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Last night I had a good time setting up my Christmas Wish List and sent it around to my family.  It's always fun to troll through the things that have caught my eye through the year, and to point people in the right direction.  Heath Ceramics teapot, Donna Wilson's Nos Da pillow, Rifle stationary, a subscription to the Australian magazine Inside Out, and Lauren Manoogian's gorgeous necklace are amongst this year's faves.

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ditte isager

Have you guys heard about Noma?  It's a Copenhagen kitchen considered by many to be the best restaurant in the world.  This new book, with photographs by Ditte Isager, looks amazing.  

A new poem about Sylvia Plath's death by Ted Hughes was discovered in London.  Fascinating and heartbreaking.

I'm digging this new to me label: Chianti and Parker -- via Olivet. 

This "Why We Travel" photo contest has me mulling over the possibilities of my next trip.  Currently at the top of my list?  Mozambique.  

A fascinating listen on the elusiveness of memory, from the boys at Radiolab.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Twentieth Century Fox

We finally saw Fantastic Mr. Fox. Of course, I've always been a huge fan of Roald Dahl. Wes Anderson had me at Bottle Rocket, but this film may be my new favorite. So cussing good!

Books for Kids

As part of my MFA degree in creative literature I am taking a class on Young Adult fiction. It is so much fun! And interestingly enough, the words Twilight and Harry Potter have not even been mentioned. It's gotten me thinking a lot back to what my favorite books were as a child. Madeline L'Engle, the author of A Wrinkle In Time, was probably my favorite writer. I loved her stories, especially her strong female protagonists. And Both Were Young and Meet the Austins were two others by L'Engle that I loved. Lucky for me I get to teach A Wrinkle in Time to undergraduates in a few months. What were you favorite books to read as a child?

Maira Kalman

My Mom gave me my first Maira Kalman book, Ooh-la-la, Max in Love, when I was a little girl who wanted to move to Paris (and promptly did so as soon as she could.) Now she's writing and illustrating this fantastic blog about democracy, And The Pursuit of Happiness, for the New York Times. It's totally brilliant. You have to check it out!

Sonnet LX

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, So do our minutes hasten to their end, Each changing place with that which goes before In sequent toil all forwards do contend. Nativity, once in the main of light, Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crowned, Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight And Time that gave, doth now his confound. Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth, And delves the parallels in beauty's brow, Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth, And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow: And yet to times in hope, my verse shall stand, Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.

Dear Will Shakespeare,

Thanks for being born 445 years ago, and for writing some of the most beautiful words the world has ever heard.

Everything is Illuminated

Jordan, of the blog Oh Happy Day!, threw the coolest birthday party ever, which culminated in she and her friends playing around with Holi colored powders from India. Her pictures remind me of one of my favorite books as a child, Oh Were They Ever Happy!, in which three siblings not-so-secretly paint their parents' house a kaleidoscope of colors. Color, color, everywhere!

looking for a love-ly read?

photo by Lee Jenkins

The Guardian (one of my favorite newspapers) has amassed an awesome collection of the 1000 novels everyone must read. They are divided into categories, romance, crime, comedy. Here are the top ten novels about love. (Warning: this really means that they are also about tragedy.) As it turns out, I have only ready one of the first ten! Go check out the whole list! You'll get lots of inspiration, I promise.

1. The Wanderer (Le Grand Meaulnes) by Henri Alain-Fournier 2. Dom Casmurro by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis 3. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis by Giorgio Bassani 4. Love for Lydia by HE Bates 5. More Die of Heartbreak by Saul Bellow 6. Lorna Doone by RD Blackmore 7. The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen 8. The Heart of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen 9. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte 10. Villette by Charlotte Bronte