ALONE ON A WINDY RIDGE: It was standing room only

Sunday, September 14, 2008

It was standing room only

...at the Off-Broadway Dinner Theatre last night for the launch of the 10th New Leaf Editions. I'm happy we got there early to grab a table. It was a great event. After the readings we pigged out on the incredible torte cake made by Adrienne Gruber's mom and chatted with friends as we waited for the long lineups at the book table to shorten. I bought a copy of each. They're beautifully designed books, inside and out. Lovely to look at, lovely to hold. It's a pleasure just to run a hand over the covers and feel the textures. The cover image on each feels just like a photograph and has a warmth to it while the matte finish of the dark background actually feels cooler. And you can feel the text on the cover. Impressive.

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We stopped at McNally Robinson earlier in the day. I wanted to do a bit of research and was determined not to buy any books. But I broke down when I saw that The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews was 30% off. What a deal! Then I saw Going Home, Tim Lilburn's new collection of essays. I just had to have it. Thank goodness I ran into a writer and gabbed for a while. Who knows how many books I would've bought otherwise.

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We got home a couple hours ago. It was a great road trip. They're twinning the highway between Saskatoon and Prince Albert and it's coming right along. I find road construction endlessly fascinating. It's a culvert lover's dream. I posted some culvert pics from today.

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I saw a fisher further north in the ditch along the Hanson Lake Road and it was a big one. What a treat! It didn't stick around to have its pic taken. The closest I can offer is a pic of the forest floor in the vicinity.

That's about as close as I want to get to a fisher anyway. They don't look particularly friendly.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...: I was at McNally Robinson as well that day and tempted by the 30% off. I managed to resist temptation--it's a good thing I didn't see Lilburn's new essays...

It was nice meeting you at the launch.

Ian; 15/9/08 11:13 AM
Brenda Schmidt said...: Ya, Lilburn's book looks like another dandy.

It was nice meeting you, too. Congratulations again on a great launch. Your book is a beauty!; 15/9/08 11:45 AM
Brenda Schmidt said...: I was just over at your site. Love the post about the launch.; 15/9/08 11:58 AM
Shawna Lemay said...: Oh no - and I'd just vowed to stop buying so many books....! Thanks for mentioning the Lilburn - didn't know it was out.; 15/9/08 9:19 PM
Brenda Schmidt said...: Ha! That's the hardest vow to keep!

I started reading it this morning. In the intro Lilburn says "a rejuvenated comprehension of longing, I believe, is the one way home for us." I'm pretty excited about this book as it tackles something I really care about and I suspect it will help me think my way around my current project.; 16/9/08 10:02 AM

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"This is a skilled poet having good fun, and inviting us all to join the party." - Shelley A. Leedahl, SaskBooks Reviews. Read more.

"Employing a variety of forms and the culvert stories — who knew? — of numerous people, she digs beneath the obvious roads to find out what keeps the water — the subconscious, the unconscious — flowing smoothly, discovering a variety of things about herself, notably the everyday masks we wear and the aging process we won’t always admit to." - Bill Robertson, The Star Phoenix. Read more.

"For Schmidt is indeed a poet. Readers can expect to encounter many visual and acoustic delights along the way, from internal rhymes to arresting images." - Trevor Cook, The Antigonish Review #196.

"In Grid..., Creighton's Brenda Schmidt turns a colder eye to the landscape than most other Canadian poets." - Jonathan Ball, Winnipeg Free Press. Read more.

"You can just feel the stones rattling off your undercarriage on this Grid." - Bill Robertson, The Star Phoenix. Read more.

"Like the Prairies, this is not a collection that gives itself away: the true beauty of this book lies in subtleties that may not be obvious at first glance." - Emily McGiffin, The Malahat Review. Read more.

"In Grid, moments are approached in their apparent stability only to be swept away in song rife with interruption and fresh stimuli, lending a new perspective. It is as though the familiar ground is an eye glancing back and the reflection only a nodal-point, open to opportunity and play." - Justin Dittrick, SPG Book Reviews. Read more.

"There is grit in these poems, so much that it seems unfair to think of them as nature poems; like the best nature writing, they undo our expectations of nature rather than uphold them." - Tanis MacDonald, Arc Poetry Magazine. Read more.

"In her fourth collection Grid, Schmidt’s wry humour transcends what we have watched heap up in Canada for more than a century—nature poems—balancing in canola fields between the beautiful lure of nature and our curious urge to separate ourselves from disappearing allotments of our own solace. We have wandered “off the grid” but fortunately Schmidt is an entertaining and insightful guide who can still find Li Po in a Dark-eyed Junco, if she has to." - Garry Thomas Morse, Jacket 2. Read more.

"These supple, witty, and incisive poems delineate our relationship to grids and systems both visible and invisible, natural and political." - Judges' citation, Saskatchewan Book Award for Poetry nomination. Jurors: Shawna Lemay, Barbara Nickel, Sharon Thesen.