Amy Lavender Harris has filled a longstanding gap in Toronto's literary scholarship with the publication of Imagining Toronto, a comprehensive overview of literature devoted to and set in this city. Although clearly rooted in academic research - Harris teaches in the Geography department at York University - this book is nevertheless a mostly accessible read that's as much a narrative of Toronto via its various fictions as it is an analysis of the dominant tropes and themes that underwrite local literary tradition.

Oddly enough, Toronto has one of the world's finest Arthur Conan Doyle collections. Hidden on the fifth floor of the Toronto Reference Library and on your left after leaving the elevator it's tucked away in its own room: a well ordered explosion of all things Arthur Conan Doyle. Of course, there's also an overwhelming amount of Sherlock Holmes books and paraphernalia. After all, and much to Conan Doyle's chagrin, he was his most famous invention.

I was originally going to title this post "the authoritative guide to Toronto graffiti," but shortly after writing this out, I realized that such a label would disregard the degree the book in question works to destabilize concepts of authorship and ownership. Truth be told, even the word "ultimate" -- which gestures to both finality and closure -- belies the editor's intention to put together future versions of Toronto Graffiti. Nevertheless, I feel it necessary to somehow mark both the scope and seriousness of this effort to document the graffiti scene in our city.

Toronto reading series are a good way to make good on the common New Year's resolution to get a little more literature into one's life. Despite the ease and pleasure of reading in solitude, watching a live reading or engaging in directed group reading are a gratifying way to experience the written word. Even if they don't culminate in the all-out exchange of ideas and interpretations that one finds in some reading groups, there's nevertheless a participatory element that enriches the whole process. Here are some of Toronto's most notable reading series, with links to their respective websites.

The Toronto Public Library added volumes to its collection on Saturday, but these special books didn't have covers or appendices. And, they can talk. The Human Library, a special program piloted at five TPL branches this weekend, connected library card-holders with "human books" - real folks with unique life stories.

Literary Death Match, a comedic reading series in its fourth year, hosted its 2nd-ever North-of-the-border episode in Toronto on Tuesday. The Drake Underground welcomed a full house of raucous, bookish guests and a who's-who of local lit. Best described on LDM's website, the event "marries the literary and performative aspects of Def Poetry Jam, rapier-witted quips of American Idol's judging (without any meanness), and the ridiculousness and hilarity of Double Dare."