book blogger love

Another haphazard recapping of some of the lovely reviews of Bone and Bread that have cropped up over the internet. One of the best things about stumbling upon these reviews is finding new great book blogs to read! 

 

From Mrs. Q Book Addict:

"As a fellow Montrealer, the atmosphere of this novel really brings it to life. Nawaz writes about a Montreal I know, and live in. This has not always been the case when I’ve read other books that are set in Montreal..[...].. I highly recommend this book, especially for those who have a sister. I believe the story would be even more powerful. Great for book clubs!" (excerpted...click for full review) 

Mrs. Q is a tremendous reader, by the way. Check out her impressive 2012 and 2013 reading lists if you want to feel unexpectedly guilty about how much television you're watching.

From Lindy Reads and Reviews:

"Bone and Bread moves back and forth in time, revealing a unique family and a strong sisterhood bond. I found Nawaz's portrayal of attitudes towards immigration and a plural society in contemporary Quebec particularly compelling." (excerpted...click for full review)

(Lindy, by the way, reads over 250 books a year! That would be a feat in itself, but taking the time to write about what she reads is next-level amazing.)

And this is actually a review of Mother Superior on Buried in Print, which I was so elated to see, and it even includes a brief outline of each story that somehow manages not to give anything away. There is nothing more gratifying than a reader who gets it... I think this is at the heart of why writers write.

Buried in Print's review of Bone and Bread therefore brings into play what happens in "Bloodlines," the story from which it developed, and I was really curious to read what impression the novel would make on somebody who already knew the characters.

"Fundamentally Bone and Bread is about loss, and the connections that one makes in the face of loss. But, which loss? A father. (A husband.) A mother. (A friend.) A sister. (A lover.) An aunt. (A father.) Some of these relationships are more parenthetical than others, but there is always an absence, so lasting an absence that it becomes ever-present, like the cross on the mountain in Montreal.... What makes us good? Which relationships define us? What does the effort of concealment truly cost? How fervently can we shape our own reality? What kind of sacrifices truly yield new choices?" (excerpted...click for full review)

Buried in Print is the web page of another insightful (okay, fine, I'm biased, but I really think so!) and voracious reader and there is so much good content to get lost in here. 

Hearing from even one reader is amazing (hell, just having one reader is nothing to sneeze at), so I feel really lucky to be able to find out people's impressions after picking up the book.

looking forward

So today is the day I start thinking about the fall. I've updated the "Events" tab above, but  here's everything in handy list form, which right now is making me equal parts nervous and excited. It's almost time to start thinking about what to read, what to say, and ironing dresses. If you live in Guelph, Toronto, Kingston, Victoria, or Vancouver, I really hope you'll come say hi!

SEPTEMBER

Eden Mills Writers' Festival

Readings at the Mill

Sun. Sept. 15 12:30 p.m.

with Grace o'Connell and Iain Reid

Toronto Public Library

Author reading: Saleema Nawaz on Bone and Bread

Fri. Sept. 27 2 p.m.

Deer Park program room

Kingston WritersFest

"Writing through Race"

Sat. Sept. 28 1:30 p.m.

with Wayne Grady

Moderated by Barbara Bell

OCTOBER

Victoria Writers Festival

Sat. Oct. 19 7:30 p.m.

with Angie Abdou, Annabel Lyon, Sara Peters, and Jay Ruzesky.

Hosted by Lee Henderson

The Vancouver Writers Fest

"All in the Family"

Fri. Oct. 25 10-11:30 a.m. 

with Dede Crane, Andrew Kaufman, and Mary Swan

Hosted by Angie Abdou

"Corner Stories"

Sat. Oct. 26 2 p.m.

with Anthony De Sa, Wayne Johnston, and Maria Semple

Hosted by Aislinn Hunter

"Celebrating 25 Years of Journey"

Sun. Oct. 27 1:30 p.m.

with Theodora Armstrong, Douglas Glover, and Shaena Lambert

Hosted by Timothy Taylor

the summer that was

Well, the new school year began unpromisingly this morning with me smashing the coffee carafe in the sink. (Sadly, the coordination required to fill the coffee carafe without smashing 100% dependent upon the consumption of coffee yet-to-be-brewed.)

Maybe I haven't yet let go of the summer that was. Maybe tomorrow.

 wildflowers

 special rocks

 country fair

 bliss at the petting zoo

 tea at the ladies' auxiliary

  the lake

Thinking about the next three months can start...tomorrow.

last day of August

I’m not sure what it is... writing an email or a blog post feels inordinately difficult these days.

The summer has felt a little too quiet and inward, a little bit like I’ve been spinning my wheels on the writing front. I started working on a story that wasn’t working, then kept working it to try and finish a draft, convinced throughout that it wasn’t working…but that maybe I could go back and fix it?  And sometimes it does happen that things you aren’t sure about turn out later to be okay.  But not so in this case.

But the setting was beautiful, even if the writing was not.

        

    

Since I've been back in the city, though, things have been better. Old works-in-progress have been looked at, and I've taken heart from how much I like them. I've also been trying less hard to make the summer about work...and make it more about summer, with reasonable success. And there's still a couple of days left...

cover girl, take two

Photo by Terry Byrnes

 

I'm really thrilled to be featured on the cover on the latest issue of the Montreal Review of Books! You can read the full profile and review here. I'm so grateful for the prominent coverage of the book, as well as for the thoughtful review and interesting chat with fellow writer Ami Sands Brodoff. Not all interviews are created equal, and it is always a pleasure to speak with someone who is a careful reader...and who isn't afraid to ask real questions.

A writer to watch!

It made my Canada Day to be named one of CBC Books' 2013 Writers to Watch!  Along with a lot of writers whose books are in my TBR pile.

You can click through the full list here. 

For another amazing list, check out Amanda Leduc's Up-and-Comers on her (lovely!) blog . This is a update on a group of writers she profiled a year ago...although if you are a writer be warned: it may make you feel insecure and unproductive or (better yet) inspired to to work harder.

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I started this post over three weeks ago now. Travel and vacation has kept me away from the internet a little more than I'd like. 

To celebrate our anniversary, D and I went on a weekend trip to Franconia Notch State Park, where we saw bears (in the backyard of our B&B!), hiked a gorge, had some amazing pizza (jalapeno-cream-cheese-stuffed crust....YUM), backed some plastic duckies in the town Lions' Club annual duck race fundraiser, caught the 4th of July "Home Day" parade, swam in the lake, visited Frost Place on Frost Day, and fulfilled a long-time yearning (er, of mine) to go to a drive-in movie, something I haven't done in almost twenty years. I am going to suggest you peruse the snack bar menu of the Northern Nights Drive-In because it is American thing of beauty. We took full advantage with chocolate milkshakes, cheeseburgers, chicken fingers...and even a meatball sub. When in New Hampshire... 

Pickup trucks are de rigeur at the drive-in

Small town drive-in

The Frost Place, one of Robert Frost's former homes

Walking the trails behind the Frost Place

Hilarious scrambling at the end of the duck race

We topped it off with an amazing meal at Manoir Hovey in North Hatley on way home. It was the kind of meal I can barely describe because it was so delicious and delightfully detailed on the menu.  Fine dining menus are a complex conceptual/literary/culinary art form, don't you think? Basically (in a prosaic, incomplete summary that does little justice to the meal), I had asparagus soup, halibut, cheese risotto, a bunch of amazing chanterelles (pilfered from D), and notably, as a pre-dessert, some apple-tarragon sorbet. Notable not only for the delicate and (at least to me) surprising combination of flavours, but also just for the concept of a pre-dessert, which strikes me as a useful one that might have almost as much mileage in it as second breakfast.  

A week after our return, we came back out to the country for a working vacation which has included lots of swimming (initially, during the heat wave), reading, writing, and napping. Just a few days left, but I hope to try and squeeze in the time to finish a second story...

chalk paint and summer storms

This blog has been quiet of late, due partially to a (very) little bit of writing (hurray!) and idea-hatching and a vow to spend a little more time relaxing and being social.  Also, I've had two four-day weekends in a row, both of which I spent mostly away from the computer.  

I've lost track of most of what I was going to write about here, although one notable standout was almost getting hit by lightning last weekend.  We were out on our back porch, moving a painting project out of the way of a sudden impending downpour, and lightning struck the transformer on the closest pole to our apartment...less than 10 meters away.  It was like a bomb going off: a huge flash, sparks, smoke, and it felt like everything was shaking.  My husband's ears were still ringing hours later.  (He was closer.)  We lost power, but we went to a movie, and by the time we came back, it had been restored.  It was also a real neighbourhood occurance, as everyone milled around once the rain let up a bit and the scariest part of the storm had passed, to say, "Did you see that??"  

The painting project in question has also taken up a fair bit of time.  Here is a "Before" picture:

 A photo of our bargain hutch from the Kijiji listing ($80!)

A few weekends ago, we went on a quest to Pointe Claire to buy this special chalk paint that doesn't require any stripping or sanding before application.  (Just a coat of wax afterwards.)  I'm really happy with how it worked out...I only wish I had bought more paint because there are so many things I'd like to update!

We started with something small...a random wooden star decoration that I've had forever:

 The paint and the star.

(Also, if you look in the top right of the photo, you can see the

 I Heart Cheese graffiti tagger has struck in our alleyway. I much 

prefer "I Heart Cheese" to fellow tagger "Cobra Cock".)

Random blue star ready to be deployed.

Then on to something bigger...We started the hutch last weekend and finished it up last night.  The weather (perpetual intermittent rain) has made things difficult!  My husband did more of the painting, but we both did the waxing and the buffing.

D.fixing the cabinet door closing mechanism.

Finding enough room to paint on the deck was a bit of a jigsaw among the few remaining bins and boxes of smoky things we're still hoping to clean.

 I probably wasted too much of the purple accent paint inside the drawers. 

It turned out not to suit the spot we'd planned to put it, but we found an even better spot on the other side of the room.

Finished hutch!  I'm really happy with how it turned out.
(Though it needs to be levelled off to compensate for 
our sloping floor, and we still need to replace a pane 
of glass. I'd like to change the lower knobs eventually, too.)

We have a few more budget pieces we're hoping to paint, if the weather and our patience cooperates.  It's almost unbelievable that it's already July and it feels like the summer has barely started. 

On a non-chalk-paint front, some nice things have been happening with the book lately, too, but I think that will be a separate post...