Tim Parks's Italy Part II, by Linda Leith

Italian Ways: On and Off the Rails from Milan to Palermo, by Tim Parks (Norton 2014)

Part I is here. 

We are all Torontonians: Philistines and the Battle for Public Libraries

The Toronto battle has not yet made its mark nationally, but it should. If Toronto library users and supporters lose this fight, you can depend on it that other municipalities will be encouraged to follow suit. I am a Montrealer, not a Torontonian, but I know this is my battle, too. And I think it’s a battle we should all be fighting.

When it comes to the future of public libraries, we are all Torontonians.

Report from the Future II: Montreal’s Literary Avant-garde

I hate to break this to you, Ladies and Gentlemen – especially if you’re still in denial about the digital revolution – but the literary future includes not only electronic books, but words and images dancing on a screen, with voice and music and other sound effects.

Bertrand Gervais

A Paris Salon, by Linda Leith

The translation of this vivid scene is by Helen Constantine, but who wrote the original?