Welcome! This year is moving fast, I feel like I just stopped saying Happy New Year and here we are in March.
My grandson turns 2 on March 3, and I can’t wait to see him! He had his first haircut recently, is learning his letters and counting, knows his colors and so many animals. He knows a bit of sign language, understands Spanish and English, and is learning to speak both. It’s completely exhilarating seeing how fast he absorbs everything. I love Facetiming with him, although his new favorite thing is to say “Jonah hold it” and when he grabs the phone or the Macbook, he invariably ends the call. Hopefully, he’ll figure that out soon enough. He also demands to see Papa, Auntie, and Loki when he calls. We’ve had to squish together so he can see us all at once. Yes, we do anything he asks! That is the joy of being a grandparent.
Book News
Up Close: Elle Cosimano
An interview with one of my favorite authors, courtesy of the International Thriller Writers “Big Thrill” newsletter.
Read my reviews of this series:
1. Finlay Donovan is Killing It
2. Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead
3. Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun
ALL HAIL THE QUEEN OF THE CON! By K.L. Romo
Debut Spotlight: Rachel Koller Croft, via the International Thriller Writers “Big Thrill” newsletter. (I loved her book, Stone Cold Fox!) Plus, it’s being adapted for TV, so read the book first.
“Conning and scheming and extorting and doing down-right dastardly business is not for the faint of heart… Most people are trusting. Their first mistake.”
Dictionaries lined not only the shelves she had specially built for them but every surface in her sizable two-bedroom apartment. Drawers were pulled out to make more surfaces on which to stack books, which also lay atop the refrigerator and on her bed. Books stood in towers along the floor, with narrow passageways to ease through. “It’s the biggest collection of dictionaries, period,” said the lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower, author of The F-Word, a history of that verb. Sheidlower is one of a cohort of lexicographers who knew Kripke and used her books, and her knowledge, to inspire their own work. Of her collection, “it’s better than what’s in the Bodleian and the NYPL combined,” he said, referring to libraries at the University of Oxford and in New York City.
Note: You have to sign up for a free account at The Chronicle of Higher Education to read.
Mistress of Slang
Food News
I love meringue, especially meringue cookies. I used to make lemon meringue pie, my favorite pie, but the last two times I made it, the meringue “weeped,” a problem, I’m told, due to Florida’s humidity. Reading these articles has prompted me to try it again – maybe for Pi Day (3/14).
Here’s an interesting tip for bakers: when you have to fold egg whites into a batter, I’ve always used a large rubber or silicone spatula. Turns out I should have been using a whisk! Courtesy of the King Arthur Baking Company.
Other News
My husband and I are planning a trip to Portugal this spring. This is more than a tourist visit; we are thinking about retiring there in a few years. (Well, he wants to retire – I want to find some kind of part time remote work. The thought of not doing anything at all just freaks me out!) I’d love to hear from anyone who has visited or lived there. Thanks!
As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.
Thanks to The New York Times for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers.
Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™ 