St. Philip's Norwood Anglican Church Reads

09/19/2013

I closed my eyes and saw a little Basque town between the bay and the mountains.

It's International Book Week. The rules: Grab the closest book to you, turn to page 52, post the 5th sentence as your status. Don't mention the title. Copy the rules as part of your status.

05/18/2012

What are you reading? I have just begun The Sisters Brothers. Are real bang, bang shoot them dead and more. For book club. It's supposed to have humour but maybe its been lost in the publishing! It did win a major Canadian award though. Go figure. At least that's how I feel presently.

05/07/2012

Thought this a good place to share that a book in which I wrote a chapter has received an award. http://www.saintmargarets.ca/a-manifest-presence-100-years-at-st-margarets/

A Manifest Presence | 100 Years at St. Margaret’s Posted on March 16, 2011 A Manifest Presence traces the 100 year history of St. Margaret’s Anglican Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It began as a small mission church on the outskirts of a rapidly growing city and became a well-establishe...

03/11/2012

was surprised to see Half Blood Blues at such a great price on Amazon -- kindle version for those who don't have an aversion to ebooks.
http://www.amazon.com/Half-Blood-Blues-ebook/dp/B005LXK6TG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1331481143&sr=1-1
Half-Blood Blues
www.amazon.com
Esi Edugyan has degrees from the University of Victoria and Johns Hopkins University. Her work has appeared in several anthologies, including Best New American Voices 2003. Her debut novel, The Second Life of Samuel Tyne, was published internationally to critical acclaim. She lives in Victoria, B...

Esi Edugyan has degrees from the University of Victoria and Johns Hopkins University. Her work has appeared in several anthologies, including Best New American Voices 2003. Her debut novel, The Second Life of Samuel Tyne, was published internationally to critical acclaim. She lives in Victoria, B...

01/10/2012

The Joy of Books
http://www.cbc.ca/news/offbeat/story/2012/01/10/youtube-dancing-books-video.html

A YouTube video that features books coming alive to dance after dark inside a Toronto bookstore is delighting viewers online.

12/05/2011

12/05/2011

And so ... what are you reading?

I just finished the Giller Prize Winning Book 'Half Blood Blues' by Esi Edugyan. Set in Europe in the midst of the second world war with a cast of Americans of mixed ethnicities in the early days of the 'blues'. It held me through out. Also finally finished listening to Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Recommended it for my book club and whew! they liked it from the messages I've read.

But what is on my mind is a book that I re-discovered on my shelf yesterday: Love Came Down: Anglican Readings for Advent and Christmas (compliled by Christopher Webber). It sure is heavy. Taking it off the shelf was easy. It's the word's that are heavy and weighted. Many of the authors --John Donne, Jeremy Taylor, Edward Pusey, John Newton, Edward Pussey William Law, Lancelot Andrewes -- I studied in my Anthology of Christian Literature directed reading course I took with Dr. Rev. Jane Barter Moulaisson. It was one of my last courses.

So what makes it heavy and weighted? Firstly because it is so counter culture to the market season. For example today is a reading from Holy Dying by Jeremy Taylor. It ends with the task: Meditate on death. Tomorrow is a reading from the sermon 'Death's Duel' by John Donne on the text, 'To God, the Lord, belongs escape from death.' Psalm 68:20

Secondly so many of the words are weighted. You need to think and as you discover the nuggets you want to linger and, as you do, you want to go back and re read some of the parts again in light of the lingering you did with the nugget. And so the short page and a half looks like a quick read. Not so.

But ... I will not be held to the daily discipline of these 'shorts' throughout Advent and Christmas. The readings though strong and carefully chosen so as to point us toward the work of the Christ who has been since the foundation of the earth, the steady diet of so many greats over the days of Advent and Christmas may need to be tempered with the voices of others less dense.

Who are you reading in this time of preparation?

11/09/2011

To read a story well, is to follow it, to act it, to feel it, to become it. It is an act of 'absorbed alertness not all that different from hunting, in fact, or gathering. Ursala Le Guin. And so ... what are you reading. I began The Midwife of Venice a few months ago and set it aside as it just wasn't what I wanted to read and then this week, desperate for a good read, I picked it up again and am loving it. Mr. Kindle says I have read 68% of the book.
http://www.amazon.com/Midwife-Venice-Roberta-Rich/dp/0385668279

At midnight, the dogs, cats, and rats rule Venice. The Ponte di Ghetto Nuovo, the bridge that leads to the ghetto, trembles under the weight of sacks of rotting vegetables, rancid fat, and vermin. Shapeless matter, perhaps animal, floats to the surface of Rio di San Girolamo and hovers on i...

08/28/2011

So what is everyone reading today?

07/24/2011

What is everyone reading today?

06/14/2011

Have just finished "Room: A Novel" by Emma Donoghue. Not sure yet what I think of it. Sorry that I will miss book club this month as there will likely be a lively discussion. http://www.emmadonoghue.com/room.htm

The official Emma Donoghue website. Emma Donoghue is an award-winning Irish writer who lives in Canada.

06/01/2011

Have spent some time today trying to make a list of books to read this summer. Spent some time with some CBC reading lists and then thought why not ask some friends and the next thing I knew I was making a page. So ... what are you reading this summer?