DaCapo Press sent over an advance copy of Toni Fiore's first cookbook, Totally Vegetarian, to be published in the fall. Fiore, a Portland resident, is the host of Delicious TV's Totally Vegetarian, which is broadcast on public access channels nationwide. Many of the recipes sound absolutely delicious -- Greek Stuffed Cabbage, Kasha Crunch Burgers, and Pumpkin-Bulgur Chili, for example.

What better way to bid a bloggy farewell to Sharon than to address a few of her favorite things -- hot publishing deals, hot young New Yorkers, and YA fiction? To those ends, we contacted our (best) friend and author Lauren Oliver (indeed, she's hot), who recently got a "significant deal" (that's publishing lingo, not my own) for two young adult books.

On Big Love, Chloe Sevigny's character (Nicki) is tragically un-hip -- while her sister wives Barb and Margene wear stylish-mom and hot-mom clothes, respectively, Nicki's stuck with the traditional prairie garb of the polygamous compound (floor-length skirts, high-necked flowery shirts, etc).

The winning story of Boston Review's 15th annual fiction contest is online; I think it's unpretentious and moving.

Advance Reading Copies are the new cute dogs -- they do all the romantic luring for you. (They also make excellent -- and free -- birthday presents.)

"Hey babe, I have a great idea for this weekend!" I can just picture the look so many boyfriends' faces

So says People, which delivered the news that Mama Spears's manuscript -- put on hold after the teenaged Jamie Lynn Spears got preg -- will be published this fall. Originally titled Pop Culture Mom, the book is now called Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World, which seems both overly dramatic yet somehow more appropriate.

So says People, which delivered the news that Mama Spears's manuscript -- put on hold after the teenaged Jamie Lynn Spears got preg -- will be published this fall. Originally titled Pop Culture Mom, the book is now called Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World, which seems both overly dramatic yet somehow more appropriate.

Andre Dubus III's The House of Sand and Fog was probably THE saddest, most wrenching book we ever read. We were hoping his latest, The Garden of Last Days, would be similar in its delicious soul-killing-ness. But Janet Maslin doesn't think so! In her Books of the Times review, she notes that:

“The Garden of Last Days” explores the cultural chasm between Bassam’s world and Spring’s.

In this week's Portland Phoenix, I review the latest offering from Boston-based Rose Metal Press: A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness: four chapbooks of short short fiction by four women, by Amy L. Clark, Elizabeth Ellen, Kathy Fish, and Claudia Smith. (You can find the review here, once it's posted online.)

I also got the chance to interview Kathleen Rooney and Abby Beckel, the founders (both in their late 20s, and graduates of Emerson College grad school) of Rose Metal.

In this week's Portland Phoenix, I review the latest offering from Boston-based Rose Metal Press: A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness: four chapbooks of short short fiction by four women, by Amy L. Clark, Elizabeth Ellen, Kathy Fish, and Claudia Smith. (You can find the review here, once it's posted online.)

I also got the chance to interview Kathleen Rooney and Abby Beckel, the founders (both in their late 20s, and graduates of Emerson College grad school) of Rose Metal.

Truly, life gets more amazing every day.

Cecily von Ziegesar, author of the Gossip Girl YA book series that was then adapted into the BSE, is working on her first adult series, according to Hyperion. Due out in 2009, the series (first book is called "Cum Laude" -- really??????) will be about a group of young adults who meet during their freshman year at a small college in MAINE.

In the NYTBR's Summer Reading supplement, some famous writers suggested a few books they thought the Presidential candidates ought to read in between all the flesh-pressing and promise-making. (When this ran, Hillary Clinton was still in the picture. Er, technically.) Anyway, Loorie Moore and Junot Diaz had some excellent ideas.