Monday, December 28, 2009

Between the Dark and the Daylight



Bea Arthur reading.




Please forgive this BSP but what a thrill it was to have a visiting friend pick up the hard cover version of the book to the left from my coffee table ( I had just received the book on Christmas Eve) and read aloud an excerpt from my story on the front and back sleeve of the jacket. I hadn't seen it there. With writers the caliber of Connelly, Oates, Philips, Ardai, Parker, Piccirilli, not to mention Megan, I was thrilled to have it singled out in this way.

This was my favorite Christmas gift. But enough about me. What was your favorite gift given or received?

25 comments:

Scott D. Parker said...

Given (to wife): two new CDs from artists (John Gorka, Grant-Lee Phillips) she didn't know made new CDs.

Received: set of gourmet popcorn and nice, at-home headphones for the iPod. Also the trade paperback of the first Sherlock Holmes story from Dynamite Comics.

pattinase (abbott) said...

We gave my son the new bio of Louis Armstrong (POPS), and Megan the Barbara Payton bio and The Last Days of Freud. Got the Raymond Carver bio and the Nellie McKay CD (songs of Doris Day).

Deb said...

I gave my husband a memoir entitled "Juicy" written by baseball player Jose Canseco's ex-wife, Jessica Canseco. It was a stocking stuffer I found at the Dollar Store--but it got the biggest grin, especially for the line, "She was a young Hooters trainee..." I knew I was buying the book when I read that line.

My favorite gift: Deep-dish ceramic casserole dish from Williams-Sonoma. Love it!

Dana King said...

Your gift is tough to beat. Congratulations, and keep plugging away on that novel. What Megan suggested should be cut may be usable in something else. I never throw anything away.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Dana-I bet you don't live in a climate with sub-zero temps. Those cold sheets freeze here. Can't remember where-Maryland?
I may gave to borrow that line, Deb.
My husband can spend hours in Williams Sonama.

George said...

Santa brought me the complete DVD set of JEEVES & WOOSTER plus some books and CDs. Santa brought Diane everything in the Coldwater Creek catalog.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I have never seen one of those, George. I'll get one from my library.
Clothes are not my favorite gifts. I tried to buy a coat yesterday-tried on 50 and couldn't pick one. I wish we were disembodied. Floating consciousnesses would suit me.

Charles Gramlich said...

That is a great gift! I got books as well, none of mine but others I wanted to read. And that's nothing to shake a stick at.

George said...

I'm with you on clothes, Patti. Diane buys all my clothes and lays out what I'm supposed to wear each morning. A disembodied, floating consciousness sounds great to me!

Ed Gorman said...

Well-deserved, Patti. I was waiting for you to see it. I was smiling right along with you.

Richard Robinson said...

See the blog for the list of books received. It was a bountiful book year for me!!

Richard Robinson said...

"I wish we were disembodied. Floating consciousnesses would suit me."

Wait a minute, Patti and George. How would you hold a book? Do disembodied floating consciousnesses eat? Do they hug, can they feel the warm sun on their faces, or the cool water on their skin when they dive into a lagoon?

Paul D Brazill said...

Congrats Patti!

pattinase (abbott) said...

Ed-I actually emailed Megan to see if her copy had her story on the jacket. She was as happy to see mine there as I was. Thanks so much.
Thanks, Paul.
I think those things would come along with it, Rick. Magical thinking, you know.

sandra seamans said...

That is such a great gift, Patti! I'm so happy for you.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Thanks, Sandra. It surely was.

Dana King said...

Patti,
I live in Maryland now. I grew up in Pennsylvania and spent four years near Boston and three near Chicago. It takes a little longer for the joys of cold sheets to kick in in the higher latitudes, but I still dug it.

Mystery Dawg said...

WOW, what a great gift. Enjoy and be proud.

VEry low key Christmas. Tina and I did not exchange gifts this year. Instead, we are 3/4 way through our kitchen remodel... a gift we will appreciate every day for years to come.

Today I'm building pull out storage for the cabinets and will begin on some for more for the panty.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Holy cow, doing it yourself. We did an update this summer and could only manage choices not chores. We were modest this year too. It seemed unseemly with what Detroit is going through.

Jack Bates said...

Picked up Book One: Swamp Thing by Alan Moore for the family to enjoy. Also got my son DC: The Alan Moore Stories. We're kind of fans, I guess.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Love the fact this is completely new to me, Jack.

le0pard13 said...

That is simply great to hear, Patti. Congratulations. I hope your New Year is as special, too. Thanks.

Gary Dobbs/Jack Martin said...

I got a pile of books and DVD's and a really cool fedora hat.

Todd Mason said...

Busy as hell...are your quotations only on the flaps of the HC jacket (not on the pb package)? Always fun to be a selling point!

Alan Moore--you know of the (corrupt, as he would be the first to insist) film versions of his work...THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, V FOR VENDETTA, WATCHMEN, FROM HELL. Kate Laity is a friend and fan of his...most people who read comics are his fans...even ahead of Gaiman and all, probably the most respected writer of comics now.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Yep, only on HC.
I hope she had a cheese steak.