chuckle over what’s included, or rather what isn’t… Same for science fiction, actually: The definition of this genre can be so slippery.
Well, if you asked a good friend who’s a librarian, she would say my bookstore is not so organised. Also, I bought an existing bookstore
and mostly, kept the sections as they were. My bookstore has special considerations. We are generalists and bilingual generalists, at that. Half French, Half English. Not too many of us left. I have a general fiction section, literature, history, mysteries and crime fiction, biography, kids books, cooking and arts and crafts,
religion and spirituality, self-help and popular psychology and more. Some books offer particular problems, where to put yoga and tai chi
when you don’t really have a sports section. Historical biographies, in history or biography? I have a central section on top of the cookbooks
where I put weird stuff, I call it hodge podge. Also, the history section has non-fiction of the scientific or political variety. It’s a challenge!!
Mostly, if you’re not sure you ask the handsome butch behind the counter, she’s a good egg and mostly helpful:-)
Urban renewal – the price of progress. I always feel sad now when I revisit. St.Laurent used to be such a place to find things I craved. Just off St.Laurent, on Prince Arthur (I think) was Delibab, Hungarian bookstore and more. Around the corner and further up was L’Androgyne, the first gay bookstore I ever knew and a lifesaver at the time. They moved south in later years and then ‘poof’ – disappeared altogether. I loved all the deli goods, the Ukranian braid, the Latin store, the Eastern European enameled tin dishes and assorted cookware, tombstones, cheeses and coffee, smoked meat and chicharonnes (not to be eaten in the same place). Now those places are all slowly being taken over by swanky restos, designer coffee, clothes stores with nothing I could fit into and much trendier folk than I could ever aspire to be. Progress.
Ach, you’ve got me reminiscing again.
My sister lived in an apartment on St. Laurent for years, near Rachel, just up from the Cinema l’Amour, the porno theatre. She worked there until a robbery ruined her nerves and she moved to another neighbourhood. But back when she still was in that tiny bachelor suite, I used to visit a lot… One summer I hitchhiked from Toronto with a friend, and we walked down St. Laurent all the way from where our ride let us off at highway 40 to my sister’s. It was the hottest, stinkiest day, and the street seemed like it would never end…. Ah, nostalgia…
L’Androgyne moved to the gay village, on Amherst in between Ste-Catherine and De Maisoneuve, for a while. But, after a couple of years their rent doubled, so they closed. We stlll have Schwartz’s but, the St-Lawrence Bakery and Warshaw’s are gone. Progress indeed. You have to promise to look me up next time you’re in town:-)
That’s what they’re tearing down, what used to be known as the red light, not exactly beautiful or classy… but, alive with people and history.
In reading your comment about organizing books, I realize just how far off the beaten track I have wandered. Please help de-mystify: “QGLBT2Setc.”
When I first came out, “Gay” was the all-encompassing but acceptable term. Not too long after it expanded to “GLB,” a mouthful and hard on chants and slogans, but giving more recognition to distinct gender identities. Then “Queer” popped up and “Trans” was welcomed to the fold. But what does “2S” refer to? I’d hate to be out of touch the next time I visit the metropolis.
I hate to show my ignorance but, I haven’t the faintest idea. In the bookstore, I have a section which I call Gay, Lesbian and Feminist studies.
I guess I’m not too cosmopolitan:-) Maybe someone else can answer, help girls.