I’m like the boyfriend/girlfriend who comes up to the bedroom but just wants to snuggle. I’ll have content soon. I am finishing up Michael Ruhlman’s delicious The Making of a Chef, which I am reading in preparation for his forthcoming book The Reach of a Chef. Ed and I are preparing something to do with David Mitchell’s coming of age tale Black Swan Green (it’s my fault we haven’t had anything sooner). Mitchell will be visiting my store in Cambridge and I hope to have audio of that reading as well as a short interview.
Next week, we will be hosting Bernard-Henri Lévy at the First Parish Church and again, I hope to have audio of that to post soon.

To keep you busy, why don’t you check out some of Robert Birnbaum’s stellar interviews with Chip Kidd or Bret Easton Ellis? If that doesn’t fill you up, check out Tito Perez’s nice rundown of an event with Stephen Elliot and Paul Auster. And if you’re still not full, have some laughs with Jonathan Ames’ reminiscence on cleaning out his refrigerator.

Did anyone else make dioramas for school projects when they were a kid? I loved making dioramas. I got to combine my love of books with my love for cutting things outand assmbling them. I remember making one for a book report on one of the Moominland books by Tove Jansson (have forgotten which one). It turns out they have a pretty awesome website. Even better Drawn & Quarterly, one of my favorite publishers (they are very nice and publish some of the most beautiful books these days. It’s all quality. They let the authors determine how they want their books to look), will be reprinting the comic strip Jansson did in 1954 in 5 volumes. I had to get the Moomins just right. They look like hippos, but are definitely not hippos. I even gathered real leaves and twigs to make a forest for them (yes, I was a perfectionist even back then). I was a devoted diorama maker, though not as obsessive as Lisa Simpson—no moving parts.

(Thanks Bookslut for the link)

The Litblog Co-op is pleased to announce its Winter 2005 READ THIS! Selection: Garner by Kirstin Allio. The weeks ahead will include chats with Allio and others involved in the publication of the book. We’ll also reveal the other 4 nominees with discussions of the pros and cons. Plus, our fearless Ed has interviewed all 5 authors and will provide them via podcast.

Monday January 16th, the LBC will be announcing the Winter 2005 Read This! pick. It’s an exciting group this round. I can’t reveal it yet, but it will be a surprise. This round we’ll be having podcasts of interviews with all of the authors of the 5 nominated books. So stay tuned. And I will resume regular posting next week. Okay, so I’ve never been a “regular” poster, but I am taking some literary Metamucil, so all things should resume.

I am under the weather this week, damn sinuses, but that did not prevent me from being interviewed for a local news station about this whole James Frey debacle. They contacted my store and as one of the only people who had read the book, they wanted my opinion. So watch WB56 news at 10 tonight, those in the area. I will be the one who looks like she’s stoned (all that sudafed).

UPDATE: I got cut. I suppose I shouldn’t have admitted that I didn’t care for the book in the first place.

They sure do have a cool book club website.

I can rarely pass up a challenge. Ed has proposed increasing the 50 Book Challenge to 75 Books. Done and done. I’ve already completed the first book of 2006–David Mitchell’s Black Swan Green and am hoping to have some sort of interesting review up soon. I am already hard at work on P.D. James’ The Lighthouse.

I know, I know. You are sick of me coming in here with all these lame excuses about not posting. Well, here’s one more. I am just bloody tired, that’s all. This holiday season wiped me out. It got to the point where I didn’t want to even read because it meant holding a book. But never fear, I am still reading aplenty and will soon, hopefully, post about some of these books. I am two quarters the way throough the delightfully different David Mitchell. I’ll let you know how it goes. I’ll leave you with some links in the meantime.

• New Boldtype available: The Obsession Issue. Everyone needs a good obsession.
• Robert Birnbaum speaks with George Packer about Iraq and more.
• Richard Nash won the Miriam Bass Award for Creativity in Independent Publishing. Congratulations to him. Soft Skull is a beacon for small, independent publishers.
• The LBC lives. We’ll be announcing the next pick on January 15th. I’ll say that this round offered some of the most exciting nominees. I read some great authors that I was not familiar with before. Stay tuned. There will be podcasts, interviews, balloons. Okay, maybe not balloons.