Dan Wagstaff

@danwagstaff

Books and stuff. Manager of expectations. Toronto. He/him. www.casualoptimist.com

336 Folgt277 Follower277 Posts

Bluesky

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Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· 5d

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore, cover design by Grace Han

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· 6d

Is there a make out scene?

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· 7d

Logging on... (Peanuts, August 13, 1988 via the Schulz Museum)⁠

Two panel Peanuts cartoon from August 13, 1988.⁠ Sally is sitting in an armchair watching TV. In panel one, the TV announcer says, "... And now it's time for...". In panel two, Sally, with the remote in her hand, says "No, it isn't" with a CLICK sound effect.

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· 19d

Thank you for bringing it back into print! (Please do Myths & Legends too!)

A very expensive used copy of The Golden Treasury of Myths and Legends illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen.

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· May 22

New coworker.

Maeve, a black sheepdog, lying on the wooden office floor and sleepily looking out of the door.

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· May 19

Ah. Got you. It was Jamie Keenan:

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· May 4

Hello Monday, my old friend...

Illustration from The Blanket by Marie Dorleans, translated by Katy Lockwood-Holmes (Floris Books, 2026)

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Apr 20

She will only betray you and steal your robot best friend.

Dr Smith stealing your robot best friend.

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Apr 15

Sort of bookalikes... Perspective(s) is out this month in paperback.

The cover of Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector, published by New Directions. Cover design by Paul Sahre.

The cover of Perspective(s) by Laurent Binet published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Apr 14

There's a really lovely Zadie Smith article about the place of her local library in her community in West London from a few years ago about this... www.nybooks.com/online/2012/...

All libraries have a different character and setting. Some are primarily for children or primarily for students, or the general public, primarily full of books or microfilms or digitized material or with a café in the basement or a market out front. Libraries are not failing “because they are libraries.” Neglected libraries get neglected, and this cycle, in time, provides the excuse to close them. Well-run libraries are filled with people because what a good library offers cannot be easily found elsewhere: an indoor public space in which you do not have to buy anything in order to stay.

In the modern state there are very few sites where this is possible. The only others that come readily to my mind require belief in an omnipotent creator as a condition for membership. It would seem the most obvious thing in the world to say that the reason why the market is not an efficient solution to libraries is because the market has no use for a library. But it seems we need, right now, to keep re-stating the obvious. There aren’t many institutions left that fit so precisely Keynes’s definition of things that no one else but the state is willing to take on. Nor can the experience of library life be recreated online. It’s not just a matter of free books. A library is a different kind of social reality (of the three dimensional kind), which by its very existence teaches a system of values beyond the fiscal.

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Feb 27

Bookalikes...

She Who Remains by Rene Karabsh; cover design by Sarah Schulte (Sandorf Passage / January 2026)

The Slip by Lucas Schaefer; design by Jack Smyth (Simon & Schuster / June 2025)

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Feb 23

Well maybe this too...

Tom Gauld cartoon on Wuthering Heights for the Guardian

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Feb 20

The only Brontë commentary I need

Dude Watching with the Brontës comic strip by Kate Beaton, collected in Hark! A Vagrant.

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Feb 18

More snow in Toronto...

Illustration from The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale by Jon Klassen published by Candlewick

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Feb 17

This morning...

Weasel from the picture book Tomorrow I'm in Charge! by Jörg Mϋhle, published by Gecko Press ISBN 9798765670538.

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Feb 6

My mind immediately goes to Mr. Toad

black and white illustration of Mr Toad wearing a driving coat, hat and gloves by E.H. Shepard

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Feb 3

The @fotmob.com commentator is losing the will to live

So far, it's much of the same from the first half. At what point does Rosenior let the shackles off? How long is Arteta content to just let this be? Will be there be a meaningful shot on target again? These are the big questions.

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Jan 13

Mieko Kawakami on the cover of @publisherswkly.bsky.social

Author Mieko Kawakami looking cool on the cover of Publishers Weekly.

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Jan 8

"Sorry, but I just had an idea and if I don't write it down now, I won't be able to read it in the morning and realize it's insane"

Cartoon by Asher Perlman

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Jul 3

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Jun 13

Happy Birthday Big Fella.

Andrew F Sullivan’s lost album of love songs “Bad Time All the Time”

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Jun 6

I talked about On Calculation of Volume as a whole not just book 3 obviously, but I also talked about Jente Posthuma's previous book translated into English, What I'd Rather Not Think About, which is also sad and funny (and was shortlisted for the International Booker last year).

What I'd Rather Not Think About
Jente Posthuma, translated by Sarah Timmer Harvey
9781957363356 | Paperback Book
July 14, 2023

Scribe Publications

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Jun 6

I had a couple of minutes to talk to CIBA members yesterday about titles coming out this fall so of course I choose two books in translation that are both really difficult to describe and do justice to, but I like a lot anyway...

On the Calculation of Volume (Book III)
Solvej Balle, translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell
9780811238397 | Paperback Book
November 18, 2025

New Directions

People with No Charisma
Jente Posthuma, translated by Sarah Timmer Harvey
9781964992211 | Paperback Book
September 26, 2025

Scribe Publications

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Apr 4

Maximum Canada: Why 35 Million Canadians Are Not Enough by Doug Saunders (Knopf Canada, 2017)

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Mar 19

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Mar 4

I’m sorry.

Andrew F Sullivan’s lost country album “Canadian Bond”

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Feb 13

I have this! It's great. But I want the treasury too! This illustration is just incredible...

The Minotaur from The Golden Treasury of Myths and Legends illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen.

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Feb 11

This week's random art history find and awkward Valentine's contribution...

Self-portrait of the artist in the guise of a mocker, c. 1793 by Joseph Ducreux, with the text "Valentine, I'm laughing With You"

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Jan 30

Nice! The ennui in this...

Mary Magdalene, c. 1859, Frederick Sandys

Dan Wagstaff@danwagstaff· Jan 30

Although saying this is all about the crop is like, LOL, have you seen the painting? I mean the crop is nice, but seriously... (the painting is by Frederick Sandys if you're curious)