I'm so pleased to post this latest episode of TSNTS to kick off a new year of reading and reflecting. It's been such a long while since we last talked!

In this episode, I turn the tables and have good friend, Samantha Mills, interview me with the same questions that I usually ask my guests. There's a little bit of everything in here, from post-apocalyptic sci-fi and toddler psychology, to feminism, liturgy and romance novels, as well as the origin story of the Story and Story. Enjoy!

- Sarah

Bookshelf: 

(click on the book cover to find it online)

Links:

S.S. Librarianship with Samantha Mills (@dothenextthing)

Middlemarch by George Eliot (a review by A.S. Byatt)

Poem: "Eve Names the Animals" by Susan Donnelly

TV Series: "Babylon 5" 

Support for post-partum anxiety: Pacific Post-Partum Society

Happy Valentine's Day! Love is in the air as well as the opportunity to work towards more meaningful connections with loved ones and intimate time with partners.

Today on the podcast, I chat with my dear friend Daniel Kline who just happens to be a registered clinical counsellor, specialising in sex therapy.  Yep, that's right… this episode is all about sex… and more specifically, the best books to read for every age as well as our personal favourites.

As Daniel puts it so well, we are having a chat about sex, not a sexy chat.

This is a topic that is in dire need of more relaxed, open and honest discussion, and something I love to talk about. But if you're not in the mood for frank and explicit talk about bodies, desire and the ins and outs of sexual expression, this episode may not be for you.

Please be mindful as well of younger children when you press play, although Daniel treats us to a wonderful storytime featuring one of mine and my daughter’s new favourite books about baby making that is delightful and meant for all ages.

I hope that this episode allows you to move towards more freedom, real connection and true peace with yourself, your body and those you love and are loved by.  Join me now for this provocative episode of the Story and the Story and see below for all of the books we talked about!

Books for kids...and parents.

Books for grown-ups...and their parents!

We've got not one but two very special guests in this crazy fun mash-up episode with the SS Librarianship crew. 

Podcast hosts Sam Mills & Alli Sullivan open up about childhood reading habits and the place of books in their library lives, and then they turn the tables and interview me about the story behind the Story & the Story. 

Pastor, poet and new mother Christine Perkins invites us into her reading room for episode six of the Story and the Story. 

 It's a place where poetry and the spiritual power of ancient literature share a table, where feminist theory and gender studies rub shoulders with Agatha Christie and cheap mystery paperbacks, and where good scotch and the Bible happily coexist.

Coming soon!

timothytaylor.ca

I was thrilled to record a conversation with one of my favorite local authors, Timothy Taylor, at the Vancouver Public Library's new Inspiration Lab this past summer and am glad to finally be able to share it with you. We covered a lot of good ground in our chat, including the nature of art and "adequate images", where reality and fiction meet and if they can get along, the craft of writing believable characters and making meaning on the page, street art in Vancouver and the ever changing world of food criticism and fashionable taste.  Not to mention one of the Blue Light Project's most memorable characters and how he came to exist. 

This is an episode you can really sink your teeth into and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! 

And do pick up any or all of Timothy's books,  from the wild ride that is Stanley Park (his first book)  or the wickedly tasty and tartly hilarious collection of essays in Foodville,  or the disturbing and beautiful Blue Light Project (his latest novel) and you won't be disappointed.  

Joshua Then and Now - Mordecai Richler

Money - Martin Amis 

The Grand Inquisitor (section of The Brothers Karamazov) - Fyodor Dostoyevsky 

Authors:

Mavis Gallant 

http://makebelievemedia.com/new-mbm/portfolio-item/paris-stories-the-writing-of-mavis-gallant/ 

Catherine Bush (catherinebush.com)

Artists

Jerm IX (@jerm_IX)

Ken Foster (@KenFosterPaints) 

Just some of Justin's extensive book recommendations:

The Power to Soar Higher - Peter Legge

I Am a Puppy - Ole Risom

The Power of Why - Amanda Lang

The Art of Possibility - Rosamund Stone & Benjamin Zander

The Culture of Desire -  Frank Browning

The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin 

As you can see from the picture above, Episode Two of the Story and the Story is vintage cool,  taking us all the way back to film-maker and teacher Curtis Emde's childhood in small-town Vernon, and the books that brought him into the wide world of art and wit as well as the books that remind him of home. 

Curtis is from the Okanagan where he became an avid reader as a child, thanks to the good influences of his parents, siblings and school (especially the Olympic Reading Program). He credits his first grade teacher Mrs Ferguson, as well as MAD magazine, for teaching him how to read.

After teaching English overseas for  8 years, he returned to BC and is currently working as a teacher in Vancouver. He also works on photo, video and other creative projects with his wife Silmara, who is a graphic designer, photographer, and emblem of patience. 

Curtis and Silmara's shared love of film, especially 35mm and other dying formats, has led them to travel from the top of BC all the way down the coast of Oregon in search of old movie theatres, and their commitment to documenting the rise and demise of those storied theatres has resulted in several documentaries and an ongoing multimedia history project called The Projection Project. 

Auster, Paul - New York Stories, Report from the Interior, Winter Journal

Blume, Judy - Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

Borges

Cormier, Robert - I Am the Cheese

De Botton, Alain 

Korman, Gordon - Macdonald Hall (The Complete Set)

Lennon, John - In His Own Write

Lee, Dennis - Garbage Delight

Manguel, Alberto - A History of Reading

Proust, Marcel - Swann's Way

Rosnau, Laisha - The Sudden Weight of Snow

Tolkien, JRR - The Simarillion

The very first episode of the Story and the Story is here!

I had a fantastic and wide ranging conversation with bilingual novelist and poet Deborah A.M. Phillips. She shares her favorite books as well as her story of finding out she was adopted, how it inspired her first novel and her hard-earned wisdom on the sacrifices required to keep writing through all of life's busy seasons. 

Deborah is a novelist, author of the book Argonauta; a poet, (Life With Edits - anthology) and short story writer, currently working on collected works Swimming through the Wreckage.  Deborah has published articles in both English and French (Lapointe). With a degree in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of British Columbia and a full time job as well as many volunteer leadership positions, Deborah makes her home (and writer's nest) in Mount Pleasant, Vancouver, and somehow found the time to write a full length novel all the while she works full time, volunteers for worthy causes and mentors young writers.

Her novel, Argonauta, is a multi-generational family epic set in Montreal in the time of the 1970 October Crisis,  as two sisters discover their families are not what they seemed. It is a rich work of history and fiction,  rooted firmly in the reality of Deborah's own journey with her biological and adopted families.

Check out the Bookshelf to see all the titles we discussed on this episode, and until next time, happy reading!