Book Ends Here, Starts Life Elsewhere

Do you like buying books on the cheap? I do. But I don't really like secondhand book stores. They all smell of decay; the arrangement of their shelves runs from the haphazard to the chaotic; staff never seem attentive, but who can blame them? Of course, I make an exception for the quite wonderful Shakespeare & Co. in Paris. I've spent hours there browsing, eavesdropping and attending readings, and once had the singular experience of the late owner, George Whitman, insulting me because I suppose he felt like it.

But back to Hogtown. Lately I've been a regular visitor to Book Ends, a sort of used book store the Toronto Public Library runs tucked away in a smallish room at the Reference Library. The books themselves are those that have been withdrawn from the library system, and donations from the public. My friend Josh tipped me off about the place, and I'm pleased he did. In the last few weeks I've bought the quite remarkable Soul Murder by the eminent psychoanalyst Leonard Shengold, a pair of John Le Carré novels, and The Hemingway Women, a biography of the writer's mother, his four wives, a mistress, and two other young women he befriended. Each of the books was in good condition - no coffee stains on the cover, no scribble in the margins, no sappy Happy Birthday messages. And best of all they cost just a dollar each. Paperbacks are even cheaper.

Naturally, buyers will have to root around a bit, but the shelves are fairly orderly and dreck such as What to Do When Your Daughter Gets a Tattoo - suggest she join the navy? is easy to ignore. The place doesn't smell either, the volunteer staff are obliging, and opening hours are something sensible like noon to 5:00pm five or six days a week. And on Friday, September 19 and Saturday, September 20 there's a huge clearance sale in the Elizabeth Beeton Auditorium at TRL. Twenty bucks should get you a pile of treasures.       

Vikings Invade Bluma Appel Salon at TRL

Vikings conquered much of the known world, from Ireland and England to what became Normandy in France. They even reached the northern tip of Newfoundland and established temporary quarters there at what is now L'Anse-aux-Meadows. These days latter day Vikings' sorties abroad are much more peaceful: they don't actually commit mayhem and murder, they write about them instead.

And a good many Hogtown fans of crime fiction are glad they do. How else to explain a full house for the "Kill Like a Scandinavian" panel at the Toronto Reference Library last Sunday as part of Luminato. On the panel were Norway's Thomas Enger, Jakob Melander from Denmark, Dan T. Sehlberg from Sweden and Herman Koch from The Netherlands. Herman, of course, is not a Scandinavian but Dutch. These are clearly men who have thought about the craft of writing; who bring to their work a literary sensibility rather than the much more common potboiler or puzzle approach found in the crime fiction of the giants of the genre - Britain and the U.S.; and who are not afraid to take chances and write characters who offend - Herman's new novel Summer House with Swimming Pool features a doctor who may make you gag.

Given that they had so much to say, all in good English, it was a shame that they didn't have as much time as they should have had to say it. I'd say that was down to Noah Richler. He's the literary curator for Luminato and hosted the panel. His early questions went on and on, but we weren't there to listen to him. I know that a question without context is a waste of time - but that doesn't excuse his too lengthy windups. Richler's later questions were noticeably shorter, so perhaps it was nerves and he'll do better next time. Perhaps next time he'll also give us his full name. He introduced himself with a cheery "I"m Noah." I couldn't decide if he was being chummy or pretentious. If I had to guess I'd say there were at least a few people present who didn't know who he was - one of them was sitting one seat from me.

Towards the end of the panel the audience were invited to ask questions. Well, Holy Odin. What they offered up made Richler look like a model of brevity. I'm pretty adept at following circumlocutions - I've interviewed lots of politicians, after all - but I was baffled and then annoyed and hissed sotto voce at one woman "question, question". Look, crime fans, if speaking in front of a large audience intimidates you to the point you can't remember your question, write it down and read it into the mic. TRL videotapes these panels and posts them on its website. You will find it at http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/programs-and-classes/appel-salon/past-events.jsp when the library puts it online.

Luminato Crime Free at TRL

If I were in a leaky lifeboat with Nuit Blanche and Luminato and I had to throw one of them overboard to save myself it would be Luminato. Why? Nuit Blanche is free at the venue, free in the street, Luminato is not, or at least most of its events are not. So imagine my surprise when I found out - thanks to Bill Clark at Toronto Writers Co-op - that Luminato is hosting an afternoon of Scandinavian crime fiction Sunday June 8 in the Bluma Appel Salon at the Toronto Reference Library. 

On the panel will be Norway's Thomas Enger, Jakob Melander from Denmark, Dan T. Sehlberg from Sweden and Herman Koch from The Netherlands. Herman's not a Scandinavian, of course, so I'll be interested to see how his views differ from those of his Nordic colleagues. And if his books have been translated into English I'd like to get ahold of them too. My knowledge of Dutch crime fiction is abysmal - OK, non-existent. In fact, I can only name one Dutch sleuth and that's Amsterdam cop Piet Van der Valk, a series written by Britain's Nicholas Freeling.

The MC next Sunday is Noah Richler. Tickets are free but have to be reserved - online is quickest and best. 

Sherlock meet Sigmund

The desperate few who read this blog will know that I'm a fan of crime fiction. When I was younger and didn't know any better I thought Agatha Christie was a cut above the rest. I was wrong: Arthur Conan Doyle is the undisputed king of the British version of the genre - and by the way high level genre writing is OK with me - but I didn't get to him until I was about 30.

So, I'm looking forward to the Adventures With Sherlock Holmes exhibit at the Toronto Reference Library that runs until March 10. Equally appealing is the talk by Doug Wrigglesworth, Chair Emeritus of the Friends of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection at TRL, on the life and times and far-reaching influence of the Scots-born doctor who ended up a wholesale believer in fairies at the bottom of his garden. The talk's on Feb. 12 at 1:00pm.

And yesterday, while browsing one of Hogtown's discount bookstores, I found a cheap paperback of David Lodge's The Art of Fiction, so far worth every bit of my tiny investment. In it Lodge, a very funny and accomplished writer, says this: "A solved mystery is ultimately reassuring to readers...whether in the tales of Sherlock Holmes or in the case histories of Sigmund Freud which bear a striking and suspicious resemblance to them." Let's hope Doug Wriggleworth explores any connection there may be between Bergstrasse and Baker Street. It is well known the Viennese genius liked Conan Doyle's crime writing. I wonder what he made of The Hound of the Baskervilles?