Nom de Plume

Three full years of managing to keep a blog somewhat current. Six different names, 10 different templates, and two different platforms (Blogger and WordPress). Ah, the halcyon days of yore.
And may I just point out that the people who used to make fun of me for blogging now have blogs of their own?

I’ve been reading a lot about Poetry Friday on the blogs lately, in which bloggers post a poem written by someone else. How about Poetry Wednesday, in which we post a poem we wrote? Hey, there’s got to be some use for all the really bad poetry I’ve written that’s languishing on my hard drive. […]

I couldn’t wait through the 345 holds at the library, so I went out and bought this–and then devoured it in a single (albeit late) night. I love Ann Tyler. She delves so deep into her characters that we end her novels feeling as though they are our friends, perhaps even our families. In Digging […]

This is probably the only kid’s fantasy book I haven’t read. I was feeling moderately guilty about it. But S and I just saw the movie, and the story was beyond terrible.

As you well know, I have an obsession with Japanese shin hanga and sosaku hanga woodblock prints. And I finally got my hands on a copy of Helen Merritt’s book, Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: The Early Years, which puts 20th century woodblocks into historical perspective. The second part of the book is a bit more […]

The town of Winthrop needs a new name, so they call in a “nomenclature consultant”–the unnamed hero of Colson’s farcical novel. What follows is a well-written, very clever exploration of modern culture and our obsession with the superficial. Nonetheless, I hated it.

Benjamin Ziskind is lonely and depressed. He has an unfulfilling job as a question writer for a TV show, his wife has just left him, and his twin sister is now pregnant. With nothing to lose, it’s no suprise that when he goes to a Chagall exhibition and sees the painting that was stolen from […]

Nonfiction Readers Anonymous weighs in on the wonders of Susan Cooper, and reminds me to reread the set for myself this season. We did, however, buy the boxed Dark is Rising set for Steve’s nephew last Saturday. It was a hard decision for Steve. You see, he’s always been the ultra cool uncle–especially after he […]

It didn’t start auspiciously, that I can tell you.
I opened an etrade account a week ago. Wow, I thought, this is great! I can transfer funds automatically. Tweedle dee, tweedle da, I blithely linked up my bank account and transferred a thousand bucks. Done. Easy as pie.
Come to find out that if you […]

I have read every single book in this series, but I have to say: my interest is waning. The younger Rei was edgy and interesting, the Japanese antiques world was fascinating, the cultural tensions delicious. Rei is now a contractor for the CIA and goes undercover in a Japanese department store. She has the […]

Or rather, soapmaking is back.
After making 20 batches in a 2-month period, I got tired of it. But my soap stock has been severely depleted. My mother wanted soap to give away — so I sent her about 60 bars. I’ve given about 40 more bars away since then. And Geoff came over the […]

via Making it Up As I Go
The original instructions are to highlight in red the ones you’ve read, highlight in green the ones you might read, leave the ones you won’t read in black, italicize the ones on your book shelf, and place parentheses around the ones you’ve never even heard of.
Colors are way too […]

Huge windstorm on Thursday night, 1 million houses without power. We’re back up power-wise, but no cable, which means no Internet. So here I am at Starbucks, feeding the need.

This is a wonderfully gothic trilogy that follows Fern Capel, witch extraordinaire, from her teenage years through her late twenties. Although Siegel borders on trite fantasy themes, her masterful writing, erudition, and amazing imagination shine through. The first in the trilogy, Prospero’s Children, is by far the best, but the others still have much to […]

What a great idea! List 10 books that you want to give away and earn points to mooch books from others. Link

It was fine. It was nice. But despite the decent food and the freeflowing booze, you know what the best part was? Taking off those three and a half inch heels. What was I thinking?

via pages turned
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate. Egg nog is just gross.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? We don’t really do the present thing so much anymore, although the mothers do. When I was a kid, Santa wrapped. So did the cat, the dog, and whatever […]

Jasper Merian is freed from bondage. It’s the end of the 17th century, and he hews out a farm in the wilds of the Carolinas, battling a demon for dominion. He takes a wife and has a son, Purchase. Well after he tries to buy his first wife and son out of slavery (and […]

Elizabeth just wrote about getting into the holiday season with trees and ornaments and all that jazz. She says she had a little mailbox that she used to write letters to Santa for all her pets. Our letter-writing routine was that I wrote a letter and then we burned it in the fireplace. My mother […]

Great blog.