Posts Tagged ‘books’

“Spread the Word” is a series of posts we’re writing about our lovely customers, those who consistently support what we’re doing to promote Canadian designers, and who are engaged in amazing work that in turn deserves our support. This is where we’ll spread the word about the wonderful people around us. Sarah Selecky is our second customer to be featured in this space.

Dear World,
Will you please read this book? You’ll love it, I promise.

Love,
Ashley

For serious. Read this book.

We at Shopgirls are so thrilled to have met author and writing instructor Sarah Selecky a few years ago in the shop, and these days we love calling her a friend. Sarah is a local Parkdalian, hosting writing workshops in her beautiful home, and befriending and supporting local businesses like Shopgirls and Coriander Girl. She even participated in our Walk the Walk fundraiser for Windfall last September, strutting her stuff on the runway for a great cause. And she rocked it!

Thus, as friends we are pumped to help promote this beautiful first book of hers! This Cake is for the Party is a collection of ten perfect little stories. I really couldn’t say it better than Lisa Foad, who reviewed the book for the Globe and Mail:

“Sarah Selecky’s debut is an exceptional story collection full of regret and celebration, wisdom and wit. And while the collection explores sites of emotional and physical volatility, Selecky sinks her teeth into something far more powerful than the violence of loss: she skillfully wrests devastation from its customary gloom of lamentation and regret, and bares its overwhelming beauty. Each of the 10 sharply cinched tales within This Cake pivots around this powerful inversion. Selecky’s stories are also ridiculously witty. Compelling, clever and exceptionally crafted, This Cake really delivers.”

And if that somehow did not convince you, then I demand that you read this excerpt from Toronto Craft Alert.

One of the things that so drew me in about this collection is a comment Sarah made during the launch party, where she was interviewed by writer and broadcaster Jeff Warren. Jeff shared with Sarah a deep interest in meditation, and in response to his probe regarding the subject, Sarah talked at length about her writing process as heavily influenced by the practice: the slow (and I think, daring) work of quieting the mind and digging in, in an effort to embody each of her characters so they come out true. Which clearly works for her, because funny or flawed, everyone in this book is familiar.

If you are inclined to try this kind of practice, you’re in luck! This September will see Sarah teaching the writing portion of Breathe in, Write Out, a rural retreat where participants alternate between yoga, meditation and writing; in doing so, they learn new ways to adapt to the present moment, allowing space for authentic writing to happen.

Shopgirls encourages you to go to your local, independent bookstore to pick up a copy! Closest to us here at the shop is Type Books, just on the South side of Queen Street, across from the lovely Trinity Bellwoods Park. Ooh! Buy the book and then read it in the park! Sarah would love that.

In the meantime, read Sarah Selecky’s Twitter Feed for news about This Cake, daily insights and tips for writing. Also, please see Sarah’s website for more information about her classes, her writing, and her stupendous self.

We leave you with more reviews of This Cake is for the Party:

“Selecky’s stories are ultra-lush and wise, wickedly wry. She is uncannily accurate about all the tender, blasted-open moments that change us for the good. This Cake… is delicious.” Lisa Moore, author of February and Alligator

“An elegant collection that weaves between life’s everyday pleasures and everyday pain…a beautiful book.” Erin Balser, Torontoist

“The short story by Sarah Selecky is everything a story should be: smart, wise, achingly poignant, its tightly sprung pages enfolding lifetimes of experience. The story is one of the highlights of This Cake is for the Party, the 35-year old’s first collection.” Rebecca Wigod, Vancouver Sun

Amazing and eclectic art blog Illusion 360 turned me onto to the work of New York-based Mike Stilkey, whose paintings on books are so large-scale, imaginative and creepy (have you seen those giant faces?) that I had to post them for you!

Now, I’m a book-lover and collector so it’s a little hard for me to see books used this way (what will happen to them afterward, will they be read? discarded?), but I also like giving things a second life, and Stilkey’s paintings do just that; they also create giant narratives using books as objects, so an item that has previously told its stories in one way only becomes a vehicle for more and different stories. Pretty cool.