Snow Days to Curl Up and Read

Hi ladies-

Hope you are all doing well and staying warm!

I just finished Room, and I really enjoyed reading it. I have to admit, it was going a bit slowly at first, and I was having trouble getting into the novel. However, I ended up with a snow day, and my cable and internet went out. Without any distractions, I settled in with the book, and once I got to page 50, I couldn't put it down.

I am hesitant to start the conversation as I don't want to give anything away if you are still reading, but I wanted to encourage everyone to stick with it.

I am looking forward to discussing the novel with all of you!

-Tracy

Lazy Saturday

Even Lily is excited for some reading this afternoon :o)

- Catherine Earnshaw

More Secret Literary Lives

Back in December, Miss Havisham posted about her secret literary affair with 60s counterculture books and movies. I was so excited to read her post because "Exposing Teachers' and Students' Secret Literary Lives" was the title of my presentation at the National Council of Teachers of English conference back in November. Our thesis was basically that if we can tap into students secret literary lives, we can engage students in other forms of meaningful literary activity. We began the presentation by confessing to our own secret literacies - both the presenters and the audience. Some of the secret lives we discovered included the following:

- Geo-literacy (maps and atlases)

- Manicure reading (trashy magazines at the nail salons)

- Jack Bauer (spy novels)

- Journals and diaries

As for me, I confessed to one of my secret literacies: traveling the world, one cookbook at a time. Yes, that's right, I am obsessed with reading recipes. Nothing makes me happier than purchasing a cookbook from an exotic location, paging through the recipes, drooling over the photos, and imagining the delicious meals that I could make. That's right - could! Because most of the time, I don't actually cook anything from these cookbooks. The recipes are complicated, call for unusual kitchen implements, or require hard-to-find ingredients. And then, of course, there's the fear that I'd go through all of shopping, prepping, and cooking, only to present the meal to my husband...who would wrinkle up his nose and head out to McDonald's. Well...that's not entirely fair...he's a pretty adventurous eater but he firmly believes that some cuisines should be prepared by those who grow up in the culture...and that he should partake of them only in a restaurant.

I haven't done much reading lately because of a combination of factors (work, laziness), but I have been reading my cookbooks! They're easily digestible (pun intended) because they're written in chunks, and I can page through them without committing to a long sit-down. Lately I've been working on Good Housekeeping's Light and Healthy cookbook as part of my goal to continue eating as many non-processed foods as possible. It has been difficult without the farmer's market, but I try to shop the perimeter of the grocery store and have been experimenting with winter greens like swiss chard, brussel sprouts and kale. And I made my first soup last weekend - a Caribbean black bean stew with sweet potatoes. It was delicious! Even Mr. DeWinter devoured some. Quite frankly, though, Good Housekeeping has nothing on A Taste of Cuba or Essentially Lily (Savannah and Miss H would love the vintage photos of Lily Pulitzer in this one).

Zagat's guides also make for a convenient, quick indulgence! I purchase one for every city I visit, and flipping through them is like a quick trip to New Orleans, or Denver or New York. And in a pinch, a chapter of Anthony Bourdain will do just fine. But those tidbits are missing the gorgeous, glossy photos of a really good cookbook. That's what really makes the experience...my imagination is good and all, but add in a few color photos and I really start to salivate!

So, that's one of my literary secrets...I'll dish about my obsession with Henry the Eighth another time. What about the rest of the madwomen?

Oh, and Miss Havisham...I do have an undercover obsession with 60s poetry...so if you ever want to hit up City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, I'm in!

Happy 2011!!

Happy New Year, Madwomen, and welcome to our new members! What better way to start off the new year than with some new madwomen to share our literary fun? Well, how about a group read!

We're hoping to pick out our very first group read for 2011. Once we come to an agreement, we will have until February 15th to read. After that date, it's free game to post about the book, and if you haven't finished, be warned of spoilers! In the meantime, please feel free to post about your independent pursuits!

So, now the hard part: selecting the group read! I spoke to Rebecca D. last week and we both picked out books that might work for the group. We came up with:

Room by Emma Donoghue
Here's the NY Times review http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/books/review/Bender-t.html

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
A review: http://lisamm.wordpress.com/2009/03/21/book-review-sarahs-key-by-tatiana-de-rosnay/

It certainly doesn't have to be either of those; if you have any ideas, please suggest them! It would be best to pick a book by next weekend to give everyone a month to read, so please, share your thoughts and ideas!

Happy Reading,

Miss Havisham