I’ve Moved

I have upgraded to my own domain. If you’re not automatically redirected, follow this link to my new site:  kristinakriss.com

 

Thanks so much!! See you there.

3 Beautiful Things: Dinning Together, Time Off, & Power

• We speak in soft words and through unfolding light in each other’s eyes. Of dreams and hopes and promises. The deep red Smoking Loon disappearing from our glasses, tainting our smiles with that same passionate red. We stumble laughing into the cold, late December night. Arms folding, circling, supporting. You lead me home to summer castles that will not fade into clouds.

• Five days of serenity. No looming over my shoulder, no NOW, no MUST. Only licked clean kitty fur and fresh laundered fleece and the hum of a movie playing on the screen. And the perfect curve where your shoulder meets your chest – perfect to rest my head.

• The wondrous buzz of power through my body after showering off time at the gym.

inspired by the blog three beautiful things

Books of 2010

How Many Books Read in 2010: Completed a total of 26 (this does not include the handful I started and stopped in disgust, or stopped with intentions of picking back up later).

Fiction/Non-Fiction Ratio: 22/4

Male/Female Authors: 11/13

Favorite Book Read: This is difficult. I read four books that really blew me away this year. I’d say it is a tie between The Book Thief and House of Leaves. They would be followed in no particular order by I Am The Messenger and In the Lake of the Woods.

Least Favorite: Well, not counting the ones I started and threw across the room without completing them…How To Write A Damn Good Novel, followed close behind by Beloved. The “how to” book was just terrible and I disagreed with a lot of the man’s opinions on writing, but it was a required read for my MA program.

Oldest Book Read: Tricky…John Keats’ letters to Fanny Brawne were written around 1819-1820, but Bright Star, a collection of his letters, was published in September 2009. The Book of Werewolves was originally published in 1865. I’m going to say Bright Star only because the letters are older than the werewolf book (although the werewolf accounts within that book date back much earlier).

Newest Book Read: Matched, pub. Nov 2010

Longest Book Title: How To Write A Damn Good Novel

Shortest Book Title: Room

How Many Re-Reads: Don’t think I have any for 2010, although I did re-read parts of Wuthering Heights.

Most Books by One Author This Year: Markus Zusak gets 2 and Tasha Alexander gets 2

Books in Translation: 1 – Beauty and Sadness

And How Many Books Were From the Library: Sadly, none. I need to get my library pin set up with my ereader. It’s so easy just to download books that I rarely make a trip to the book store or library, but I should start downloading library books. That will be a goal for 2011, to support my library again.

Best Book Published in 2010: The Passage

The 2010 List:

Matched, Ally Condie (pub. 2010)

Room, Emma Donoghue (pub. 2010)

Eat to Live, Joel Fuhrman

I Am The Messenger, Markus Zusak

Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan

The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Aimee Bender (pub. 2010)

The Passage, Justin Cronin (pub. 2010)

The Forgotten Garden, Kate Morton

Plainsong, Kent Haruf

How To Write A Damn Good Novel, James Frey

In the Lake of the Woods, Tim O’Brien

Beauty and Sadness, Yasunari Kawabata

House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski

Beloved, Toni Morrison

Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater

A Poisoned Season, Tasha Alexander

And Only To Deceive, Tasha Alexander

Case Histories, Kate Atkinson

A Gathering of Old Men, Ernest Gaines

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

Too Good to Be True, Kristan Higgins

The Book of Werewolves, Sabine Baring-Gould

The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd

Bright Star, John Keats

The Care and Taming of a Rogue, Suzanne Enoch