The Eggcorn Database

"This site collects unusual spellings of a particular kind, which have come to be called eggcorns. Typical examples include free reign (instead of free rein) or hone in on (instead of home in on), and many more or less common reshapings of words and expressions: a word or part of a word is semantically reanalyzed, and the spelling reflects the new interpretation."
It makes me cringe in the same way as a fingernail scratching across a blackboard. Am I turning into the language police? And, if so, am I a good cop or a bad cop?

10 Bestselling Books

A list of the 10 bestselling books of all time:

The Holy Bible
Quotations from Chairman Mao
The American Spelling Book
Guiness Book of World Records
Excel 2003 Power Programming With VBA
The McGuffey Readers
The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care
A Message to Garcia
In His Steps, What Would Jesus Do?
Valley of the Dolls

I expected to see some of these on the list but some (McGuffee Readers) were a bit of a surprise.

Unless

Unless

Reta Winters is a content woman. She has three darling daughters, a loving husband and a golden retriever. Her life is comfortable until her much-loved daughter suddenly leaves her studies and the security of her family to go begging on a street corner in Toronto with a hand-lettered sign around her neck that reads "Goodness." Reta explores the meaning of goodness as she tries to make sense out of her daughter's withdrawal from her seemingly idyllic life and family. What I like most about Carol Shields is her ability to describe the everyday lives of women in a way that resonates so truly. Reta reflects on housecleaning and cooking and what some would consider the daily grind. She is an ordinary woman doing ordinary things even when tragedy forces her to examine her life in a new way. The novel uncovers wells of self-doubt previously absent in Reta's well-ordered life but avoids slipping into darkness.

Man Booker International Prize 2005

The Judges' List was announced by the chair of judges, Professor John Carey, at a press conference at Georgetown University, Washington, DC today (Friday 18th February, 2005).
The eighteen authors on the list are:
Margaret Atwood,Saul Bellow,Gabriel Garcia Marquez,Gunter Grass,Ismail Kadare,Milan Kundera,Stanislaw Lem,Doris Lessing,Ian McEwan,Naguib Mahfouz,Tomas Eloy Martinez,Kenzaburo Oe,Cynthia Ozick,Philip Roth,Muriel Spark,Antonio Tabucchi,John Updike,A.B. Yehoshua

I have books by 13 of these authors, a few of which I haven't read yet.

Canada Reads

CBC Radio once again presents that yearly book brawl,Canada Reads, a literary version of Survivor.
This year's picks are:
Rockbound, by Frank Parker Day, tells the story of a fisherman who tries to find his way off the coast of Nova Scotia. Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake is a work of science fiction. Leonard Cohen's Beautiful Losers is the most controversial (I read it as a teenager but I'd probably be shocked by it now). Volkswagen Blues, a road story by Jacques Poulin and No Crystal Stair, a multi-cultural coming of age story by Mairuth Sarsfield round off a very eclectic list.

Panellists are Donna Morrissey, Olivia Chow ,Roch Carrier, Molly Johnson and Sherraine MacKay.

Small Island

Launch of Seduction

My friend, Catherine Gildiner, is launching her new book SEDUCTION in Toronto on March 7th as part of a group at Knopf called “New Faces of Fiction”(along with Steven Hayward and Emma Richler). Cathy says she wishes her face were a bit newer - don't we all? The three authors will give a short reading at Chapters (John and Richmond 6:30pm)and will sign books. Then the party will move to the Spoke Club (600 King W 7:30pm). There will be books there for signing as well.

Read more about Cathy at her website (link below).

Writing Prompts

I want to write a book. For many years I wrote letters, reports, newsletters and media releases for a living and grew quite adept at it but I would really love to write a novel. I have all sorts of ideas, a decent command of the language and feel greatly inspired every time I read a good book. I say to myself, "I could do that," but of course I can't. Writer's Digest gives aspiring writers all sorts of help, including writers' prompts to get the creative juices flowing. Today's prompt:

• Open a baby name book and randomly pick a name. Write a brief history about a character with that name. What’s in his pockets (or handbag)? What are her hopes, dreams, desires, fears? Outline a story using that character.

Who knows? Maybe this nudge is all I need to become Anne Tyler or Alice Munro? The link to the site is below.