Fell In Love With A Girl.


This rarely happens on tour. I never have the time for one thing, but at the start of the tour I threw a bunch of novels in my bag in a brief, optimistic spasm. I never thought I'd get to read any of them, never mind most of them. I read "Alligator" by a Canadian writer, Lisa Moore. It's amazing. Her writing is so good, so precise, so specific. I finished the book quickly (which has an alligator on the cover too, which is never a bad thing in my book) and tried to find other titles by her, of which there are only two. I couldn't find them in the USA, but in Toronto yesterday I found a collection of short stories called Open and these are also wonderfully written. The first two I finished over an omlette late last night; I couldn't put the book down and ate a whole meal groping for the plate, not taking my eyes off the page. I love it when this happens. Cynical and jaded as I always sound I'm always really waiting eternally to be inspired and amazed; and when it happens it's always the best feeling. Like being in love.

I also read Pat Barker's Blow Your House Down which evokes a certain time in Northern English history. One of those books I fell into - it's a grim world she describes, but compelling and vivid enough for me to smell the damp viaduct arches and the cold northern winter evenings. The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert is excellent too.

We're in Montreal today. The venue is in a sleazy part of town. The Quebeconians (?) are brusque and dour. It's like being in a crappy part of Paris. I love it. Love. It. And sulky/sultry French-Canadian girls are great, like pouty Parisian women; cute if you don't take them too seriously. Imagine a five year-old giving you evils and attitude while stomping around in her mum's oversized shoes...

Oh and Canada = Cadburys. Thank you Jesus.