Joseph Conrad mispronounced numerous words when he read his work, because his first language was Polish. Does that make him a bad writer? This schoolmarm approach to literature is ridiculous. Besides, it shows the dangers of judging writers and writing through readings. Writers should be read, not read to people: that's better suited to kindergarten teachers. However, because of a culture that doesn’t value anything that doesn’t make an impact on the media, readings have become a necessary evil for many writers, who would sooner stay home and write or maybe even read.

If writers are to be censured for bad pronunciation, they should also be called down for poor spelling. A couple of well-known culprits on this front are Margaret Atwood and Scott Fitzgerald. Maybe they should be disqualified. Personally, I could live without Peg, but great Scott, that would be a serious blow to literature.

How long has reading quietly, as in not aloud, been a concept? I seem to remember that back in the 14th century (and before), folks mumbled as they read and all readings were, in that sense, public. The concept or the possibility of readings being purely interior has only been around for a few hundred years.

CTV gets Giller

It's not really a scoop... I mean, when the Giller people called CBC to ask if they wanted to bid, nobody was there to answer the phones.


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Guessing the Giller
Bet on the jury, not the book.

Hard-core readers of Giller tea leaves pay serious attention to the composition and literary tastes of the jury. Or as Swan puts it, "Once you pick the jury, you pick the winner." In the past, the jurors have tended to confer the prize on writers with long track records, the so-called lifetime-achievement factor.

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Bergen takes it.

Thanks, Paul! I was getting kind of weary watching the rerun of the evening on CTV. I have a feeling it feels less epically boring when you're there (not completely sober in your pajamas and sleeping bag at 2a.m.).

Bergen wins Giller

Well, people, what do y'think? Did the best book win?


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The Bergen book is sentimental - a boomer sort of a novel. It is not a terrible book. It is mediocre. I was reading it while on a bus, driving on a long, long, uneventful highway. At one point The Time in Between just glided out of my hands and I opted to look out the window instead for the rest of my journey. I didn't leave the book on the bus but I just never bothered to go back to it. (A side note: All characters seem to be talking in the same voice.)
But judge for yourselves. This is just one person's experience.

Bergen's book was actually the least appealing to me of the five titles on the shortlist. From his reading alone, the prose sounded quite corny.

I was watching the proceedings on TV, and I felt extremely bad for Lisa Moore when they cut away to the Giller Light party and announced that the 700+ crowd there had chosen her book as the one to win. That was a just plain lousy thing to do to someone.

Does anyone know is Moore is the first person to be nominated twice and never win?

As soon as the camera cut to Ben Mulrooney at the Giller Light Party, I turned to the Weather Station. I only learned who won the following day.

With the upside being that Ben Muldoofy couldn't get a ticket to the actual event.

At first I was angry that the show wasn't on any of the regular cable channels. Today, when I decided to watch the 2 pm rerun on CTV I gave up in disgust after Mr Muldoofus and that other chick arrived. Could Seamus'jokes have been worse?
I long for the days when Sheliagh Rogers pulled a pair of panties from her boozoom! The CBC/Bravo versions were rough but not this embarrasing.

I call it Giller guilt – that thing you feel when the awards come and go and you don't actually read any? I've chosen to soothe that guilt, and I'm reading Bergen right now.

check out the process at tblog.ca

Hi! Nice site!