Christmas is coming and I’m a busy girl! December means lots of extra shifts for me (since everyone else is going on vacation), many trips to local independent boutiques for Christmas shopping, 7 Christmas parties, and a very long book wishlist.
What I Read
The Tiny Wife by Andrew Kaufman is an absurdist’s dream come true. A man wearing a strange fur felt hat holds up a bank and forces all 13 hostages to give him their most sentimentally valuable possession…and a piece of their soul. Strange consequences ensue for the victims. If you’re looking for a quick Canadian parable about emotions and humanity, The Tiny Wife is the wacky yet touching book for you. Includes oddities such as a woman made of candy and a living lion tattoo. Its 108 tiny pages are hilarious and heart-wrenching.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I was given the great honour of selecting the next book for my Ladies Book Club this month, and I did something completely out of character. I chose a mainstream romance novel. And I’m so glad I did! I’m only a quarter of the way through Outlander’s 900something pages, and I’m completely hooked. It’s got time travel, a strong female lead, the Scottish Highlands, history, and yes some steamy relationships. It’s escapism at it’s finest.
What I am Going to Read: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. I read this excerpt from the 2014 Canadian literary dystopia and I might need to clear my reading schedule for a couple days and just hone in on this one. Here’s hoping for some Chapter’s gift certificates this year because the hold list is much too long!
What I Listened To
Much like my literature tastes, so much of my favourite music really is Canadian music. Mother Mother, Sam Roberts, July Talk, Tokyo Police Club, Metric, Lights…What can I say, I’m proud of our country. This month I indulged in two new albums from Canadian music gems: Stars’ No One Is Lost and Hey Rosetta!’s Second Sight. No One Is Lost is unexpectedly poppy and synthy, compared to Stars’ previous albums, but their beautiful voices and thoughtful lyrics carry through. The title song No One Is Lost and From The Night are expecially fun and dancpirational, while What Is To Be Done? captures that same slow melodic tone as Stars classic “Your Ex Lover is Dead.”
And Second Sight is a fun, inspirational, emotional roller coaster. With violins and horns.
What I Made
This has been a month of Makerspaces for me. As I type this post I am sitting at the Main branch of the Kitchener Public Library waiting for a leopard figurine to finish printing. 3D Printing is a sweet deal – you can print almost anything you want for free – yet for the 1.5 hours that I’ve been here, no one else has requested that machine. Perhaps it’s a lack of knowledge/technology, perhaps it’s the amount of time it takes. I printed a 1.5inch tall squirrel, an inside joke present for my dad, which came out perfectly and took 40 minutes. The even smaller leopard I’m waiting on will take 25 minutes, but I have a hunch that I’ve made it too small, and it might come out looking more like a literal pile of melted plastic than a leopard. Perhaps the coolest part about the 3D printer is the curiosity it inspires. Several people stopped to chat about what I was making, and right before leaving I set the printer up to print a tiny plastic cake for my new 3D printer-enthusiast friend.
In other news! At the Cambridge Idea Exchange, we’ve recently purchased an excellent 2.25 inch button maker! We’re still working out a policy for public use, but I’ve been able to run a few button making sessions with some very excited teens…and make a couple buttons of my own.
What I Satirized
If you didn’t know already: I’m a total Fake News nerd. I write it, read it, dream it, and teach it. Fake News is amazing. It’s a counter culture way to get people thinking/laughing about their community and the credibility of their sources. I’ve been feeling especially inspired lately. This month The Waterloo Honk came out with two new articles: Caroline Street will be under construction ‘forever’ according to city, and Child-Owner’s License Now Required for Holiday Shopping.
Special mention to: the hundreds of children’s graphic novels that I ordered for the library that finally came in! I’ve been having so much fun working my way through on my lunch and coffee breaks. Hilda and the Midnight Hound, Return of Zita the Space Girl, Stratford Zoo Presents Macbeth, etc.
Merry Christmas everyone! What’s on your Holiday To-Read List?
Ontarian Librarian 