Sunday Salon: Bookish Overload

A late Saturday night hello to you all! I'm going to be a bustling little blogger tomorrow morning, so I am going to share my week with you a little early. You know my week isn't complete if I don't do the download of all the excitement and drudgery of my life.

My first bit of news is that I met with my newly-created Heathrow Literary Society on Tuesday. The first person to walk into the meeting was my dear friend, golfing buddy and biggest fan Jean. This was a good start! The second person to walk in was a frowning, curt and slightly bossy woman who was very demanding of information and your basic nightmare. Luckily, what we had to offer did not suit her needs (!?) thank the Lord. In all, we had seven very eager people, all passionate about reading (there was an iPad, a Kindle, and lots of lists!), jump in and make quick decisions about our next few months. I was shocked at how easy it was. Everyone went around the room and offered suggestions for reading selections, and we then voted on what would be our first three reads. The first selection will be Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving, the second will be Ape House by Sara Gruen, and the third will be The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. I'm VERY excited about this group's potential.

Things then took a back seat for a few days because my daughter had a pre-cancerous mole removed from her back. The scar was fairly large and it caused her alot of pain, so I was in high-maintenance mommy mode. My daughter doesn't "do" pain very well.

After Saturday sports, I jumped in my car and raced up to Daytona, where this year's SIBA (Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance) conference. This is my first "event" and I was so excited to meet other book bloggers, authors and publicists. I was not able to see any of the exhibits because I arrived fairly late in the day, but I did have drinks with Natalie from Coffee and a Book Chick (and her adorable husband), Kathy from Bermudaonion and Heather from Raging Bibliomania. Here we are in our chatty glory...sorry for the dim lighting.

We also ran into Rebecca (Book Lady's Blog) with several authors, who were all on their way out to play some putt putt at one of Florida's finest displays of tourist attractions. It sounded like fun, but Kathy, Heather and I decided to grab a meal at a restaurant down the street and yack our heads off. I swear, my jaw was hurting afterwards. Tomorrow I will hit the exhibition and see how many books I can load into my car and bring back to my insufficient and collapsing bookshelves. I will provide you with a proper update later!

On the reading end of my life, there sadly was very little. I think the kids and I managed to listen to one disc of Mockingjay this week (oh, if we could ever just finish this thing). I finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks on audio, and was stunned into awed silence. I can't wait to talk about this book next week at book club. I also listened to China Mieville's The City and the City, which was incredibly clever. Really, how is it possible that a human mind could come up with such a thing??? I have started Jon Stewart's America, and let me just say that if you listen to this audio, please be sure you don't do it with a full bladder because you will pee from laughing.

As for printed books, I am still reading Peyton Place. I think I'm going on two weeks with this book. I love it, it is highly entertaining. I just have had no time to sit down and enjoy it. Maybe this week I can finish it...

So now I'm off to bed, with visions of books and authors and publicists dancing in my head. Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!