Accidental Southern Belle: Random Products

So I've been kind of grumpy lately about lots of things. But here are two (totally random) things to be happy about.

One of them is Craig Ferguson who is on at 12:35 AM on CBS (which I can't stop thinking of as Channel 2, but here is Channel 12 and that is just eternally confusing). This means that I have seen him a total of twice because now that I live in the country, I go to bed at 10:30. But, last night I was up late due to a late afternoon nap and I caught Ferguson, who I had also seen once before when I got home late from a bar or something (oh, that's rare). Anyway, he's hilarious. Looks like Amy Sedaris is on tonight. I will try my hardest to stay up to see her. I'm serious about this. He's super good. He just rambles and is funny. Watch last night's monologue. There's a whole ramble on Viagra that's great.

The other thing (and you are just going to laugh when you find this out) is Dawn Direct Foam. I know. Home cleansing products are so not my thing. I'm totally the kind of person who just buys the same thing over and over again. But it was on sale at Target AND it came with a free sponge and I needed a sponge, so there you go. I bought it. AND IT IS SO GOOD. I feel kind of like a ridiculous housewife but I love it. And I have been WASHING MY DISHES BEFORE I PUT THEM IN THE DISHWASHER just to use it. And also because the dishwasher doesn't always get the peanut butter off the knives if I don't pre wash. But now IT'S SO EASY. I want to do a testimonial for Dawn Direct Foam. I swear to god. Throw away the Palmolive right now. And it's probably on sale. And you might even get a free sponge. What could be bad?

So, these are my recommendations for fabulous new things. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming of grumpiness.

November 2008

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T. R. Pearson: Polar
Funny, sharp writing. Highly recommend this author.
Julia Glass: I See You Everywhere
I read this in two days. I really adore Julia Glass' writing style.It's so smooth and full of beauty. I was surprised to see that the pieces in the book had originally been published as stories in other places, because they feel so cohesive. The only peeve I have with it, which is why it doesn't get 5 stars is that the first chapter has these really annoying POV shifts between the two sisters, both are in first person and the name of one of the characters is, bothersomely, Clement. So it is really, really distracting. But don't let this put you off. The rest of the book is a beautiful account of what it's like to be sisters.
Ethan Canin: America America: A Novel
Especially interesting in the election year, this is a novel about politics, ambition and family secrets. It kind of plods along and yet is suspenseful at the same time. I've been savoring it over the past few weeks (it is SO OVERDUE at the library) and enjoying dipping in and out of it. Interesting narrative technique and lovely writing, coupled with suspense makes it the kind of book I love. Definitely check this one out.
Nanci Kincaid: Eat, Drink, and Be From Mississippi: A Novel
Not what I was expecting, but it is an interesting meditation on what it means to be Southern, race and how life can throw strange situations at you but it's what you make of them.
Charlaine Harris: Dead Until Dark (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 1)
A kind of silly vampire story.
Curtis Sittenfeld: American Wife: A Novel
Great plane reading. I was totally engrossed. Fell apart a bit at the end...but who can complain? It kept me company on the way to Seattle.
David Wroblewski: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel
Completely gorgeous. No complaints about this one.
Malcolm Gladwell: Outliers: The Story of Success
A completely fascinating account of why some people succeed and some don't--from when a person is born to the number of hours they go to school to circumstance. This will be of interest to anyone who is thinking about when to start their kids in school, people interested in education policy, ok, everybody. But I'm DEFINITELY sending one to my dad who was an elementary school principal and now is a mentor to principals. The stuff about how schools in the US are run and how just changing how vacations are handled could change how the lowest achievers achieve is told simply and compellingly.
Isaac Bashevis Singer: Enemies: A Love Story
Not at all what I expected, it is the story of a man who moves to New York after the Holocaust, thinking that his old wife is dead and ends up with three wives. And then the story is about how he juggles them all. It is almost other-worldly although it isn't actually. It totally drew me in though, made me think it was like a literary description of PTSD before they had a term for it.
Haven Kimmel: Iodine: A Novel
Haven Kimmel is a genius. This is oh-so-different than anything she's written before. But it is EVEN BETTER than anything she has written before. Please buy it right away.