What are you reading?

I just started Julie Orringer's "The Invisible Bridge." It's a love story set in Budapest and Paris, and it looks amazing. I really need to get lost in a book at the moment.

What about you?


(Photo by Katie Lionheart).

Happy Weekend

Weekend To Do List

Saturday:

*Avoid the 405 Freeway (This weekend is Carmageddon here in Los Angeles!)

*In fact, avoid car travel all together.

*Walk to the newsstand to pick up the weekend editions of the FT and the Wall Street Journal.

*Stop by the coffee shop for an iced latte.

*Walk to the market to pick up fresh greens, beets, and dried cranberries for a summer salad.

*Have lunch on the back porch where the canyon breeze is the best.

*Spend the afternoon reading in the hammock under the magnolia tree.

*Take a nap.



Sunday:

*Sleep In.

*Make French Toast and coffee.

*Read the Sunday New York Times.

*Walk to the movie theatre to see Harry Potter.

*Spend the evening at the park, listening to live music.



What are you doing this weekend?


(Collage by Michaela Frame By Frame.)

PS: Here's a very funny story about Carmageddon by one of my former LA Times colleagues.

The 5 Most Stolen Books

Publisher's Weekly has a fantastic blog post this week on the most frequently filched books. These are some very well-read thieves!

More Here.

The New Kings of Nonfiction

Since most of the books I buy these days are from secondhand stores, the one I'm reading now is a little old but still good. It's called "The New Kings of Nonfiction," and it was edited by This American Life host Ira Glass. When it was published in 2007, it was heralded as a collection of stories that capture "some of the best storytelling of this golden age of nonfiction."

It includes authors Malcolm Gladwell, Michael Pollan, the late David Foster Wallace and a number of other male writers. Surprisingly, one of my favorite female writers -- Susan Orlean -- is also in the mix. I wouldn't call Orlean a King but rather a Journalism Goddess. Her profiles in the New Yorker have become legendary, full of insights and scenes that make her subjects come alive.

The "New Kings" book includes Orlean's article "The American Man, Age Ten," which she wrote for Esquire Magazine. It's a profile of a boy named Colin Duffy.

A snippet: "Here are the particulars about Colin Duffy: He is ten years old, on the nose. He is four feet eight inches high, weighs seventy-five pounds, and appears to be mostly leg and shoulder blade....I have rarely seen him without a baseball cap. He owns several, but favors a University of Michigan Wolverines model, on account of its pleasing colors. The hat styles his hair into wild disarray. If you ever managed to get the hat off his head, you would see a boy with a nimbus of golden-brown hair, dented in the back..."

After I finish "New Kings" I want to re-read "The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup," Orlean's compilation of some of her favorite profiles. (Her essay on the taxidermy convention is the best!)

What are you reading this week?

(Illustration by Contemporary Collage and for sale, as a refrigerator magnet, on Etsy.)

Where I'm blogging from...

I've given up my desk for a spot by the air conditioner!


Extreme heat requires extreme measures.


My sidekick, Lola, the black Pom.

Sleeping in

We've had so many sleepovers at our house this summer...




The living room has become a crash pad for girls and animals.
It also happens to be the only room in our house with air conditioning...
Lately I've been thinking about sleeping outside in the hammock.

The Official Start of Summer

My friend Elaine arrived last week from Paris for a two-month stay in Los Angeles. She always comes with gifts (this year, a scarf from an open-air Parisian market) and French magazines.
If I'm really lucky, I'll find a way to fly back to Paris with her in August.

In the meantime, I'm spending a lot of time in Beverly Hills and
at the beach enjoying the arrival of Summer with my favorite friend.

Bliss.

Hello from the road

We decided to take a trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains this weekend...It was such a lovely getaway! We stopped in the little town of Bishop. Of course, I made a b-line for the bookstore, called Spellbinder. I picked up a copy of "Reading My Father," a memoir written by William Styron's daughter, Alexandra. Ms. Styron profiles her life with her famous father, who struggled with writing, depression and, at times, his will to stay alive. (Have you read William Styron's "Darkness Visible"? It's brilliant.)

I'm completely absorbed in this book. We're back home now. With a few hours left of daylight, I'm heading out to the backyard to finish reading in the hammock under our giant magnolia tree.

Anyone out there read anything interesting this weekend? I'm updating my summer reading list!


(Photo by Cubs Fan Tootie.)

One of those days...

All I really want is a macaron. Pink please!

Maybe it's time to plan a trip to Paris!?

(Photo by Alice Red Coat)

Summer Hours

Maybe you've noticed -- or not..:) I've been away a lot from this blog...Suddenly I have lots of obligations and much less free time...But I'm planning to be back to blogging on a regular basis here very soon!...

So please don't hit the unsubscribe button! :)

(Photo by Miya Wichawa.)

What are you reading?

I'm just finishing "A Three Dog Life" by Abigail Thomas. It's a memoir about Thomas' effort to build a new life after a devastating tragedy. I so admire her bravery (and beautiful prose.) She finds tremendous comfort from the company of her three dogs, hence the title.

I've also been going through stacks of decor books. Still trying to arrange our little house...

What are you reading??

Photo by Andrew @ Cuba Gallery.

Caitlin McGauley's Watercolor World

This New York City artist has become the house illustrator for Lonny Magazine, with her charming watercolors:





She's also painted for Kate Spade and Hermes. Her work reminds me so much of Maira Kalman's -- whimsical and smart.

More here!

Media Bits

Eyecatching and interesting:

Dueling portraits of Tina Brown: One in the New York Times; the other in AdWeek.

What are your greatest unread books?

A new flicker bookshelf group.

More Great Ideas from Penguin

Bob Dylan is turning 70???

(Collage by Gemma Bayly)

One Year Ago

My father died one year ago today. I have missed him every day since. Some hurts never heal.

(My tribute from last year.)

Photo by Realyn 1.

30-pound cat

Ok, maybe he doesn't weight quite 30 pounds, but Shoes is now officially as wide as he is tall. I think he's responding to the stress of the move by eating. (I am too.)

We're still working our way through stacks of boxes on the porch. And my husband and I are having an intense debate: He says we should go to Best Buy to get a new stove; I say we should buy a Wedgewood on Craigs List. Vintage stoves are so charming.

Until we get this settled, we're all living on take out!


(Pictures of Shoes when he only weighed 12 pounds.)
I'm dreading the lecture I'm going to get from the vet...