"I've been reading many books on tape"

I have a new post in my head, and soon it will be a new post IN MY BLOG! thank you loyal readers for sticking by - think of it this way: every day that goes by without a new post is worth three pages of brilliant fiction in my new novel! Which would you rather have, half-wit blog or full-wit manuscript? If you want a big, meaty Megan-novel then you might have to accept a wee bit of blogger absenteeism. If you are really upset by this, at least prepare yourself a decent meal before breaking down!

The project is slowly coming... I should add, incidentally, that my definition of "slowly" has evolved from "things which aren't as fast as window shopping on a sunny day with nothing to do" to "things which aren't as fast as continental drift." This is partly because of the sort of week I just had, which has buoyed me up to incalculable degrees, but has also floated me away (to keep with the marine metaphor) from work I might possibly have been doing. Not that I'm complaining! This week I saw a play (Macbeth at McGill! It was McCreepy!), saw a movie (Clive in "Children of Men," obviously), saw an art show and a new part of my neighbourhood as a consequence, saw my old CHRW friend Khoa who was in town for a day, and saw the bottom of several pitchers of ale after workshop... my eyes are all sawed out!

Tycho would like to step in at this point and post a brief photo essay he put together today, entitled "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cardboard."





Back to Megan!
Another thing I saw was the end of this week was Last House of Ulster by Charles Foran for my Irish Lit class, which I just finished today in great anticipation of Charles' visit to our seminar on Monday! This is an added bonus (about #429) of school in Montreal: people actually pass through town and want to talk! Famous people! Writerly people!
Anyway, the book itself was a pretty grim, though not dispassionate view of Belfast's 20th C. history. I'm worried about writing more because I've already had one experience of an author googling himself and finding my blog - maybe I'll have more thoughts about it after Monday's class! BUT one of the things that occurred to me as I was sifting through my mental pile of possible New Years' commitments was that it would be neat to actually keep track of all the books I read this year. I always start out trying to do that, but usually taper off sometime around March. By the time August comes around I can't even remember what I read two weeks prior. My friend Vicky gave me a neat little writer's notebook for Christmas, so I have started using that to this end. BUT I will also begin my commitment here, in a public space, as a sign of true dedication!
So far this year, besides the Foran novel, I have read...

Rotten Kids, an unpublished manuscript by my friend and fellow Concordian Marko Sijan (who is reading tomorrow night at Blizzart's on St. Laurent, so if you're in Montreal and it's not tomorrow night yet, you should come!)

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (which I've already spent much time talking about in here, I think)

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, which everyone should read. I got it for Christmas from the lovely double-I's of grey county and Linnea (who puts the L in DUNDALK), and it is just a beautiful novel, with so many of those moments where the book kind of drops into your lap while you stare out the bus window for a moment, just trying to come to terms with all the emotions you hadn't expected to be feeling so early in the day.

In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway, about which I will only say "it's for the class I'm teaching!" and leave it at that because who knows how many of my students have googled me and are reading this right now. Don't read my blog! Read the course texts!!!

The Scarlett Letter by Hawthorne (ditto) (okay, I've actually only started this one, but it will be done in the next few days!!!)

Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata, for my cross-genre workshop. A deeply meditative, lyrical novel set in the Japanese countryside, which is apparently one of the snowiest places on earth! It's not long, I read it last Sunday all smooshed up with Tycho on the couch while it snowed like mad outside the window, a very surreal experience!

Novel of Breathtaking Beauty and Unprecedented Genius, by Megan Findlay. Destined to be a bestseller, need I say more?

And, of course, there is the on-going project of Les Miserables, which has been somewhat stalled because of the whole "reading for school arrggg arggg" thing, but I go back to it for a page or two in bed each night, and hopefully I will start getting bigger chunks of time for that sort of devouring as the semester goes on and I figure out a good rhythm!

Oy I just checked an have a new email from Jen, in which she laments the fact that she has promised to read NO MORE BOOKS unless they have titles like "Biology For Doctors" or "Phantastic Physics" until MCATS are over! Ack, Jen, I admire your discipline and have complete faith in your MCAT skills. In the meantime, though, I am mailing you the Javier Marias book because how else will you spend your time on the subway to & from work? A girl needs daily rewards to keep her mind sharp and thirsty!!!