Naughty Thought for Monday

Sometimes I come across something that perks the erotic romance author side of me and for more than one reason, and that is what happened with this picture.

The man in the photo is Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen and he's gorgeous.  The picture above is from the 2009 movie Valhalla Rising and while I missed it in the theaters, it's now on my list to see.  Now, all that said, what caught my eye was the huge carved phallic symbol he's chained to whilst on his knees.

Ummm, yeah, those are interesting tats and like I said, he's gorgeous, but the post, collar and chain thing in the middle of nowhere made me grab hold of it and see where it came from.

What's the first thing you noticed?

Friday Funny

It's been a while since I've offered a Friday Funny, but this one spoke to me so eloquently, I had to share - thank you Stephanie - and enjoy!

A man walks into a restaurant with a full-grown ostrich behind him. The waitress asks them for their orders .

The man says, 'A hamburger, fries and a coke,' and turns to the ostrich, 'What's yours?'

'I'll have the same,' says the ostrich.

A short time later the waitress returns with the order 'That will be $9.40 please,' and the man reaches into his pocket and pulls out the exact change for payment.

The next day, the man and the ostrich come again and the man says, 'A hamburger, fries and a coke.'

The ostrich says, 'I'll have the same.'

Again the man reaches into his pocket and pays with exact change.

This becomes routine, 'The usual?' asks the waitress.

'No, this is Friday night, so I will have a steak, baked potato and a salad,' says the man.

'Same,' says the ostrich.

Shortly the waitress brings the order and says, 'That will be $32.62.'

Once again the man pulls the exact change out of his pocket and places it on the table.

The waitress cannot hold back her curiosity any longer. 'Excuse me, sir. How do you manage to always come up with the exact change in your pocket every time?'

'Well,' says the man, 'several years ago I was cleaning the attic and found an old lamp. When I rubbed it, a Genie appeared and offered me two wishes. My first wish was that if I ever had to pay for anything, I would just put my hand in my pocket and the right amount of money would always be there.'

'That's brilliant!' says the waitress. 'Most people would ask for a million dollars or something, but you'll always be as rich as you want for as long as you live!'

'That's right. Whether it's a gallon of milk or a Rolls Royce, the exact money is always there,' says the man..

The waitress asks, 'What's with the ostrich?'

The man sighs, pauses and answers, 'My second wish was for a tall chick with a big butt and long legs who agrees with everything I say.'

Picture Worth a 1000 Words

This is Lily, my sister and BIL's second eldest daughter's pug, who is actually theirs to spoil.  She's on my mind because this is a recent pic of her from my sister and I set it up to visually remind me of today's dental appointment - a picture is worth a thousand words.

Hump Day Reflections

I'm finishing off Missing in Paradise where the hero is a pro-surfer who retired after a shark attack and possesses some rather unique tattoos.  He has a wicked bad boy reputation who was caught by the press in a few naughty interludes.  While those happened in the past, everyone knows him to be the same person he was before, a down-to-earth guy who happens to really enjoy sex.  However, time has moved on, and the sex is best with the heroine who inadvertently turns his world upside down with a phone call.

This photo of Adam Levine of Maroon 5 by Ben Riggott [found on Homotography but featured in the UK's Cosmopolitan] reminded me of my guy.

As for the heroine, she's has no match, really, but if I had to try and find one it would sort of be Martha Stewart + Pink + Heather Locklear + a dash more of individuality.  Told you, not really like anyone else, but she is the perfect match for the hero.

AAD Philly Panel News

I'll be attending Authors After Dark 2011 which will be in Philadelphia this August and the panels have just been released.

So exciting!

You can see them here, but I'll share with you here the one's I'll be sitting on:

Myths and Magic, Sexy Shifters, BDSM panel, Menage and More, and last but not least When the details are just as important as the Story: Food and Clothing in Romance

Aren't they great?  And these are just the ones I'm sitting on, there are many others I can't wait to be in the auidence for, which, I have to say, is why this is a fabulous conference to attend.  Besides being a not for profit conference [and on that actively tries to raise money for specific charities], AAD actually understands that everyone is a reader at heart, and we want to know everything there is to know about the books/ebooks we love!

Enough, if you haven't signed up yet, you still can here, and I look forward to meeting you in person.

Naughty Thought for Monday

These underwear for men are from Andrew Christian and they're called Shock Jock Flirt Boxers w/Male Features.  To quote from the site:

"The Shock Jock Flirt Boxer features an Active Shaping Technology Cup with authentic male features for a completely natural look."

There you have it, underwear or do these offer more than you want to know?

A Bit of the Greene Holidays: Pub Stuff

Time to pull a few bits and pieces I've posted this week together.

We landed in London and had a day, one day, to get a few things done and we kind of did them all.  One thing was to visit the Cabinet War Rooms, another was to enjoy some Crispy Duck, and the third thing we wanted to do was see a friend.  There were others, but with it snowing and us getting into vacation mode, we cut it down to these three things.

What we hadn't thought to do in the snow is a pub crawl, but that is exactly what ended up happening.

After the museum we dashed to Liverpool Street station to meet our friend at a local pub once he finished with work.  It was a nice pub, but packed, so we moved on to another which was again, okay, but had no personality, and so moved to a third.  This is where we decided to have one and do a crawl to Chinatown.  Let me remind you, it's snowing, maybe mid-20's/F, and we haven't eaten all day.

The next pub found us in the Smithfield section of London with it's longstanding market, which was closed, but still some of the best pubs we've ever visited in the city.  Where we went to next was my favorite pub of the night, Cittie of Yorke, and also happens to be where the last picture I took on the crawl was taken.  Somehow the camera was put onto panaromic and ended up with one picture showing the pub sign and front so we can find it again and the third [right] is we think the street, sideways, and have know idea why this was taken.

Okay, moving on from there we visited two more historic pubs, and then to Chinatown for Crispy Duck.  Unfortunately, we didn't check our watches, and after eating discovered the tubes had stopped [12:30am] and so we walked.  First to Russell Square [our hotel] and then our friend went on to the train station where he picked up a train for home.  After an hour ride and thirty minute walk, he made it home, and slept for three hours - had to be at work early the next morning, we merely took the train north and beat the blizzard [relative really because it was maybe 5" in the city] that had been building since we arrived.

Told you the pub crawl could be fun, but also very bad.

There you go, a very small snippet of our time in England for Christmas :-)

A Bit of the Greene Holidays: TV Stuff

Oz [Clarke] and Hugh [Dennis] are two guys we enjoyed last Christmas and so when we noticed they had a show on again this year, we made time to watch it.  The first series was 'Drink to Christmas' and this year it's 'Raise the Bar'.  The fun part of not knowing what going to happen is that we enjoyed it even more when they did the Otley Run pub crawl and visited some of our old university haunts in Leeds.  I'm not sure if you can watch the show here, but if you can, enjoy! 

Oh, and yes, Leeds was the city Ann and Tom visited in My Angel.

There's lots of Agatha Christie repeats, however, this time there was not only a new David Suchet as Hercule Poirot doing 'Death on the Orient Express'.  It was great, stayed true to the story - at least as far as I remember it.  'Suchet on the Orient Express' was also good, there were many interesting bits about the notorious train that were shared, and I would love to take that ride!  Two shows over a couple days, fantastic!  Now, because it came to mind, I thought I'd remind you all that Michael Hoeye's Hermux Tantamoq [a Hercule Poirot of the animal world] trilogy is wonderful, and both you and your young reader will enjoy.  Love those books!

A few others I caught were 'Upstairs, Downstairs' was a popular series from the 70's [I never saw any episodes when it did play on public tv in the US] and they've revamped it.  We also watched 'Countryfile Winter Special' in the Outer Hebrides and want to go up there for a visit!  Others we caught were Top Gear, Have I Got News For You, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and Rebus - yes, that would be Ian Rankin's Rebus!

And as for that most important show of all - the Queen's Speech - we missed it.  The kids were playing on the Xbox instead - oops - but it was on the importance of sport.  So go out and be sporting :-)

A Bit of the Greene Holidays: Food Stuff

This is one of a few must have's whenever we make it back to England and have time to stop in London.  It's crispy duck and something we share.

We generally choose a restaurant in Chinatown that has a duck hanging in the window, gruesome, I know, but it's a part of this area.  There's only one restaurant we've been to more than once and that wasn't because it was the best, we were just hungry, and knew we could get served fairly quickly.  This place was picked because it just so happened to be opened at midnight, although I suggest you do wherever the toursits aren't :-).  Anyway, we lucked out, the one we chose had some duck still in.

So, to the picture I took above.  That's a steaming pancake with plum sauce smeared around, a bit of crispy duck piled on and followed by thin strips of both cucumber and scallions.  Once everything is there, you roll it up, and chow down on the goodness,  Within seconds it's time to prepare another.  While this is served as a starter, in general we each get 4 pancakes, and that's a favorite dinner of ours to partake.

In short, if you make it to London, go to Chinatown [behind Leicester Square, which is a few short steps from Trafalgar Square] and enjoy the shops, but also indulge yourself with some crispy duck :-)

Something else we usually have is fish and chips or, in my case, deep fried sausage and chips with scraps.  The latter is the bits of fried batter that fall off in the fryer and are collected to sprinkle on top of an order upon request.  Our lady gave me a huge portion of chips and loads of scraps - we were talking about the lack of fish and chip places in America.

There is nothing remotely good for you with this take away, but the fish and chips is something the cutie misses and since I don't eat fish, I get a friend sausage.  Now, I admit it, the scraps bit is probably the worst bit, however, they are so very good, we remind ourselves it's a vacation and no one eats properly on vacation!  On top of all this and can't be seen is salt and vinegar.  Yummy!  I guess I should also explain that if you happen to order fish and chips in a restaurant [there are loads of places that you order take away on one side and sit down to eat properly on the other] you might, particularly if you're the cutie, order mushy peas.  I personally like my peas firm, but these are so beloved you can buy them by the tin in America [Batchelors is the best brand according to an expert I know :-)] at Amazon or your supermarket.

Since it was Christmas, I'll tell you all about what was on our plates, actually the cutie's plate because mine didn't have everything on it.  So, let's start at the 12 o'clock position [and go clockwise] with mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey with cranberry sauce, sausage wrapped in bacon, sprouts with bacon and walnuts [there were also sprouts with nothing on them], and finally roasted parsnips.  I know the cutie had carrots, although they can't be seen in the pic.  Of course we did the cracker thing [pulled with resulting cracks, hats put on, jokes shared and toys played with, and then we dug in].  We were crowded at the table which always makes it fun to pass the gravy while not spilling it into the wine.

Of course there was much more than this, but I don't want to bore you, so I'll leave you here to go plan a meal where scraps can join the party :-)

A Bit of the Greene Holidays: Book Stuff

I write erotic romances and read them, so when I go into a bookstore - okay, any store that sells books - I check out the romance section to see if there's anything I want to read or to see which ones they have.

Knowing this about me, you won't be surprised I made time for a personal trip to Waterstones [the big chain bookstore in England], and thought I'd share what I found: not much for a large store!

One and a half columns - a bit of erotic fiction and classics shared the other half - of just a few authors.  Nora Roberts had the most space, she starts on the second from the bottom on the left through three shelves on the right.  Now, to give Waterstone's a little less grief on the romance selection, they do have a section for "Dark Romances" over by the Sci-fi/Fantasy section - it was pushed by Christmas around the corner to kick off the Teen Section - oops.  Oh, and they did have four or five ereaders at the front of the shop.

End result, if you like Elizabeth Chadwick, Georgette Heyer or Nora Roberts, you have copious choices, otherwise you're pretty much out of luck.

But wait, there's books in ASDA [I think they're now owned by Walmart], so here's their romance section.

Don't recognize any of the bottom shelf books?  But they're part from a huge publisher, visibly known around the world.  They're Harlequin!  Mills & Boon!  Fab and seriously hot covers, hence they won't be at eye level, you'll have to look for them.

However, this doesn't mean I'm returning with no books, that just doesn't happen - despite the lack of options :-)

A Bit of the Greene Holidays: Museum Stuff

Okay, so you've been following my tweets, you'll know I've spent the past few weeks in England and thought I'd share a bit of the Greene Holidays with you here.

So, today. let me tell you about our visit to the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum.  You can go at anytime or schedule an a time and you'll want more time there than you think you will.  This entrance [no my picture, it was snowing and we dashed in, so borrowed this one from Sabrina's London Diaries] can be seen if you're walking from Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square [The Mall], although the road above is steps from 10 Downing Street.

Now, even though we were there for two hours, we both agreed we hadn't been there long enough.  The shop isn't huge, but I saw so many things I wanted to bring back, and ended up with none - had to think of luggage space and Christmas - although I will be shopping online :-)

The Churchill Museum is attached, seamless entrance, and has one of the most technically advanced timeline displays we've ever seen.  Read up on it before visiting so you can take advantage of all it offers.

Okay, enough of that, time for the exhibit itself.  The walking wand commentary is a must use as it gives all sorts of interesting tidbits.  For instance, I now know quite a few of the secretaries [women] were amongst those who slept below the Cabinet War Rooms, and often were caught in their jamma's walking past gorgeous military men in uniform on their way to the toilets.  There were no private facilities either.  Also, did you know that when the women married, they were no longer able to work down there?  I didn't!  Anyway, the track through the CWR puts WWII in a different light for me.

You get a close up view of the maps they used to conduct a war and it often looks like the old road maps we saw our parents and grandparents use.  The most fascinating map had to be the one showing how Europe was carved up after it all ended.  Yes, very interesting, especially considering how those general lines with a pen affected actual people.

From the very serious to the surreal.

Sir Winston Churchill, whose mother was an American, slept below ground in the CWR [reinforced against bombs - hopefully] three times and wore a velour romper [an Austin Reed "Siren Suit"] during the air raids for comfort.  That's right, the leader of Great Britain during WWII wore a one piece velour romper.  I could swear the one we saw was a claret color, but I didn't get a good picture.

So, which do you like better:  Siren Suit or Romper?

Hello 2011!

I'm choosing to greet the new year by sharing with you a few pics from a fabulous calendar and it just so happens to embrace two of my personal favorites - fashion and Ancient Greek Mythology!

The Pirelli Calendar was shot by Karl Lagerfeld, fashion icon, and he just so happened to have done a wonderful job.  To make the calendar even better, Lagerfeld focused the monthly pictures on and around Greek Mythology!

Now that is beyond words for me to express how exciting it would be to own this calendar.  I can't, but I can share a couple pics with you that I found at WWD, and we can all bask in the glory that will be 2011.

I suppose you want to know who that is [to the right] playing Apollo.  He's a Frenchman, model named Baptiste Giabiconi and I think this is a pretty fabulous picture of him.  Oh, and the codpiece, well, yeah, it's also spectacular!

You can read more about the shoot, brrr, and check out more of the pics, they are so cool.

And, with my love for the Ancient Greeks in mind, I'll share something else with you.  I'm in the midst of finishing my 5th tale in the Mythological Messes Redux series. Put a satyr together with a nymph and the loving is going to be wild.

Here's one more pic because I can't resist.  This is Erin Wasson, an American model, as Ajax.  So cool!

First Foot Your Way Into a New Year

As midnight looms Auld Lang Syne, credited to Scottish poet Robert Burns, is sung by all. The song, with its universal appeal, has been adopted by people around the world as a way to bid a fond farewell to the old and welcome the new with open arms. Kiss your friends, hug strangers, and shake the hand of your enemy, all while sharing toasts with whisky.

And now the real party begins with first-footing!

First-footing takes place in Scotland and by some in northern England - we do it where my cutie comes from. It's a custom that has been around for a long time. Roots to this tradition go asfar back as the Viking invasions and have changed little. How it works is that the first person to enter a home after midnight has passed, should be male with dark hair and carrying tokens cementing good luck for the residents. A lump of coal, whisky and an oat cake are the most common gifts to offer and in return, uisge beatha, water of life (whisky), and food are shared, and then leave by the back door.

Sound fun? It is because throughout the night, as long as the chilled limbs can move, and one more dram can be shared, first-footing continues, house to house, party to party.

So, how about you?

Do you or your family have any traditions attached to New Years that have been going on for donkey's years?

Have a good and safe holiday!

Fun Facts and Figures to End the Year

I love writing down my thoughts on the Tilly Greene's Hot Thoughts Blog and you who visit make it worthwhile - big thank you's to each of you for taking the time in your busy day to stop by for a read.

Well, 2010 is almost done, woohoo, and in celeberation, I thought I'd share a bit about you guys that I know and is fun.  Who knows, maybe you'll see yourself in some of these ipso facto's.  Okay, let's get started with where you guys are from.

People in 87 different countries visited this blog, with the most coming from the US, Canada and the UK - not really all that surprising - and after that it is Germany, Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, Philippines and Finland.  Just for fun, I looked at the ten countries with the least visits and found them fascinating:

Nepal
Algeria
Chile
Hungary
Cayman Islands
Guyana
Macedonia
Botswana
Dominican Republic
Malta

The Naughty Thought for Monday's seems to be the most popular segment, followed by The Big Huge Reader Contest [which was a blast] and Hump Day Reflections.  The favorite single blog, of which was written in 2007, and also the most used search term [outside of various ways to spell Tilly Greene and Hot Thoughts] was about the Real Dolls [Real Male Doll is what's used the most often] - yup, call me surprised.  As for writing the blog, that was all BBC America's fault, but also rather interesting.

Now, when it comes to Search Engines, Google is top and after that is Yahoo and Bing.  Browsers weren't that much of a surprise either with I.E., Firefox, Safari, and Chrome at the top.

Okay, one more, that's it - promise :-)

It's devices - kind of.  Our Operating System can sometimes give a hint of what inanimate object we spend so much of our time with.  Well, here you go:

Windows
Macintosh
Other Unix
iPod
iPhone
BlackBerry
iPad
Linux
PlayStation Portable
LG

See what I mean about devices?  6 of those listed above are portables.  Hmmm, interesting, yes, but don't start talking about the demise of the computer.  Windows was almost 6x larger than all the other OS's together.

The computer is still king!

It's That Time

Because I don't cook, my cutie and I made a deal when we first got married: Every year I would learn and master one dish.

While it hasn't been easy, I've done it, and this year it's a Roasted Chicken. There were others I tried and would have added, but they were really just very slightly different [as in chicken taco vs beef taco and the cutie did bbq the chicken] from something I already knew how to do. The chicken thing has been all right to do and I can usually make a fried rice and chicken korma with the left overs - three meals, done! I like those numbers.

The recipe I followed was found on eHow.com and is called 'How to Cook a Whole Chicken: Best and Simplest Way Ever'.

Love the internet.

Here's the basic instructions:

* Preheat over to 400/F
* Clean out and dry off your chicken
* Spread about 2-3 tablespoons of butter [or olive oil] all over with you hands
* Salt and Pepper the outside and some on the inside as well
* Rosemary and/or other herbs can also be added
* Place chicken breast up on a rack, resting inside a roasting pan, and cook

Timing is 65 minutes for a 3.5 lb chicken and 8-10 minutes for every pound over that.

What I did was cook for the 65 minutes, then turned the chicken so breast was down, and cooked for another 10 minutes. Moist and delicious.

So go forth and cook a chicken, make multiple meals from it, and relax with a book while it's all going on. Enjoy!

Thank you to The Broke-Ass Bride for the cute pic!

It's Not Too Late...

You can still enter the 13 Days of Bloody Kiss'mas Extravaganza 2010!

My prize is being drawn on the 28th of December and here's a small hint of what you're playing for:

Paperbackdolls.com is playing host along with Wick'd Reads.  You can enter as often as you want and better your odds by sharing the news around various social networks - nice!

Quick, go get your name into the mix, you might end up with some stuff from England if you win my bag :-)

Enjoy your holidays, however or wherever you celebrate them.

Christmas Wishlist Book Talk #12

Well, hopefully all the shopping is done, but in case you're a last minute 30 minute dash person, here are some fiction treats to check out for those left on your list.  These are interesting and could be filed under the "take me away" reads.

An Object of Desire by Steve Martin
I like him.  I have through all of his various stages in his career and this one, the author who enjoys art, is particularly interesting.  He claims to know a little about that world, but isn't an expert, and yet has quite a personal collection.  None of that matters, what does for this recently released novel is that you'll be taken on a trip into NYC's art world.

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary by David Sedaris and illustrated by Ian Falconer [of Olivia fame]
Think Aesops, fables, lessons that make you laugh and maybe learn something while you're doing it.  We bought this for our niece and, of course, I took a peek - and wanted more!

The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise: A Novel by Jill Stuart
A bit of England via the select group who reside in Tower of London.  I can't tell you how many times we've been to the tower bridge and saw a glimpse of those who live there, or a beefeater mentions they live on sight.  It is intriguing to think of all that happened there and they have their milk delivered like everyone else.  Well, not quite, but close :-)

The Case of the Missing Servant: From the Files of Vish Puri, Most Private Investigator and The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing: From the Files of Vish Puri, Most Private Investigator by Tarquin Hall
A window overlooking India through an elder man who wears custom safari suits and flat caps.  I read the first one and can't wait to read the second.

Jo Nesbø is a Norwegian author that is actually rather difficult to find in the US, but hopefully not for long.  There are two series, but I heard first about the Harry Hole ones, so why not start there.  The Redbreast is the first one translated and available [although in limited numbers].  Think WWII in Norway.

The Red Queen: A Novel (The Cousins' War) by Philippa Gregory takes you back even further in time, back to the War of the Roses and Allison Weir even further with Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine.  Both authors write fantastic fictional accounts of what happened way back then.  I missed The Confessions of Catherine de Medici: A Novel by C W Gortner and am intrigued. 

Isn't that how it, finding a new author or new to me subject matter, sometimes starts?

And finally there's the recently released Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff.  There's been lots of chatter about this book and I'm looking forward to reading an account that allows the truth to rise above the rest, be it good or bad.

Now it's time to sit back, put your feet up, and relax into a good read - tomorrow is going to be crazy!

Enjoy!

Christmas Wishlist Book Talk #11

The cookbook aficianado is never ignored for the holidays.  Remember, they're the ones supplying everyone with fabulous fare, in fact, they're probably busy in the kitchen right now!  So here's a few gems just for them.

The Food of a Younger Land: A Portrait of American Food--Before the National Highway System, Before Chain Restaurants, and Before Frozen Food, When the Nation's Food Was Seasonal by Mark Kulansky actually came out last year, but it's still sitting on my list to give to the perfect person.  You see, the cutie and I were driving through a horrendous rain storm, and we were listening to NPR until it was lost.  I can't remember what the show was, but they were talking about this book, and it sparked both our interest - enough that it's been sitting in it's own note on my iTouch since we landed in a hotel.  Anyway, think of it as your grandma's cookbook - all those recipes that were often verbally handed down for generations.  It's a great addition to any kitchen.

Next up is kind of along the same lines.  It's called One Big Table: 600 recipes from the nation's best home cooks, farmers, fishermen, pit-masters, and chefs by Molly O'Neill.  The product description from Amazon describes it better than I ever could:  "an informative and heartwarming refutation of the demise of American home cooking. Ten years and many miles in the making, this collection celebrates the nation's culinary diversity, both ethnically and agriculturally, and offers a uniquely intimate look at what home cooking in America is truly like today. O'Neill crossed the country, interviewing home cooks and spending time in the kitchens of recent immigrants. The results are enticing recipes that intertwine family stories, personal histories, and food. From stuffed Danish pancakes in Utah to tamales in Santa Fe and Vietnamese shrimp pancakes in Mississippi, this eclectic collection showcases the best this country has to offer. O'Neill also includes old-style American fare, including black-eyed pea and mustard greens soup, corn chowder, campfire trout, and bluegrass bass with Kentucky caviar. Sidebars abound on everything from black sea bass to Johnny Appleseed, Elvis to shrimp. As engaging in the armchair as it is in the kitchen, this book is an enduring testament to our historic traditions and the new culinary forays being made by American home cooks."

Simply divine.

Now, I saved the best for last, best as in it's the cookbook for those new to the kitchen.  The How Not to Cookbook: Lessons Learned the Hard Way by Aleksandra Mir.  Everyone needs to start someplace and this one sounded like a good jumping off point.

Christmas Wishlist Book Talk #10

Do you have a budding fashionista at home?  Intrigued by fashion yourself or know someone who is and need a little guidance?

The Fashion File by Janie Bryant with Monica Corcoran Harel has recently released and would fit the bill.  Bryant opens the closets on Mad Men, and takes the lessons learned into a place the modern woman can utilize.

Another fun and interesting fashion read is Fifty Dresses That Changed the World from the Design Museum.  There's also a shoe one and for anyone interested in fashion and how important it actually is will like reading these books.

How about some advice from a designer.  One I recently quoted in regards to writing and possibly covers [although I can't remember where] as well is Coco Chanel.  A book that came out last year, The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World's Most Elegant Woman, could be the best choice of all.

Oh, the quote went something like:  Before you leave, look in the mirror, and take one thing off.  Makes sense to me.

Maybe the good life is what the fashionista is interested in, discovering snippets of chicness past and often forgotten.  If that's the case then the recently released Encyclopedia of the Exquisite: An Anecdotal History of Elegant Delights by Jessica Kerwin Jenkins is the perfect match.

Christmas Wishlist Book Talk #9

Ooo, it's a few days until Christmas, are you ready with a copy of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore?

There are loads of them, but let me point in the direction of a few I like to read, reread, and send out as gifts.

Being a fan of creative paper construction, I enjoy both Niroot Puttapipatt's [above] and Robert Sabuda's [below].  They are very different and yet both are full of character and delight.  Each turn of the page is a new surprise and builds the excitment that is, especially for kids, the 24th.

And yet another different look at 'Twas the Night Before Christmas is from Will Moses.  I wish he'd do more books because I enjoy them all and love giving them to others.

I don't know about you, but I am so ready for The Night Before Christmas and yes, Christmas!

Just a few more days to go and plenty more books to suggest :-)

Christmas Wishlist Book Talk #8

What to get a reader is a mystery...wait, mysteries, everyone loves a good mystery!

Here's one for you:  What writer recently released a book with the son of his first character as the hero?

Tom Clancy!

Dead or Alive takes off from where Teeth of the Tiger [2003] ended, both with Jack Ryan, Jr as the lead.

Actually, it looks like Clancy has brought other Ryan family members into his Jack Ryan/John Clark books before.  Jack's dad, Emmett is in Without Remorse.  Very interesting.

A couple other good adreniline rush reads are Warlord by Ted Bell, it came out in September, and is part of the Alex Hawke series.  Another is Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane, which was released in November.

I haven't forgetten about the Science Fiction crowd.

Surface Details by Iain M Banks was recently released and is a space opera sure to please the most discerning reader.

Earlier this year Stephen Baxter had Ark, a follow on from Flood, released and is a good read - duet if your Sci Fi reader hasn't read the first.

A third choice from the recent release shelf is the hard core Sci Fi Hull Three Zero by Greg Bear.

Told you I didn't forget this group :-)

Christmas Wishlist Book Talk #7

Don't laugh, but do, and remember your fan of the comics - young and old.

There are two entirely different and yet similar books for them to choose from and both with come with DC Comics nod of approval - couldn't be better than that!

The first one comes from Taschen who have compiled a big comprehensive book called 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking by Paul Levitz and it's got it all.  There is "year-by-year timelines that fold out to nearly four feet and biographies of the legends who built DC make this an invaluable reference for any comic book fan."  They won't ever need anything else to feed the fun gene.

Ahhh, but there's actually more, and a bit different with DC Super Heroes: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book by DC Comics and Matthew Reinhart.  The latter is a real king in the land of paper engineer's and is there because he creates some real magic.  This book would definitely please your budding or established comic fan.

Christmas Wishlist Book Talk #6

eReaders.

There, I mentioned eReaders as a potential gift, however, that information is out there, everywhere, and it's up to the reader to decide what works best for them.  I, on the other hand, am waiting for the perfect Tablet to come out and they are starting to trickle out now.  The iPad isn't for me because of its size, but there are others that intrigue me, and I will be testing them out [in stores] to see which, if any, fit me best.  For now, here are a few I'm looking at, and already discarding.

Dell Streak
5" Out Now!

Samsung Galaxy Tab [immediate music]
7" Out Now!

Borders Velocity Cruz Tablet
7" Out Now!

Blackberry Playbook
7" and expected to be released early 2011

HP Slate 500 Tablet PC
8.9" Out Now!

All that said, I'm thinking there are going to be some really good prices on eReaders this holiday so know what you want, and keep your eyes peeled.

Christmas Wishlist Book Talk #5

There's always time to renew traditions and make new ones, so how about combining the two.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is played on tv, through dvd's, in the theater, and read through books.  We know the story like the back of our hands or do we?

The Annotated Christmas Carol: A Christmas Carol in Prose by Charles Dickens, Michael Patrick Hearn, and John Leech will give a new view on the old tale.

I love 'The Annotated Books' series.  They aren't quick reads, but they are full of unique insights into books in the past.  I have books in this series on Hans Christian Andersen, The Brothers Grimm and the one on Classic Fairy Tales.  The joy of these is that each time I pick on up and read a chapter, I learn something new.

Another route to go would be A Christmas Carol: A Pop-up Book by Chuck Fischer.  He is a wonderful paper engineer [Christmas in New York, Angels and Great American Houses to name but a few] and this one was just released.

There are other picture book versions by wonderful illustrators Lisbeth Zwerger and Brett Helquist that are also good.

Christmas Wishlist Book Talk #4

Have a biography or autobiography nut to get something for?  Maybe a fan of literature?

Autobiography of Mark Twain Volume 1 [of 3] is out!

Twain wanted it to be published 100 years after his death and it was worth the wait.  The man pulled no punches, much like in his fictional work, and nothing he wrote was taken out by an outside editor - good or bad.  Even though the people he goes after are gone as well, their relatives are just as upset as the people themelves would have been.

There happens to be another book, a memoir, that might fit a different literary fan and also happens to be  recently released - release dates are always good to know when buying for a booklover.

Someone who enjoys reading about England, the aristocracy, the Mitford Sisters, or those who want to take a trip into another persons world will like Wait for Me! by Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire.

The product description on Amazon says it best:  "...chronicles her remarkable life, from an eccentric but happy childhood in the Oxfordshire countryside, to tea with Adolf Hitler and her controversially political sister Unity in 1937, to her marriage to the second son of the Duke of Devonshire. Her life would change utterly with his unexpected inheritance of the title and vast estates after the wartime death of his brother, who had married Kick Kennedy, the beloved sister of John F. Kennedy. Her friendship with that family would last through triumph and tragedy. Wait for Me!, with its intense warmth and charm, is a unique portrait of an age, and an unprecedented look at the rhythms of life inside one of the great aristocratic families of England."

You might want to also include a copy of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman or The Duchess, a movie based on her life starring Kiera Knightly and Ralph Fiennes - I liked both.

Other unique biography/autobiographies recently released are Jay-Z's Decoded and Life by Keith Richards - ooo, the things you'd learn in these.

Christmas Wishlist Book Talk #3

The calendar is brimming with parties and functions and you can take an hors d'ourves or sweet treat, but they take time to make, and sometimes - like during the holidays - time is the one thing we are shy of and what we do have we want to spend with our family and friends.

So, if you have a party to go to and you'd like to take the hostess [really the host family] a gift, then a great book to give would be The First Noel by Jan Pienkowski.

It can be viewed as a traditional book with shadow boxes or you can tie the front and back covers together [ribbon attached for this option] and view it in 3D.  There is a loop on the top of the spine to help you hang it high or it can be used as a centerpiece.

Really, there are many ways to view Pienkowski's cut work in The First Noel, and the price is great.