Amore Librorum

Book Bar, Toronto. Photo by Maya Visneyei. See more here.

“…nearly half of all women read just one novel or short story in 2022, but only one in four men did.”
- Alaina Demopoulos, The Guardian, 03 Sep 2026

“Reading scores among American 12th-graders have fallen to their lowest level since testing began in 1992, with 32% of seniors performing below basic. The share of adults on the bottom rung of the international literacy survey rose from 19% in 2017 to 28% in 2023. Harvard’s Martin West notes that just 14% of 13-year-olds read for fun almost every day in 2023, down from 27% in 2012.”
- Lee Escobedo, The Guardian, 15 Aug, 2026

I’d like to say I read a lot as a teenager in the 1980s because I wanted to maintain high academic standards, or that I knew it would sharpen my mind and critical thinking across many disciplines, but none of that was true. It was pure escapism. It was easier to read a good book than do homework. It was easier to read a book when the main TV was showing news. There was no chance of watching videos on a phone. If you wanted a video, you had to drive 20 minutes to the closest video store and rent one. There was no social media and no distracting Internet. The Internet was for scientists and soldiers, and maybe deviant nerds. In all those ways, it’s easier to see how books were the cheapest and most accessible forms of escape. For me now, it’s still true. The easiest way to forget about war, famine, the climate crisis, or the Cheeto in Chief is reading about something entirely different and completely made up. I read a lot and usually have two or three books on my nightstand. The downside is I read very slowly, so the list of what I want to read expands at an ever greater rate than I could ever keep up with.

This love of reading also has led to a love of bookstores. It’s odd how many people love an independent neighbourhood bookstore (in a Hallmark Christmas movie), yet most bookstores, even successful ones, are always hanging on by a thread. Most local businesses know that bookshops act as magnets to the neighbourhood. Ironically, Barnes & Noble, once the antithesis of small local bookstores, have revitalized their business by treating each of their own locations as an independent bookseller. I buy a fair number of books, which is a problem because they take up so much room, though fortunately, I also like being surrounded by books. I’ve gone to bookstores with others who were not at all interested, and it sort of breaks my heart a bit and confounds me. Standing in a well-stocked bookshop to me is like being in a fancy patisserie surrounded by cakes or a gallery of fine jewels. Being surrounded by so many things that catch your eye can be overwhelming and make me a bit giddy - like a clotheshorse standing in a vintage clothing store.

Toronto has some great bookstores, not just for what they sell but how welcoming the store is. I’ve been making it a quiet side quest to visit them all this summer. I may have to expand into autumn. I’ve put them in order of geographic proximity if you ever wanted to try and do your own version of the New York Times Book Crawl right here in Toronto.

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Seen in August

Never look a gift horse in the mouth… look in the belly.

Summer brings the sun, the lightning, the bugs, the ice cream, the hay fever, the bike rides and the movies.

The Odyssey
Christopher Nolan’s imagining of the classic 2000-year-old story of Odysseus as told by Greek poet Homer is suitably epic. It apparently took over 12 hours for Homer to recite his poem, so critics should excuse Nolan for leaving some stuff out. While the original poem touched on themes of homecoming, longing and resilience, this modern take depicts “the cunning” Odysseus (Matt Damon) as a softened, damaged war veteran. The visual experience of the film is hard to deny, but there are moments of dialogue that sound a bit like a first draught. It’s very believable that Nolan writes his film chronologically in one sitting - perhaps without rewrites. Despite that, there are scenes, such as warriors hiding in a wooden horse, the depiction of Circe’s (Samantha Morton) witchcraft, and the vision of Cyclops that were wholly new and powerful. Odysseus’ stay with Calypso (Charlize Theron), however, as others have said, felt more like a beach holiday resort. I actually prefer The Return with Ralf Fiennes as a rumination of the effect of war on those touched by it, but there’s no denying Nolan’s monumental achievement regardless of how much it may be praised or criticized.

A holiday never looked hotter.

La Piscine (The Swimming Pool)
Criterion Channel
I’m not sure a sexier cast has ever been assembled for this French thriller/sexual drama. Jean-Paul (Alain Delon) and Marianne (Romy Schneider) are enjoying a sunny St. Tropez summer holiday in a fantastic villa with a beautiful pool when Marianne receives a phone call and casually invites her ex-lover Harry to join them. Harry (Maurice Ronet) appears with his teenage daughter. The flirty interactions with Harry and Marianne put Jean-Paul’s nose out of joint. It doesn’t help that Harry’s daughter, Penelope, is the striking Jane Birkin, who draws Jean-Paul’s gaze. There are some dated sequences and maddening plot turns that may put off some viewers. Yet, it’s the measured pace that gives this film its summertime vibe and adds tension between the characters. A recent remake (or film inspired by) with Tilda Swinton and Ralf Fiennes, A Bigger Splash, injects a lot more tension and viability to the whole proceedings in my opinion, and it’s also got a great summer tone set on an Italian island instead of the French Riviera.

Pluribus S01
Apple TV+
Imagine a zombie/alien invasion film where the zombies and aliens turn out to be really nice. The premise of this series is that an alien virus has turned most of the world’s population into a very pleasant hive mind, which is to say everyone is really just one. Except for a dozen people with natural immunity, including our protagonist and the rest of Earth’s antagonist, Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn). This is my favourite kind of sci-fi. There are no laser battles, lovable green aliens or artificial gravity, but the story keeps trying to address the “What if?” questions that get murkier and murkier.

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