In the Mail

I love coming home to a mailbox of good stuff and today was a great day. First, many thanks go to Stefanie. I was one of the lucky winners of a chapbook she was giving away. The Pulitzer Prize nominated chapbook, Music Like Dirt by Frank Bidart, is a collection of poems centralizing on the theme of the human drive to create. I’ve only done a quick glance through it but look forward to spending some hours exploring the poems.

Also in my mailbox was the latest New York Review of Books. I have to fess up though and admit I’m behind on a couple of issues of this as well as Bookforum. Sigh.

And, those journals will have to wait because I started a new book, Astrid & Veronika by Linda Olsson. I kind of wondered if maybe I shouldn’t have saved this book up for when the temps in Dallas hit 100+ though, because the author describes a world of snowy fields, chunks of ice breaking in the river and seeking the warmth of a fleece jacket.

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Sunday Ramblings

It’s late afternoon and I wish I could add an extra day to my weekend. Don’t we all I guess. Despite starting off wondering if we were going to be blown away by the severe weather we had on Friday, the rest of the weekend has been so nice. Today we had sunny skies and I’ve enjoyed having the windows open and hearing the birds chirping while I’ve been reading most of the afternoon.

I went to Barnes & Noble on Saturday to look for a magazine for my mom but I couldn’t find any of the Spanish language magazines. It was so crowded that I didn’t even bother to ask customer service why they didn’t have them. Instead I found a chair, enjoyed a yummy mocha and a cookie, and flipped through a couple of magazines before deciding to get the May edition of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.

I have never read this magazine but a recent post by Gavin prompted me to look for it. I don’t typically read short stories but I saw that this edition had one story by Christine Poulson. I’ve enjoyed her two mystery novels and am actually waiting on the third one to be published over here so it was nice to read something else by her. Her short story, Don’t You Hate Having Two Heads, was seven pages of goodness. I haven’t read any of the other stories yet but if this is any indication to go by then I think I’m in for a treat.

Today I finished reading The Anodyne Necklace, third in the Jury series by Martha Grimes. I felt this one had a more difficult mystery to solve and there were some plot developments I wasn’t expecting at all so all in all a good read. I know I have the fourth book somewhere in the stacks.

Now I’m off to look for the next good read.

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Weekend Plans

Books
I feel like my shelves are starting to look like the ones shown in this card. This weekend I want to enjoy hanging out with my piles of unread books. I am sure a little trip to the bookstore will also be in order, and who knows, I may just throw caution to the wind and even go to the library.

Anyone have any bookish plans this weekend? Whatever they are, I hope some good books are involved. Happy Weekend!

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