on the nightstand
- Jincy Willett: Winner of the National Book Award: A Novel of Fame, Honor, and Really Bad Weather
First book in a remarkably long time that has kept me from going to sleep at night. Love this book. Can't wait to find out how it ends -- but don't want it to end. - Lauren Groff: The Monsters of Templeton
A book group book. Templeton is Groff's imagining of Cooperstown, which is just up the road from here. It's about a lot of other stuff, too, like mysteries and families and sea monsters -- but I don't know if I'd be enjoying it as much without the Cooperstown stuff. - Justine Larbalestier: How to Ditch Your Fairy
Just for fun reading -- and it is fun indeed. - Tony Horwitz: A Voyage Long and Strange: On the Trail of Vikings, Conquistadors, Lost Colonists, and Other Adventurers in Early America
I'm cheating a little because I'm not reading this but am listening to the audiobook. Just FYI: don't get the abridged version read by Horwitz himself. He's a great writer but a lousy reader. Splurge (both in terms of time and money) on the unabridged two volume deal. Totally worth it. - Dan Simmons: Drood: A Novel
This book will never end. It's not compelling enough to plow through; it's not boring enough to stop. But it is *really* far too long. - Pete Dexter: Paper Trails: True Stories of Confusion, Mindless Violence, and Forbidden Desires, a Surprising Number of Which Are Not About Marriage
I'd heard great things about Dexter (who also wrote Deadwood and Paris Trout) but never managed to read him. Now that I have, there's no turning back. The first story in this collection will break your heart, not just because of the subject matter but because Dexter deftly (and simply) captures ineffable emotions like loss and hope. So far, tho, my favorite is the story about the peahen and the Italian tractor. - Carrie Fisher: Wishful Drinking
Amusing enough and worth it just for the cover alone. - Peter Sagal: The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them)
Writing teachers love to talk about voice. *Vice* is a textbook example -- and hysterical, too.
People who pay me
- Knitty
- Shaken and Stirred
- Austin Chronicle archive
- Austin Chronicle, more
- Metro Pulse archive, weekly wire
- Cooking Light: the Alton Brown piece
- KnitLit Too
- Bookslut
- Moorcock's Miscellany - Content
- Washington Post Book World
- Cooking Light: the Ina Garten Q&A
- Babble: making babies "brighter"
- Babble: Food for Thought
- Washington Post Book World (Oct. sci-fi roundup)
- Babble: Post-partum depression times two
- Baltimore City Paper
- Locus Online: Science Fiction News, Reviews, Resources, Perspectives
- Edible Austin - Cooking Gluten-Free
Contact
- Email Address:
- Amazon Wishlist
One-Line Bio
Mother, writer, knitter and in need of a nap.
Biography
I've written a non-fiction book about Appalachia, insanity and families (but funny) called Hillbilly Gothic: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood published by The Free Press. Other works include two kids and a passel of non-fiction pieces on everything from Tofurkey to poop. I also teach at both SUNY-Oneonta and Hartwick College, because I like to be this tired. Currently, I am trying to sell a second book and writing a space opera, because it's fun.
