Table Of Contents:
Introduction xiii

Part One: 1983--1989

Review: The Witches of Eastwick 6(6)

John Updike

Laughter vs. Death 12(7)

Review: Difficult Loves 19(3)

Italo Calvino

That Certain Thing Called the Girlfriend 22(9)

True North 31(15)

Review: Beloved 46(6)

Toni Morrison

Afterword: A Jest of God 52(4)

Margaret Laurence

Great Aunts 56(12)

Introduction: Reading Blind The Best American Short Stories 1989 68(12)

Introduction: Women Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews 80(9)

George Plimpton

Review: The Warrior Queens 89(3)

Antonia Fraser

Writing Utopia 92(13)

Part Two: 1990--1999

Nine Beginnings 105(6)

Review: The General in His Labyrinth 111(4)

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Afterword: Anne of Green Gables 115(6)

Lucy Maud Montgomery

Why I Love The Night of the Hunter, a film 121(4)

Charles Laughton

Spotty-Handed Villainesses: Problems of Female Bad Behavior in the Creation of Literature 125(14)

The Grunge Look 139(8)

Review: From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers 147(4)

Marina Warner

Review: Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories 151(3)

Angela Carter

Review: An Experiment in Love 154(4)

Hilary Mantel

In Search of Alias Grace: On Writing Canadian Historical Fiction 158(19)

Review: Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art and The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property 177(12)

Lewis Hyde

Part Three: 2000--2005

First Job, Waitressing 189(3)

Eulogy: Mordecai Richler, 1931--2001: Diogenes of Montreal 192(2)

Review: According to Queeney 194(4)

Beryl Bainbridge

Introduction: She 198(7)

H. Rider Haggard

When Afghanistan Was at Peace 205(3)

Review: The Selected Letters of Dashiell Hammett, 1921--1960 edited by Richard Layman with Julie M. Rivett; Dashiell Hammet: A Daughter Remembers by Jo Hammett, edited by Richard Layman with Julie M. Rivett; and Dashiell Hammett: Crime Stories & Other Writings selected and edited by Steven Marcus 208(12)

Review: Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, a film 220(4)

Zacharias Kunuk

Review: Life of Pi 224(3)

Yann Martel

Review: Tishomingo Blues 227(10)

Elmore Leonard

Eulogy: Tiff and the Animals 237(3)

To the Lighthouse 240(3)

Virginia Woolf

Review: The Birthday of the World and Other Stories 243(11)

Ursula K. Le Guin

Introduction: Ground Works 254(6)

Christian Bok

Introduction: Doctor Glas 260(5)

Hjalmar Soderberg

Introduction: High Latitudes 265(3)

Farley Mowat

Review: Child of My Heart 268(9)

Alice McDermott

Napoleon's Two Biggest Mistakes 277(3)

Letter to America 280(4)

Writing Oryx and Crake 284(3)

George Orwell: Some Personal Connections 287(7)

Review: Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age 294(11)

Bill McKibben

Foreword: Victory Gardens: A Breath of Fresh Air 305(8)

Elise Houghton

Eulogy: Carol Shields, Who Died Last Week, Wrote Books That Were Full of Delights 313(4)

Review: Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books 317(5)

Azar Nafisi

Introduction: The Complete Stories, Volume 4 322(9)

Morley Callaghan

Review: Hope Dies Last: Keeping the Faith in Difficult Times 331(12)

Studs Terkel

Mortifications 343(3)

Review: A Story as Sharp as a Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World 346(6)

Robert Bringhurst

Review: The Mays of Ventadorn 352(4)

W.S. Merwin

Review: Snow 356(4)

Orhan Pamuk

Review: From Eve to Dawn 360(5)

Marilyn French

To Beechy Island 365(10)

Introduction: Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition [revised edition] 375(7)

Owen Beattie

John Geiger

Review: Acquainted with the Night: Excursions Through the World After Dark 382(4)

Christopher Dewdney

Introduction: Ten Ways of Looking at The Island of Doctor Moreau 386(13)

H. G. Wells
Acknowledgments 399(2)
Bibliography 401(6)
Index 407(20)
About the Author 427