facebooooooooook

OK. So like everyone else, I got sucked in to joining Facebook. And now when I sit down to work in my ergonomically correct chair, I can procrastinate indefinitely by reading my e-mail (3 accounts), updating my blog, browsing Bookninja and various other web-blogs, before finally prowling around on Facebook and sinking into a swamp of complete inertia. I suspect I am going to have to disconnect from it, as I formerly did from instant messaging, as being too much of an interruption to my already-sufficiently-distracted-and-undisciplined self. But I must say, it's fascinating to see how the format of cyber-chat brings out everyone's flip side: everyone's much wittier on Facebook than they are in person.

Bookstores shake down publishers and dupe public

Insiders in the publishing industry have long been appalled by the practice of "co-op"-- the outrageous fees demanded by big box bookstores to promote books. It's no longer enough to write a decent book and make it past the agents and editors and reviewers: to get your baby into the loving hands of an actual READER you have to bribe Books R Us to put it somewhere the public can actually see it.

Here's an article from the Times revealing the fees charged in the UK. I would love to know what it costs to be "New and Hot" "Recommended" or something "Canada Need More" of at Chapters/ Indigo.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article1945931.ece

Advice from the Buddha

http://www.marriedtothesea.com/061107/just-be-cool.gif

Outside of a Dog

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."
-- Groucho Marx

(This is when Tobytheincrediblycutedog starts getting fan mail from people who never comment on my blog. But after disconsolately wandering the aisles of Book Expo all day Monday, I'm the one who really needs a hug...)

4 things meme

Four Jobs I’ve Had:

• Chicken inoculator (Kibbutz Barkai, Israel)
• Receptionist (Sidgwick and Jackson Publishers, London, England)
• Chambermaid (Oxford University, England)
  
• Waitress (Carroll's Colonial Diner, Medford, Massachusetts)
  

Four Movies I Can See Over And Over:

• The Princess Bride
  
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail
  
• Casablanca
• Le Roi de Coeur (it's been many years since I last saw it, but I remember it fondly)
  

Four Places I’ve Lived:

• Athens, Greece
  
• London, England
  
• San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
• Boston, USA
  

Four TV Shows I Love:

• Dalziel & Pascoe
  
• Star Trek Next Generation (who is more adorable--Picard or Data?)
  
• Hercule Poirot with David Suchet
  
• Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett
  

Four Places I’ve Vacationed:

• San Francisco
  
• Prince Edward Island
  
• Quintana Roo (I just love saying that! great birdwatching.)
  
• The Pays Basques
  

Four Of My Favorite Dishes:

• Moules marinieres
  
• Greek salad
  
• A simple perfect omelette
  
• really dense stone ground whole wheat toast with ginger marmalade
  

Four Places I’d Rather Be Now:

• Anywhere on the Mediterranean, but especially Crete
• Kew Gardens
  
• At Les Granges, the most amazing bed and breakfast near Giverny, France, drinking Normandy Cider
  
• At my friend Natalie's cottage on Lake Kashebog in the Kawarthas (Natalie, call me)
  

My Garden

Lovely photo of alium, mallow and mysotis by my sister Lisa. Instead of a poem.

my favourite word

At the Hay on Wye festival they were polling people for their favourite English word. I didn't see mine anywhere. It's

MANGELWURZEL!!!
as in

SEE ALL THE HAPPY SHEEP IN A PEN FULL OF MANGELWURZELS?