The slushy snow has now turned into rain. Don’t let this deter you however from coming to tonight’s event featuring yours truly. It’s become a tradition to have the buyers present their favorite holiday picks from 2009. There will be wine and cookies and lots of talk about books.

I’m sad to be not watching the Top Chef season finale as it airs, but at least I can watch it later. I had the pleasure of eating at chef Kevin Gillespie’s restaurant Woodfire Grill while visiting my parents over Thanksgiving. The meal made it to the top ten best meals ever list. Just course after course of fresh deliciousness. And Kevin was there! He seemed glad to be back at his restaurant. He spent about ten minutes chatting with us and was as nice as can be.

In other news, critic and James Wood has made his list of favorite books of the year. It’s an interesting list. We actually overlap a bit.

The Millions has a great interview with translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Knopf just release their translation of Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories. Currently they’re working on a new translation of Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago.