I am feeling rather cluttered. Do I look cluttered? Maybe a new template is what I need. I like graphics and visuals, but not so many that you don't quite know what to look at when you visit here. Do you read the current post or look at all the extra stuff? Is it too distracting? My life (or maybe it is just my house) is feeling cluttered, too. I guess I know what I will be doing this weekend. Paring down can be good. Maybe it is an end of the year thing. It seems every January I want to start afresh. Serious cleaning of house (all houses/blogs) is needed.
Tomorrow I am off to Kansas City. I never go anywhere exciting anymore, so I am looking forward to this even if it is just for the day. I am trying to decide what to bring to read (three hours down and three hours back). You would think I am planning for a weeklong vacation, but six hours without the right reading material could be excruciatingly boring. Should I be practical and bring Bram Stoker (less than 100 pages to go). Should I be frivolous and go for pure entertainment? That would be Horatio Hornblower and I bet I could easily finish that book. Should I be bad and bring something entirely new? Maybe The Apple by Michel Faber? As yet undecided. I think I will end up bringing two books and perhaps my Bookforum, and I agree with Stefanie--it is filled with lots of interesting articles and interviews. I have only read an article on Paula Fox (who I think I now need to read). I am going with my sister tomorrow. Here is what she is thinking...yay, Macy's! Here is what I am thinking...yay, four floors of Barnes and Noble! It's going to be an interesting day. I'll let you know how it turns out!
Elizabeth Ironside's newly published (here in the US anyway--it was originally published in 1996 in the UK) The Accomplice came in the mail yesterday. If it is anything like Death in the Garden it should be quite good! It has a nice, twisty sounding plot:
"the novel revolves around the narrative of three compelling female characters: Yevgenia Chornoroukaya (a.k.a. Jean Loftus), a Baltic-Russian aristocrat who fled wartorn Europe during WWII and eventually transformed herself into a middle-class Englishwoman; Zita Daunsey, Yevgenia's attorney and longtime friend; and conniving student Xenia, who will do anything to escape her existence in modern-day Russia. When the skeleton of a boy is found buried in a rose garden owned by the elderly Yevgenia, the investigation of an obsessed detective -- coupled with the arrival of a manipulative 21-year-old student allegedly related to Yevgenia -- forces the arthritic woman to relive horrific memories long buried: for good reason."
I like the kind of mystery that you can really sink your teeth into. I don't like everything spelled out, I want to be guessing all along and then still be surprised at the end. I am very glad Felony and Mayhem is publishing Ironside's mysteries here in the US. I need to take a look at their other publications as well. Yay for small presses!
Speaking of small presses. I am going to have to try something published by Persephone Books. I have browsed their catalog before, but two recent reviews by Dorothy and Kimbofo have brought them back to mind. I really love rediscovered books. Last year I read Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (I see this is once again out of print...a shame...), which was a delightful travel narrative published by the now defunct Common Reader (a pity as they were excellent booksellers and published or republished long forgotten books). I need to do a better job of supporting small presses. It is a matter of finding them. How do you find them? Just luck?
Look at this tiny book! This French stitcher is one of the most talented needleworkers that I know. Her work is quite literally exquisite! I want to stitch like her! She has made some of the tiniest little books I have seen around--all done by hand! I managed to finish my projects and get them in the mail, so that is a huge sigh of relief. Now I hope I can get back to my books! I have felt very distracted lately, and I am sure my posts have reflected that. I hope by Friday I might actually have finished one of my books or made enough progress to talk about one of them!