My favourite thing about Giftmas is the presents. I like giving them, and I love getting them. For me, it’s all about the loot. And sharing. Something in there about sharing, too.

To celebrate the holidays, I’ve decided to share…linkage! Delicious linkage filled with Giftmas, Christmas and atheistic capitalist rants of joy!

To open, I present you with my favourite Christmas song: “Fairytale of New York”, by the Pogues.

It has, hands down, Continue reading »

Ok, I’ve been linking to a lot of book-related stuff on Twitter, and rather than send a dozen tweets of linkage, why not consolidate the best into a single blog post? Why not, indeed.

Here we go:

• ‘I just adore Dostoevsky…’ Books to impress the babes, Asylum.co.uk – Seriously, people still say “babes”? And they don’t get punched? (Oddly, the list features Crowley, but no Dostoevsky. Go fig.)
• Duke Special and the books that rock, TimesOnline.co.uk – I have no idea who Duke Special is, but the idea of bibliorockers intrigues me.
• Sex Survey of Librarians Reveals 1 in 5 Have Had Sex in the Stacks, Cleavland Leader – I have a friend who’s a genealogical librarian. She recently mentioned that one of her septuagenarian co-workers regularly goes for naps in the afternoon. Naps. Riiight.

While we’re at it, check out this awesome sounding event from Open Book Toronto: Continue reading »

I had never heard of Modest Mouse, but was gifted “No One’s First, and You’re Next” on December 25th by an aunt⁽¹⁾ who’d perused my CD collection and though I’d like them.

She was right, I instantly loved their jangly, up- and off-beat indie rock sound. “The Whale Song” was all she promised it would be, but “Guilty Cocker Spaniels” and especially “Autumn Beds” were the two that stuck in my brain and refused to leave, and which I’d find myself humming and tapping, all a-jangle at inopportune moments.

I ended up buying another of their CDs, an earlier one called “Good News for People Who Love Bad News“, and listening to it realized I’d heard “Float On” before, after all.⁽²⁾ Then suddenly they were everywhere, at least, I suddenly seemed to recognize their presence in a way I hadn’t before.

Reading Zoe Whittall‘s excellent Holding Still for as Long as Possible in January I got excited when one of the characters put on one of their CDs. I know them! I thought it was nifty, but a fluke.

Then they turned up again in the book I just finished reading, A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore.⁽³⁾ Continue reading »

Footnotes:

1. She’s actually a step-aunt, as she’s my Grandfather’s wife’s daughter, though she’s only a few months older than me. As such, it seems hilarious to call her “aunt”. “Step-aunt” sounds unnecessarily remote. [↩]
2. I frequently hear music I like, then promptly forget the name of the band. I need to own CDs, see the case, the CD, the artwork, the lyrics to get the whole gestalt and remember things properly. Perhaps that’s why I’m so attached to books, too. They’re things. Lots of abstract ephemera, but I can remember that Zoe Whitthall wrote Holding Still for as Long as Possible because it has a white dustjacket with splashes of colour and a big red circle…but we’re coming to that. [↩]
3. Also a gift, and another excellent book. Although Moore overuses exclamation points. Every would-be humorous sentence is exciting! You can get used to it! Or despair! [↩]