Adaptation: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Based on the novel These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach, and with Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, and Bill Nighy heading the cast it looks like a winner!

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday

Every Tuesday Diane at Bibliophile by the sea posts the opening paragraph (maybe two) of a book she decided to read based on the opening paragraph (s). This is the First Chapter First Paragraph meme.


My entry this week comes from Amor Towles' Rules of Civility

On the night of October 4th, 1966, Val and I, both in late middle age, attended the opening of Many Are Called at the Museum of Modern Art--the first exhibit of the portraits taken by Walker Evans in the late 1930s on the New York City subways with a hidden camera.

It was what the social columnists liked to refer to as "a superlative affair.

Table of Contents: Coppermine

Author: Keith Ross Leckie
Publisher/Year: Viking Canada, 2010
Synopsis: The story begins when two missionaries disappear in the remote Arctic region known as the Coppermine. North West Mounted Police officer Jack Creed and Angituk, a young Copper Inuit interpreter, are sent on a year-long odyssey to investigate the fate of the lost priests. On the shores of the Arctic Ocean near the mouth of the Coppermine River, they discover their dismembered remains. Two Inuit hunters are tracked and apprehended, and the four begin an arduous journey to Edmonton, to bring the accused to justice.

Instructing the jury to "think like an Eskimo," the defence counsel sets out to prove the Inuit acted in self-defence. They hear how the hunters believed the priests were possessed by demons about to kill them, and how, acting on this belief, they killed the men and ate their livers. The jury finds them not guilty. The hunters become celebrities, a parade is held for them, they visit a movie theatre and an amusement park, and become guests of honour at socialite dinners. They are given new suits, fine cigars, and champagne. But Rome is outraged that the murderers of its martyred priests will go free. As secrets of Jack Creed's past in the trenches of Europe are revealed, Jack tries to save his two friends, and himself.

What Others Have To Say
The Globe and Mail
"It is a gift of a premise: initiating mystery, physical action, epic journeys, complicated justice, clash of cultures. For the most part, Leckie exploits these ingredients in tasty ways, his scriptwriting craft showing in sure pacing and brisk scenes ending with snap! crackle! pop! buttons. His Mountie, Creed, is a solid if stock protagonist, a canoe-loving man of duty who prefers the relative certainties of solitude and the law over the puzzles of the heart." 

Guelph Mercury
"...depth of character is not his strong suit. He writes for plot and that’s what makes a good adventure story. And it confirms my theory that we need the clash of cultures to challenge our assumptions about who we are and who those “others” (native, Eskimo, Inuit, aboriginal) are. Nonetheless, this is a most satisfying read."

Good Reads Rating: 3.95

Line by Line: Chad Harbach, The Art of Fielding

“She hated the namelessness of women in stories, as if they lived and died so that men could have metaphysical insights.”

“The problem, like most problems in life, probably had to do with his footwork.”

“It was strange the way he loved her: a sidelong and almost casual love, as if loving her were simply a matter of course, too natural to mention. Like their first meeting on the steps of the gym, when he’d hardly so much as glanced at her. With David and every guy before David, what passed for love had always been eye to eye, nose to nose; she felt watched, observed, like the prize inhabitant of a zoo, and she wound up pacing, preening, watching back, to fit the part. Whereas Mike was always beside her.”

“The doctor said a ball hit me. But I don’t remember batting.” “You were in the dugout. Henry made a bad throw.” “Henry did? Really? Are you sure?” “Yes.” “Well, it’s always the ones you least suspect.” Owen let his eyes fall shut. “I don’t remember anything at all. Was I reading?” Affenlight nodded. “I warned you. It’s a dangerous pastime.”

“There are no whys in a person's life, and very few hows. In the end, in search of useful wisdom, you could only come back to the most hackneyed concepts, like kindness, forbearance, infinite patience. Solomon and Lincoln: This too shall pass. Damn right it will. Or Chekhov: Nothing passes. Equally true.”

Book Mark: Doug Wright Award for Canadian Cartooning 2012

Courtesy CBC.ca:

Cartoonist Kate Beaton, known for her smart, witty comics that shine an irreverent, contemporary light on historical and literary figures, has won a Doug Wright Award for Canadian cartooning.

Beaton won the best book honour in Toronto Saturday night for her book Hark! A Vagrant, based on her highly popular web comic filled with lively caricatures poking fun at everything from Canadian stereotypes to history's hipsters to Jane Austen mash-ups.
"The world of comics can be a sequestered and dusty place," award juror and visual artist Shary Boyle said in statement.

"Beaton rises up and throws open the doors to a whole new audience — welcoming one and all with her generous vision and sense of sophisticated, inclusive playfulness."
Born in Nova Scotia and now based in New York, Beaton's work has also appeared in Harpers Magazine, the National Post and The New Yorker. She was previously recognized at the 2009 Wright Awards with its emerging artist honour.

Up-and-comer Ethan Rilly (aka Hartley Linn) accepted the 2012 Spotlight Award for Pope Hats #2, a continuation of the Toronto cartoonist's sensitive tale of a bright young woman navigating a career in a busy corporate legal firm while tending to her capricious actress roommate.

Rilly "is a cartoonist who takes his time to get it right," jurist John Martz said. "It can be no easy task to write a story about an introspective Toronto law clerk, and have it be so compelling, so rewarding to study, and be filled with such warmth."
Boyle and Martz were joined on the Wright Awards jury by artist and professor George Walker.

Organizers presented the Pigskin Peters Award, the category honouring avant-garde or experimental work, to Toronto's Michael Comeau for his comic Hellberta, which the nominating committee described as "a pastiche of superhero comic, a political satire, a post-apocalyptic fable — all melded together to form a single nightmarish vision."
Taking place during the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, the Wright Awards ceremony also included the induction of Montreal-based veteran political cartoonist Terry Mosher, widely known by the pen name Aislin, to the Giants of the North - Canadian Cartoonists Hall of Fame.

Mosher, on hand for the ceremony, looked back at his more than 40-year career as an editorial cartoonist — the majority spent at the Montreal Gazette — in a colourful, and at times bawdy, on-stage conversation with newspaper columnist Rick Salutin.

Held annually and named after the cartoonist behind the internationally syndicated comic strip Nipper (later renamed Doug Wright's Family), the awards celebrate excellence in the Canadian art and alternative comic scene. Past winners include Mariko and Jillian Tamaki, Pascal Girard, Bryan Lee O'Malley and Jeff Lemire.

Saturday Snapshot: Quick Vacation

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

I took a head-clearing trip to Victoria, BC last week. I find it so relaxing to visit this city, and it was just what was needed. A moment of forgetfulness resulted in leaving my BB charger at home which meant a relatively technology-free vacation as well. How nice it was to be unencumbered of that item! I did manage to snap one shot, taken from the room at the resort. The room looked out over a school academy grounds to the left and a church on the corner. (And beyond that, the hazy gray at the horizon, represents the coast of another country.)

Book Mark: Minimalist Posters for Children's Books

Designer Christian Jackson has come up with some very cool 'hyper-minimalist' designs for a poster series based on children's stories. He has a bunch, but as a sample the following are two of my faves. Be sure to check out the rest!

Saturday Snapshot: Home Repairs

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

It has been am interesting couple of weeks around here, with numerous calamities according on a near daily basis. Tuesdays calamity came in the form of a broken toilet lever. Hearing the 'snap' was not a pleasant sound for the evening.

I have never done much in terms of home repairs, etc. but decided this was going to be a good learning project. How hard could it be after all? I did a little sleuthing and determined that the handle likely broke because the seal for the flush valve needed replacing. I contacted a friend who has loads of experience in renovations and off to the Home Depot we went. There I learned that my toilet is an oddity because there is no chain on the toilet flapper. The salesperson didn't believe me, so we looked it up on the iPhone. I never would have thought I would know something more than an 'expert' but bonus for me!

Anyway, got the necessary parts, went home, followed the instructions, and happy to say that within 15 mins all is well again. This may not seem like a big deal--and it really isn't--but this is the first plumbing-related fix I've ever completed on my own. It feels really good to have done repair; gives me confidence for the next calamity coming my way!