Readings
01/18/2005 04:59 p.m.
Was Richard B. Wright, (of St. Catherine's, Ontario) author of Clara Callan, ever a woman? If I hadn’t his photo in the bio blurb at the back of the Giller and Governor General’s award-winning novel that is holding me well in its grasp these days, I’d have suspected a female writing under a male pen name. He describes the biological and romantic feelings and reactions of our sex so convincingly, to my mind and personal identification. And in the novel he writes the journals, as well as letters, of his heroine, and the correspondence from her sister and a female friend, to her, all true to their individual characters, but also all vividly from the female mindset. I thought Nicholas Sparks was a rarity for this ability to react and show empathy for this gender side, but now I know he is not alone.

The novel, which I received as a birthday gift in November, along with A Complicated Kindness, (which I’ve begun and really enjoy too, by Miriam Toews) is assisting me and absorbing me well through a troubled and tragic time in life. So indeed it must be powerful. Throughout it incorporates snippets of historical setting, (Toronto, Whitfield, New York City,) etc. world and Canadian events, technologies, (even down to the acquiring of phones in the home and old party-lines on these) and the facts of the times, (mid to late l930's as far as I’ve read yet), into the fiction. In my first extensive novel m.s. I did this too, and in a similar (not to put myself in high standing) fashion, and though in some instances I do admit I feel a conscious “slugging in” which takes some of the naturalness away, he does a respectable job. It’s difficult to merge these without seeming like you’re trying to represent the token memories and historical trivia from the times, and not deter from credibility of characters and your own plot.

In any event, I thank the Lord for the gift of reading, and fine books and poetry, (like the book of poetry "A Signature of Leaves" (Penumbra Press) by our friend here and local mentor, past initiator of many arts communities in Toronto and Ottawa and author, Jane Jordan,(incidentally the first poet to encourage my work to me) music and painting, faith and community and family Samaritism, as we in my family deal with the threat of death at hand, it seems, for one of our members. But still he, his wife, and the rest of us so inclined, pray for and are doing whatever we can toward achieving a miracle. (As in James, in the Bible, with the section on the ointment of healing. Not that I pretend to be a biblical scholar.)

"There is more on this earth, Horatio, than is dreamt of in your philosphy." (Thanks again to literature and of course Shakespeare, for that often-relied on quote in my life.) We are now counting on there being much more on this earth and other places to look to over and above medical help, for healing and hope of recovery and winning this ugly and heartbreaking battle.

Good grief, spell-check just tried to turn Clara Callan into a Calla lily. That’s another thing that helps us through heavy trials - humour. By the way, does anyone know why my underlining of the novels disappears from my text when copied over onto Pathetic? Yet another annoying mystery, some of which create inaccuracies of correctness not the journal-entrant's doing. I suppose someone will speak of cookies and browsers or patron status to me again. Or html. Boy, I think I could go back to the 30's and deal with the newness of telephones. By the way, I believe my mom was the last central Ottawa homeowner to still have a party line. It felt like it, that's for sure.
I am currently Creative
I am listening to my daughter making lunch in between her classes