read to me
BookPALS is a site sponsored by the Screen Actors Guild where various actors read children’s books on camera. Haylie Duff reads Romeow and Drooliet, Al Gore reads Brave Irene, and Jane Kaczmarek reads Thank You, Mr. Falker, a book based on the author’s own experience as a little girl who overcomes dyslexia and discovers the joy of reading. A fun site you can share with a child or with that child inside of you that still likes to have someone read them a story!
erin
I have always loved the human face. When I was a little girl my dad would bring home scrap paper from work and me and my sisters would draw on the blank side. My goal was to be able to draw a face that didn’t look like a monster! It took a long time, but I finally did it and eventually I taught myself to paint portraits in oil. Standing in front of a canvas in my studio, breathing in the scent of the paints and the turpentine, is when I felt most like myself.
This is a portrait of Erin. She is a young woman now, a student at MSU and she is still just as beautiful on the outside as she is on the inside.
two thumbs up
Metacritic is a website that takes a cross-section of reviews from national critics and publications and comes up with it’s own rating, or Metascore, for movies, televsion shows, music, books, and games. I looked up some of the books I’ve read in the past and found it pretty much in-line with how much I liked, or disliked a book. A good site to do a little research before you spend your hard earned moolah! Don’t ya just love the internet?
laughing babies
mr. poe and mr. boo
Speaking of mystery and crime fiction, the 2007 Edgar Award nominees were recently announced. First awarded in 1946 by The Mystery Writers of America, the Edgars honor achievement in mystery and crime writing in fiction, non-fiction, movies, television, and motion pictures. They are named after the “father of all mystery writing”, Edgar Allan Poe, who once said, “I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat.” Here’s a photo of my daughter’s mysterious kitty-cat, “Mr. Boo”.
down on the bayou
“But the man who caught my eye was the short one. He seemed wrapped too tight for his own body, the same way a meth addict seems to boil in his own juices. His mouth was like a horizontal keyhole, the corner of his lip exposing his teeth, as though he were starting to grin. He listened intently to every word in the conversation, waiting for the green light to flash, his eyes flickering with anticipation.”
Detective Dave Robicheaux is at it again in James Lee Burke’s fifteenth installment of the Robicheaux series, Pegasus Descending. My mom Carol, a crime fiction fiend, is burning through all fifteen books right now and is my “guest” reviewer and book suggester today. She loves books that take her someplace else, in this case, into the southern Louisiana culture of the Cajun French people via the flawed but fundamentally ethical character, Detective Robicheaux. Burke, two time winner of the Edgar Award, continues the saga of Robicheaux in his latest novel, an “unforgettable roller coaster of passion, surprise, and regret.”
to oprah from bookbabie
In my recent web wanderings I stumbled across BookFinder.com,a great site to go to when you are looking for that certain book and you don’t want to just Google it and get a million useless hits. Is there a book you remember reading as child with your mom before bed that you’d like to track down? Or maybe you need a gift for, let’s say your good friend Oprah. I found a nice first edition, signed copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby for only $55,000. It was owned by Warren Baxter who starred in the silent movie version of the film in 1926, hence the high price, but hey, the divine Ms. O is worth every penny! Interesting site for the bookishly inclined.
bookbabie 
