Category Archives: Diversions

The stuff that didn’t fit elsewhere.

Screen time

Lemon Meringue was my favorite

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I don’t remember the cartoon so much, but I do remember the powdery-sweet scent of the Strawberry Shortcake dolls’ little noggins. And I remember that as a little girl, I loved those dolls. So when the Parent Bloggers Network offered a review copy of “Strawberry Shortcake: Happily Ever After,” I jumped at the chance to share it with Poppy. Last week when the kids and I were first coming down with this blasted cold, I popped the DVD in for Pi to watch. And watch it she did. Three times in a row. But hey! We turned the subtitles on, so let’s call it a reading lesson, shall we?

Continue reading “Lemon Meringue was my favorite” and enter to win a copy of “Strawberry Shortcake: Happily Ever After.”

Screen time

Out of the loop

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This is the first time in many, many years that I haven’t seen any of the movies nominated for Best Picture. I’ve seen very few of the nominated movies overall, in fact. We did see “The Dark Knight,” “Bolt,” “Wall-E” and “Happy-Go-Lucky.” But I think that’s it. And two of those, I didn’t like one bit.

Reading

The books of 2008

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I wasn’t as diligent in keeping my book list in 2008 as I’ve been in years past, so there may be a few missing here. Even so, I definitely didn’t read as many books this year as I did in ’06 or ’07. Heck, I didn’t even read as many as George Bush did this year.

But there were a few worth reading in my list. Those picks are in bold, and the links will lead you to my reviews.

  1. “The Blackbird Papers” by Ian Smith
  2. “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan
  3. “The Man Who Tried to Save the World” by Scott Anderson
  4. “Bel Canto” by Ann Patchett
  5. “The Double Bind” by Chris Bohjalian
  6. “Mary Modern” by Camille DeAngelis
  7. “The Rabbit Factory” by Marshall Karp
  8. “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen
  9. “The Day After Roswell” by Philip Corso
  10. “Bridge of Sighs” by Richard Russo
  11. “The Best American Mystery Stories”
  12. “Good Poems for Hard Times“
  13. “The Rolling Stone Interviews“
  14. “At Risk” by Patricia Cornwell
  15. “Promise Me” by Harlan Coben
  16. “Toehold” by Stephen H. Foreman
  17. “Big Boned” by Meg Cabot
  18. “Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her” by Melanie Rehak
  19. “Sammy’s Hill” by Kristin Gore
  20. “Sammy’s House” by Kristin Gore
  21. “I Don’t Know How She Does It” by Allison Pearson
  22. “The Magician’s Assistant” by Ann Patchett
  23. “Devil in a Blue Dress” by Walter Mosley
  24. “A Red Death” by Walter Mosley
  25. “Dead Until Dark” by Charlaine Harris
  26. “Autism’s False Prophets” by Paul Offit
  27. “So Brave, Young and Handsome” by Leif Enger
  28. “Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s” by John Elder Robison
  29. “People of the Book” by Geraldine Brooks
  30. “Living Dead in Dallas” by Charlaine Harris
  31. “Made in the USA” by Billie Letts
  32. “Twilight” by Stephanie Meyer
  33. “The Mulberry Tree” by Jude Devereaux
  34. “A Wicked Snow” by Gregg Olsen
  35. “Darkly Dreaming Dexter” by Jeff Lindsay

What was your favorite book this year?