I have 4 new books up on the sidebar today! And thank you to the people who made purchases last week! Don’t be shy on letting me know how you liked the books or why you gifted in them in comments or in email!

Lately I’ve been staring at the pile of my own books and feeling terribly guilty about not having time to read them. I’m currently carrying around Honored Guest, a collection of short stories by Joy Williams (author of The Quick and The Dead) in my purse and I’m about 1/2 way done, although I should have finished weeks ago.

I find it incredibly difficult to focus so much of my time on writing AND reading. It’s a little bit of one or the other at the moment. In a perfect world I wouldn’t waste the good hours of the day slaving away in an office, and I’d have time to do plenty of both, but gotta pay the bills! Oh, if 15 year old Lauren could read that line now – she would be shocked! A starving (read: temping) artist I certainly had no intention of becoming, that’s for sure.

But that’s beside the point – 4 new books for you to check out this week! All a little different. This time around not every author is living, but every book is, if that makes sense. The stories this week are vibrant, cry-inducing, fascinating pieces of literature. Make sure to check out my comments on each – Warning – I tend to gush. Happy Reading!

This is a little late since all of the Thanksgiving hoopla has come to a close (except for maybe leftovers? I hear someone out there (ahem) has a lot of leftover mashed potatoes to deal with). Over on this end, curled up in the little apartment with a view of the ocean, we spent Thanksgiving wishing to see family back home, watching movies, and eating dinner rolls with jam. And Apple pie. Because when you’re a grown up (debatable) and not with family, you can do whatever you want on Thanksgiving. So over a 3 day period I finished a can of black olives straight out of the can, sprayed whip cream directly into my mouth, and ate pie...

I have a kindle. I wrote about when I got it, nearly a year ago, here. I talked about how the world wasn’t quite ready for a kindle, because the world was still in a place between new technology and old technology, the book being a pretty rad piece of technology that’s been holding strong for centuries. And though I have barely used it since Kamel bought it for me last Christmas, I am a huge fan (mostly because I had a towering pile of books to work through before I felt comfortable loading up on a bunch more, even if they were electronic copies). I’m really a huge fan of Amazon, period. In college I used to order fist...

I’ve been trying to come up with fun projects that make other people happy and it’s hard! It’s hard because so often it requires me to have an excess in funds and/or time. Both things I am currently struggling with (did you KNOW that I have not even seen HP7 yet?! You should totally be appalled.). I actually was supposed to run through this project three weeks ago. But one thing lead to another, and I spent all weekend on the couch, leaking from my face, and kindness to strangers got put on the back burner. Thankfully it’s Thanksgiving week and I’m thinking some kind gestures go quite well will this time of...

I can’t help loving big coats and and hats and scarves (ok, so I don’t actually understand how to wear that last one, but maybe that discussion is for another day). I love winter time accessories! Summer makes me feel naked and like every roll and dimple is hanging out for the world to see. BUT WINTER! Winter covers me all up in amazing fabrics and chic little details. So let’s go shopping. This is a kick ass ear warmer with a peony flower embellishment. In the center of the flower are Swarovski Crystals! I just drooled on myself a bit. It’s adorable! And found at Snugglebugkidz etsy shop. This is a perfect example...