Hunkering Down

As long as it looks like this outside, and it feels as bleak as it does inside, I’m going to be spending a lot more time doing two things:  reading books I already know I love, and knitting red cotton dishcloths.  So, in case you’re in an equally needy space, I offer you a pattern for [...]

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Dumbledore is . . . Jody Foster? What?

Seriously, I’m regretting this post already.  Here’s the thing, for those of you who’ve been in cryostorage over the last few days–at a recent fan event,  Jo Rowling dropped what has to be the flabbiest bombshell of all time: she liked the Smiths when she was young, and Dumbledore was gay. 
Gay, I might add, in the best possible [...]

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The Mystery of the Philopena Solv’d

With thanks to St. Isidore of Seville, whom you may know as the patron saint of the Internet, and who surely intervened to solve a question that has haunted me for nearly 30 years:
What is a philopena?
I first encountered the philopena in a rarely-read book of Louisa May Alcott’s, An Old-Fashioned Girl.  Fanny, the worldly fourteen-year-old city girl, tries [...]

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A Dilapidated, but Delicious, Moominhouse

Tuxedo Boy is on a Moomin kick–we re-read Moominland Midwinter as his bedtime book recently, and then had to rummage through every bookcase in the house collecting the rest of the Moomin tales for his delectation.  So when he came across this lovely site, Axis of Aevil, with its architecturally accurate gingerbread Moominhouse, the fate of my [...]

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My Mother-in-Law’s Way, Way Cooler Than Yours

It’s not your fault, mind you.  But I’ll bet your mother-in-law wasn’t ever a real live ballerina, was she?  Mine was.  She danced with Edward Vilella once, actually.  She used to pry the heels off her loafers to make them completely flat.  She can drive all night without getting tired.  She never laughs at kids.
And [...]

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Little, Big, or The Fairies’ Parliament

John Crowley’s Little, Big. Having typed that, I hesitate.  Go and read it.  It is the best book written in English in the second half of the 20th century.  It’s a very strong contender for best book written in English in the 20th century, period. 
Melancholy, vivid, painfully lovely; crammed to bursting with off-hand arcana from [...]

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Oh, By the Way. . .

(Note to interested readers–although NYC was utterly fabulous, our returning luggage did not contain a Lambda.  Heigh ho.)

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"Fame at last," as Mrs. Slocombe says.

Idaho Code, Joan’s fabulous debut novel, is not only shorted for a Lambda Award, but got a very nice mention in the latest Library Journal, where we hope it is seen by hundreds, if not thousands, of book-buying librarians.

Hurrah!

We’ll be going to New York City at the end of May for the awards ceremony. [...]

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