Getting Bookie

While reading my book journal this morning, I jotted the titles that I most enjoyed for one reason or another during 2006. I'm surprised there are only four that rose above all the books I've read this past year. Admittedly, I read much more online than I do in actual print media. My favorite books for 2006 are

The Memoir Club by Laura Kalpakian
Digging to America by Anne Tyler
Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray
Chocolat (reread) by Joanne Harris

Did the last two titles conjure up images of chocolate cake for you as they did for me? It could lead to this!

~~THE MONTH AFTER CHRISTMAS~~

Twas the month after Christmas, and all through the house
Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.
The cookies I'd nibbled, the eggnog I'd taste
At the holiday parties had gone to my waist.
When I got on the scales there arose such a number!
When I walked to the store (less a walk than a lumber).
I'd remember the marvelous meals I'd prepared;
The gravies and sauces and beef nicely rared,
The wine and the rum balls, the bread and the cheese
And the way I'd never said, "No thank you, please."
As I dressed myself in my husband's old shirt
And prepared once again to do battle with dirt---
I said to myself, as I only can
"You can't spend a winter disguised as a man!"
So--away with the last of the sour cream dip,
Get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip
Every last bit of food that I like must be banished
'Till all the additional ounces have vanished.
I won't have a cookie--not even a lick.
I'll want only to chew on a long celery stick.
I won't have hot biscuits, or corn bread, or pie,
I'll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.
I'm hungry, I'm lonesome, and life is a bore---
But isn't that what January is for?
Unable to giggle, no longer a riot.
Happy New Year to all and to all a good diet!

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