Reading and Empathy

I was at a library workshop day today, focusing on readers' advisory (my favourite thing). This is library speak for the art of helping people to discover books. One of the speakers was Dr. Raymond Mar, who studies the connections between reading and social development; I've been following OnFiction, the website that he cofounded, for a long time now and it is always fascinating.

I found this interview from last year and thought I'd share a little about his work. Here he is talking about how reading and empathy are connected, as it relates to children's development.

A Word or Two with Christopher Plummer



Photo by Andrew Eccles,
via Stratford Shakespeare Festival



I was very fortunate this week to see Christopher Plummer at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, in his one-man show, A Word or Two. It's in previews now, opening next week -- and the entire run is nearly sold out already!

For good reason: this show is fantastic. It's a tour de force, a bravura performance, a signature piece that dazzles and amuses. I hope that is enough over the top gushing to convince you to look into any remaining availability if you're anywhere near Stratford.

The premise of the approximately hour and a half show is Christopher Plummer sharing the trajectory of his life with us, through the lens of the literature that has shaped him. He shares excerpts of works by A.A. Milne, Stephen Leacock, Archibald Macleish, the Bible, Oscar Wilde, and much more, interspersed with tales of his life. The fantastic thing is, of course, that he is using various accents, gestures and movements to express each one and it feels as if he's performing a lightning-speed sample of everything that he is capable of doing.....which is a whole lot! There is also a lot of humour in the excerpts he reads and in his own life stories, making the show fly by. I really liked the structure of the show -- from childhood to the present, it was neatly segmented to hold the audience's attention and also signal how far along we were in the tale.

As a literary person myself, I enjoyed catching the references to various authors, and hearing how they shaped and affected Plummer throughout his life. I also enjoyed his stories of growing up in Montreal, as I spent many years living there. It all comes together into a marvellous show, one that I would definitely see again if it were actually possible ;) He mesmerizes the audience with his lengthy, energetic monologue -- literally, as I didn't move for the entire show and felt it when we all jumped up for an ovation! 

It was a lovely reflection on the power of literature and of words themselves to inspire and inform and shape one's life. Poems and prose read out and/or declaimed by Plummer were wonderful to listen to -- that voice! It encouraged me to reflect on the writers and works that have affected me over my own lengthy reading life, as well as inspire me to revisit some authors I'd forgotten (Archibald Macleish, for example). I had a great time at this show -- it was entertaining, fascinating, stimulating and enlivening.

Very highly recommended -- I hope that he will indeed take this show to the West Coast and to Broadway as it's been rumoured he might -- and I also hope that it will be filmed so that there can be a wider audience. This is too good to miss.

Flying Books? Oh my!

Wow, just wow, is all I can say. Watching this made me all verklempt! It's a MUST SEE for any bookish person.

Nothing Like a Real Book

This was all over Twitter today and it is so worth watching! In fact I've watched it *cough* a few times now... It was made in a Toronto bookshop, Type, and it is truly amazing. So delightful! Please watch and enjoy :)

Great Viewings 2010

I found quite a number of amusing, moving and enjoyable videos this year through various bloggers and bookish connections. Here are a few of my favourites, for your entertainment.


1. Totally Hip Video Book Reviewer
Of course, the top new viewing of the bookish year. Hilarious, self-deprecating and very clever, Ron Charles of the Washington Post (and his family members) have created an addictive series of videos. I am always awaiting the next one!

2. Old Spice Guy
The viral success of the Old Spice Guy was made perfect for me by his mention of libraries. Funny, delightful nonsense.

3. Wellness Meditation
My sister, author of Introspection and owner of Sole Purpose Books, created a wellness meditation using her own photos and music, which I really like -- and not just because my sister created it :) It is really calming on days I feel especially frazzled.


And last but not least, I am sharing this video with you with the caveat that this was my first public speaking attempt....so be gentle ;) I gave a speech at our local Ignite event in November -- it was entitled "A Novel Prescription: Reading for the Health of It"

I hope you'll enjoy, although I am quite sure I am preaching to the choir with my blog readers :)

Spicy Reading: Let's Eat Peanut Butter

I'm sure that everyone has by now seen the infamous Old Spice Guy talking about the wonder of words, those non-pictures that communicate anything to other minds, found in books, in libraries ;)

But just because I've been loving watching it over and over, here it is again:



And there is also the nearly immediate excellent spoof that was made for the Harold B. Lee Library -- it has already had over a million hits itself:




All this wonderful, goofy concatenation of Old Spice and libraries inspired me to create a thematic book list -- here are

Some Old Books that have something to do with Spice


1. Campbell's Tea, Coffee and Spice Reader

This is a delightful book from 1920 which covers all the latest teas and coffees, where they are from and the best blends to use, then provides an alphabetic listing of popular spices in the same line; where they are from and how to use them. I love the author's note at the beginning:

"The writer does not challenge Criticism but honestly courts it. If, in the perusal of this work, you find an error, or an article, which, in your judgement, is incorrect, or incomplete, and you have more authentic "data" at hand, please forward same to the author."


2. Spices, their Nature and Growth; the Vanilla Bean; a Talk on Tea

In 1915, McCormick & Co. put out this pamphlet -- and they are still in the spice trade! This is a pretty little book, with colour plates of all the basic spices they discuss, including tea, plus a few period recipes... including the slightly questionable Banana, Pimento and French Dressing salad. Hmm.


3. Deadly Adulteration & slow poisoning unmasked (1839?)

Something that these old books seem very concerned about was the frequent occurence of adulteration of spices - this was common with tea and coffee and many other household goods as well - and it could be deadly. Here is an early "consumer beware" guide to the many ways such items could be adulterated, and there is a whole section on spices.


4. The compotus or yearly-account roll of Thomas Syngleton, monk, keeper of the common stock of spices (custos communiae specierum), and chamberlain of the monastery of St. Mary, York, from the Sunday after the feast of St. Michael the archangel, 1528, to the same Sunday in the year 1529 (1851?])

This book with the super-long title tells us a bit about the expansive use of foreign spices in English monasteries - as it says in the introduction, the expenditure on spice in 1528, according to this document, was over 38 Pounds, when at the time a sheep was going for 2 s.

5. Spices and How to Know Them / Walter Gibbs (1909)

Another introduction to the history of spices, this has wonderful photos of spice plantations from all over the world. Chapter II is all about adulteration again - a going concern, with the strong admonishment "Spice millers should not be counterfeiters!"

6. Cinnamon and Angelica / John Middleton Murry (1920)

An odd little play dedicated to his wife, Katherine Mansfield, it features Cinnamon, Prince of the Peppercorns, and Angelica, Princess of the Cloves (also Miss Vanilla Bean, housekeeper to Cinnamon). Quite melodramatic considering it all begins lightly and the naming is so tongue-in-cheek.

7. Pepper & Salt, or, Seasoning for Young Folk / Howard Pyle (1913)

A collection of folk and fairy tales gathered up by Howard Pyle, for as he says in the preface, "One must have a little pinch of seasoning in this dull, heavy life of ours".

8. The Story of Ginger Cubes / Christopher Morley (1922)

This hilarious epistolary tale begins with an ad man being taken to hospital for "a badly dislocated sense of proportion and exhaustion of the adjective secretions". It continues with letters between a varied cast of characters all focused on their agency's attempt to come up with a new campaign for Ginger Cubes, a form of medicated confectionery (including an idea to dot them with sugar and sell them as 'digestive dice') Great fun, though brief!

The Poet Sings

I was treated to a wonderful night out courtesy of my sister-in-law this weekend. We went to see a local trio known as The Poet Sings. The group is made up of a pianist, a soprano and a baritone. This particular concert they were giving had as its theme "Songs of Youth and Love". The program was full of songs which had taken poems as their text, and it was gorgeous.

To begin, Catherine Gardner sang a series of Goethe poems set to music by Schubert. What a combination! It was beautiful. They even included the English words for those of us not so fluent in German.

Then pianist Sandra Mogensen gave us a piano interlude, a suite of waltzes by Ravel that shook you awake! Her specialty is Grieg and she has traced the connections between Ravel and Grieg, and will be performing her special program of the two at the Grieg Museum in Bergen, Norway next month -- what an experience that would be!

Following that we had some English poems sung by baritone Mark Gardner -- some of my favourite poets, like Hardy, Housman, RL Stevenson -- set to music by some marvellous composers, like Butterworth, Vaughn Williams and Finzi. Just gorgeous. I think my favourite, perhaps because I recognized it so quickly, was Housman's When I Was One and Twenty, set by Butterworth.

The second half of the concert was a set of more modern poems set to music by a composer I did not know of at all... Richard Hundley. I enjoyed them immensely - cummings, Dickinson, Joyce and more - on Hundley's website you can hear samples of many of them. I even discovered a new poet, James Purdy.

Overall. a great night out, and one that made me realize how often I went to concerts in university (my roomates were musicians) and how infrequent that habit has become. I'll have to remember how enjoyable it was!

Of course I loved the poetry nearly as much as the music so perhaps that was part of it too. One of my absolute favourite poems set to music ever is Charles Villier Stanford's "The Blue Bird", as sung by Carys Ann Lane and the Oxford Camerata. In fact I like it so much that it was part of our wedding music. Do you have a favourite poem made into a song?

For your Viewing Pleasure

I've just found an amazing documentary on TVO (TV Ontario)entitled Empire of the Word.

It is all about the genesis, purpose, meaning and future of reading. It is narrated by Alberto Manguel and so far is quite wonderful (I have only watched Part I thus far).

Here is a trailer - I hope everyone will be able to view it. If you are sufficiently intrigued, click on the title of the show above to find all four episodes.

Botswana on Screen: Filming Alexander McCall Smith

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Prepared for the screen by Anthony Minghella and Richard Curtis

As I am all about Alexander McCall Smith this week, I also decided to watch episodes of the first season of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, as represented onscreen. (it's now available on DVD) I've found that it is quite different from the books in many ways: new characters added who didn't appear in the stories, a slightly different tone to the storytelling, settings changed around a bit, and of course characters look and act in a way that strangely enough does not mirror what I had imagined! I'm not too fond of a couple of character 'types' that have been added in, and it does have a few flaws. Still, I have been enjoying it. This week especially, a week in which every day has been cold and grey, I have enjoyed watching a beautiful setting full of sunshine and cheer.

Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are well cast, and Rra Matekoni is perfect. The episodes have been written using various cases from the books, not necessarily in the same order or with the same concurrent actions -- for example, by halfway through Season 1, Mma Ramotswe and Rra Matekoni are not engaged as yet, not even likely to be at this point. And there is no mention of any adopted children; I suppose for dramatic action in a film there need to be fewer complications than in a novel which has much more time to introduce you to the characters. I have seen some reviews which call this production twee or shallow, but I don't agree with that assessment. I think anyone who has enjoyed the books will probably enjoy these as well, even with the differences I've mentioned. There are enough similarities to make it all seem familiar, and seeing the landscape of Botswana and some of its people is very engaging. It's beautiful to watch and listen to, and I still have half of the first season to watch!

Here are a couple of clips to intrigue you, the first a short trailer which I hope will intrigue you:




And here is Alexander McCall Smith himself talking about filming his books:

Sunday in the Park...

This Sunday I had a very pleasant outing; a few of us from work decided a while ago that we would like to go down to another theatre town in the area, Niagara-on-the-Lake, to the Shaw Festival. We did this specifically to see Sunday in the Park with George, one of our favourite Sondheim pieces, starring one of our favourite actors (who has been in Stratford previously), Steven Sutcliffe.


It was a great day; the weather was exquisite, the drive was fine (though long) and the show was fabulous! The actors were all very accomplished, and the singing was wonderful. Have I used enough superlatives yet? In brief, it was just perfect. If you know this show, you will know that the main character, George, is on stage for nearly the entire time, in both acts. George was played by Steven Sutcliffe, and his performance was amazing. I love his voice! Of course, I could be a little biased, as he could probably stand on stage and smile and I'd think he was great. ;) Seriously, with this show, the ability to articulate the very exact pointillistic words to the elaborate, wordy songs is key. Sutcliffe and the leading lady, Julie Martell, are both excellent at this. So you know it's not just me, let me share the words of a theatre critic, Gary Smith:

At the centre of this astounding experience is a landmark performance from Steven Sutcliffe that is brilliant in every way. Sutcliffe is even more devastating, more charming, more musically connected to the artistic spirit of Seurat than Mandy Patinkin was on Broadway.

There! If you like Sondheim and are nearby, this is absolutely worth travelling to.


Another great thing about going to Niagara-on-the-Lake is that it is such a pretty, pretty town. We wandered around a little, enjoying the sun, then went for dinner at Shaw's Café & Wine Bar. I found it rather amusing that a restaurant named after George Bernard Shaw (vegetarian since age 25 who stated that "A man of my spiritual intensity does not eat corpses") should have so very many meat dishes available and only three vegetarian options. But I enjoyed my vegetarian pasta nonetheless. It was a lovely dinner with convivial company and was the perfect ending to a lovely day out. (except for the long drive home, of course...)

George Bernard Shaw

Pushing Daisies

I've just seen my first episode of the new show Pushing Daisies. My husband was insisting I watch it, and now I understand why. It's a quirky show about a young man (owner of the best named fictional shop I've seen in a while - a bakery/cafe called "The Pie Hole") who can touch the dead and bring them back to life for one minute, when he must touch them again to return them to their dead state. When he brings his childhood sweetheart back to life he wants her to remain alive -- so can not touch her again. With all the sexual tension going this is difficult for them both. This dead or alive mixup has consequences, which in turn drive the show. It's very stylized and amusing - over at Tripping toward Lucidity, Andi has described it as "Tim Burton if he were rolled in Sweet Tart dust" which is the perfect description, besides just cracking me up! I think it appeals to bookish people because of the structure; it has a narrator and the characters are named things like The Piemaker. The creator of the show stated that he wanted it to feel like "a storybook come to life", and it does, rather.
If, like me, you don't have an optimal tv watching schedule, you can click over to CTV and watch it online whenever it's most convenient. Don't know how long it will be up, but for now the full first episode is available. Lots of fun.

Shakespeare's Will

For anyone who has always been bothered by the niggling question of why Shakespeare would have willed his wife, Anne Hathaway, his second-best bed, there is now an answer for you. (One answer, anyhow; I have my own theories!) I was fortunate enough this weekend to see a performance of a newish play by Canadian playwright Vern Thiessen, called Shakespeare's Will.

The play is a monologue by Anne Hathaway. As it opens, she is returning from Shakespeare's burial, with his will in her hand. She has not read it yet, and puts it off by reminiscing about their lives together. She begins with how they met, how they married and produced children, how they arranged their marriage to suit them both - an explanation of why Shakespeare lived in London for so long, separated from his family. She reports on her relationship with her own father, with her children, with Shakespeare's sister Joan ("Your sister is a bitch. I'm sorry, but she is.") She also refers to her relations with other men, and Will's with other men as well. The play is approximately 90 minutes long, and when she finally opens the will and reads it during the last few minutes, it is a moment so moving that I was strongly regretting not bringing any kleenex.

The power of the play was amplified by this staging. It is a tour de force for Seana McKenna; she captivates with her ability to populate the stage through her imagination. When she is talking about the first time Anne and Will met, you can nearly see him lounging nearby as she provides a dialogue between them. When she reveals her father's reaction to her marrying Will ("Jesus Christ! With child, and a Catholic, and a Shakespeare!") you can feel the force of an angry father storming around the stage. Her evocation of having to deal with her first child alone and uncertain of how to care for her is heartwrenching, as are a few other moments that I will not spoil for anybody who will want to see it or read it. The stage was simply set, with a bench and a set of stairs and small platform that she ranged over. Much of the scene-setting was done with lighting and sound effects (the sea, rain, children laughing or crying) as she moved into her memories. She talks for 90 minutes, and does not permit the audience's attention to flag for a moment. A beautiful, beautiful performance, one that you should not miss if at all possible for you to see it. If it is not, well, try to read the play. It is thought-provoking, funny, touching, and looks at Shakespeare from a different angle. Well worth the effort for anyone interested in Shakespeare and bemused by his will.

Musical Interlude

While my sister was visiting we saw the opening performances of two plays; one a musical and one a modern Shakespeare. The first was Oklahoma! and it was a lot of fun, if a bit dated in theme: singing and dancing cowboys with lariats, jealous lovers, giggly girls, a strangely incongruous Middle Eastern peddler. But, the singing and the dancing were extraordinary and made it into a fun spectacle. The musical performers at the Stratford Festival are wonderful, and this one showcased many, many of them. It put me in mind of the large cast which would be necessary to do Seven Brides for Seven Brothers - also a bit of a dated play but one I would love to see put on. I love, love, love the movie and wonder how it would translate to the stage. Maybe someday...

The other was Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. I enjoyed it, more so than my sister as I'm more of a Shakespeare girl. But this one was only slightly stuffy - in fact there were so many gags, a literal song-and-dance routine, a live dog on stage, directorial self-referential jokes, etc. etc. that it felt more like vaudeville than the Shakespearian stage. Not to say I didn't like it; I found parts quite funny, with Bruce Dow as one of the Dromios exceptionally notable. Perhaps if you are able to 'get' the in-jokes it would be funnier. It feels like a big wink at the whole tradition, and although some people got their knickers in a twist over it, I thought it was entertaining, which is kind of the point of this type of theatre, to me. Although I am just a blogging audience member, not a critic... As a friend of mine said, the critics will hate it but it will sell out; he has certainly been proven correct in his first prediction!

Theatre-going made for a couple of entertaining evenings. We also spent an evening or two watching movies, such as Music & Lyrics which we found hysterical since we both spent our formative years in the 80's. Hugh Grant is simply hilarious as a has-been music star and Drew Barrymore is sweetly scatterbrained. I would watch this one again just for the mock 80's music video it opens with. Very amusing and witty screenplay.

I have many comments to catch up with, and much reading to report on. I'll have to catch up a little later, after Book Expo Canada , and a visit with fellow Toronto area bloggers this weekend. Looking forward to a busy and bookish weekend!

Seeing Harlem Duet

I've just been to see Harlem Duet at the Stratford Festival. My review is simply -- you must go. It is an astonishing play; Djanet Sears' writing is crisp and unafraid, lyrical and straightforward. (I suppose that is why it won a Governor General's award in 1998). It talks about modern issues of race, of love, of relationship. As a non-black audience member, I felt I was being let in on a conversation I didn't know much about, and was just as thrilled and informed by the characters' emotional highs and lows as the intellectual issues they brought forward. The small cast of 5 was very strong; the staging made extraordinary use of the space. Karen Robinson, in the main role of Billie, was on stage for nearly the entire play, and she owned it. I don't think I've seen anything which was so moving, both emotionally and intellectually, in a long time. It made me feel excited about theatre, and art, and what they can accomplish. I urge anyone who has the chance to hurry to see it. A wonderful production!

Theatrical occasion

I am a big reader (you may have noticed this). But I have developed over the last few years into a big theatre fan as well. I enjoy the luxury of being able to attend wonderful theatre at the Stratford Festival pretty regularly. There's always something to see, and I try my best to see as much as I can. This year my favourite is "The Glass Menagerie". I have never enjoyed Tennessee Williams very much; perhaps seeing innumerable high school productions of this play put me off it a little. But, seeing it as performed by an absolutely stellar cast transforms it. It is moving, bringing you to laughter and tears. I must make a special mention of the extraordinary performance of Steven Sutcliffe as Tom. He is absolutely enthralling and creates such a sympathetic Tom that I could watch it over and over. Well, alright, I have. Five times. And ok, Seana McKenna is also exemplary. Oh, what the heck, so are Matthew MacFadzean and Sara Topham. Also - try to see "London Assurance". What fun! Brian Bedford, Seana McKenna (again), Brian Tree, and numerous other fabulous and experienced actors bring a delightfully over the top play to life. Those are my reviews for now. Hopefully I will have a chance to see some of the other highly recommended productions, ie: Harlem Duet, The Duchess of Malfi etc. and pass on my take on those too.