books

I’m sure no one will be surprised to learn that my major decorating theme around here is piles of books. I have bookshelves, and even a wee library in my basement office, but the books, they still seem to pile up. So here are a few things I’ve been reading lately: This terrific article...
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A seven minute recording of Virginia Woolf (with thanks to Paul Lisicky for the re-tweet). Paul says she doesn’t sound like the Woolf in his head, but I’m afraid she sort of does sound like the Woolf in my head. Or some combo of this and Vanessa Redgrave’s Mrs. Dalloway. It took me a long...
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My new column at Bookslut, After Julie/Julia: The New Generation of Food Blog-to-Books, is up: I take on The Foodie Handbook: The (Almost) Definitive Guide to Gastronomy, Jam Today: A Diary of Cooking With What You’ve Got and The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove.
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It’s Sunday, which means the intertubes are full of book reviews. Here are a few links to things I’m thinking about or wanting to read. Patti Smith: Just Kids: I’ve been really riveted by the press for this one. I love Patti Smith — she’s so absolutely who she is and she’s so relentlessly followed...
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I haven’t read No Logo yet, but like Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy, it’s going on my list of interlibrary loan requests. I found this a couple of days ago, and in light of the forthcoming State of the Union, toward which I wish I was feeling less...
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Elizabeth Gilbert is interviewed at Jacket Copy, the LA Times book blog, where among a number of interesting things, she has this to say: You said before that it’s a youthful impulse to think of oneself as exceptional. You’ve traveled a lot — is that also an American trait? Very. Very very very very. That’s something...
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Powell’s reprinted my latest Bookslut essay on The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones. Go take a look and maybe even buy something from them. I highly recommend the Indispensibles program — like getting a surprise present every six weeks.
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Thanks in part to articles like this one from Jessa of Bookslut fame, The Second Sex, the Second Time, I’ve been keeping my eye open for the promised new translation to come out. If you want the short history of the translation issues, Maitresse has a good summary — apparently Knopf is publishing it in...
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My latest essay at Bookslut is up: On Eating Alone. Go take a look if you’ve got a minute!
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My new column is up at Bookslut: It wouldn’t be Christmas without a pile of big and fancy cookbooks just waiting to be wrapped in pretty paper and hidden under the tree. Cookbooks are one of my very favorite gifts — especially for the way they encourage people to invite one over for dinner. …
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