Appropriately described, Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides makes myth of “suburban middle-American life” (back cover, paperback edition). This brilliant debut novel is from the author made famous by his Pulitzer Prize-winning follow-up, Middlesex. Had I read this one first, the quality of Middlesex (one of my all-time favorite reads) wouldn’t have been so surprising.
The Virgin Suicides is indeed a modern myth. The narrator is a chorus – the group of boys who are peers of the five daughters of the Lisbon family, who all commit suicide within 12-month period. The girls …

Jennifer Donnelly’s A Northern Light is a book I would have loved when I was 12. I obviously wasn’t paying close enough attention to all of the rave reviews it has received to know ahead of time that it is a YA novel, and had I know that, I wouldn’t have been eager to request it.
It is the story of Mattie, a bright 16-year-old has recently been thrust into the role of caregiver to her younger siblings due to the death of her mother. Her struggle is between family duty …

Pimento cheese is a quintessential Southern recipe. Serve it with Wheat Thins, corn chips or raw veggies like celery and carrots, and it makes a great snack or appetizer. I grew up eating it in sandwich form on sliced bread but have seen it’s latest debut in high-end restaurants served bubbly, heated on toasted rounds. My mom even has an alternate version where she subs a can of Rotel for the jar of pimento. It makes a juicier dip that goes will with chips.
While folks rave over my mom’s pimento …

I think I liked it BETTER than The Time Traveler’s Wife!…Identical twins are sole heirs of their aunt (whom they’ve never met), move into her London flat (which she is now haunting) and develop relationships with the two men who also live in the building – one of whom is OCD and the other is their aunts former lover.

Welcome to Lit&leisure, formerly Babbette’s Book Blog. If you’re here via the redirection, thanks for taking the time to do that.
If you’ve stumbled upon Lit&leisure all by yourself, well, I’m glad you’re here & I hope you’ll come back soon!
Feel free to browse around & let me know what you think.

It was when I saw this picture that I was hooked on photography.

While I’ve said I’m not going to participate in any challenges for 2011, I don’t want to leave any loose ends hanging for 2010 & so here’s a short wrap up from the challenges.
First, the TBR Challenge: I had three non-book bloggers join me in this, and one of them did quite well! Personally, I only read nine of the 12 from the list of 24 from my TBR pile. One thing I realized is how much my taste can change during a year. Some of the books on this …

Here’s the short take. It was too long – the 500+ pages could have easily been cut to 300. I felt he tried to repeat many of the things he got right in Prince of Tides. He hates his father, is conflicted over his mother – maybe even has a little of the Oedipus thing going. He loves the south, and wants (maybe needs?) to prove his southern-ness.

Hey, folks (if anyone’s out there)… Yes, it is one month in to 2011, and I’m just now posting for the first time. Some personal issues have taken my attention away from, well, anything that didn’t pertain to sustaining basic necessities of life, and blogging didn’t make the grade. But I’m back now. I can’t promise how frequent or regular, but I’ll do what I can.
So, on to my goals of 2011.
1. No challenges. I enjoyed the couple that I participated in last year. They encouraged me to think about …