reads from Halloween on past Solstice

167. Tokyo Fiance by Amelie Nothomb (Dear Amelie Nothomb, I'm in love with you...)

168. Frazz: Live at Bryson Elementry by Jeff Mallett (comics)

169. 99% Perspiration: a Frazz Collection by Jeff Mallett (comics)

170. Pretty Dead by Francesca Lia Block

171. The Elegance of the Hedgehog (re)

172. Anticrista by Amelie Nothomb (not one of her best, but it will do for a fix if you're already addicted to her)

173. The Life of Hunger by Amelie Nothomb (wonderful)

174. Sulpheric Acid by Amelie Nothomb (another fix)

175. The Most Beautiful Book in the World: Eight Novellas by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt

176. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games, book 2)

177. My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme

178. Switch Bitch by Roald Dahl

179. When Wanderers Cease to Roam: a traveler's journal of staying put by Vivian Swift

180. The Life of Hunger by Amelie Nothomb (re. Yes, it was that good.)

181. The Secret Lives of Men & Women: a Post Secret book edited by Frank Warren

182. Her Fearful Symmetry by Andrey Niffenegger (graveyards. the identity crisis of twinness. what could love be like in extreme enough situations?)

183. Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl

184. The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Nancy Madore (not recommended. a self-help book in a harlot's disguise.)

185. The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint (wonderful & without the "too many characters, doing too many things in unrealted places" problem he sometimes stumbles into.)

186. Lust & other stories by Susan Minot (not as over the top & skull-excavating as Rapture, but not bad. it's easy to see how this kind of writing was laying ground for Evening & Rapture.)

187. Still Life by Irving Penn (photos)

188. The Best Time to Do Everything by Michael Kaplan

the good stuff

159. Across the Nightengale Floor: Tales of the Otori Book One by Liam Hearn

160. On Reading by Andre Kertesy (photography. very lovely!)

161. Ghost Girl (poems) by Amy Gerstler (like playing in a shop full antique toys, a bit whimsical, a pit like a treasure hunt in a friend's back yard)

162. The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris by Edmund White, The Writer & the City series (a wonderful little read for anyone who loves obsure, footnote-ish history, cities, Paris... J.E. & A.B. would probably both enjoy.)

163. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach (Informative, intriguing, gross at points in a CSI kind of way. Awesome.)

164. Gourment Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery (Same author as The Elegance of the Hedgehog. She needs to publish again as soon as possible.)

165. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman (re) (Still awesome, maybe my favorite Neil Gaiman, maybe.)

166. Idoru by William Gibson (Not quite as lovely as Pattern Recognition, but still good futuristic fun with computers.)

Elegance of the Hedgehog, Hunger Games, much love.

147. The End by Lemony Snicket

148. Naamah's Kiss by Josephine Carey

149. The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman (re)

150. The Subtle Knife by Phillip Pullman (re)

151. The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman (re)

152. The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor (I kept expecting this to get better & ended up finishing it. Can't imagine bothering with the sequel.)

153. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. (I finished this and immediately started it again. I'm in love with this book. I'd like to send a bouquet of sunrise-colored roses to Madame Barbery and her two unlikely heroines.)

154. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Massive, massive kudos to A.R. for convincing me to try this book even though it didn't seem like my thing. I'm on tenderhooks for the sequel.

155. Juxtapoz Illustration (there will be at least one artist in this book to amaze you, though there will also probably at least one gross out.) J'aime KozyNDan. (I don't bother to make a link unless it's awesome. Hint, hint.)

156. Rose is Rose: In Living Color by Pat Brady

157. Open Letter to a Quiet Night by Francesca Lia Block (I would send roses to Francesca too. Daily.)

158. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson (Interesting as a study of the time and thought process thereof in a way that the movie is not. I love the movie.)

8/26/09 to 8/30/09

141. Fables Vol. 12--The Dark Ages

142. Spectacles by Samuele Mazza

143. Brahaus by Samuele Mazza

144. In the Bag by Samuele Mazza

145. A Growling Place by Thomas Aquinas Maguire

146. Pink Samurai: Love, Marriage & Sex in Centemporary Japan by Nicholas Bornoff

125. Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr (delicious)

126. The Carnivorous Carnival by Lemony Snicket

127. Zen Shorts by Jon. J. Muth (delightful picture book)

128. Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr (delicious)

129. Twilight Director's Notebook by Catherine Hardwick

130. The Slippery Slope by Lemony Snicket

131. The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman (Yet again she wields her magic.)

132. 1000 Artist Journal Pages: Personal Pages & Inspirations. edited by Dawn DeVries Sokol

133. 1000 Handmade Greetings edited by Laura McFadden & Deborah Baskin

134. Obsession by Gloria Vanderbilt

135. The Arrival by Shaun Tan (go look up this guy's work! right now!) (a picture book without words, but that says so much.)

136. The Art of Alex Gross

137. The Blue Stone: a journey through life by Jimmy Liao (a melencoly but adorable picture book)

138. The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket

139. I Was Told There'd Be Cake: essays by Sloane Crosley (everything the back of the books says, in a good way.)

140. Red Tree by Shaun Tan

113. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr (awesome. sort of like Twilight with Faeries instead of vampires...)

114. The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alice Bechdel (always great for a little laughter, perhaps a few tears and a heaping dose of introspection.)

115. Busted: Zits Sketchbook 6

116. The Waters & The Wild by Francesca Lia Block (Block is fabulous as always...)

117. The Melancoly Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories by Tim Burton (all the creepy of his movies minus the sense of wonder.)

118. The Squirrel Mother: stories by Megan Kelso (not really sure why I bothered to finish this. I kept thinking it would get better.)

119. Goodbye, Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson (a snapshot of all the things that made Blankets so lovely.)

120. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

121. Fleur De Leigh's Life of Crime: a novel by Diane Leslie

122. Wonder Tales: Six French Ftories of Enchantment editied by Marina Warner

123. The Other Side by Istvan Banzai

124. Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan (Stunning.)



120.

120.

104. Gothic Art Now, edited by Jasmine Becket-Griffith

105. She: Poems by Saul Williams (re)

106. Carnet de Voyage by Craig Thompson (Author of Blankets. Awesome! Thank you to the Interlibrary Loan dept.)

107. Serenity: Vol. 1-Those Left Behind by Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews & Will Conrad

108. Serenity: Vol. 2-Better Days

109. Amulet: Vol. 1- The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi

110. The Tree Show by Mark Ryden

111. Flight: Vol 1. edited by Kazu Kibuishi

112. A Wind in the Door by Madeline L'Engle (re)

83. The Ultimate Tea Diet by Mark "Dr. Tea" Ukra

84. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

85. Slim: A Fantasy Memoir by Cynthia Rowley

86. Fables: Vol 10- The Good Prince by Bill Willingham (Probably my favorite volume in the series thus far.)

87. Flash Fiction Forward: 80 Very Short Stories, edited by James Thomas & Robert SHepard

88. The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket

89. The Sexual Life of Catherine M.

90. It sucked and then I cried: how I had a baby, a breakdown, and a much needed margarita by Heather B. Armstrong creator of dooce.com

91. Free-Range Chickens by Simon Rich (hilarious)

92. Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (sort of prequel to the series chronologically, could be read entirely seperately or at any point in the series) (re)

93. Fables: Vol 11- War & Pieces (and with that I am unfortunately caught up and much wait patiently for the next volume release.)

94. A Poem Travelled Down My Arm: Poems & Drawings by Alice Walker

95. Bittersweet Journey: a modestly erotic novel of love, longingn and chocolate by Enid Futterman

96. The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket

97. Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

98. Blankets: an illustrated novel by Craig Thompson (re)

99. Carmine: a little more red by Melissa Sweet

100. Twilight: the complete illustrated movie companion by Mark Cotto Vaz

101. Moonheart by Charles De Lint

102. Stories for an Enchanted Afternoon by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

103. A Year of Mornings: 3191 Miles Apart: a photocollaboration by Maria Alexandra Vettese & Stephenie Congdon Barnes

dream: elephants, running, stairs, nuns, pain, anger

Dream: I am between 12 and 15. I'm on the Island and there's a general store, but it's really quite large but on main street. The back half of it is a exibit that is changed seasonally or twice a year. This time there are elephants (!) three or four adults and a similar number of babies. I take the bus and see them everyday. There is a rail around them, you can't touch them, but it looks like maybe the adult trunks could reach if the wanted to but they don't they try to pretend people aren't there and play with their babies. Other people that come to see them yell at them and children run and scream about. I am very quite and always go alone. One day the babies are gone and the adults are paceing around their small space very quickly. The workers tell the people the babies must all be napping in the cave space.

One of the adult elephants puts its trunk out at they never have before. I'm gasping it is so close and so beautiful. It's trunk is coming toward me! And I put my hand in the air to reach towards it back. I think it's going to be an E.T. type moment and the tip of it's trunk will touch the palm of my hand, but the tip of the trunk dips past my hand and the trunk wraps around my arm and lifts me into the air!

I'm on their side now and I can see that the babies are gone! The workers hustle me out, hitting the elephants with sticks to get by. They tell the crowd the babies must have been stolen by people from the city. If feels like they're lying.I run out into the street.

Then it's later and I'm running farther down the same street with my best guy friend and my lover (even though we didn't know him them he looks like he looked in pictures from then). In an alley way we run up some stair that just keep going, three or four stories of stairs. At the top there is a door with light around the edges. I open it and there is another. There are maybe seven door, all right togeter with light always coming through to make you feel like you're almost there. Then there is a gauze curtain instead of a door it is red, like burgundy, but a slightly bloodier shade of red. All the doors have been this color too, but not identical.

Through the curtain we can see a whole bunch of nuns on a platform and on stair that go down outside mirroring the ones behind us. Between in the nuns and curtin there is a woman in a broad rimmed hat standing with a little girl they look like they're dressed in 1940's clothes for church. I motion to E & J that we should just go. But as I turn my movement makes the curtain move. they're all coming after us. I feel like no one was supposed to see this. We try to close the doors behind us put they're all turned into door-sized pieces of red parchment with paste on the side toward the curtain like we had peeled them off. I'm trying to press them over, but there are always fingers tearing through from the other side.

We're running down the stairs, but when there are only ten or fifteen left I fall because I'm clumbsy. The fall is like being inside a wave except the sharp corner of each step. pain. pain. pain.

It's years later. There were never anymore live animal in the exibit area. SO I don't feel all heartbroken about their cramped captivity, but the taxidermy animals make my stomach roll. I'm buying something and the guy behind me is tapping my shoulder and saying, 'hey, you're that girl...' His voice is laughing meaness and as I'm turning I can see the wallet in his hand made of elephant-hide leather. I punch him right in the nose and walk out the door. No one is chasing me.



I don't know what this dream means, I had it in the morning between 5:23AM and 7:00AM on 6/24. The previous day I'd put an elephant photo on the wallpaper of a computer at work and answered a coworker that I love them when she asked. I do not have fear of nuns, but I am clumbsy, and taxidermy does make me uncomfortable. I have never punched anyone in the face.

Les miserables is worth it, really.

Or, how to read a monster-length book and still have room in your bag.

This is absolutely wonderful and engaging, laugh, cry, growl, the works. You may find yourself bringing it up in extremely unrelated conversations, "Thats like when in Les Miz. [insert approprite anedote]."



To avoid carrying a brick around, I recommend buying a cheap paperback copy like the one shown. Find the start of the four or five books that make up the volume. Carefully break the spine at the start of each books and carefully take an exacto knife to the seam between pages.



(If you care about rereading or think you might pass it on to a friend, make new covers for each section with cardstock and packing or duct tape.)



Enjoy your newly carriable volumes of Les Miserables!

Book List still lives, really.

56. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke



57. Ant Farm and Other Desperate Situations by Simon Rich



58. Willful Creatures: Stories by Aimee Bender



59. Green Angel by Alice Hoffman



60. The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket



61. Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith



62. Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoir by Writers Famous & Obscure, edited by Smith Magazine



63. Enchanted Again by Nancy Madore



64. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice writing as A.N. Roquelaure



65. Beauty' Punishment by Anne Rice writing as A. N. Roquelaure

66. Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket

67. The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket

68. The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket

69. The Comopolitan: Poems by Donna Stonecipher

70. Beauty's Release by Anne Rice writing as A. N. Roquelaure

71. The Garden of Eye Candy

72. Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid by Lemony Snicket

73. Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (Vol. 1) by Bryan Lee O'Malley

74. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Vol. 2) by Bryan O'Malley

75. All You Need to Be Impossibly French by Helena Firth Powell (re)

76. Matilda Bone by Karen Cushman

77. The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hays (re)

78. Fables: Vol. 9- Sons of Empire by Bill Willingham, etc.

79. Welcome to To Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys but Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Every day Life by Sandra Aamodt Ph. D. & Sam Wang Ph. D. , 2008 edition

80. Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Saddness (vol. 3) by Bryan O'Malley

81. Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket

82. Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together (Vol. 4) by Bryan O'Malley

sundries that travel with me

cell phone
So family member can text me for library materials or grocceries.

hankerchief
for allergies, mostly pollen & book dust.

planner
o I can pretend to be in control of my life and so that I can be inspired by the bird & goldfish I pated on the cover.

journal
so that when I feel like laughing or crying at inappropriate times I don't.

Chai Rose lip balm
My lips get chapped otherwise & the smell make me happy, also sort of energizing.

Orange Lavender lip balm
Chapped lips and the smell is very calming.

Creative Zen mp3 player
life soundtracking

knitting
to keep my hands busy in waiting rooms and conversations.

bottle of bubbles
for joy.

mini sharpie
things come up...

pill box
ibprofen, caffeine, and a days worth of vitamins.

novel

massive keyring.

black & silver wallet

fish coin purse

"If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" brings me back to bedtime storytime.

"If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" reminds me of bedtime when I was little. Before I could read I would memorize my favorite picture books. Adults who didn't know me thought I knew how to read until they gave me a book that wasn't mine. I can almost still recite this though not nessesarily in the order in which it occurs.
I get really excited whenever a little kid comes to check this out at the library.

the book list lives!

21. Free Range Knitter by Stephenie Pearl-McPhee

22. The Colossus of New York by Colson Whitehead (THIS is what I love about New York!)

23. Gargoyle

24. Cautionary Tales for Children by Hillaire Bellog, rediscovered & illustrated by Edward Gorey

25. Frank Miller's Sin City: Vol 7- Hell & Back

26. The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman

27. The Discovery of Chocolate: A Novel by James Runcie

28. An Underground Education by Richard Zacks (Awesome random information.)

29. Letters in the Attic by Bonnie Shimko

30. A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary by Xiaolu Guo

31.Fables Vol 3. Storybook Lovey by Bill Willingham, etc.

32. Leftovers by Laura Weiss

33. After School Nightmare Vol. 9 by Shona Mizushiro

34. Snow by Tracy Lynn

35. (As Francesca): A Novel by Martha Baer

36. 500 Handmade Dolls: Modern Explorations of the Human Form, Lark Books (Gorgeous, absolutely.)

37. Parnassus On Wheels by Christopher Morley (Utterly delightful adventure for the joy of books.)

38. How to (Un)Cage a Girl: Poems by Francesca Lia Block

39. Fables Vol. 4 March of the Wooden Soldiers by Bill Willingham, etc.

40. Fables Vol. 5 The Mean Seasons by Bill Willingham, etc.

41. The Diving Bell & The Butterfly by Jean-Dominiques Bauby (The writing is so amazing you might forget how sad the circumstances are.)

42. The Bell at Sealy Head by Patricia A. McKillip (Fantastic & amazing as McKillip almost always is.)

43.Women (photogrphs) by Annie Leibovitz & Susan Sontag

44. X-Ray by Nic Veasey (X-ray photos of common things. Awesome.)

45. Fables Vol. 6 Homelands by Bill Willingham, etc.

46. Mouse Guard, Fall 1152 by David Peterson (If you loved Redwall and wish there was a graphic novel like that, well there's this...)

47. Nightmares & Fairy Tales: Vol. 4 Dancing With the Ghosts of Whales

48. Fables Vol 7. Arabian Nights & Days by Bill Willingham, etc.

49. Fables Vol. 8 Wolves by Bill Willingham, etc.

50. The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar

51. Unpacking the Boxes: A Memoir of A Life in Poetry by Donald Hall

52. Snake Hips: Belly Dancing and How I found True Love by Anne Thomas Soffee

53. 500 Handmade Books: Inspiring Interpretations of a Timeless Form, Lark Books

54. Someplace to be Flying by Charles De Lint (De Lint never lets me down for inspiring, thought-provoking, dream-inpiring urban fantasy. Love, love, love.)

55. Passive Aggesive Notes: Painfully polite & Hilariously HostileWritings. ed. Kerry Miller

joy by post

pirate bandaids
pirates are awesome. and bandaids should have cool stuff on them to help people feel better.

chocolate
chocolate makes people feel happy. their favorite chocolate if I know it.

small collage
well, I'd base it on who it was going to. it would make them smile & maybe remember something I did that made them laugh at some point.

wind-up toy
traiin, hopping bird, wobbly robot

pocket-sized hand-made blank book
because people should at least be invited to keep track of their thoughts, especially when in new situations

Yellow Butterfly Doom Bag, better than a towel.

black & silver wallet
for coffee & groceries. for gas for the van.

planner
so I can make "to do" lists for myself & also to help me feel in control of my life.

red journal, full
because I haven't blogged my book list out of it yet

wanderlust journal, empty
because the red one is full

mango lotion in a bottle
my hands get dry from processing books and washing pint glasses

asiany blue zip bag, large
It holds my knitting, currently an anatomical heart knit in pink-purple-brown stripey sock yarn, also a click-clack row counter, tapestry needles, pattern instructions, a pen, cabling needles, and a london shot glass trying to get to the kitchen.

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter08/PATTheart.php

pebbley beret
to keep my head warm and to stave off dumb questions in yarn stores

asiany blue zip bag, medium
mp3 player & headphones, to allow me to instantly inprove my mood while driving, sorting books & sewing.

digital camera in blue felt zip bag
in case something awesome shows up

glue stick & double sided tape
in case something else awesome shows up

mini tin
pills, for too sleepy, allergies, or aches

packet of pirate tissues
in case I forget to put a hankerchif in my jeans' pocket

black pens, loose
for the books that need writing in, or to write notes to myself on the back of my hands

How to (Un)Cage a Girl: Poems by Francesca Lia Block
in case I have to wait in a line or in case I run out of things to go online.

I wish I could move to Brooklyn

I perfer the city, and I love New York. Home would feel more like home if it were in New York. Subways instead of cars. Awesome vegetarian takeout everywhere.
I wouldn't have a studio, but I probably would craft more because I'd be living among my supplies and I wouldn't be freezing my butt off when I'm out there at the sewing machine or easel.
Really I might have more room becaue I'd be sharing with one person instead of three. And it would just be us, more room for both of us. And I have colorful stuff that could be everywhere instead of just in our bedroom so it would be home.

paper room

(The room is my bedroom, but in varied incarnations, the best of one smooshed with the best of another.)

clouds of paper cranes hanging from the ceiling, twisting about with every flury movemeent causes. incense curling up among sandlewood, vanilla, ylang-ylang candles. comfy chair with an automaton. Tansu chest full of yarn stash. lots of book shelfs. loft bed like a nest. stereo to hook mp3 player to, Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack, full collection of Modest Mouse and DJ Cheb i Sabbah. easel in the corner by the window with a shelf of paint & art supplies. closet of pinstriped skirts, combat boots, asian brocade blouses. full lengh mirror made of many small mirrors hung next to each other. jars of marbles on the windowsils with light shining through. a desk in front of the window big enough to sit cross-legged with your laptop while watching the people walking by, children dancing to the synagogue, fighting for love's sake outside the bodega.

Bookworm meets the world wide web

I started using the internet in the mid or late '90s as a latchkey kid. My parents were both teachers who'd been to conferences toting how the future of communication/education would be internet based. Although very protective in other ways I had unfiltered access to the whatever was online starting at eleven or twelve.

I had an email address that got very little except a word-of-the-day and weird-history-daily emails. There was a fantasy short story website with a sort of labryrinthian layout that I'd wander through. I did searches for mythology stuff on altavista and snap.com. I'd kill the three or four hours until one of my parents got home easily.

None of my friends had the internet at home for two years or more, so the internet didn't really feel like communication as much as very magical sort of never-ending, choose-your-own-adventure book. It felt very foreign to me to get emails from real people I knew and to chat online with people I'd spoken to at lunch.

I used the internet even more when I first went to college. I'd never lived in a city before, and google was a major help filling my evenings & weekends with events, parks & museums. When I did start to have acquaintances from class I started to instant message in earnest for the first time, everyone in the major would be logged in if they were in their dorm room. It was less weird that calling someone's room & getting their crazy roommate or trusting your own messages to a roommate you'd known for a few weeks. When I started talking to someone special we talked online while I was at work (a secretary's secretary, a maker of copies, a fetcher or lunches) and from our dorms even through we were sitting in rooms less than a city block apart. In retrospect he probably knew I was shy.

I'm not sure now if my view of the internet is normal. I feel sort of out of touch with how much I'm supposed to be connected to others. When it was just me and people I didn't know I felt free to skip the internet for a day to paint or go to a friend's house instead of online. Now that I have two jobs, a partner, the ability to transport myself from place to place, I feel more obligated to be present online, but have less time to do it.

Hint: A trip to Siam Garden, Court St, Brooklyn, NY would be nice this Valentine's Day

These are a few of my favorite things.... (permisson to daydream)

Siam Garden, Court St, Brooklyn, NY
Because it's not one of those fancy-shmancy places thats all booked up for V-Day. I really like their Thai art on exposed brick walls with votives on the tables. Also on V-day they have Lava Tofu which is just about the best. Also ideally the awesome toy store down the street wouldn't have closed and you could pick out toys for each other on your way to dinner. (Try to look tough walking through Fulton Mall on the way home.)

Pike Place Market, Seattle, WA
Browse Dio Del Los Muertos figurines & milagro charms at Milagros Mexican Folk Art gallery. At Cafe Yarmarke get a bowl of awesome borscht & a piroshki or two, the owners are wicked nice. Then go fiddle with instruments in Lark In The Morning Musique. Smell things in Tsing Momo. Get the newest COLORS in the big stand at 1st & Pike. Wander down to the French bakery for an almond latte. take a bus to the Frye museum, debate how to get my stuff in a museum.

manhattan, nyc
people watching over endless coffee at the Skyline diner. gallery cruzing at the Met. sketching around the skylit greek statues. go see a movie at the Anglika or another cinema. Tanti Baci would be the last stop but get off the subway a stop or two early for browsing & people watching. Wendy would be the server, so you'd feel like a guest in her home instead of like a customer.

home
Candle light only. DJ Cheb i Sabbah on the CD player. Lasagna in the oven. A nice cab-sav.

at work, libraryland
well, I really will be there. It would be nice to have a non-work email in my work email work inbox... It would be nice if the customers were nice or scarce or both...

Watch "Amelie" next time you're home sick, or...

It's whimsical and uplifting, willing to laugh at the little quirks of everyday people and utterly inersed in the fact that what makes people weird is also what makes them interesting. Also on a purely visual level this film is a work of art, composition, lush color saturation, and all the fine detail of dream before you wake up.

(However, if you're too sick to follow subtitles, and don't speak french, I would recommend "Penelope". It is also delightful in many similar ways to "Amelie".)

Book List 2009

1. Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip-- Confessions of a Cynical Waiter by The Waiter

2. The Coffee Trader by David Liss

3. Playing With Grown-Ups by Sophie Dahl

4. Memoirs of a Teenage Amenesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

5. Robert Doisneau Paris (photographs with excerpts from Doisneau's notebooks)

6. Psyche in a Dress by Francesca Lia Block (re)

7. Ruby by Francesca Lia Block (re)

8. It Itches: a stash of Knitting Cartoons by Franklin Habit

9. Nightmares & Fairytales: (Vol. 2) Beautiful Beasts by Serena Valentino & FSc

10. Frank Miller's Sin City-- Vol 4. :That Yellow Bastard

11. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

12. Yellow Silk II

13. Blood Roses by Francesca Lia Block

14. Frank Miller's Sin City -- Vol 5: Family Values

15. Frank Miller's Sin City --Vol 6: Booze, Broads & Bullets

16. A Writer's San Francisco: A Guided Journey for the Creative Soul by Eric Maisel, Drawings by Paul Madonna

17. High-Spirited Rose is Rose: A collection of Rose is Rose by Pat Brady

18. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo, illustrations by Basil Ering

19. Nightmares & Fairy Tales: (Vol. 1) Once Upon A Time by Serena Valentino & FSc

20. Nightmares & Fairy Tales: 1140 Rue Royale by Serena Valentino, art by Crab Scamby