List of the Week
- Excerpt-a-ganza! The first chapter of The Second Duchess is now available here.
- The Second Duchess‘s giveaway at Goodreads continues! Sign up! And check back here for an international giveaway of a couple of advance reader copies. I think I’m going to wait until the Goodreads giveaway gets to 1,000 entries, so sign up now.
- Cressie News: all bandages, cones, and protective collars are off. She is once again romping free in the back yard and doing her Snoopy dance under the Squirrel Tree. I think we can declare her officially healed, and we are so grateful for all the good thoughts and prayers you sent her way.
- Congratulations to Karen Harper on Down River’s nomination for the 2011 Mary Higgins Clark Award, announced with the Edgar nominations this past week and presented each year by the Mystery Writers of America.
- Writing-related link of the week: Jan O’Hara’s Tartitude. Great reviews, thoughtful essays on the writing life, and really good comments. Get your vitamin C every day!
- Fun link of the week: All-Star Puzzles. Fun and free! I particularly like the mini-crostics and the picture puzzles. My way of starting my day.
The Leonids are Coming!
The Leonid meteor shower has produced some of the most spectacular meteor displays in history; in fact, the Leonid display of November 1833 was so brilliant it produced the science of meteor astronomy (no pun intended) overnight.
The Leonids generally begin on November 13th and end on November 21st, with the largest numbers of observable meteors generally streaking across the sky during the night of November 17th/18th. This year the new moon falls on the 16th so there will be virtually no moonlight to impede viewing.
Bundle up and plan your Leonid-viewing party now! You can find everything you ever wanted to know (and more) about the Leonids at meteorshowersonline.com.
Guilty Pleasures
…having nothing to do with history. Well, maybe only a little.
- Top Chef. Jennifer Carroll for the win! That chocolate bread pudding with peanut butter sauce sounded delectable, but people—what’s the point of posting a recipe calling for 120 egg yolks and 5 1/2 gallons of heavy cream, which ends up serving 100 people? Cut it down a little. Top Chef website fail.
- Homemade Apple Crostata. The Broadcasting Legend™ brought home a bag of Granny Smith apples by mistake, and so I’ve been baking up a storm. Delicious as a dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or as a breakfast pastry with a wedge of cheddar cheese. I don’t really follow a recipe—I make piecrust the old-fashioned way (rubbing the butter into the flour by hand) and just mix up the filling as the spirit moves me—sliced apples (skin left on, please), a little lemon juice, a little white sugar and brown sugar, a pinch of salt, a sprinkling of flour to thicken, and of course lots of cinnamon.
- Attention Deficit Theatre. I love Mad Men and these are the best recaps ever. J. Kristin Ament is a hoot and a half.
- And speaking of recaps, History Spork, from Two Historians. This comes with a hat tip to the best agent ever, Diana Fox. Needless to say I love historical movies but I sometimes follow along with commentary much like this. Although I’m nowhere near as funny.
- The Daily Digital. The adventures of my friend Laurie, her husband Philip, and their wonderful beagles. I’m nowhere near as funny as Laurie is, either.
Support Your Local Indie!
Today is Buy Indie Day, and if you want to play, go out and buy a book—or two or three—at an independent bookstore near you. If you can’t make it today, well, according to the delightful Shrinking Violets, the whole month of May is Independent Booksellers Month. So you’ve got plenty of time. Write it on your calendar.
I have a couple of nearby independent bookstores I like to browse. One is Legacy Books in Plano, kind of the mother ship of independent bookstores, where one can easily spend the day and never notice the time passing. Another is The Book Carriage in Roanoke, which has a cozier vibe, a lot of local events going on, art by local artists displayed for sale, and fabulous espresso. Not quite a book store per se but still a member of the ABA and a breathtaking place to visit: the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. There is a book store in the museum, and I am presently lusting after Art and Love in Renaissance Italy, the magnificent catalogue of the exhibition of the same name, presently mounted at the Kimbell.
More later this week on The Book Carriage, and more later this month from Art and Love in Renaissance Italy. Stay tuned!
What Type is Your Blog?
This is just the coolest thing:
Yes, find out the Myers-Briggs personality type of your blog! Compare it with your personal type! Multiple personalities, anyone?
Hat tip to the Shrinking Violets.
The Second Duchess
Read the First Chapter
The Second Duchess is available on iBookstore!
