Golden Mean, Mistress of Nothing, Ice Lovers

OkOK so we're not great bloggers. Maybe cause we are great readers at TRS. So here we go ... a little catchup. We've been booking authors and reading like crazed book worms. First authors: Tues Jan 26 7:00 at Commensal resto on Elm b/w Bay and Yonge. Rev up those new year's resolutions with Rick Gallop and Joey Shulman along with two essayists from Edible City..very cool stuff. A foodie night for people who want to be healthy. Don't miss it. $5...Like the Toronto Star says, "Best deal in town"
More author news: We've lost Jan Wong 'til next fall (boo hoo) but great news is Joy Fielding is confirmed for May 25. She is one great dame...amazing woman...come meet her on May 25. Get new book signed...she is so much bloody fun.
Feb is all about Money Honey with lots of money tips from some pretty savvy people. Check out our listing at www.torontoreadingseries.com
OK: now for the reading part. Teddy Bearendson our money guru has just finished The Golden Mean.."bloody brilliant' he said. That is very high praise from Teddy let me tell you. Usually he shrugs when a book is terrific. Rose Bella our techno wiz loved the Ice Lovers "bad title...how could they create such a pathetic title for such a fantastic book. I loved it...it was amazing...I'm taking it to my book club for sure." The boss has finished Mistress of Nothing the GG winner - deservedly so. Pullinger is nuanced and subtle and very very smart. A wonderful wonderful story. "Get it."
Less than two months to spring...things are looking brighter already...we've gained more than 5 mins of daylight since equinox. Hey...every second counts.
TRS

Ian Brown, Catherine Gildiner & Michael Wex

WOW....what a fantastic start to TRS 2nd season. A sellout at Commensal Resto on Elm b/w Yonge and Bay. Ian Brown, Catherine Gildiner and Michael Wex broke our hearts and made us laugh. They talked about everything from flying collars to the human hearts longing for equality to narcotics and oral sex. Laughter rang out!
TRS takes December off (to eat and read natch) and returns with a bang Tuesday January 26. Get ready to get healthy with Rick Gallop the G.I. guy (G.I. would be glycemic index...how long foods 'stick to your ribs') Dr. Joey Shulman and Healthy Sin Foods along with the editors of The Edible City. Oh what fun we'll have. In the mean time if you are hungry for a terrific book event check out http://www.benmcnally.com/ for their 45 books in 45 Minutes.
Ben and his staff present their 45 top reads in 45 seconds...along with treats. It is great fun and you have to book your seat. Then walk up to Commensal for a tasty dinner and dessert http://www.commensal.ca/
In the meantime, buy books for gifts...they are a cheap and easy way to give hours and hours, years and years of pleasure. Think that spending $32 on a hardcover book is disgusting....stop being so bloody minded....how much would you spend on a concert seat? Food? What...for three or four hours of 'entertainment?" Now extrapolate the entertainment value of a book that costs $32. 00 over your life and the life of a book's impact on you....
Happy Holidays.....Happy Always
Toronto Reading Series Team

We're Back and Ready to Read!

Actually we've been reading like book worms all summer...when not in the garden! And now we are ready to launch Season Two! And great news: Classical 96.3fm is our media sponsor and Ben McNally is our bookseller. Both really 'get it' about literature, readings and how important books are to everything and everybody.

Tuesday November 24, 7:00 pm at Commensal Resto on Elm b/w Yonge & Bay.

Ian Brown, Catherine Gildiner and Michael Wex are teaming up to make a terrific opening night. Brown reads from his beautiful book The Boy in the Moon. In typical fashion, Brown will make you laugh, make you think and take your breath away! Catherine Gildner then takes the mike with her wonderful and poignant After the Falls. It's Buffalo and Catherine crashing through the '60's...you can't miss this! After intermission, Michael Wex tells us all we need to know about How To Be A Mentsh. We LOVE Wex's attitude: everyday presents endless possibilities for happy living.

Of course, an essential component to happy living is attending the Toronto Reading Series. Our opening night is sure to set the pace for a terrific season which will feature Dr. Joey Schulmann, Anne Michaels and Jan Wong just to name a few!

Want our e- brochure? Why not! Just email readings@torontoreadingseries.com AND: two complimentary tickets with every request received before November 10! Hey, what's not to like?

Toronto Reading Series Readers

Summer Reading!

Launch Year Raving Success
WOW: what a year! Toronto Reading Series opened on a very (very) cold night in November and closed it's first year on a sultry summer evening in June. Every reading was brilliant with entertaining, fun and informative authors reading with vibrancy, wit and enthusiasm. Our special event was indeed special with Eric Siblin and Tim Dawson chatting away about all things Bach and the 'stein way' method of dating musical manuscripts! Hahahaha!

As requested and as promised we are including here the TRS Summer Reading List. Naturally you can pick up your copies of any of these books at the beautiful Ben McNally Books on Bay at Richmond.

The Children’s Story
A.S Byatt

Possession
A.S. Byatt

Stone’s Fall
Iain Pears

February
Lisa Moore

Origin of Species
Nino Ricci

Little Bee
Chris Cleave

Laura Rider’s Masterpiece
Jane Hamilton

The Maze of Cadiz
Aly Monroe

The Secret Speech
Tom Rob Smith

Between the Assassinations
Aravind Adiga

The Little Stranger
Sarah Waters

Brooklyn
Colm Toibin

The Lieutenant
Kate Grenville

The Angel’s Game
Carlos Ruiz Zafon

February
Lisa Moore

Fugitive Pieces
Anne Michaels

Tell Ben that the Toronto Reading Series sent you.....have a great reading summer and see you November 24, 2009, 7:00pm at Commensal for our second season opener!
Tune in to Classical 96.3fm too! They are our brand new media sponsor....and will be featuring our authors in interviews, online coverage and more!

TRS Team

Season Finale

Our first season is quickly coming to a close....we are overwhelmed by the response to our readings in our launch year. Fantastic. Heart felt thanks to the authors and their publicists who contributed and participated.
This week, we held our special event and special it was. Eric Siblin author of The Cello Suites from House of Anansi, spoke eloquently and enthusiastically about his journey into the world of Bach, Pablo Casals and classical music. He was authentic and inspiring. Tim Dawson from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and founder of the Toronto Bach Consort joined Eric in conversation following Eric's reading. They spoke for an hour together and could easily have continued for another couple. It was a great evening.
A special thanks to Ben McNally (www.benmcnallybooks) owner of Canada's most beautiful book store on Bay, steps from Richmond. He gets it.
Our last event is June 23 2009 presenting Andrea Gunraj, Shani Mootoo and Emily Schultz reading from their new works....check our website. It will be a great evening and a great way to head into summer!
Watch for our kick off in September!
Over the coming months TRS staffers will be gardening, reading and generally loving life.
We hope you do too!
TRS Group

TRS Take on Canada Reads

So we've had a week or so to digest Canada Reads. First we admit at TRS that we did not catch every syllable of the discussions. Ghomeshi was very good, asking good questions that we hope every book club member in the nation was taking note of to enliven their club discussions! One of our fav questions was "What did you learn from this work...about yourself, Canada....humanity." At TRS we like the Canadian slant as we are staunch flag wavers.

Sarah Slean: Sarah Sarah....were you serious in the heat of your defense, did you really mean that 'literature isn't always pleasure" ?????Sarah Sarah....get you to our readings! What is not pleasureable about fine literature: the subtle, seductive use of language, the pleasure of following an unpredictably well crafted plot, the careful rendering of a credible character, the masterful management of original metaphor describing that character, the range of emotions evoked by the printed word on the page....if you don't find that in what you are reading, you are not reading literature....no wonder you don't find pleasure!

Let's talk about solemnity. There is indeed a solemnity to literature as there is to all great art and it is the solemnity that comes with the admiration spawned by a reaching work of art: an expression of humanity in a full and beautiful form - say, a novel. A work of art that reaches into our cores, our souls and our hearts and challenges us as humans to be better. At TRS we call it the "oh man" factor as we shake our heads in wonder over the achievemt wrought by an author when you arrive at the end of a novel. Even the saddest story, the darkest tale, the epic tear-jerker can bring intense pleasure in the reading of it because of the art of its expression. The ending may disappoint, the characters enrage, the ideas disgust, but the language and the metaphor, the plot and its higher purpose of revealing a little of the human condition always brings pleasure...the pleasure of reflection and what it can forge in the human heart. The pleasure of reading - the pleasure of hearing, albeit in our heads, a human story. The pleasure of reading a story fully expressed.

Third Event and More To Come

TRS' third event was hosted last night and what a night it was. It was pegged An Evening Of Peril and wow...that's what it was. John Geiger started us off with reading and speaking about his incredible new work The Third Man Factor. He talked about how individuals when in great peril, under life threatening stress find comfort and wise encouragement in a presence that presents itself to guide the individual to calm and safety. Over and over again Geiger has heard of this phenomenon, the first time when researching his work on Shackleton who himself experienced just such a powerful force when trapped on the polar ice. The book is quite beautifully written with simple but powerful prose and a very important book to have on your shelf. It might also make an inspiring gift for a pal or peer who is going through a rough time. A reminder that we are never alone if we allow our strength to speak.

Geiger's pal and fellow explorer Ken Mcgoogan took the podium with his latest Race to the Polar Sea, a fabulous adventure story about Elisha Kent Kane. What a presentation! WOW....this guy has energy to burn! His enthusiasm for the north and his subject matter is unflagging. His inspiring excitement about Canada's north began as a young boy after reading Jack London's tales and meeting that famous literary creature White Fang. He told the sold out audience how he stumbled upon a lost journal of Elisha Kent Kane in a small antiquarian book shop up the road from the famous Glen Bow Museum. Like a kid in a candy shop would explain his expression even as he retold us of that discovery. All we can say at TRS is that we each picked up a copy of Race to the Polar Sea and all Blackberrys are currently going unnoticed.

Andrew Pyper brought us back to the mire of downtown Toronto in his fantastic thriller The Killing Circle. Talk about peril! His character is in a slow and definite downward spiral as he very nearly loses himself in grief. He makes decision after decision that leaves the reader growing increasingly worried about the guy and increasingly puzzled trying to figure out how Pyper is going to pull it all together. But pull it all together he does and what a smashing ending. All we can say, is get it.

Now, onto April! Tuesday April 28 at 7:00 have we got a stellar lineup again! Giles Blunt reading from his new literary work Breaking Lorca. Confident enough to leave behind his detective fiction, Blunt has written a terrifying retelling of crimes against humanity. Provocative, powerful, poignant - Blunt has got it all, done it all. This is an important book that needs to be read by anybody currently concerned about the state of the human condition.

Kim Echlin: you loved (loved) Dagmar's Daughter and her elephants. Now for something completely different. The Disappeared is love in the killing fields of Cambodia...love and its ghosts. Once again powerful and poignant, Echlin's writing approaches poetry and her descriptions are truly breath taking. We are so looking forward to Echlin taking the podium.

Closing the evening is Absent by Sherri Vanderveen. This is an honest and clear-eyed look at a father who abandons his family following a horrific event that scars everybody. He returns to find their lives in ashes each having found a distinct and distinctively destructive way to deal with his absence. But will they be able to forgive while never being able to forget. A very very compelling family drama.

SO, there's the lineup for April! What's not to like? Get your $5.00 tickets at Commensal Resto on Elm b/w YOnge and Bay or at Ryerson U Bookstore. We've sold out every event so act sooner than later.

Spring is closer than you think!
TRS Group