This was a very well-written, thoughtful account of the author's time among Evangelical students at Liberty University. I think I enjoyed reading it as it mirrors a bit of my search from a young age regarding religion and spirituality.

As usual, click the pic for more info, bambinos!

From the sassy bellacrow:

As usual, click the pic for more info, bambinos!

I gave this as a gift last year, but given recent events and circumstances, I think I deserve a copy. And I know of someone who would be happy to support a book sponsorship... ;}





As usual, bambinos, click the pic for more info!

The CoM's beau has lent me his copy of this:





Which is a mighty big deal as he doesn't loan out his books to *anyone* - a trait that I'm totally down with as I feel the same way!

As usual, click the pic for more info...

From the Italian Notebook: [Venice] It is encouraging to find a bookshop that has survived the trinket establishments in this tourist challenged city. The Old World Bookshop, owned by John Francis Phillimore, is particularly appealing, possessing just the right amount of chaos and mustiness that book lovers treasure. Stop in while you are exploring the ancient Venetian Ghetto, in the Cannaregio sestriere. It sits discreetly just off the Campo del Gheto Novo and over a small bridge (Ponte del Gheto Vecio).

More info here.

I've enjoyed Chenoweth's work for years, and especially on my beloved (and now fucking canceled like Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me) show, Pushing Daisies.

This book was a quick, fun read! There's one section where Aaron Sorkin writes about his relationship with Kristin - I liked the man and his work before, by the time I finished reading his piece, I want to have his babies (hush, you in the back, I know the womb is gone but a girl can fantasize, damn it). You mean you didn't know that Sorkin and Chenoweth have been dating on/off for several years? Read the book!

You know the drill, bambinos, click the pic for more info!

More info here.

Holy Shite! Not only did I whip through three of the Sookie Stackhouse books (have book 8 on the library reserve list now - book 9 due out in May) this weekend, but now?



The Story of India

It's rare that my local public library turns down a purchase suggestion I make - sometimes it's due to how difficult it is to purchase the materials rather than being an idiotic suggestion on my part. I cannot tell you how excited I am to finally watch the whole series - on DVD - with bonus features!

And then?



We Shall Remain

This begins on my local PBS station tonight!

What a great night it's going to be me!

I've fallen away from my movie view fest now. Not that there aren't many great stories being filmed, but I prefer the written word. Imagine that...

In Prairie Lights, I found two books that had to come home with me. You know the drill, click the pic for more info!







Meanwhile, there's been tragedy of sorts for me. My favorite pair of reading glasses have bit the dust. I bought them years ago at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport on my way to a conference, and have loved wearing them ever since...and now, well:






All attempts at repair have failed.

*sigh*

They weren't expensive by any means, but I adore the color and the lens size was just right. Now begins the quest for a new pair.

Damn, I never get tired of Dawn French's impersonation of Zeta Jones:

Thanks to the sassy corvidophile for my LJ look!

I'm currently reading these two books, which so far are wonderful! (you know the drill about the pics, bambinos, click away)







This second book, I found a related link to it, The Library of Congress sharing some of the photos this WPA project. This link is a selection of cookbook covers which are amazing!



And I find it amusing, and smart thinking on the publisher's part, to have a "book trailer" for this title (that I'm patiently waiting for at the library):

Spring is like a perhaps hand
(which comes carefully
out of Nowhere) arranging
a window, into which people look (while
people stare
arranging and changing placing
carefully there a strange
thing and a known thing here) and

changing everything carefully

spring is like a perhaps
Hand in a window
(carefully to
and fro moving New and
Old things, while
people stare carefully
moving a perhaps
fraction of flower here placing
an inch of air there) and

without breaking anything.

-E. E. Cummings

*ganked from corvidophile

and it ain't Jebus, bambinos - it's my friend Lady Arachnid. What an *excellent* friend she is, too. When I had to cancel my honking big ass order of Kim Harrison hard backs due to my being laid off in January, she's loaning me her copy of:





And considering I rarely, if ever, loan out my books - and she is of the same mind - this is a real honor and treat.

You know the drills for more info, bambinos!

I'm partial to the trashy/fun reads...

Trashy book amnesty

We like to pretend to have read great literature to sound clever. But what about those well-thumbed novels we HAVE read, but are less keen to mention? Time to 'fess up.

At 3.1m characters, some 560,000 words and 1,400 pages, it's tempting to lie about having read War and Peace. After all, what are the chances the target of your fib has ploughed through the Russian masterpiece themselves?

Why do so many of us lie about our literary conquests? It's down to a conquest of a different kind - psychologists say many people hope that pretending to have read heavyweight books will make them more sexually attractive.

According to a World Book Day survey, 1984, War and Peace and Ulysses are the favoured white lies.

If these are thought to have the power to impress, what about books we do read but are too embarrassing to own up to?

The rest of the story here.

The once-and-always-beau dropped a book sponsorship on me, to kind of help keep my spirits up during the job search gig.

You know the drill, bambinos, click the pic for more info:

First, the "meh":




While it was well-written, I couldn't get past how annoying the main character was in the plot, in order to sympathize with her plight and follow the narrative to the end of the book. Maybe some stauncher soul than I will enjoy it immensely.

Two thumbs up for two books:







Do the drill as usual, bambinos, for more info!