my city and its fiction

Every now and then, I get a jones on to read fiction set in my city of residence, Toronto. The positive corollary of this, of course, is that I'm reading more Canadian authors. (The negative corollary of this, of course, is that I'm getting away from a reading "plan" I had formulated months ago, which was to split my fiction choices between current, contemporary fiction and the "classics." There's been far more of the former, and a disgraceful lack of the latter. Maybe, instead, I'll make it a new year's resolution.) I seem to be in one of those moods right now, one that began with the current Atwood on my plate, The Robber Bride. (No, I did not finish it last night, but promise I'll turn the last page on it at some point today. I have a longish streetcar ride ahead of me in about an hour, so I'm penciling completion on that journey.) The novel's been fun to read, although I'm going to have to ask some of my female friends whether characters like Zenia (soulless, manipulative, cruel) really exist. I thought it was only men that acted so nastily... Thumbs up to Peggy for creating such a wonderfully vile character!

Part of the fun was recognizing various Toronto settings. The University of Toronto, of course, played a prominent role, as did the Toronto Islands. (Was Charis based on my favourite Canadian poet and Atwood's friend, Gwen MacEwen? There were some parallels.) As did a restaurant she called the Toxique, which sounded suspiciously like Peter Pan on Queen. A high-end Mediterranean restaurant she placed on Queen East could well have been Joso's, the fantastic seafood place on Davenport. I find it's easier for me to visualize the settings in a novel when there's some familiarity with the actual buildings and venues, although perhaps that says more about me and my feeble imagination...

Next in the queue (mainly because it's a library book and will have to be returned in a couple of weeks) is another Toronto-centric novel: Andrew Pyper's latest, The Killing Circle. And I'm planning on buying Rebecca Rosenblum's new book of short stories, Once. I'm guessing, since she lives in Toronto, she sets at least a few stories in the city. (Of course that's a total guess.) Hell, maybe I'll even read a Russell Smith novel next... Or write my own Toronto tale.

Possibilities.