There really isn’t anything better then diving nose-first into a good book. Last month we went a little sci-fi, but we’ll try to bring us back down to reality this month with these fiction titles. Warning – since this is the month of love and all, they’re heartbreakers.
It was a a bit rainy the other day and we thought, what better day to make a visit to St. Lawrence Market? So we headed on down to the neighbourhood to check out the latest things the market has to offer!
We’d like to start off 2013 by doing something a bit different. Yes we will still have construction updates, amusing and hopefully, informative posts about Toronto and it’s history. But our resolution was to inject a little more…Culture into this blog.
As you’re probably aware, we at Context are avid readers – not just the classics though, we’re pretty up to date on some current books as well! Recently we got our “geek” on to check out some recent sci-fi novels. Head past the jump for Context book reviews of The Postmortal By Drew Magary and Ready, Player One by Ernest Cline.
So here we are, looks like the Mayans were right after all. Who had called that massive volcano to erupt and throw us out of orbit? Nobody? Wow. Oh well, what’s done is done and those of us alive are totally looking for something to pass the time. After all, we’re pretty sure we won’t have to go into work next week. So what is there to do?
Library District is going up pretty quickly. It seems only a few weeks ago we were on the 8th floor, now we’re pouring the 11th! Have a look at what’s going on around the site this month!
October is banned book week, this is where libraries and schools celebrate these great works of literature that have often been the subject of controversy, despite their status as literary classics. They are often introduced to people in schools as must-read material that challenges us as human beings to look internally at what drives us all. However, there are some places in the world where these books have been considered “obscene” or go against common teachings. We think you might be surprised by some of the books that are considered “banned”. See below for our top 5 banned books to check out this week.
Right beside our Library District construction site lies one of the most historically significant sites in Toronto, if not Canada. Fort York was built to protect the small colony of York from American threats in the later part of the 1700’s and has played a key role in the development of modern Toronto as we know it. In the following series we will sit down with one of the most foremost experts on Fort York, Carl Benn, PhD and Dean of History at Ryerson University to chat about the fort’s history and it’s role in shaping Toronto into the city it is today.
Despite rumors of extinction, public libraries are still going strong. According to the most recent report from the Canadian Urban Libraries Council, library usage across the country is up 45 % over the past decade, from 16.6 to 24.1 transactions on average.
Stopping by Olympic Cheese is a must whenever you’re at St.Lawrence Market. It’s literally a cheese lover’s heaven! The store boasts 1,000 specialty items, and more than 600 kinds of cheese!
Toronto’s art scene is thriving and we recently got a chance to see just how thriving it is at the Walnut Studios Spring Fever Art Show and Sale.
Tucked away in a quiet neighbourhood behind King and Niagara, Walnut Studios is an artist’s playground. The studio is housed in an old converted warehouse and is home to more than 40 talented established and up and coming artists. Members of the public got an opportunity to enter the artists world and experience the creative process when the studio opened it’s doors last weekend at it’s Spring Art Show and Sale.
