Saturday, March 25, 2006

Divining Women

This is another of Kaye Gibbons' simply but eloquently written novels about the American South in the early part of the 20th century. World War 1 is ending but an influenza epidemic is sweeping the US. The women in this novel are strong and good, as are the Negroes. Men, not so much. Mary, a young woman at loose ends after finishing school, leaves Washington for North Carolina to care for her uncle's wife who is expecting a baby. Mary comes from a freethinking family and speaks her mind when she sees her uncle Troop bullying and belittling his wife, Maureen. Throughout, Mary has the support of her mother who forwards letters from her own friend, Judith Stafford, who found strength within herself to make a fine new life after the breakup of her marriage. These letters are meant to encourage Maureen to find the strength within herself to move beyond her destructive relationship with Troop. It's a little book with a kind of quiet power.

Friday, March 24, 2006

The tourist map of literature

Yo, check this out:
Literature-Map - The tourist map of literature

Welcome to the World of Literature! Discover new writers you will like, travel the map. of literature and discuss your favorite books and authors.
Plug in an author's name and Literature Map will suggest other authors you might like. I typed in Russell Banks and Joan Didion, J.M. Coetzee, Larry Brown, Pete Dexter, Douglas Coupland, Martin Amis and Annie Proulx, among others, came up. It's almost like they can read my mind,(poor them).
Via Metafilter

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

EXPLORION - Travel & Exploration Online

All sorts of great travel books and stories here. I don't know where to start.

Friday, March 17, 2006

NeglectedBooks.

"Welcome to the Neglected Books page. Here you'll find lists of thousands of books that have been neglected, overlooked, forgotten, or stranded by changing tides in critical or popular taste. "
via Folderol

Monday, March 13, 2006

How to Create an Instant Bestselling Novel

Please consider the following helpful tips. These will make it easier to get your stories or novels published. These tips will help you write good fiction in general.
I'm so inspired! You'll all have to excuse me while I write a bestseller (it shouldn't take but an instant). I didn't know it was so galdarned easy.

E. Annie Shure Is Pissed

She was rootin' for Brokeback Mountain.
"We should have known conservative heffalump academy voters would have rather different ideas of what was stirring contemporary culture. Roughly 6,000 film industry voters, most in the Los Angeles area, many living cloistered lives behind wrought-iron gates or in deluxe rest-homes, out of touch not only with the shifting larger culture and the yeasty ferment that is America these days, but also out of touch with their own segregated city, decide which films are good. "

Thursday, March 09, 2006

IACP Awards

IACP Cookbook Awards, Current Winners, International Association of Culinary Professionals
I don't have any of these yet (it takes awhile before they arrive at The Book Depot). I know I'd like to add a few of them to my ridiculously expansive cookbook collection.

Elizabeth and After

I'm a long-time fan of Matt Cohen and have had this book in my possession for a long time. I was slow to pick it up because my spouse didn't particularly care for it. How nuts is that? Anyhow, this is the story of Carl McKelvy told through flashbacks from several perspectives. Carl returns to his hometown in rural Ontario, north of Kingston. He wants to reconnect with his young daughter, Lizzie, and (he hopes) with Lizzie's mother, Chrissie.He encounters many obstacles on the mean streets of West Gull (pop. 684), among them his alcoholic father, women on the make , Chrissie's abusive new partner and his own sad history. The denizens of West Gull remind one of those in a David Adams Richards novel but not quite as tragically etched. I read it and liked it but, seriously folks, the GG? Give me a break. He died 16 days after receiving the award. In my (humble) opinion Last Seen was more award-worthy but this one was a good read about normal folks with some romance and a little bit of drama at the end so read it if you like this sort of stuff.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Dan Brown, Cover Your Eyes: Gay Porn 'Da Vinci' Adaptation to Be Released Same Day as Ron Howard's 'Da Vinci Code'


Production outfit PZP Productions has announced plans to release its gay-sex film The DaVinci Load on May 19, the same day the movie that it parodies,Ron Howard's The Da Vinci Code, is scheduled to hit theaters.

PZP head Peter Zaragoza told Gay Video News, "The DaVinci Load is our most ambitious and expensive film to date. The star, new discovery Sebastian Young, is a hot bad-boy with a [remarkable appendage] and great charisma.

via Book Ninja