Author Archives: Lilian Nattel
Heat and Skyline
Spring came early to Toronto. Summer arrived early too and I don’t like heat. Thank goodness it’s supposed to break next week. But we’re on the way to the island again. (Correction…I just stepped outside, and it’s too muggy for roller blading–it’s the mall for us. Kids just shouted hurray!) And since I’ve been neglecting [...]
Department of Amazing Life
Amazing animals – Mudskipper – YouTube.
A Brief Encounter with Meaning
Today I walked to the post office to mail a copy of my book to my dear friend J who is currently living in China. I’ve meant to do it for ages, but I was too busy and then I was recovering from being too busy. So this afternoon I printed out the address in [...]
Simply Reading: Web of Angels | Bookstack
“That must be a heckuva book,” the elderly man said. He stood before me, hand in hand with his lady friend, as they walked the boardwalk on an afternoon constitutional. “It definitely is,” I answered, emerging from my reverie. “I bet it’s a love story,” he said with a smile. “Well, not exactly – not [...]
Saving The Children | Tales from the Reading Room
Inside our minds great forces rage and collide and strange convoluted processes are developed in order to avoid internal obstacles and keep the status quo. Former versions of ourselves wander through the inner labyrinth, exerting terrific pressure on our decision making and often dictating reactions in illogical ways. We have this charming, quaint idea that [...]
A Different Drummer
I just finished The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones, and found it delightful, which spurred me to tell you about how I came to it. I met Sadie Jones at the author series hosted by A Different Drummer Books. She and I and Liza (pronounced Lisa) Marklund were on the bill the same morning. We [...]
Fiction for Good Living
For a long time literary critics and philosophers have argued, along with the novelist George Eliot, that one of fiction’s main jobs is to “enlarge men’s sympathies.” Recent lab work suggests they are right. The psychologists Mar and Keith Oatley tested the idea that entering fiction’s simulated social worlds enhances our ability to connect with [...]
Sunday Ramble
I never did post all the photos I wanted from my last Sunday Ramble and there’s been another ramble since! (Click on any photo to enlarge.) This old Hi-Fi cabinet reminded me of my childhood though I think it pre-dates it with about 4 settings for different radio stations imprinted on the cabinet. I have [...]
#8!
BookNet bestsellers: Canadian fiction in great company! Web of Angels hanging out with Why Men lie by Linden MacIntrye, The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak, Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan and Room by Emma Donoghue! | Quillblog | Quill & Quire http://ow.ly/aDxgZ
Really Seeing
Anyone who follows this blog knows how much I love photography: Holding a camera makes me pay closer attention to what’s around me. I look at the ordinary—for instance a picket fence in late fall, a shriveled vine clinging to it, a single flower still blooming—with new eyes. I notice the blessing of colour, red [...]
How Kids Shape Parents
An excerpt from my third “special to National Post“: Now I’m doing something quite different: watching an episode of Bewitched with my younger daughter. Though it was a TV show I adored as a kid, when I saw it again a few years ago, I winced over the sexism. Before becoming a parent, I knew [...]
Sharing a Delightful Photo
This isn’t one I took, but I just have to share it with you. This is in my neighbourhood. In fact I may just walk past it this afternoon to crow (quietly of course)! Look at the picture and then I’ll point something out to you (other than the obvious). You see the reflection of [...]
