My parents used to live near the beach, when there was a racetrack across the street. Now, houses are there, painted in too many colours. We walk slowly down the boardwalk and my mother points out trees to my father – “This one is so big now!” She tells me that when she was my …
Visiting my parents is often so much like a ready-made writing retreat. The house is quiet, softly lit, often sleepy. The TV returns seven channels and there is not much in the way of distraction. I sit straight up, I do crosswords from the paper, I write hundreds of words at the kitchen table I …
My old Goose on a Moose print and various old photos of my mother and Finland. I’m not really a fan of Doris Lessing’s fiction, but I love her as a writer. If she catches me not writing, she shakes her finger at me and tells me to get moving. A dusty plant given to …
There is no greater excitement than starting a story. Finishing a story is satisfying, but in a different way – it’s a worn-out, bleary-eyed kind of happiness. You almost don’t even care. You don’t really remember the thrilling beginning, the new idea becoming a narrative with real, live characters. Today I took myself and my …
My husband J and I were sitting on our bed in the dark, our dog snoring on her own little bed a few feet away. I was sitting with my chin on my drawn-up knees and trying to put into words why I’d had such a frustrating day. It was hard, partly because you can’t …
There are certain sounds that will be comforting forever: slippered feet on that creaky floor, early morning radio debates, water being poured into a kettle, screen doors sliding open. I stretch and kick the metal footboard as I had done every morning, and before I am fully myself I forget the last nine years have …
Breathless/À bout de souffle, 1960. I know, I know, I’m the last person alive to have not yet seen this movie. I won’t give a review of it or anything, mostly because I’m terrible at reviews but also because nobody needs yet another review of this classic film. All I can say was I liked …
Solaris, 1972 – the original! This is another great movie I randomly borrowed from my local library branch (see my previous post if you want to read me gush about the selection there). I enjoyed some of the out-of-context quotes in this one, as you can see. Of course, I also enjoyed the look of …
An Angel at My Table, 1990. A surprising find from my local library (I love you, Nose Hill branch), which reliably has the best movies. I really enjoyed this movie, the story of it, but the imagery was stunning as well. I admit I didn’t know anything about Janet Frame before this, but I really …
