So I saw this at Tomboy Style (can't wait for that book btw) and I fell in love. It's not like I had that far to fall of course - I've been a McCartney fan forever - but that picture on the right, can you stand the loveliness of that picture? Love it. Taschen came out with a crazy expensive book of Linda McCartney's photos earlier this year and now there is a reasonably priced edition ($69 is not bad for a coffee table book really). (Can you hear me convincing myself how badly I need this totally frivolous purchase?)

I have a longstanding fascination with oversized photo heavy books. My latest love is CHICKS WITH GUNS which I first heard about in Garden&Gun (something else I'm fascinated with) and then hunted down and nabbed during a 25% off sale at Powells. The photos are stunning and along with the text it's quite the peek into America; talk about a cultural artifact. (It's really not hokey at all, and while I'm not a big hunter I do find the intelligent way in which the subject is addressed quite interesting. Plus the pictures are amazing.)

And if you want to read a good book on a woman who hunts then I also recommend GIRL HUNTER by Georgia Pellegrini which just received a starred review at Booklist - written by me! See her very popular foodie blog here for more info.

Hmmm, interesting how I went from noted vegetarian Linda McCartney to hunter and total carnivore Georgia Pellegrini all in a couple of paragraphs. I'm not sure that was good or bad writing.

On my own book front I have learned that there might be some reticence about my book in Alaska due to the title which is frustrating. (I wonder if this is why Alaska magazine has been so tough to get into.) There are so many dead pilots in Alaska - it's the reason why commercial flying is such a statistically dangerous job. And yet having to face that in the blunt way my title demands is just a bit too much. I don't know - maybe this is just an isolated incident but still it's very frustrating to hear from family and friends that they can not buy the book in Fairbanks which is where the whole thing is based. I contacted my publisher to see if they can figure out from their sales folks what is going on; all I know is that I have had people asking for it and they can't get it. (Although they have ordered it online and gotten it in a matter of days; the irony here is not lost on me.) There isn't a lot I can do right now and partly there isn't a lot I want to do. I want to enjoy my Christmas, I still have packages to mail tomorrow, we are working on a gift for my husband's grandmother the next couple of days, there are lights to go see and presents to wrap. I'm still on a hunt for stocking stuffers. I can't make bookstores stock my book right this moment, I just wish I understood how books are supposed to sell if stores don't want them.

Here is Paul McCartney & Wings because it makes me happy.

Photos of Paul and Linda McCartney in Scotland via Coup de Foudre and via LIFE, 1969.