Brenda Craigdarroch Doesn’t Care If You Read This Book
Brenda Craigdarroch Doesn’t Care If You Read This Book
You wouldn’t be the first to want to know about her, but Brenda Craigdarroch doesn’t have the time or patience to tell you. She’s got things to do: maybe not better things, but certainly other things.
She’s a hard woman to describe. She hates description, so does her best to defy it. In any case, it’s pretty well known that she doesn’t believe them, has an odd history with her dentist, doesn’t post on social media, really liked that bitcoin miner from Winnipeg, won that honourary philosophy award, won’t stop smoking, has a lot of keys, tries hard to forget things, irrationally fears dishwashers, feels it and makes a killer raisin cookie.
Brenda Craigdarroch Doesn’t Care If You Read This Book. Really, she doesn’t. Nor that the title is much too long. This absurdist short story cycle rendered in free verse explores the details of everyday existence for insight to unearth and then throw away casually, if responsibly.
Review quotes:
“Wry humour, keen observation and memorable characters make Torsten Schoeneberg’s writing unforgettable. You’ll laugh and be left wanting more.”
— Jeremy Loveday, Victoria City Councillor, Founder and Director of the Victorious Voices Youth Arts Festival and spoken word poet
“Brenda Craigdarroch is likely a relative of Anne Shirley (of Green Gables fame): a witty philosopher, a naïve daydreamer and a bit of a brat. Brenda does not have adventures in the world; rather, she is an adventure that happens to the world. I would like to sit down with her for tea and conversation about her views on stinging insects and lost objects and snooping through strangers’ houses — partially because she is such an intriguing character and partially because I want to punch her.
Torsten Schoeneberg’s narrative poetry flows as easily as warm conversation: thought-provoking, relatable, punctuated with surprising moments of laughter. This collection is a delight to both read and listen to, and is recommended for reading aloud amongst friends over tea or wine and witty banter.”
— Susan Cormier, Producer, Vancouver Story Slam and The Short Story Show podcast
“Brenda Craigdarroch Doesn’t Care If You Read This Book but I did and found the whimsy of it startling and humourous, not in a laughing-out-loud way, but in a way that Brenda would deeply appreciate, a kind of slightly odd interior chuckle at irony and happenstance at memory and forgetting.
Torsten Schoeneberg offers this curious and wonderful collection of stories in verse form steeped in observations about life and things ordinary from an unusual vantage. Brenda sees the world her own way. Fun to read and worth pondering, even if like Brenda, you don’t believe and are always right.”
— Daniel Scott, Artistic Director, Planet Earth Poetry