Blogelstein!

I am going off-grid

Or whatever one says when one renounces blogging. But just temporarily! Only until my book is...

Oct 28th

noraleah: Poster by Casey Brooks. Via Jo.

Oct 28th

This American Life # 367: Ground Game

Oct 28th

“Any little girl who has actually gone out and smooched a...”
— There’s nothing...

Oct 28th

I am sitting in my usual coffee shop...

…being distracted/infuriated/amused by three loudly-chatting first-year undergrad students who...

Oct 27th

“Rest assured that, should he win, Mr Obama is bound to...”
— FT.com / Comment &...

Oct 27th

My concern about head injuries vastly overrides my concern...

Oct 25th

The more my love grows for my crappy little bicycle, the...

Oct 25th

Watch

Thanks to reader Erin for this excellent tip for my chapter on breaking up!

Oct 25th

(via:thedailywhat) Am looking for inspiration for The...

Oct 25th

Cantankery

Today I am having one of my four-times-yearly days of absolute, abject, crankiness. Here are some of...

Oct 25th

I didn't write nearly enough today, but...

“…like going around to someone’s house for dinner and being served a ramekin of lumpy,...

Oct 24th

The ridiculous party I was at last night was in a ridiculous...

Oct 24th

The Gambia!

So! Lauren and I are going on our Christmas trip to The Gambia. Here’s why: 1. Last year we...

Oct 23rd

“But some election watchdogs said no number of precautionary...”
— www.baltimoreexaminer.com ...

Oct 23rd

I just took Attitude for my first ride-with-purpose, as opposed to fake commute, and it was...

Oct 23rd

Excellent Book-Writing Tip #9: EMBRACE...

Also an excellent life tip, I suppose. Anyway, today I have decided to embrace the fact that I...

Oct 23rd

We booked tickets for our Christmas trip

Lauren: Even if the crocodiles chased you, you could run faster than them.
Jean: I don't want to have to run faster than them!

Oct 22nd

“Only an arched eyebrow would convey disapproval. Queenlike,...”
— Obituary: Pat Kavanagh | Books...

Oct 22nd

Excellent book-writing tip #8: FAKE...

Working from home is so unpleasantly sedentary! Fortunately, however, I have now learned about the...

Oct 22nd

Steph and I went to see the Rothko exhibition at Tate Modern...

Oct 22nd

I am going off to mail my absentee...

Even though I know it is not going to get counted at all, and that there are probably lots of other...

Oct 21st

The Butcher’s Shop Live Bad Idea live editing larks a...

Oct 21st

BAD IDEA magazine | The BaBos Are Here: Banking Bourgeoisie...

Oct 21st

I am covered in frozen peas

Recuperating today, still, from my very first bike crash. Sadly it happened exactly seventeen...

Oct 20th

This American Life: Monogamy

Oct 19th

(The soundtrack to this photo is Guns n’ Roses.) ...

Oct 19th

Oct 18th

Excellent book-writing tip #7: ...

It is important to be very well-prepared ahead of time for the celebration of your book’s...

Oct 18th

Excellent book-writing tip # 6: WEARING...

Makes you look totally literary, and also helps to combat the cold when you’ve burned down to...

Oct 18th

Single-lady tax

I have never really been the kind of woman who, when single, finds herself desiring a boyfriend in...

Oct 17th

Where I'm at today

I am back in the Wellcome Library again today, which makes me feel like I am pretending to be...

Oct 17th

Random House Launch Website Toolkit For...

Oct 16th

“Discussing the guest list is a delicate matter for a man who...”
— Nicky Haslam hosts Mick...

Oct 16th

Oct 16th

"If you like that, you'll love Canada...

Actually, John, I love them both - and their civilised universal health care plans - very much.

Oct 15th

I'm staying up to watch the debate live...

Madness! On that note, I’m going to take a nice pre-debate nap now.

Oct 15th

Why writing a book is like being a...

I stay at home all day on my own. I wear my pajamas until about 4 o’clock, at which point...

Oct 15th

“Anyone notice the Bonhams ad in the Telegraph today?...”
— BAD IDEA magazine | Diamonds...

Oct 15th

“OK, before we go any further, I have to know something. Tell...”
— Gossip Girl’s take on...

Oct 15th

“I am the victim of an extraordinary media phenomenon. Never...”
— Letter: My homage to Tintin...

Oct 15th

Tired of standing by and watching crime...

When I encountered a mob of people having a big fight just outside the gates of the church, I decided to assert myself and phone the police.
Police: How many people were there?
Jean: About six. Five males and one female.
Police: And were there any weapons?
Jean: Yes...a pan.
Police: A pen?
Jean: No, a pan. Like what you cook things in. Perhaps a large stock pot. They were hitting each other with it.
Police: That's a first! We've had knives, we've had guns, but never a pan.
Jean: Um, yeah. Well, I'm glad to have given you a new experience.

Oct 14th

somethingchanged: I’m finding this book incredibly grim and...

Oct 14th

It's election day!

In Canada, my intellectual motherland. This particular election has really underlined the sheer...

Oct 14th

“But if casting a ballot Nov. 4 takes more than six minutes,...”
— Election officials expect long...

Oct 13th

Today's correspondence

Lauren: so i think i'll officially live in new flat as of today. eep! there won't be internet in new flat until the 27th! shocking. how will i live without internet? HOW?!?!
Jean: yay new house! i like it. think of all the productive things you will do there without internet, like reading books and canning your own preserves and raising sheep. because you will be like an old-fashioned farmer lady.
Lauren: i refuse to make preserves. i will raise sheep, however. i'm sure one of my sheep will invent the internet well before BT figures out how to turn it on at the flat.

Oct 13th

“He is a law school graduate, but his admission to the...”
— The Man Behind the Whispers...

Oct 13th

Excellent book-writing tip #5:...

Pretty much like training a two-year-old child to finish her dinner or tidy her room (or, for that...

Oct 13th

'Free drinks for women' offers may be banned...

Oct 13th

Wheeze

I was super-asthmatic as a kid: I had to go into the nurse’s office to take Ventolin before...

Oct 12th

I am not a drunk party girl

OK, so after a busy week I opted for a Friday evening in, a thousand words, an early night. I dashed...

Oct 10th

I just got my absentee ballot

It is quite confusing, with instructions in very small print. I fear that I am going to void it...

Oct 10th

“Your mobile phone beeps, you have received a text message....”
— BBC NEWS | World | Africa |...

Oct 10th

“The only thing I can tell you right now is that if you loved...”
— Great Depression Survivor...

Oct 10th

Watch

(via tumblelikeyougiveadamn:rach): I was born in the eponymous(ish) town. Thus I’m excited,...

Oct 9th

My former neighbour Lyndsey came over...

Jean: So how's your new flat? Do you have water there?
Lyndsey: All the time. Sometimes I even...have a bath.
Jean: Princess.

Oct 9th

Usually autumn makes me feel like starting something, but these past couple of weeks have felt more...

Oct 9th

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio wins Nobel prize...

Oct 9th

“The popular public image of libraries as solemn and sombre...”
— ‘Sombre’ libraries...

Oct 9th

Watch

Sarah Vowell has a handle on deadpan irony that is positively un-American. I plainly, unashamedly,...

Oct 8th

Google Mail Goggles aims to end drunken email...

Oct 7th

mo money mo blues

sasharappaport: this is a great source to help understand the bail-out, what necessitated it,...

Oct 7th

In gender-sensitive Iran, a car designed...

Oct 7th

“Audacious intellectual investors should now be sniffing...”
— FT.com / Home UK / UK -...

Oct 7th

Excellent book-writing tip #4: DRAMA

I sent a chapter to my agent on Thursday and she called me on Friday to talk about it. Now, this...

Oct 6th

Full marks for the rich but meaningless...

Today my friend Dan and I went to see the Turner Prize exhibition at Tate Britain. I enjoy this...

Oct 6th

On air: Are women their own worst enemies? «...

Oct 6th

Dear Lauren, Remember in first year of university when I...

Oct 5th

Most of the photos from Seb’s party last night are...

Oct 5th

“The nonprofit Mental Health America estimates that 67...”
— Mental-health parity law a big...

Oct 5th

10:30 am: Decibels

Jean (yelling through door): Hello? Can you turn your music down, please?
Anonymous Neighbour: Jeano?! I'm naked!
Jean: Yes, I know, because you are playing your music at a volume that could only be accompanied by naked dancing.

Oct 4th

Reversion to the status quo.

Oct 3rd

The New Yorker endorses Obama

Oct 3rd

I am wearing matching socks today

I know, that doesn’t sound like a huge accomplishment, but please keep in mind that I have...

Oct 3rd

They're always talking about that...

noraleah: Who sits around kitchen tables anymore? Nobody cooks, they just eat fatty foods from the...

Oct 3rd

Don’t judge a book by its country | Books |...

Oct 2nd

The prospect of leaving my flat this afternoon has...

Oct 2nd

Excellent book-writing tip #3: STRIDE

I have always remembered the scene in John Knowles’ A Separate Peace (somewhat mediocre...

Oct 2nd

Thanks to vintage Google, I’ve been enjoying...

Oct 1st

“I’ve already decided to pack my head lamp. Woo hoo!”
— Lauren is hotly anticipating...

Oct 1st

Gratuitous pink hoodie of houseboundness.

Oct 1st

Wrong Day Wrong Time

BFF Sebastian is leaving England in a few weeks for hotter, more dangerous, more...

Oct 1st