lit*chick

you want a piece of me?

The highest form of insult in our home is currently: "yeah, stop acting like Hannah Montana and wearing a skirt..." clearly not directed towards me, since i am the only member of the family wearing a skirt already.

The cherubs have returned from grammy camp, we are into the spring break home stretch...baseball practice has started...and i got my new spring bag. Otherwise, spring break didn't not prove to be spring-like or break-like.

Took KWB to B&N and grimaced at his selection of a Pokemon book (and i'm still grimacing) and delighted at his interest in joining the B&N Boys Bookclub. Unfortunately (or fortunately), Saturday afternoons are about to be consumed by baseball games.

Read some quick stuff this week - Trick of the Eye by Jane Hitchcock (light mystery/suspense) about a trompe d'oeil (transl. trick of the eye) artist who is hired by a wealthy woman to paint a room for her dead daughter. I have a copy to giveaway if you are interested. Just let me know...

AND Out of the Frying Pan by Gillian Clark, a memoir about a single mom's journey to becoming a chef and opening her own restaurant.  Incidentally, her restaurant - Colorado Kitchen - is in DC so that may be an upcoming field trip, um date. Are you reading, dear husband?

I have a stack of books to pick up at the library and hopefully that will jumpstart me again. What's new with you?

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short story collections

do you read them?

if so, what do you like about them? and what are your favorites?

if not, why?

also, do you read a collection straight through or linger over one at a time?

i have read Flannery O'Connor, The Palace Thief by Ethan Canin, and some of Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies. i love a complete story encapsulated in a few pages, but i don't know how to approach short stories/collections. can someone help?

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back to business

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend. Ours was a big blur of basketball, bunnies, nerf guns, church, lemon bars and colored eggs.

Most of you probably had spring break last week, but ours is this week - the kiddos are all home and already fighting. Sigh.

But I'm back to the stacks after my brief bout with a stomach bug. I read Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy. I'll talk more about it on the feed, but it was a worthwhile read. And I finished The God of Animals - April's online bookclub pick. It is risky to choose a bookclub book you haven't already previewed (not a good habit), but after seeing it on the NY Times 2007 Notable list I figured good or bad there will be lots to discuss. Well, I can happily report the gamble paid off and I encourage you all to get a copy and read it. I'm anxious to talk about it, it's one of those books that you really want other people to know. And it's in paperback now, so you have no excuses.

That's all for now, I have to grab a light saber (aka cattle prod) and retrieve a ball out of the woods...

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march madness

are you ready?

...for the ACC fans

let the games begin.

lit chick's Easter booklist

Even though I have known that Easter is early this year, it is still sneaking up on me. Here is the list in all it's pastel glory:

The Easter Parade: A Novel by Richard Yates is on my to-read list.

We are fans of Brian Wildsmith - his illustrations are lovely,especially in his religious titles. Others include: Exodus, Moses, and Joseph

Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

The Egg Tree by Katherine Milhous

  Love Gail Gibbons books - but BE WARNED - if you are an easter bunny family, this book describes the "legend" of said bunny so you may want to preview...on amazon people are up in arms that it spoils the bunny story. Personally, I find her inclusivity of the resurrection and the bunny to be pretty cool.

The Easter Rabbit's Parade by Lois Lenski

The Tale of Three Trees by Angela Elwell Hunt - a lovely folk tale about three trees that grow up to be the manger, boat, and cross for Jesus

and our favorite:

Owen's Marshmellow Chick

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here's what you're reading:

finished:

• Did I Expect Angels? by Kathryn Maughan
• Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
• Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
• Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Piccoult
• Antiques Maul by Barbara Allan
• Going Loco by Lynn Truss
• Empress by Shan Sa
• Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen
• Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
• The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold
• Harry Potter #7
• Consumption by Kevin Patterson
• The Sound of Butterflies by Rachael King

reading now:

• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by
• Loose Girl by Kerry Cohen
• A Thousand Splendid Suns  by Khaled Hosseini
• Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
• Persian Girls: A Memoir by Nahid Rachlin
• The Worst Thing I've Done by Ursula Hegi
• The Gathering by Anne Enright
• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
• The Translator by Daoud Hari
• The Shaping of the Christian Family by Elisabeth Elliot
• The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle
• Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

next up:

• East of Eden by John Steinbeck
• Keeper and Kid by Edward Hardy
• Leftovers by Laura Wiess
• The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
• The Birth House by Ami McKay

What a fantastic array of books - a most impressive list :). I love that you all have a reading plan, even if it's short term - as in "this is my next book". Nice work.

My list has already changed...I finished Her Last Death and Madonnas of Leningrad, and am preparing to start The God of Animals and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

If you haven't already shared your past, present, and immediate future reads - go here. I'll add you to this list and take another roll call soon.

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updated

the feed has been partially updated, i have a few more to go, but this is a good start.

happy wednesday to you!

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did you know?

that Hugh Laurie (from the TV show House) is an author? And supposedly pretty good too.Check it out.

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erin go bragh

Did you know it means (or translated as) Ireland forever?   I just thought I'd save you the step of looking it up, I'm here to help. And more - good 'ole Irish lit and some books with green covers :

for all you serious readers...Dubliners by James Joyce or anything by William Trevor

for the rest of us:

An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor and it's sequel, An Irish Country Village

He's Irish and the cover is lovely shade of green. Double bonus.

short stories by irish women all for charity. AND

one of my faves - Firefly Summer by Maeve Binchy

you didn't really think I'd post about Ireland without Bono did you?  and it's on sale ...

this wins for best title & cover...and it came up first under irish cooking, hmmm?

this whole series is fun..

I'm off to watch Circle of Friends and eat green m&ms. I may even listen to some Chieftains and definitely U2.

Hope your grass is green today.

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giveaway

Trish is giving away 2 new copies of Did I Expect Angels on her blog - head over there and leave her a comment. And while you are there, check out her reviews :)

Speaking of reviews, I'm about 5 behind on the feed, so look for some updates this week. I blame the weather.

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