Alice Valdal's Blog

Reading The books that have resonated with me this past two weeks are books about reading. In one an important “personage” discovers reading later in life. Of course, she has always read — letters, recipes, documents, assignments– but at this stage of her life she discovers books as a window to the world. She reads […]

My book club choice this month is The Bookbinder of Jericho. The story concerns a young woman who works in the bindery in Oxford in the WWI era. The first few pages of the book confused me because they talked about “folding” and “gathering” and “sections” and “text blocks.” In order to enjoy the book, I […]

My book club selection last month was a book I loved and hated. I loved the writing. It was brilliant. Word choice, syntax, voice, clarity, emotion . . . they were all there in shining splendour. But the story! Oh my goodness. The story was horrible. The main characters were depraved, the weak were exploited […]

My book club meetings have started up again. Back to school anyone? We reviewed The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart. This is an old book that came into my possession via a little free library. The words “piano” and “left bank” caught my attention so I brought it home. Turns out, […]

School’s back in session, so time to settle down to a regular routine at my writing desk.  September landed on the calendar so abruptly I feel as though I’ve been caught with my homework undone. I’m used to a few days grace before Labour Day and the back to work schedule. I guess the upside […]

I’m getting ready to enter a piece of knitting in our annual Fall Fair. It is an “unfinished object” because my cat stole my yarn and I could not find it anywhere. I bought another ball but couldn’t get the same dye lot. Therefore I’m having to redesign the sleeves to avoid a yarn change […]

Went to the movie, “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life.” I hadn’t read much about the show but the title intrigued me so much, I joined a couple of female friends — no husbands wanted to come — and had a girls night out. The movie was not what any of us expected. To begin with, […]

This has been a very exciting week in Canadian politics. A new session of parliament has begun, under a newly elected government and a new prime minister. The popular view is that parliament sessions with their long debates and nit-picking speeches is pretty dull, and far removed from our day-to-day lives. But watching history in […]

It seems the media  headlines are nothing but bad news these days. The constant stream of worry and stress and fear weighs on my spirit. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised when I had to spend a day on foot in my home town. It began when a teenager paused and held a door for me. […]

Oh dear! I’ve been very remiss in keeping my blog posts up-to-date! There are any number of excuses — Easter, election, gardening, book club, writers’ group — no shortages of excuses, the question is: are they valid? Whether you are a writer, a swimmer, a chess-player or a biochemist, there are always excuses to avoid […]