It's a real thing. No, seriously, the Bloggies is a real thing. Apparently this thing has been going on for eight years. Who knew?

The Bloggies is the Oscar of blogs. Well, not as prestigious as the Oscars. After all, the winner only gets a certificate, which, at least in my opinion, is not as cool as a gold statue and a basket of swag. But, at least winners don't have to worry about it being canceled on account of the on-going writer's strike, like the Golden Globes were canceled this year.

So anyway, for the Bloggies, you get to vote for your favorite blog. There are all sorts of categories to vote for too. Lots of cool ones were nominated ... however, I did notice one huge snub! That's right, WORD was not nominated! Can you believe it? I think we should all start a write-in campaign. Who's with me?

Well, despite the glaring omission of WORD (must have been an oversight by the nominating committee--don't worry, I'll write them an angry letter), I think honoring good blogs is a great idea. Blogging allows everyone to express themselves, to share opinions, to write! [Shameless plug: write for WORD! Send your entries here!] And the great thing is that anyone can blog. Do you have an interest? advice? time to kill? Write a blog about it! Anyone can do it. There's no better way to get your writing out to the masses.

Do you have a favorite blog (besides for WORD, obviously)? Who are you voting for in the Bloggies? And could you please get me some swag?

I finished reading An Arsonist's Guide To Writers Homes In New England. It was good. I wasn't thrilled with the ending though. You know how no matter how much you dislike a protagonist, you still have to root for him/her? Well this is one of those books that really pushes your likability limit. I kept wanting to grab the main character and shake him, screaming, "What's wrong with you? Why don't you just tell your wife the truth?"

Well ok then, so now what? The great War & Peace challenge doesn't start til February 1. Seeing that I can't wait that long to read another book, I started reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy last night. So far it's about a post-apocalyptic world. A boy and his father are walking down a road. Woo Hoo. It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2007. After reading the first 50 pages, I can't for the life of me see why. I'm hoping it gets better. I think I heard somewhere that there are cannibals in it.

Shrug. I'll have to get back to you.

Word.

Well, we've been talking about doing this for a couple weeks now. I guess you've gone and made it official and there's no backing out, eh? Well alrighty then. I'm in. Looking forward to it. I don't really know what we're getting ourselves into here... but it should be interesting.

I too got the new translation of War and Peace for Christmas. This is probably the best way to do it: a friendly race amongst bloggers. Let's help each other through it. And NO CLIFF NOTES! Hee hee.

February 1st it is...

Word.

Oh Alicia, what have you done?

This is one of the books on my list of "Oh Em Gee, I better not die in a tragic accident before I get a chance to read this book." It is also on my list of "Hm, I can't take that on the subway," and "Wow, this heavy book doesn't fit in my clutch." But, despite the fashion dilemma it poses, I am up for the challenge. I have a mad love affair with the Russians and it's about time I took this book head-on. Richard Pevear is a brilliant translator and did a wonderful job with another of my favorite Russian books, The Master and Margarita.

BTW: Here's a one line summary of War and Peace, for those of you who don't mind a plot spoiler.