I’ve got a few reviews in the latest issue of Broken Pencil.

My review of Attack of the Copula Spiders can be found under Nonfiction, and my reviews of Echo Gods and Silent Mountains and DOOM are under Poetry. They’re short reviews, and I’m fortunate in that most of what I review for BP falls under the category of awesome. Check out these books, you won’t be disappointed.

Ryan Bigge’s feature on hipster foodieism and its similarities to indie rock should not be missed.

Also in this issue, David Silverberg has a great piece titled “How to Get an Arts Grant in Canada.” Words of wisdom for those of us trying to make it happen.

Of course, there’s also the usual host of zine and book reviews, short stories, comics and other great stuff. Subscribe.

Time crashes by, and I’m left wide-eyed wondering what the hell just happened. Life’s thrown me a bewildering start to my thirties. I thought I’m finally supposed to feel like a grown up now? Or is bemoaning how that’s not quite the case exactly what I’m supposed to be feeling? I get the sense it’s the latter. This is not encouraging.

And now on to linkage, largely literary, with a dash of feminism, and a mini rant on Rob Ford tucked at the end:

• In The New Yorker, Michael Cunningham outlines what really happened with the Pulitzer Prize this year with the fiction jury. I always find it fascinating to hear about the behind-the-scenes action on jury panels.  Read part two here.
• Lisa Martin-DeMoor has compiled a summary of Zwicky vs Lista essays, follow up commentary and further resources for CWILA.
• Mark Medley, in the National Post‘s book blog, Afterword, asks “Who edits the editors?” in a piece on editors who also write.
• Ian Reid writes about his own experiences being edited, and how it’s “So much more than a red pen.”
• On the flip side, Open Book Toronto interviewed Coach House Books’ editor Alana Wilcox, in which we learn Tamara Faith Berger’s first two books will be reissued by Coach House next year. After reading Maidenhead I tried to find her earlier books without success, so this is exciting news.
• A great write up of Patrick Woodcock‘s Echo Gods and Silent Mountains in Northern News Services Online from Antoine Mountain.
• Pierce Penniless on Antigone.
• Caitlin Moran’s video teaser for How to Be a Woman. I now really, really want to read this book.
• Hook and Eye says “Scholarly Publishing is Broken,” but I’m not convinced it’s only scholarly publishing. While a poem may or may not date as quickly, it still seems absurd that literary journals can take more than a year to respond to a submission, and then a further year or two before the publish an accepted piece. Then it’ll be six months or so until you see your (usually tiny) cheque, if you’re lucky enough to receive one. I love our literary journals, but it does seem kind of a strange way to do business.
• On Jezebel.com, Katie J M Baker writes about the disturbing new Reddit hub dedicated to secretly taking photos of women, even young women, teenagers. What. The. Fuck. Yet another reason to avoid Reddit.
• In related news, see Erin Gloria Ryan’s “Nerd Dads Discover Women are People After Having Baby Girls.”
• Charlie Jane Anders lists “10 Science Fiction Novels You Pretend to Have Read (And Why You Should Actually Read Them)” on io9. I’ve only read three of them, though I don’t pretend to have read the others. Only so many hours in a day. Sigh.
• On 49th Shelf, Deryn Collier writes about why it’s ok to set your mystery in Canada.
• Alaskans will elect anyone mayor, whether Sarah Palin or a cat named Stubbs. Lydia may not be the best PA, but I think she’d make an ok mayor. Better than Ford, anyway. Vote Lydia for Mayor in 2014.

The world is a fucked up place.

Rob Ford, someone that a few very confused people voted for Mayor of the Centre of the Universe, says that “Everyone has to move on” after 21 people were shot, two dead. The shooting happened yesterday. Moving on isn’t really an option yet.

What ever happened to that plan to legally oust Ford from office?

April seemed to be a month for poetry and reading books for Broken Pencil reviews.

36. Attack of the Copula Spiders, by Douglas Glover
(Biblioasis, 2012)

The subtitle proclaims this a collection of essays about writing, and while the first two may be construed as such, the remaining essays are primarily concerned with reading.

It’s a great book. Look for my review in the next issue of Broken Pencil.

37. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, by Haruki Murakami
(Vintage, 1994, 1998)

The first book I read by Murakami was  Norwegian Wood in January. I was told it was unlike his other books, as this is only the second I’ve read by him, and I’m still not sure how I feel about that. Continue reading »