Amy Lavender Harris's Blog, page 3

Trinity College Book Haul

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Trinity College

I spent most of the day before attending the Trinity College book sale deep in the Rosedale Ravine with a group of grade 12 Geography students from Bishop Strachan School. We emerged from the ravine at mid-afternoon, having climbed the steep hill to Chorley Park after lunch at the Don Valley Brick Works, and dashed as a group through the just-beginning rain to a TTC bus that serendipitously appeared (and waited!) just down the street. Exhausted and damp but filled with booklust, I rode the subway south to Museum station and then walked across the always-beautiful University of Toronto campus to Trinity College. No one noticed (or at least had the grace not to comment upon) my muddy jeans and wet boots.

At the book sale, I headed straight for the poetry and Toronto books (located conveniently right across from one another), and dug right in. After filling a large bag with interesting books, I trolled other sections of interest (Canadian fiction, childrens' books, philosophy, biography and science/nature) and then hid under a table to sort my loot.

In an effort to practice restraint, I ended up returning about half the books I'd selected initially. Still ended up with a nice pile, though, and spent exactly sixty-five dollars in total.

Here's the list of what I brought home (not including a couple of books for Peter and some kids' books for Katherine):

Such a beautiful cover.

Jim Johnstone's Patternicity (Nightwood Editions, 2010). Such a beautiful, fascinating book (filled with metaphors for organic chemistry), and I feel a bit guilty for picking it up second-hand after grabbing a copy of The Velocity of Escape (Guernica, 2008) for $2 at the University College sale and promising to buy the rest of his work new. Sorry, Jim — but I do promise to get your next book new!

Sheree Fitch's In This House are Many Women (Goose Lane, 1993), poems poised perfectly between second and third-wave feminism. I like her work.

Alison Pick's The Sweet Edge (Raincoast, 2005), a novel that probably reminds me of at least one grad school relationship. Maybe The Sweet Edge will help me laugh about it.

Kathy Shaidle's Lobotomy Magnificat (Oberon, 1997), a collection of poems shortlisted for the Governor General's Award. Don't know what to think of this book, which sounds a bit like an unfocused Maggie Helwig (whose work I love very greatly and whom Shaidle acknowledges as a mentor). Still, will give it a whirl.

Cary Fagan's The Animals' Waltz (Lester, 1994). I really enjoy Cary Fagan's work, and am looking forward to a very belated read.

Erika de Vasconceles' My Darling Dead Ones (Knopf, 1997), a novel focusing on Toronto's Portuguese community and another book I've wanted to read for quite a long time.

Malea Litovitz and Elana Wolff's Slow Dancing (Guernica, 2008), a textual dialogue between these two authors, one living; the other living her death. I'm not familiar with Litovitz' work but quite enjoy reading Wolff's poetry. Their 'duologue' sounds like interesting reading and will be my first foray into Litovitz' other work (e.g., At the Moonbean Cafe (Guernica, 2003) — a book I know just from the title I'll enjoy.

Cordelia Strube's Lemon (Coach House, 2009). Usually I pick up new Coach House titles from the Press directly. For some reason this is one I missed (perhaps because it came out during that period between having a kid and finishing the Imagining Toronto book), although I have always read Strube's work with wary interest. A comedic darkness informs Strube's work, something I need to be in the right sort of mood to appreciate. Think I'll make Lemon a bathtub book (for valued leisure reading I might not get to otherwise and do best with a glass of wine).

An advance (uncorrected proof) copy of Hal Niedzviecki's Look Down, This is Where it Must Have Happened (City Lights, 2011). I admire Niedzviecki's pop-cultural activism but am less confident in his writing. Am willing to give his work another short, though. Also probably a bathroom book, albeit sans the glass of wine.

Pier Giorgio Di Cicco's The Tough Romance (McClelland & Stewart, 1979). How I love Di Cicco's poetic voice, particularly during this period of his career.

And in Toronto-related non-fiction, I also picked up:

J.C. Boylen's The Story of Castle Frank (Rous & Mann Press, 1959), a beautiful hard-bound book about the residence of John and Elizabeth Simcoe above the Don River in the nascent settlement of York.

Henry Scadding's Toronto of Old (abridged and edited by F.H. Armstrong; Oxford University Press, 1966). This edition, much better than the schlocky paperback I have (but not as good as the original second edition from 1878), is a really excellent resource for anyone interested in Toronto as it was during the nineteenth century.

And finally, Ideas That Matter: The Worlds of Jane Jacobs (edited by Max Allen; The Ginger Press, 1997), a collection of Jacobs' essays, correspondence and commentaries. A nice addition to my Jacobs' library. No, I'm not an unequivocal acolyte of Jacobs' work, but acknowledge her major contributions to urban studies.

So end the University of Toronto book sale reports for 2011. There's still the Vanier College book sale at York University, and since I'm on campus teaching every week, I'll be sure to drop in

Will the Real Cabbagetown Please Stand Up?

Just a note to let folks know I'll be doing one more talk this fall as part of the Imagined City series I've been doing for the Toronto Public Library throughout 2011. The final talk, titled "Will the Real Cabbagetown Please Stand up: Regent Park, St. Jamestown and Cabbagetown in the Literary Imagination," will be held at the , 269 Gerrard Street East, today, Tuesday 18 October 2011 from 7:00 to 8:30 pm.

Beginning with Hugh Garner's well-known novel Cabbagetown (1950; 1968) and going on to discuss a diverse list of works ranging from journalist J.V. McAree's memoir Cabbagetown Store (1953) to Juan Butler's occasionally scatological Cabbagetown Diary (1970) and Tim Wynne-Jones urban fantasy The Knot (1982), my talk will argue that Cabbagetown's boundaries have shifted in ways that emphasize architectural cohesion while suppressing social and cultural difference.

This phenomenon, in which local historians have steadily relocated Cabbagetown from the district south of Gerrard Street (an area once known as "North America's largest Anglo-Saxon slum") to a gentrified area north and east of the corner of Parliament and Gerrard, has turned Regent Park — the original site of Cabbagetown — into a kind of cultural Other. I'll then turn to representations of Regent Park, Moss Park and St. Jamestown to explore how these neighbourhoods are represented as a kind of contrast class to contemporary Cabbagetown — even though these run-down neighbourhoods have more in common with literary Cabbagetown than the quaintly gentrified Heritage Conservation District that has since claimed the name. Works I'll discuss here include Mark Thurman's Cabbagetown Gang (1987), Deborah Ellis' Looking for X (1999) and Rabindranath Maharaj's The Amazing Absorbing Boy (2010).

Slides for tonight's talk are available here:

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For those interested in further reading, here is a list of literary representations of Cabbagetown and environs:

Butler, Juan, 1970. Cabbagetown Diary: A Documentary. Toronto: Peter Martin Associates Limited.

Cornish, John, 1968. Sherbourne Street. Toronto: Clarke Irwin.

Ellis, Deborah, 1999. Looking For X. Toronto: Groundwood.

Garner, Hugh, 1950; 968. Cabbagetown. Toronto: White Circle; Ryerson Press.

Garner, Hugh [under the pseudonym Jarvis Warwick], 1950. Waste No Tears. News Stand / Export Publishing.

Garner, Hugh, 1976. The Intruders. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson. (A follow-up, in some ways, to Cabbagetown.)

Jewinski, Hans, 1975. Poet Cop. Markham, ON: Simon & Schuster / Pocket Books. [poetry]

Lapp, Dave, 2008. Drop-In. Montreal: Conundrum Press. [graphic novel/memoir]

Matheson, George, 1996. Hogs and Cabbages. Lumby, British Columbia: Kettle Valley Publishing.

McAree, J.V., 1953. Cabbagetown Store. (memoir). Toronto: Ryerson Press.

Plantos, Ted, 1977. The Universe Ends at Sherbourne & Queen. Toronto: Steel Rail Publishing.

Plantos, Ted, 2000. The Shanghai Noodle Killing. Toronto: Seraphim.

Rosen, Eric S., 1991. The Banker of Cabbagetown. Toronto: Eric S. Rosen. [play / theatre and history]

Thurman, Mark, 1987. Cabbagetown Gang. Toronto: NC Press. [children's / young adult]

Type, David, 1979. Cabbagetown Plays (Diamond Cutters, Snow Birds and The Travesty and the Fruit Fly). Toronto: Playwrights Co-Op.

Type, David, 1984. Just Us Indians. Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press. [play; also set in Cabbagetown]

Wynne-Jones, Tim, 1982. The Knot. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. [fiction]

 And a list of non-fiction commentaries on the district:

 Cabbagetown Preservation Association, 1992. Touring Old Cabbagetown. Toronto: Cabbagetown Preservation Association.

Coopersmith, Penina [photographs by Vincenzo Pietropaolo], 1998. Cabbagetown: The Story of a Victorian Neighbourhood. Toronto: James Lorimer.

Farewell Oak Street [documentary], 1953. Grant McLean/ NFB.

Kelly, Colleen, 1984. Cabbagetown in Pictures. Local History Handbook No. 4. Toronto: Toronto Public Library Board.

Lorimer, James and Myfanwy Phillips, 1971. Working People: Life in a Downtown City Neighbourhood. Toronto: James Lewis & Samuel Ltd. [narratives of Cabbagetown]

Rose, Albert, 1958. Regent Park: A Study in Slum Clearance. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Rust-D'Eye, George, [1984] 1993. Cabbagetown Remembered. Toronto: Stoddart. [local history]

Wiley, James [photographs by James Wiley; Foreward by George Rust-D'Eye], 1994. Images of Cabbagetown. Toronto: V.A. Gates.

[Images: top left image is from Hugh Garner's Cabbagetown (Ryerson Press, 1969); bottom image is from Mark Thurman's Cabbagetown Gang (NC Press, 1987).]

University College Book Sale Report, 2011 Edition

[image error]My most interesting find at this year's University College Book Sale (on until Tuesday, which incidentally is also half-price day) is an unusual book called The Revenge of the Methodist Bicycle Company: Sunday Streetcars and Municipal Reform in Toronto, 1888-1897, written by Christopher Armstrong and H.V. Nelles and published by Peter Martin Associates in 1977. It's a book about streetcars, public mortality and municipal politics, and seems oddly timely in light of Toronto's current municipal debacles — which are only occasionally about streetcars but hinge undeniably upon competing claims to the purported moral good.

Armstrong and Nelles  are both historians: Armstrong teaches at York, while Nelles is affiliated with McMaster University. While researching The Revenge of the Methodist Bicycle Company I learned that it won the Toronto Book Award in 1977 and has recently been reissued by Oxford University Press.

Municipal politics — and especially histories of municipal politics — are not subjects that cause me to hyperventilate with anticipatory pleasure. Indeed, after having worked for years in municipal settings, the thought of reading more about them fills me with nausea. But these are interesting times in Toronto, as that ancient Chinese curse supposedly goes, and there is probably a good deal to learn from the follies of past administrations.

I haven't done any more than browse through the book, but it looks like an interesting read. Its final chapter, from which the book's title is derived, discusses 1890s bicycle culture in Toronto, a subject I have not seen studied elsewhere. One observation — that "a traffic census in the fall of 1895 counted 395 cyclists passing the corner of King and Yonge between 6 and 6:30 p.m., a fantastic increase in two-wheeled traffic over previous years" — sounds rather like a description of Critical Mass!

This year's browsing was interrupted by my little daughter's repeated demands to climb the ornate wrought-iron spiral staircases in the East Hall in order to gaze down upon the peons browsing for books, but I still managed a pretty decent haul, including (among other books):

F.G. Paci's Black Blood (Oberon, 1991), the first volume of Paci's six-volume Bildungsroman about a young Italian immigrant who moves from Sault Ste. Marie to Toronto to pursue university studies. I have read most of his other novels (many of them set in Toronto) but had not come across this one before. I'm happy to have it on my shelf.

Magdalene Redekop's Ernest Thompson Seton (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1979), a short biography of the renowned Canadian naturalist , written for a young audience but which also includes reference to a number of Seton stories I haven't previously known about that are also reportedly inspired by his boyhood experiences in Toronto. One of them is "The Slum Cat," which appears in Animal Heroes (1905), although the story as published seems to be set in New York. There is also an interesting discussion of the origins of Two Little Savages (1903), a novel that does (as published) begin in Toronto.

Rishma Dunlop's White Album (Inanna, 2008), a poetic collaboration with painter Suzanne Northcott that sets images and excerpts from popular music against a quasi-autobiographical narrative.

Dorothy Livesay's The Raw Edges (Turnstone, 1981). I like Livesay, although often find myself disagreeing with her in poems. Since I believe this combination is quite wonderful I always grab her books whenever they show up at sales.

Jim Johnstone's The Velocity of Escape (Guernica Editions, 2008), because it was there and oddly I appear not to have a copy at home. I looked Johnstone's other work, including Patternicity (Nightwood, 2010), a book with the most beautiful cover I've ever seen on a poetry collection, and a title added to my new book wish list.

Esta Spalding's Carrying Place (Anansi, 1995); a fantastic title and the sole reason I bought the book.

R.M. Vaughan's Troubled (Coach House, 2008), another book I was surprised not already to have at home, and one I'm looking forward to reading.

Michael Redhill's Lake Nora Arms (Anansi, 1993; 2001 edition); yet another book coveting space on my shelves.

Linda Griffiths' Alien Creature (Playwrights Canada Press, 2000), a play that, like Claudia Dey's The Gwendolyn Poems and Desi Di Nardo's "Redbird in the Annex" reimagines the life of  'mythopoeic' poet Gwendolyn MacEwen. I suppose it might be considered a tedious thing that so many young women have made MacEwen their muse, but I have to say that all three renderings are beautiful and manage to bring not only MacEwen but the city itself to life. Alongside The Revenge of the Methodist Bicycle Company, this was probably the best find of the book sale.

Book sales have their detractors, among them authors who object to second-hand bookselling because they do not receive royalties for books sold in this manner. My response would require a post of its own, but for the moment it should suffice to say that (1) most second-hand books have already produced a royalty, (2) second-hand book sales are one way readers learn about writers (e.g., my new appreciation of Jim Johnstone, whose other books I'll be buying new) and (3) I have spent so much money buying new books from local, independent bookstores that I think I've already paid for the right to protect my budget just a little by shopping around from time to time. I should add that most of the books I pick up at book sales are long out of print, and quite a few have gotten some spark of new life via the Imagining Toronto project.

There are two more fall book sales I'm looking forward to:

The Trinity College Book Sale. I always grumble about the Trinity sale, because their prices are relatively high ($6 for a poetry collection compared to $2 or $3 at the other sales) and because boxes and boxes of Atwoods, Davies, Munroes, etc. take up valuable space in the Canadian literature section (why not put out one or two copies of each title and then replenish as needed?), but in truth I always come home with a great pile of books and don't think I've ever regretted a purchase.

I should add that York University has entered the book sale domain with the annual Vanier College Book Sale. This year's sale runs from 4 to 11 November 2011 in 152 Founders and 001 Vanier College. If you're on campus it's well worth a visit. Two or three years ago I picked up a true first edition of AL Purdy's Poems for All the Annettes for $1, and at the same sale my husband bought dozens of vintage science fiction novels, many of them rare, for (as I recall) fifty cents each. These finds were both quite remarkable, and have warmed me to the sale.

How I love the fall book sales!

Imagining Toronto wins at the 2011 Heritage Toronto Awards

I've been so busy lately I've not had a chance to update here until now, but am delighted to announce that Imagining Toronto has won the Award of Merit, the highest honour given to a book at the 2011 Heritage Toronto Awards.

The award was actually shared among three books: Imagining Toronto, Shawn Micallef's wonderful book Stroll: Psychogeographic Walking Tours of Toronto (Coach House, 2010) and Ross King's intriguing Defiant Spirits: The Modernist Revolution of the Group of Seven (Douglas & McIntyre, 2010). I already have (and refer often to) Shawn's book, and have put Defiant Spirits on my wish list and will pick up a copy soon.

I was also very pleased to see my emeritus York University Geography Department colleague John Warkentin win an honourable mention for his groundbreaking book Creating Memory: A Guide to Outdoor Public Sculpture in Toronto (Becker, 2010).

In a few days it will be a year since the Imagining Toronto book first came into print. In that time the book has significantly exceeded my expectations of it, especially since it was my first book. It's been shortlisted for one literary award (the Gabrielle Roy Prize for Canadian literary criticism), won another (the Heritage Toronto Award), has been reviewed wonderfully (most notably in Quill & Quire and the Literary Review of Canada) and continues to sell well in both major and local bookstores. It has also led to wonderful opportunities, chief among them the chance to speak about Toronto literature to local audiences as well as scholars in Spain and (next February) Germany. Not to mention the continuing pleasure of reading Toronto literature!

The Imagining Toronto project is far from complete. Since the beginning I've had in mind a second volume, exploring representations of Toronto in film [Geoff Pevere's superb book, Toronto On Film (TIFF, 2009) is a must-read for anyone interested in the surprisingly large number of films not only filmed but set in Toronto], television, music and art. While researching and writing the Imagining Toronto book I amassed a considerable volume of material on all of these other media, and have begun watching some of the many Toronto-set television series of the past and present, collecting music references and learning about some of the city's wonderful painters and sculptors. The second volume will probably differ from the first in the sense that it will be much lighter in tone and argument. This time I'd like to focus more on the people and their work. I've also enjoyed Geoff Pevere's superb book, Toronto On Film (TIFF, 2009), a must-read for anyone interested in the surprisingly large number of films not only filmed but set in Toronto. Stay tuned for updates!

I'm also working on a fiction project that has been on the back-burner since 2005 or so. Most of my work is scholarly (or, perhaps more properly, pseudo-academic) and appears as non-fiction, but several years ago I composed a vignette that (after lurking in the back of my mind ever since and undergoing considerable transformation) is now rapidly turning into a novel called Acts of Salvage. No one will be surprised to hear it is a Toronto novel, one that explores what the contemporary city compels us to cling to or discard. Its protagonists include dumpster-divers and urban scavengers, a cat lady and a carpenter who discovers a mummified baby in the attic of a house. The text is moving along rapidly, and by next spring it should be ready to share (in April I'll be reading at the Draft Reading Series and may consider trying out the text elsewhere). As for publishing news, I can report that there's been sight-unseen interest (which is actually both unexpected and delightful), but I want to see where the novel goes before deciding what — if anything — to do with it.

Someone who interviewed me about the Heritage Toronto Award asked what winning the award meant to me. At the time I didn't have much of an answer. Since avoiding her question, however, it has occurred to me that the most important thing an award does is not honour an accomplishment as much as offer encouragement for the next project and the one after that.

A popular quotation attributed variously to a World War 1 song, American poet Carl Sandburg and (perhaos erroniously) Carl Sagan reads "I don't know I'm going but I'm on my way." I first saw these words on a wall poster in a high school math classroom, and they've stuck with me much longer than Calculus ever did. Perhaps because I was born on a Thursday, I have needed to travel a particularly long distance to get here. I am happy to report that I'm still on my way.

The Imagined City at the Toronto Public Library

In the spring of 2011 I did a series of talks for the Toronto Public Library called 'The Imagined City.' Part of the TPL's 'Thought Exchange' series, the talks included City Limits: Changing Suburbs and the Literary Imagination (PortUnion Branch), From Hip to Chic: Imagining Yorkville, 1960 to the Present (Yorkville Branch),  The Imagined City: Navigating to the City at the Centre of the Map (Lillian H. Smith Library) and  The Imagined City: A Literary Voyage into Toronto's Ravines and Wild Places (High Park Library).

I am pleased to report that the series is back for a second season in the fall of 2011. I mentioned these earlier in the "Fall Events Update" post but haven't given them their own publicity, so here's a recap. The first two talks have already happened:  "From Streetcar Suburb to Multicultural Community: Riverdale in the Literary Imagination," (Riverdale Branch, Tuesday 27 September 2011)) and "The Masseys and the Masses: Peculiarity and Privilege in Rosedale and Forest Hill" (Forest Hill Branch, Saturday 1 October 2011).

My third talk, though, "Will the Real Cabbagetown Please Stand Up?: Regent Park and Cabbagetown in the Literary Imagination," will be held at the Parliament Branch (269 Gerrard Street East) on Tuesday 18 October 2011, from 7:00-8:30). I'd love to see you there!

There are some informal plans in the works for a third season to run sometime in 2012. I'll update when these plans are finalized. In the meantime, the talks are plenty of fun — they've been well-attended and people have asked interesting questions about Toronto, its literature and urban culture.

"Toronto Light and Dark" in the Literary Review of Canada

Thank you to my emeritus Geography Department colleague (and fellow Heritage Toronto Award finalist) John Warkentin for alerting me to a wonderful review of the Imagining Toronto book appearing in the October 2011 issue of the Literary Review of Canada.

LRC contributor Joe Berridge describes the book as "tremendously enjoyable" and adds (after invoking urbanist Jonathan Raban's well-known book, Soft City),

Harris brings that "soft city" to life in such a comprehensive way that after reading her book it seems as real as its physical shell.

Berridge goes on to say many other lovely things about Imagining Toronto, but the best thing about the review is not what it says about the book but what it does with it. Berridge's essay is motivated by the question, "How can a city this dysfunctional be so successful?" and he uses examples from the book to explore "why Toronto has never been able to undertake grands projets like the waterfront."

Berridge's essay, "Toronto Light and Dark," also tackles (my former colleague) Gene Desfor and Jennefer Laidley's edited anthology Reshaping Toronto's Waterfront (University of Toronto Press, spring 2011), an essential read for anyone interested in the political, economic and ecological landscape of the city's forgotten lakeshore. The review essay is not yet up on the LRC website, but you can pick up a copy at any local bookstore.

Word on the Street Roundup

Word on the Street is Toronto's premier literary event — an outdoor festival celebrating books, authors, publishing and all things literary. This year's WOTS, held last week on a gorgeous September Sunday,  reportedly attracted more than 200,000 visitors, a record number I can believe, having spent the entire day basking in sunshine and books as people with their kids, dogs and loot-filled bags thronged Queen's Park Circle.

For me the highlights of WOTS are the books themselves. In past years I've read and attended readings in the various performance tents (and had the pleasure this year of catching Sean Dixon, author of The Many Revenges of Kip Flynn (Coach House, spring 2011) — my favourite Toronto novel of the year — and Farzana Doctor, whose Six Metres of Pavement was published earlier this year by Dundurn) and always enjoy encountering literary acquaintances old and new, but for me the publishers, booksellers and literary organizations' tents are the real reason I go.

My book haul this year wasn't as excessive as it has been in some years past, when I would typically fill two or three bags and labour home with them [to say nothing of the year my visiting mother received a kiss from a literary celebrity and bought so many books we struggled to the station]. But for some reason this year I spent the same amount of money as always [that is, far too much] and had a lovely time doing so.

This year's haul included:

A package of fantastic 'adventure stories' greeting cards from the Friends of the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books at the Lillian H. Smith Library. [See image]. The Osborne Collection sells plenty of other wonderful swag, including pewter pins of those wonderful Griffins at the entrance to the Lillian H. Smith Library on College Street, as well as beautiful tote bags. I've also just noticed that anyone can become a Friend of the Osborne Collection for as little as $20 per year — which means you can bet I'll be mailing off a cheque this coming week.

A complete set of Montreal Metro fridge magnets from the folks at Spacing Media. These are a very nice addition to the Toronto Transit buttons and magnets that Spacing's been selling for years, and reflect the magazine's new national orientation [P.S. look for a second 'national' issue of Spacing Magazine early next year!]

A very belated but greatly beloved two-year subscription to Taddle Creek Magazine, which, for $15, was one of the best deals of the whole day.

At the Taddle Creek booth I also bought two books of interest to Torontophiles.

The first is contributing Taddle Creek cartoonist Dave Lapp's Drop-In (Conundrum Press, 2008), a collection of graphic stories about his work at art centres in Regent Park and the Eglinton West area. Given that these two districts and their inhabitants are woefully under-represented in the citry's literature, it will be interesting seeing these communities through Lapp's eyes. Here's the Toronto Star's review of Lapp's book; the book, I note, was a finalist for the Doug Wright Award as well as the Ignatz Award. Lapp has a newer book out, too, called Children of the Atom (Conundrum, 2010).

The second is Jason Kieffer's The Rabble of Downtown Toronto (Old Boot Comics, 2009), which offers a curious, decidely politically-incorrect portrait of marginalized street folk inhabiting Toronto's downtown core. The book stirred up quite a bit of controversy when it was initially released; Kieffer includes links to some of these responses on his website. Journalist Ryan Bigge's commentary on the book poses interesting questions about representation and appropriation, comparing Kieffer's book to Martha Baillie's Giller longlisted novel The Incident Report, which includes not altogether dissimilar portraits of marginalized Torontonians. It occurs to me, too, that Juan Buttler's Cabbagetown Diary: A Documentary (Peter Martin, 1970) may be read in a similar light.

At the Coach House booth I bought Toronto New School of Writing co-Director and BookThug editor Jenny Samprisi's just-released Croak. Looking forward to reading this, and suspect I'll order a second copy for my frog-loving, literary mother.

From Guernica Editions I bought Desi Di Nardo's deep ecology-influenced The Cure is a Forest (2011) and P.W. Powe's faintly autibiographical The Unsaid Passing (2005). I would have bought more books, but it appears I already own much of Guerinca's backlist, including titles by Gianna Patriarcha and Frank Paci, two of my favourite Italian Toronto writers (the other two, of course, being Corrado Paina and Pier Giorgio Di Cicco).

Speaking of Italians who write about Toronto, from Quattro Editions I bought Gianna Patriarcha's My Etruscan Face (2007) and Giovanna Riccio's Strong Bread (2011), both poetry collections continuing their authors' projects about what it means to be Italian in Toronto.

Insomniac Press usually flogs selections from its backlist for absurdly low prices at Word on the Street, and this year — for a dollar each — I bought Ryan Kamstra's Late Capitalist Sublime (2002), Natalee Caple's The Heart is its Own Reason (1998) and Desire, High Heels, Red Wine (1995), featuring queer authors Timothy Archer, Sky Gilbert, Sonja Mills and Margaret Webb. For some reason I failed to buy Trillium Prize winner Jeff Latosik's Tiny, Faster, Stronger (2010), an omission for which I have hopefully made amends by ordering it online directly from Insomniac.

At the Mansfield Press table I bought ex-Torontonian Stuart Ross' Cobourg Variations (2011), babysat one of publisher Denis De Klerk's affable twins, and signed copies of my own book — which flew off the table and sold out early in the afternoon. I also met a variety of authors, most of whose scribbled email addresses and business cards have, sadly, ended up torn to bits in the washing machine.

And then, after a perfect day, I biked home in the golden September sunshine and basked in books.

Practising Moderation at the Victoria College Book Sale

This year at the Victoria College Book Sale I spent $77, which was a record for me — a record minimum.

During the past decade I have rarely missed a sale, and while in research mode for the Imagining Toronto book spent well over $100 dollars each year, sometimes twice, given that it's hard to pass up a repeat visit. But oh! the books. So many wonderful finds! The Victoria College Book Sale is by far my favourite of the University of Toronto book sales running in September and October. The sections are typically well curated and organized, the books are generally of high quality and the prices are wonderful.

This year I resolved to practice moderation, and the books I ended up buying consisted of about half the books that had jostled for position in the box I carted around the sale. They included:

E.J. Hathaway's Jesse Ketchum and His Times (McClelland & Stewart, 1929), a biography of the reformist politician and philanthropist that also offers a very good historical perspective on Toronto from its founding to the middle of the nineteenth century. This book also came with interesting inserts, including a newspaper clipping titled "A Century of City History" showing portraits of William Lyon Mackenzie in 1834 and William James Stewart, described as "Mayor, 1934″).

J. Clarence Duff's Pen Sketches of Historic Toronto (two volumes; 1967 and 1972), a set I have passed over in the past either because the price was too high or my interest at the time too low. At the Vic sale I bought these for a total of $12, and am happy to add them to my Toronto collection at last. The books consist, as advertised, of pen sketches, mainly of nineteenth century Toronto, and accompanying each drawing is a short historical commentary. Taken together they are an interesting artifact of a city that has largely vanished, even since Duff's day.

Susan L. Helwig's Catch the Sweet (Seraphim Editions, 2001), a book I ended up buying autographed because Susan was volunteering at the sale!

Jackpine Sonnets (Steel Rail, 1977), by Milton Acorn, a book of less interst for the poems themselves than for Acorn's Tirade by Way of Introduction," a text that rambles across considerable literary territory, including jackpines, sonnets, Canadian literary politics and Gwendolyn MacEwen, to whom Acorn was briefly married.

Earle Birney's what's so big about green? (McClelland & Stewart, 1973), bought mainly because I cannot pass up a first edition of anything Birney.

Anne Walker's Six Months Rent (Black Moss Press, 1991). Walker's poems are like borrowed confessions, and I pick up her books, when I come across them second-hand, for the same reason.

Lion in the Streets (Coach House Press, 1992), a play by Judith Thompson, whose central character is the ghost of a murdered young Portuguese Toronto girl. I came across this play by chance, but wish there was an easier way to identity and obtain plays that engage with Toronto — so many are presented and so few published in any memorable way that it's a difficult challenge to keep track of them.

Other booty included printmaker George A. Walker's The Inverted Line (Porcupine's Quill, 2000; signed by Walker in inverted script), Susan Ioannou's Looking Through Stone: Poems about the Earth (Your Scrivener Press, 2007) and, for my mother, a two-time winner of the Bliss Carmen Award for Poetry, Odell Shepard's beautiful little biography of the man, published by McClelland & Stewart in 1923.

The picture to the right is of my lovely little daughter [with Peter, who comes for the science fiction], who has not missed a Victoria College Book Sale since she was born. She attended her first at less than two months old, sleeping in a carrier on my chest, and each year since has grown more demanding for books of her own. Since she already has a nearly complete library of Toronto-set books for children, I bought her Tetsuya Honda's Wild Horse Winter (Chronicle Books, 1991/1992), set on the Japanese island of Hokkaido.

I might have practised moderation at Vic, but University of Toronto book sale season has only just begun, and undoubtedly my resolve will be sorely tested yet. Coming up: the University College Book Sale (14-18 October 2011), the Trinity College Book Sale (20-24 October 2011) and the St. Michael's College Book Sale (25-29 October 2011).

Imagining Toronto Named a Finalist for the 2011 Heritage Toronto Award

I am delighted to share that the Imagining Toronto book has been named a finalist for the 2011 Heritage Toronto Award!

The list of finalists includes a number of fine folks and lovely books, among them Shawn Micallef for his wonderful book, Stroll, Ross King's Defiant Spirits: The Modernist Revolution of the Group of Seven, former Toronto Mayor David Miller and co-author Douglas Arrowsmith for Witness to a City, Margaret and Phil Goodfellow's excellent Guidebook to Contemporary Architecture in Toronto and my esteemed emeritus York Geography department colleague John Warkentin for Creating Memory: A Guide to Outdoor Public Sculpture in Toronto.

Click here to see the full list of finalists for the Awards, including the nominees in the Architectural Conservation and Craftsmanship, Book, Media and Community Heritage Communities.

I'm looking forward very greatly to attending the Heritage Awards dinner and William Kilbourn Memorial Lecture, which will be held together at the fabulous Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music on Tuesday 4 October 2011. The Hall is such a fantastic space and my fellow nominees such a lovely bunch that I'm sure we'll have a rousing evening. Maybe we'll even bring William Kilbourn back from the dead for a drink or two.

Please note that the Heritage Toronto Awards and William Kilbourn Lecture are open to the public. Ticket information is available here. Ticket sales help support Heritage Toronto's many activities — especially important at this time as Toronto City Council has, in its wisdom, proposed slashing heritage Toronto's budget, thus jeopardizing not only the Heritage Toronto Awards but also Heritage Toronto's many other activities focused on heritage preservation and awareness in Toronto.

P.S. Click here to become a Heritage Toronto member — it's one of the best membership deals in the city!

Fall Events Update

We're gearing up for a busy fall here at the Imagining Toronto project: hope you'll be able to join us for some of this season's events!

First, here are things reviewers are saying about the Imagining Toronto book: Quill & Quire calls it "a wise, thoughtful, and careful book," Torontoist describes it as "often lively, and always attentive" and adding, "Harris is at her writerly best when telling us how Toronto is and was, spinning out stories about the city's geography and history." BlogTO confirms this assessment, calling the book "a worthy survey" and observing that "some of the best moments in her book are descriptions of the city, be they of its geography, streetscape, built environment or residents." Danforth Review editor Michael Bryson points out that the book "provides more than ample proof to contradict the skeptics who think that Toronto hasn't been deeply engaged as a subject in literature" and points to its inclusion of three centuries worth of Toronto narratives as a particular strength. Cadence Canada writes effusively of the book: "It is jam-packed with neat, stylish quotes about Toronto from some of its greatest writers [...] Imagining Toronto is not a history of the city, but it goes about reuniting the buried and the groundbreaking."

Finally, Pickle Me This reviewer Kerry Clare calls Imagining Toronto "one of the best books I've read this year, blowing my mind with its gorgeous prose, fascinating facts, stunning narrative, and sheer readability– I was absolutely lost inside it" and adding,

Imagining Toronto is no catalogue, or dry academic treatise, but instead it is a story, and the story is a city (and the city is a story, but we could go on like this forever). Harris has not merely written a book about Toronto, but she has written the city itself, from the depths of its ravines to the tip of the CN Tower, 1815 feet up in the sky. Her raw materials are the city's fictions, and the city is rendered by these poems and stories in glorious concreteness.

More reviews are forthcoming in the scholarly press, including a glowing review to appear in The Canadian Geographer. I'll update once those are in print.

In awards news, Imagining Toronto was shortlisted for the 2010 Gabrielle Roy Prize in Canadian literary criticism. The awards jury called the book "an evocative and compelling study of the imaginative rendering of Toronto in Canadian literature" and concluded, "[e]mphasizing the multiple ways in which Toronto has been represented, Imagining Toronto reveals a city whose meaning is under continual negotiation, and where the distribution of power has the potential to be disrupted and reconstituted daily."

This fall you'll be able to imagine Toronto at the following events:

You can pick up signed copies of Imagining Toronto at the Mansfield Press booth at Word on the Street Toronto this coming Sunday, September 25. In case you miss us at WOTS, you can always pick up a copy at any local bookstore or order it online through Mansfield Press, Amazon or Chapters.

The Imagined City series returns for a second season thanks to the Toronto Public Library! Spring talk titles included  "City Limits: Changing Suburbs and the Literary Imagination, From Hip to Chic: Imagining Yorkville, 1960 to the Present,  The Imagined City: Navigating to the City at the Centre of the Map and  The Imagined City: A Literary Voyage into Toronto's Ravines and Wild Places. I'm delighted to announce the new talks, which are free and open to the public at the following branches:

 Tuesday 27 September 2011, 7:00-8:30 pm: From Streetcar Suburb to Multicultural Community: Riverdale in the Literary Imagination. Riverdale Branch, Toronto Public Library (370 Broadview Ave.)

Saturday 1 October 2011, 2:00-3:30 pm: The Masseys and the Masses: Social and Spatial Ascendency in Rosedale and Forest Hill. Forest Hill Branch (700 Eglinton Ave. W.)

Tuesday 18 October 2011, 7:00-8:30 pm: Will the Real Cabbagetown Please Stand Up?: Regent Park, St. Jamestown and Cabbagetown in the Literary Imagination. Parliament Branch (269 Gerrard St. E.)

My essay, "Imagining Fort York" (the latest installment of the Imagining Toronto column) will appear in the Fall 2011 issue of Spacing Magazine, available on newsstands and in subscribers' mailboxes in a few weeks.

In October-November I'll be guest geographer at a Toronto high school (details to be announced). If you would like me to visit your high school or university class (or event, organization or conference) to talk about cities, urban literature and cultural identity, please contact me at alharris [at] yorku [dot] ca to make arrangements.

Looking ahead to the winter, the Imagining Toronto course will again be offered through the Department of Geography at York University. Please note that the syllabus is from last year: a new version will be uploaded before the new term starts. If you would like to enrol in the course, you may do so through the University.

I've been invited to speak about Toronto literature at "Landscapes of Difference, Espaces de Difference, Raume der Differenz," an international conference hosted by the Canadian Studies Association in German-speaking countries (GKS) to be held in Grainau, Germany in February 2012. Details forthcoming.

As always, you can follow me (@ImaginingTO) on Twitter or join the Imagining Toronto project's Facebook page. I've also begun using Google+ (primarily to share spatial theory and literary links) and would love to encounter you there.