Adultery

Adultery
An editor has a fling with a colleague at the Frankfurt Book Fair. They go away for a few days to Devon (a place that had special meaning for Fielding and his wife)and she is brutally murdered. The novel covers a week in the life of Dan Fielding, a happily married husband and father, who must face his wife, his daughter,the victim's family and his own culpability. Fielding is a good person and we feel his moral struggle as he tries to come to terms with a calamity that will define the rest of his life. I couldn't put it down.

The Devil Wears Prada

The Devil Wears Prada

Lauren Weisberger once worked for Anna Wintour (aka Nuclear Wintour), the editor of Vogue. I suspect a lot of readers were trying to get the inside scoop on what's it's like to work for fashion's premiere bitch. Recently graduated Andrea, who couldn't care less about fashion, lands the job "a million girls would kill for", assistant to Miranda, the editor of Runway. This she-wolf of the SS makes incessant and unreasonable demands of her staff and Andrea drones on about it ad infinitum.
Anna or Miranda ? :"Throughout her tenure, she has governed with an unspoken set of rules. Food on the premises is discouraged. Junior staffers are not to speak unless spoken to. One young editor who made the mistake of greeting her in an elevator was upbraided by one of her two personal assistants. Another, agonized over how to react when she saw the boss trip in a hallway, decided to walk past. When she told a senior editor what had happened, she was told 'You did absolutely the right thing.'"
This little paragraph was written about Anna Wintour - sure resembles the Miranda character, doesn't she? And that's why this book has been so successful.

Oh well, my expectations were low so I wasn't disappointed. However I was struck by similarities between Miranda and my last boss - he also reduced most who worked for him to quivering blobs of jelly, drove several of them quite mad. Give someone a taste of power and they become dizzy and obnoxious with it. I think I'll write a whiney book titled Satan is a Socialist.

ATONEMENT - Ian McEwan

Atonement

Atonement was nominated for the Booker - novels that hark back to Britain's finest hour often get the nod it seems. This masterful and expansive work is divided into three sections, each dealing with a different time period. The first takes place on a sultry summer day in pre-war England. The aristocratic Tallis family is gathered at their stately country estate. The youngest child, the dramatic, attention seeking Briony, in a fit of jealous pique tells a lie whose ramifications resonate through the rest of the novel. The second section describes in graphic detail the chaos and carnage of war both in Dunkirk and at home. Briony faces the horror of what she has done and tries to atone first through nursing in wartime and then through her writing. Finally, an aged Briony, facing her own demise, reflects on the power of her lie and the power of the novelist: "How can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God?"

They're Cancelling Imprint - What a Shame

CBC News


TORONTO – TVOntario will cancel two programs and lay off as many as 10 employees in response to changed spending priorities, the union representing workers at the public broadcaster said Wednesday.

Canadian Media Guild local president Carol Burtin Fripp said the shows Imprint and Second Opinion will be cancelled as part of a belt-tightening exercise.

The cancellations come as the broadcaster diverts $4.7 million of its 2005/06 operating budget from programming to educational initiatives, she said.

Burtin Fripp said 10 unionized positions could be affected.

The guild represents 115 employees at TVO and its French-language sister station, TFO.

TVO is a government-owned broadcaster that emphasizes educational and children's programming.

It is overseen by Ontario's Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.

A ministry spokesperson declined to confirm the report Wednesday, but said an announcement about TVO would be made Thursday.

TVO has been the subject of persistent speculation that it will be sold to private interests as the Ontario government attempts to balance its next budget.

What I Went to See

fiction
My friend Cathy was launching her second book.

What I Saw

In my view...
This launch was a tribute to the publicist - what a turnout! We met friends for a pre-launch dinner at Innocenti across the street from the Spoke Club and watched the lineup form. Eventually we had no choice but to join the throng. We figured out that the delay was caused by the tiny elevator which could only hold a few people at a time. This, of course, created the impression that all of Toronto was dying to get into this event. The cramped elevator ride was made even more unpleasant by the elevator thingy's sarcastic condescension. People were complaining about the inadequacy of the elevator and about having to queue up outside to which elevator thingy retorted, "This is a private club and we want to keep it that way." That raised my socialist hackles but instead of exhorting my elevator campadres to unite and rise up against the oppressor I bit my tongue. After all, what else can one expect in an establishment owned by Galen Weston Jr.? The place was packed, nowhere to sit down. As usual, midget that I am, my view was limited to the shoulder blades and pecs of those around me. The washrooms were great - dimly lit and private - but we had sink problems: Charmaine complained that the water splashed too violently whereas I could not get my tap to issue even the tiniest drip. Cathy had told me not to worry about missing the reading at Chapters earlier in the evening because she'd also be reading at the Spoke Club. Alas this was not to be. We milled about uncomfortably for awhile until we were hectored into silence so that the authors could thank all who had helped them along the way. Then we left.