December 2007

Like Sigur Ros, only not. Dreamy and open ambient not-quite-techno. Wunden gibt es immer wieder.

Thief, Liar, Gentleman? By Eleanor Updale. A YA book, first in a series. I liked it; I’ll be reading at least the next book. The premise was interesting–a petty thief leaves prison and begins a dual life, that of criminal and gentleman. But the character makes too many mistakes for me to consider him a

Ray and I put together a gingerbread-house kit tonight. It was a good idea — whenever I make gingerbread, some kind of primal instinct says, “KILL KILL KILL.”* In short, it doesn’t last very long. But the gingerbread in the kit was already stale, hard, and didn’t smell like gingerbread at all. Perfect. For building

Terry Pratchett has a rare form of early-onset Alzheimers. –I’m not going to eulogize here. As he notes in his letter, he’s not dead yet. But MAAAAAN, has the guy ever been a provider of hope and good times curled up on the couch with Lee, trying to resist the urge to read all the

…An Optimus Prime Groom’s Cake.

My favorite books ever are Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.* Actually, I don’t remember whether I liked them when I was a kid–I think, vaguely, I thought they were just too weird. But maybe that’s just apocryphal memory-making. In high school, a friend of mine reintroduced me to them, and to The Annotated

The story of endless rejections (okay, 11) is getting published! “Fragile” is going to Parade of Phantoms. I will, of course, do the happy dance and announce when I know it’s going to go public.

So, in the spirit of the previous post, here are my recommendations for books for cookbook lovers: The Art of Eating, by MFK Fisher. This book collects four of Fisher’s essay collections. There are a few recipes, but the book is more about the author’s love of everything and how it ties into food than

Barbara Fisher talks about cookbooks and the cooks who love them over at Tigers & Strawberries: No–I think it is more fun to give the bookish cook a real live book, and see their eyes light up with joy upon unwrapping it. You can just tell that he or she wants to just open the

by Michael Dibdin. Okay, I admit it. The last Harry Potter book was my most-anticipated-book-of-2007. The Mysterious Benedict Society was my favorite new book of 2007. Kare Kano and Fruits Basket are tied for tops in my “Manga that made me laugh out loud, manga that made me cry” category for 2007. Ratking is my