Month: March 2010

Teaser Tuesday

We human beings build houses because we’re alive, but we write books because we’re mortal. We live in groups because we’re sociable, but we read because we know we’re alone. Reading offers a kind of companionship that takes no one’s place, but that no on can replace either. It offers no definitive explanation of our… Continue reading Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday

Through her closed eyelids Olive sees a red light slanting through the windows; she can feel sunlight warming her calves and ankles on the bed, can feel beneath her hand how it warms the soft fabric of her dress, which really did come out nicely. It pleases her to think of the piece of blueberry… Continue reading Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday

I have read quite a lot of books lately, and I intend to read many more. And in books I have discovered that there are sometimes lonely patches And scary times Disasters Catastrophes And long paragraphs of no use at all except possibly (says Saffron) to build up your stamina. But there are also jokes… Continue reading Teaser Tuesday

Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said, ‘To talk of many things: Of shoes – and ships – and sealing-wax – Of cabbages – and kings – And why the sea is boiling hot – And whether pigs have wings.’ Alice. The smiling Cheshire cat. The White Rabbit. The Queen of Hearts. The Jabberwocky. It… Continue reading Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

American Fried by Calvin Trillin

I’ve said it before and I will no doubt repeat myself in the future: I love Food Writing. Good authors writing about food is some of the best vicarious living through reading that you can experience. When that author also makes you laugh out loud quite frequently, that’s some good food writing. American Fried: Adventures… Continue reading American Fried by Calvin Trillin

Polysyllabic Spree – February 2010

Books Purchased: More Six-Word Memoirs edited by Smith Magazine The Road to McCarthy by Pete McCarthy Ireland: True Stories of Life on the Emerald Isle edited by James O’Reilly Little Bee by Chris Cleave The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone Books Read: Inklings by Jeffrey Koterba (library) Stitches by David Small (library) Permanent Rose by… Continue reading Polysyllabic Spree – February 2010

Teaser Tuesday

There are some types of food that do lend themselves to sophisticated techniques of interrogation. When an Italian restaurant is suggested, for instance, I always say, “Who controls the city around here?” I suppose a good Italian restaurant could exist in a city that doesn’t have enough Italians to constitute at least a powerful minority… Continue reading Teaser Tuesday

The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone

Title: The Sixty-Eight Rooms Author: Marianne Malone Published: 2010 My edition: Random House Hardcover 2010 Purchased From: Barnes and Noble Greenwich Village Pages: 269 Synopsis (from Strand): Every Chicagoan knows about the Thorne Rooms in the Art Institute of Chicago. Sixty-eight miniature rooms, depicting rooms from European homes throughout the centuries, in immaculate detail, precise… Continue reading The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone