Friends Old and New
Friday, March 26th, 2010Breaking news: the next Flavia de Luce adventure is out! The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag was published in the US on March 9th. As I tweeted earlier this week: “Woo hoo, Flavia’s back!! And yes, I put myself on the hold list at the library before sending this alert.” I’m # 72 on [...]
Notes 1.17.10
Sunday, January 17th, 2010A few notes as I lie in bed with coffee and the computer on this Sunday morning. First, I’m a bit surprised that it is only Sunday–yesterday was so long (7:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. the next day) and filled with such a variety of fun, it seems like it must have been at least [...]
A Reading Life
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010If my life has a lodestar, it’s books. They have been my constant companion for as long as I can remember, and the only topic of sufficient interest and variety I could devote a blog to. Other hobbies flourish and fade, and even they are a vehicle for more books in my life: captivated by [...]
R.I.P.
Saturday, September 19th, 2009My reading habits follow seasonal trends: in the heat of summer, I want to read lightweight chick lit or popcorn mysteries. I save more serious works for deep winter, when it’s easy to curl up in a warm sweater and read for hours on end. And when the leaves start turning and the days noticeably [...]
Patience…
Friday, September 11th, 2009…is a virtue, one I value and must actively work on in my life. There’s so much falling-in-love, head-rushy fun in succumbing to impulse, and the pleasures of patience are an acquired taste. Penelope Lively is doing her part to teaching me patience. I threw her book Judgment Day into my bag on the way [...]
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008SPOILER ALERT: This book is impossible to discuss without revealing a few key details from the book. I don’t reveal the particulars at any point, but I do discuss things that are not fully made clear until much later in the story. If you are the type of person who likes to be surprised by [...]
My Little Book Problem
Saturday, July 19th, 2008We ran errands in the Hollywood district today: post office, farmers’ market, antique shop. A pleasant, and common, Saturday morning for us. I’ve been craving kohlrabi in much the way I imagine Rapunzel’s mother craved that rampion, and I had six (!) Bookmooch books to send off. That made a total of 10 sent this [...]
Dystopian Summer
Monday, July 14th, 2008I am a sucker for just about anything dealing with a dystopian vision of the future. That fascination is exactly why zombies, particularly the Romero-inspired planetary epidemic version, hold so much appeal for me. I am always on the lookout for intelligent, entertaining, and thoughtful explorations into a darker view of what is to come. [...]
Twilight
Sunday, June 8th, 2008The intriguing cover of Twilight has been calling to me from bookstore shelves for quite awhile. The hands reaching out of the darkness to offer that eternally forbidden and tainted fruit have an almost irresistible appeal. In one of my weaker moments, I gave in and bought it. Then I brought it home, put it [...]
Punkins-n-Purl
Sunday, October 21st, 2007Just a bit of fall for those of you needing it: here’s a look this year’s crop of ‘home-grown’ punkins. Didn’t they turn out great? It was a super-easy project–much easier than last year’s, which involved seeds and dirt and watering, and yielded half as many punkins! Thursday night, Portland was graced with a visit [...]
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