Third Event and More To Come

TRS' third event was hosted last night and what a night it was. It was pegged An Evening Of Peril and wow...that's what it was. John Geiger started us off with reading and speaking about his incredible new work The Third Man Factor. He talked about how individuals when in great peril, under life threatening stress find comfort and wise encouragement in a presence that presents itself to guide the individual to calm and safety. Over and over again Geiger has heard of this phenomenon, the first time when researching his work on Shackleton who himself experienced just such a powerful force when trapped on the polar ice. The book is quite beautifully written with simple but powerful prose and a very important book to have on your shelf. It might also make an inspiring gift for a pal or peer who is going through a rough time. A reminder that we are never alone if we allow our strength to speak.

Geiger's pal and fellow explorer Ken Mcgoogan took the podium with his latest Race to the Polar Sea, a fabulous adventure story about Elisha Kent Kane. What a presentation! WOW....this guy has energy to burn! His enthusiasm for the north and his subject matter is unflagging. His inspiring excitement about Canada's north began as a young boy after reading Jack London's tales and meeting that famous literary creature White Fang. He told the sold out audience how he stumbled upon a lost journal of Elisha Kent Kane in a small antiquarian book shop up the road from the famous Glen Bow Museum. Like a kid in a candy shop would explain his expression even as he retold us of that discovery. All we can say at TRS is that we each picked up a copy of Race to the Polar Sea and all Blackberrys are currently going unnoticed.

Andrew Pyper brought us back to the mire of downtown Toronto in his fantastic thriller The Killing Circle. Talk about peril! His character is in a slow and definite downward spiral as he very nearly loses himself in grief. He makes decision after decision that leaves the reader growing increasingly worried about the guy and increasingly puzzled trying to figure out how Pyper is going to pull it all together. But pull it all together he does and what a smashing ending. All we can say, is get it.

Now, onto April! Tuesday April 28 at 7:00 have we got a stellar lineup again! Giles Blunt reading from his new literary work Breaking Lorca. Confident enough to leave behind his detective fiction, Blunt has written a terrifying retelling of crimes against humanity. Provocative, powerful, poignant - Blunt has got it all, done it all. This is an important book that needs to be read by anybody currently concerned about the state of the human condition.

Kim Echlin: you loved (loved) Dagmar's Daughter and her elephants. Now for something completely different. The Disappeared is love in the killing fields of Cambodia...love and its ghosts. Once again powerful and poignant, Echlin's writing approaches poetry and her descriptions are truly breath taking. We are so looking forward to Echlin taking the podium.

Closing the evening is Absent by Sherri Vanderveen. This is an honest and clear-eyed look at a father who abandons his family following a horrific event that scars everybody. He returns to find their lives in ashes each having found a distinct and distinctively destructive way to deal with his absence. But will they be able to forgive while never being able to forget. A very very compelling family drama.

SO, there's the lineup for April! What's not to like? Get your $5.00 tickets at Commensal Resto on Elm b/w YOnge and Bay or at Ryerson U Bookstore. We've sold out every event so act sooner than later.

Spring is closer than you think!
TRS Group

The Third Man Factor

Good news and bad news in this post! Bad news is that Sally Amstrong is not able to join us. The TRS team wants to encourage to get your hands on her new book Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots. It is such an inspiring read....do it.
Good news now: John Geiger, adventurer, explorer, great writer, terrific speaker is joining the TRS on February 17. This you don't want to miss. His new book is The Third Man Factor. What a read! In this work, Geiger explores interior terrain and talks to many people famous and ordinary about moments of extreme anxiety, stress, or peril and how a presence arrived to comfort them. Sometimes female, sometimes male, sometimes simply a calming comforting presence, the 'third man' gives them the strength, power, inspiration to continue. This is an awesome read and so, so beautifully written. It is not about conversion but something else. Something else completely.
Ken McGoogan, pal of John Geiger is reading from his Race to the Polar Sea. What a terrific tale he tells of a dashing romantic Victorian hero who travels to our far north on a rescue mission. Breaking a few hearts along the way, disaster awaits that only adds to his enduring mystique.
Andrew Pyper wraps up the evening with his novel The Killing Circle. His sexy young character, a man in peril of losing himself in grief, struggles to stay connected. It becomes complicated when he joins a writer's circle and the bodies start piling up. A fantastic, slightly scarey read.
Come in out of the cold and meet these three powerhouse authors all in one evening.....how can you resist? Get your tickets at Ryerson U bookstore or Commensal Resto then be there at 7:00pm for an amazing evening of adventure, risk and redemption. Or, just call 905 271 9917 and reserve your seats.
Oh: remember Ryerson Book Store is giving some pretty hefty discounts on our readers' books! Just show your ticket at the store or buy the night of the reading and get your copy personally signed. How great is that?

Toronto Reading Series Team