I truly expected more from the estimable Francine Prose, whose New Yorker pieces exemplify intellectual rigour and a lively feminism. (Witness her commentary on the bizarre cancellation of Elizabeth Gilbert’s upcoming novel due to the fear of upsetting certain people.)
Louise Penny is a wildly popular Canadian mystery author whose books sell very well at Shelf Life, so I figured I ought to check out her Inspector Ganache. Found a talking book of Glass Houses at the library and listened to it in the car on a road trip.
Friends, it has been a while since I yelled at the radio, but I was yelling at mine when a crucial plot device, the cobrador, which had already been explained by cop A to cop B, was then explained AGAIN by Cop B to Cop C back at the station. Give me a break, Louise, I yelled. I really was paying attention the first time. It’s insulting, dammit.
On July 25th, the Globe and Mail published an opinion piece by Kenneth Whyte called Overdue. Here’s my response.
I can’t believe that people aren’t outraged and insulted by Midnight in Paris. I cannot fathom how it got an Oscar for screenplay.
The frictionless and cheap online shopping offered by Amazon causes us to make choices that undermine, damage, even destroy the things we truly value – our communities, our social lives, our choices, the very quality of our lives.
I am engaged in a dispute with a woman who signs off the emails detailing her outrageous demands and ridiculous accusations with the phrase “kind regards.” Her minion, who is unfailingly insulting, obstreperous, and rude, has also begun to sign off her emails the...
On the street next to mine, last fall, I noticed that one of the local parents had gone up and down the block with chalk, and had carefully labeled various items by printing in neat letters on the sidewalk.
The world is becoming less literate all the time. Have you ever read the ads on Kijiji? People don’t know how to spell the word “table”. And forget about the difference between “your” and “you’re”. And the apostrophe?