As soon as I plucked it out of my mailbox, I began to read Angie Abdou's latest novel Between. In the lead-up to the novel's release it was touted as being a book about Filipina nannies, gambling and hot yoga. It had all of that, and more. Decidedly less yoga than other activities, including drinking, drugs, and a healthy dose of sex, but that was okay - Angie comes to my yoga classes and so I was happy not to see shades of myself splattered throughout the yoga scenes, though I've heard that you rarely are able to identify yourself in novels anyway (perhaps there are pieces of me in Roger, the middle-aged, hot short wearing, yoga teacher;-) Though it isn't a book about yoga, per say, I'd highly recommend Between to anyone looking for a good Can Lit read and a good laugh. And though the yoga takes a back seat to the other themes in the novel, there's some definite food for thought in the spaces between what's written and what we perceive about yoga.
I've had Angie as a teacher for several university courses, I've been her carpool buddy, hung out with her for coffee and read to her from my deepest, darkest, memoirs during writing festivals. She's a damn good teacher and a lover of all things literature -particularly good grammar and dark humour. It's because of her hard ass approach to teaching the English language that many a student has left her class with a much better grip on proper grammar. So it is fitting that this post about her book be shared with my promotion of Grammarly's Promote Literacy Program.
It just so happened that around the time Between was released, I saw a post on Grammarly searching for bloggers to help them spread the word about literacy. I wrote to them right away saying I'd be keen to help them out. It took a while for them to respond, but that's a good thing. As it turns out, they have had such a great response to the program that it was taking a while to respond to everyone. So what is the deal anyway? Grammarly, who anyone that happens to be friends with me on Facebook probably knows, is an awesome blog about grammar that posts even more awesome memes about grammar. Oh snap, my literary nerdiness is showing. Their Promote Literacy Program(http://www.grammarly.com/blog/2014/promote-literacy-with-grammarly/) is a push to get the word out about the importance of literacy, not just for students, but for adults in the workforce too. For every blogger that posts about the program, Grammarly will donate to a charity that works to alleviate illiteracy. Follow the link to learn more and if you have a blog consider participating. In the high tech age that we live in, written communication is more important than ever before, together we can work to eradicate illiteracy (a feat that would make Angie very happy, I'm sure;-)
I've had Angie as a teacher for several university courses, I've been her carpool buddy, hung out with her for coffee and read to her from my deepest, darkest, memoirs during writing festivals. She's a damn good teacher and a lover of all things literature -particularly good grammar and dark humour. It's because of her hard ass approach to teaching the English language that many a student has left her class with a much better grip on proper grammar. So it is fitting that this post about her book be shared with my promotion of Grammarly's Promote Literacy Program.
It just so happened that around the time Between was released, I saw a post on Grammarly searching for bloggers to help them spread the word about literacy. I wrote to them right away saying I'd be keen to help them out. It took a while for them to respond, but that's a good thing. As it turns out, they have had such a great response to the program that it was taking a while to respond to everyone. So what is the deal anyway? Grammarly, who anyone that happens to be friends with me on Facebook probably knows, is an awesome blog about grammar that posts even more awesome memes about grammar. Oh snap, my literary nerdiness is showing. Their Promote Literacy Program(http://www.grammarly.com/blog/2014/promote-literacy-with-grammarly/) is a push to get the word out about the importance of literacy, not just for students, but for adults in the workforce too. For every blogger that posts about the program, Grammarly will donate to a charity that works to alleviate illiteracy. Follow the link to learn more and if you have a blog consider participating. In the high tech age that we live in, written communication is more important than ever before, together we can work to eradicate illiteracy (a feat that would make Angie very happy, I'm sure;-)
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