Jane Farrow in her home in TorontoKevin Van Paassen/The Globe and Mail
I think I have a bit of attention-deficit disorder; I tend to have four or five books on the go, depends on my mood. The Edible City: Toronto's Food from Farm to Fork. … It's great. There's lots of different writers, lots of idiosyncratic takes on food-eating. … I'm into the food scene, but I'm not a "foodie." I ate Kraft Dinner yesterday and loved it.
There's one book that I've been savouring for more than two years and I am making my way through it, but I find it to be like reading through the Bible. You absorb a chapter at a time and then go away for a couple of months and then come back. I use it as an inspirational book. It's called Wanderlust: A History of Walking. And it's by this extraordinary writer, Rebecca Solnit. She's just a roaming, roving, brilliant public intellectual from the States.
I used to read [while walking] but I'm too old now. I can't multitask like I did. … So reading on the streetcar is a real pleasure. Not a guilty pleasure! It's just like - Ahh, starting your day with a nice long read on the streetcar is beautiful.
Another book that I read recently that I was gripped by was Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born woman who tells her life story about moving from a traditional Muslim childhood to her intellectual and political awakening in the Netherlands. That to me was like a novel because it was very good story.
I also am a very avid reader of The New Yorker. They're very portable when you go for a walk, instead of carrying a three-pound book. The New Yorker can actually fit in your pocket rolled up. … And it's always really easy to read in bed … fall asleep, let it drop on the floor, turn out the light and you're there.
Jane Farrow is executive director of Jane's Walk, and author of Wanted Words and Wanted Words 2.