Here is a partial list of books that I have read this year:

Alex Caine. The Fat Mexican: The Bloody Rise of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club (2009)
J.M. Coetzee. Summertime (2009)
Hari Kunzru. My Revolution (2007)
Owen Davies. Grimires: A History of Magic Books (2009)
John Gribbon. In Search of the Multiverse (2009)
George Barker, Martin Bell, Charles Causley. Penguin Modern Poets 3 (1962)

A full list of books can be found here on the North Door Books website.

The Giller Prize was awarded last night. The Giller provides a list of the top Canadian fiction writers for the year. The winner may not always be the most interesting, but the list of writers posted may have some that I might enjoy reading.

This year's 2010 Scotiabank Giller Prize winner is Johanna Skibsrud's The Sentimentalist.

It gets a great deal of publicity. There are 246 news articles listed on Google News. At my local library, but there are already 8 holds on the book before it even arrives.

Johanna Skibsrud, aged 30, of Montreal, is the youngest-ever Giller recipient and picked up the $50,000 book prize. Skibsrud grew up in Pictou County, N.S.

There appears to be a shortage of the winner's book. Gaspereau Press can only print about 1,000 books a week. Gaspereau's headquarters are in Kentville, N.S. The publisher noted that readers can download the book onto an ereader if they are desperate to get it right away. It is not available at my local Coles Book Store.

online price: $18.44
eBook: $9.89

Other finalists on short list:
This Cake is for the Party by Toronto's Sarah Selecky
Light Lifting by Alexander MacLeod of Dartmouth, N.S.
(Son of author Alistair MacLeod.)
The Matter With Morris by Winnipeg's David Bergen
(I've read one of his previous novels.)
Annabel by Montreal-based Kathleen Winter.

The long list of Giller finalists:
David Bergen The Matter With Morris
Douglas Coupland Player One
Michael Helm Cities of Refuge
Alexandar MacLeod Light Lifting
Avner Mandelman The Debba
Tom Rachman The Imperfectionists
Sarah Selecky This Cake is for the Party
Johanna Skibsrud The Sentimentalists
Cordelia Strube Lemon
Joan Thomas Curiosity
Jane Urquhart Sanctuary Line
Dianne Warren Cool Water
Kathleen Winter Annabel

Ethelwyn Wetherald - NIAGARA WRITERS

Ethelwyn Wetherald - Canadian Poet and Journalist

BrockArchives on YouTube




poems

Goodreads

Shakespeare, Virgil and Homer

It's always interesting to see what pop culture and commercial interests do with literary works and writers. I don't know what comment to make on the pig in Shakespeare, Ontario, other than to say there is also a Shakespeare Auto Repair Shop. But this Shakespeare is the name of a town, near Stratford, Ontario, where Shakespeare is indeed performed on the stage. Also, in the Niagara area, there are towns called Virgil and Homer. Virgil, appropriately, is in wine country. Long in decline, Homer now has the Garden City Skyway above it, carrying the Queen Elizabeth Way over the Welland Canal. On the ground in Homer is a cemetery, chocolate store, auto parts factory, and a gentlemen's club. There are also other cities and towns: Milton, Ontario (after the great poet?); Vaughan, Ontario (after the poet Henry Vaughan?); and Atwood, Ontario, named after the poet/fiction writer Margaret....

Comic book writer Liu Hsin-Chin

I have now been in Taiwan for the last three weeks, accompanying my wife Li-Huei, who is visiting her father. (He is having eye surgery.) We visited Hsinchu, famous for its high tech industries. A theme park along an old Japanese narrow-gage rail line includes a museum/restaurant dedicated to comic book writer 劉興欽, Liu Hsin-Chin. In the photo my wife is with one of his cartoon characters. The rail line gave access to the trees in the mountains for lumber during the Japanese colonial period, 1895-1945.
Late May and early June in Taiwan--hot, hot, hot. Love it.

Recommended Website: Goodreads

Recently, I joined Goodreads.Com where you can set up your own page, much like Facebook or MySpace. There I list the books I have read and I am currently reading. Looking for friends is easy: you check what they are reading and what books you have in common. Also on the website are many authors, for example Neil Gaiman. I have already gain librarian status and author status.

My book, Jon Hart: Six Tales of the Supernatural, is now listed on Amazon.Com.