In May 2011, after four years of life on McNutt's Island, we moved to Montreal. This blog remains, though, as a (sort of) daily record of our time on the island, and a winding path for anyone who would like to meander about among its magical places. For additional perspectives and insights I recommend Greg's book, Island Year: Finding Nova Scotia (2010), and my Bowl of Light (2012). I'll continue to post once in a while. If you do want to read this blog, one option would be to begin at the beginning of it (which is, as we all know, in blog-world, at the end), and read forward, concluding with the most recent entry. It's a journal, really, so it does makes more sense if you read it that way. But, you know, read it any way you like.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

paperback writer

Now you can order Bowl of Light in a paperback format, here. Or you could ask your library to order it, or your local bookstore. The Kindle version is another way to go, for which see the post below. But a paperback offers you that yesteryear experience of holding a book in your hand and turning pages, or lending it to somebody.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Bowl of Light is available now

You can go here to buy Bowl of Light as an e-book. At that same site, you can download a free Kindle app that allows you to read e-books on your computer. It's a very nice app if you don't have a Kindle but still want to get the book.

The book made-of-paper will be ready in the next week or so. I'll post about it when it's available.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

launching a Bowl of Light



After dillying and dallying around about a book I've decided to just go ahead and publish it on my own. So, it's an e-book, called Bowl of Light, and it will be available through Kindle Books on Amazon.com in the next few days.

I'm quite happy with this book, which is a collection of essays, most of which began their lives as blog posts. The book is a whole nother kettle of fish from the blog. The strengths of a blog come from its immediacy and the sense that every day offers some surprising new variable. The strengths of a book come from a greater sense of coherence and maybe a greater reflective quality. Also, just as a music video may take away from the experience of a song by limiting the hearer's imagination, a blog's images can sometimes diminish the imaginative power of the written word.

On the home front, I think our grieving over the island is drawing to a close. I find that my gratitude for the experience has begun to outweigh my sadness over its loss. And here in Montreal, the epic struggle between light and darkness appears to have been decided in favour of light, once again. It's still cold, but the days are getting longer.