Quote de jour

"A house without books is like a room without windows."
 ~Heinrich Mann

Special thanks for understanding my need to cut back from responding to comments and social networking in general last week. It allowed me time to focus on writing and while there is never enough time, I made some strides. It helps having an agent e-mail (nudge, nudge) how's the writing going?

I make no secret of loving books and not just reading them which is why I photograph them showing both front and back covers. I like the look of them, the design, the heft, the paper, how they looked stacked on a table or wedged into a bookcase. Then you open them up and fall into another world. Hopefully. I read fast and furious in staggering volume but what I seek and perhaps you do too, is to be stopped in one's tracks, to be enveloped in words to be savored slowly.

That happened this week with "A Discovery of Witches" by Deborah Harkness and currently on the NY Times best seller list. There was only one problem; it's 579 pages long which seriously intruded on my other reading. I normally speed read but slowed down to a crawl to enter an intricately composed fantasy world which reminded me of perfectly fitted couture garment. I'm half way through this magical book filled with brainy vampires, demons and witches at Oxford who partake in romance, fine wine and scientific research while unraveling the mystery of a charmed alchemical text. The author's other expertise as a published historian and wine writer shine through. It's the first of trilogy and I'm already guessing who will play the title roles in a film. My vote (you can vote too at her website) DeborahHarkness is Kate Winslet for the witch and Clive Owen for the vampire. Sparks will fly!


A sliver of book by comparison is a new memoir "Take Me Home from the Oscars" by fashion, beauty, and lifestyle television reporter and author Christine Schwab. Illness isn't sexy or glamorous especially in the fashion biz which is why Christine hid her crippling rheumatoid arthritis RA from the news until now. She writes with candor and humor and is a spokesperson for the National Arthritis Foundation.The book published by Skyhorse Press is out in May but you can win a copy now. Simply be the next new subscriber to my blog, email me with your address to layla@laylamorganwilde.com and I'll send you out a copy. Check out more about her at ChristineSchwab.com



Being a trivia junkie, I was curious about "Smarter By Sunday" A NY Times an odd compilation of history, science and literature divided into 52 chapters: one for every week of the year or gobbled up in one sitting as is your wont. I think it's perfect gift if you're a weekend house guest and fun reference for any home library.



This week's magazines (what's with all the red in the cover design?) didn't thrill except for the antique photos in Antiques and a revealing look an schock jock Howard Stern in Rolling Stone