Sunday, April 17, 2011

Sunday Salon: Festivus Maximus

Hola friends!  Small admission...I'm writing this from the blogger suite of the UCF Book Festival on Saturday afternoon.  I'm not likely to be home tonight until close to midnight so it's now or never.  So forgive me if I seem distracted. 

This week wasn't quite as busy as the Busy Sandy week.  It felt a little unproductive with all the running around.  My son had to impersonate John F. Kennedy for a living history presentation, I had to take the kids to renew their passports for our trip this summer (even though the passports didn't expire until August, we still had to renew...what the hell is an expiration date for then???), and various waiting around for appointments at my house AGAIN.  In the process of having a front porch built, they guys blew out our Internet cable, so that was nice.  Thank God for satellite Internet.

The highlight, of course, was the UCF Book Festival, which I touched on yesterday.  We had the Author Reception on Friday night, then the actual event all day Saturday.  From 10:00 to 4:00 there were incredible author panels, plus there was an arena full of booths (literary t-shirts, bookmarks, and books were purchased!).  There was way more going on for this humble little Sunday thing, so I will recap sometime next week.  Suffice it to say, I was buzzing by the end of the day. 

So what of reading?  I wrapped up Michael Harvey's "The Fifth Floor" on audio, a nice quick crime thriller with lots of excitement and a great tour of the local's Chicago.  Then I jumped into Jennifer Donnelly's "Revolution", and I am LOVING it.  OMG.  I am five discs in...sure hope it doesn't slide downhill because there is a potential here for a favorite read for 2011.

In print, I finished Alexandrea Weiss' "Recovery", the sequel to "To My Senses".  And it made my hair stand up on end, in a good way.  Alexandrea!!!  What the HECK are you doing to me???  Ack!  Then I squeezed in a little Shaun Tan with "Lost & Found", which is a collection of three graphic novels published earlier.  Love his stuff.  Then on to "Mercy Creek", a little southern novel sent to me by Hub City Press. 

But I am antsy.  Because James is hosting the Hop Along Git Along Read Along in May.  Just read one Western.  Now don't snicker!  I'm not a Western kind of girl, but one of the best books I've ever read, "Outlaw" by Warren Kiefer, is a Western.  I read it years ago before blogging, and it was borrowed from a friend.  I bought myself my own used copy on Amazon and I'm reading that thing NEXT.  So excited.  You must give it a try, and if you don't believe me, just wait for my review!

So what is going on in your lives these days?  Big plans for today?  I promised my daughter I would take her shopping, so I will smile and I will not complain and I will enjoy it!   


19 comments:

Nicole (Linus's Blanket) said...

Your festival post was so much fun. It looked like you all had a wonderful time. What a great opportunity. I have yet to read a Western. I hear great things about Lonesome Dove, but so far I haven;t been tempted.

bermudaonion said...

I can't wait to read more about the UCF Festival! I know y'all rocked it!

Michelle (my books. my life.) said...

So great to see you yesterday! I am looking forward to your festival wrap up post. :)

rhapsodyinbooks said...

I have never encountered a Jennifer Donnelly book I haven't absolutely loved.

Frances said...

Was so glad to read about your festival experience this week. Sounds like a blast. And I am in that same Western boat as you. I keep eyeing True Grit.

Unknown said...

I'm waiting for Outlaw to arrive. I've a small stack of westerns to start reading May 1. Hope we can get enough people to join in to form a posse.

Trisha said...

Your not-busy weeks sound super-busy to me. :)

patebooks said...

Sorry I couldn't make the festival. But my wallet is fuller and my TBR stack smaller for not being there!

"Westerns'' takes in a lot of territory, and some great stuff out there.

Heidenkind said...

Shopping. That sounds like torture right now for some reason....

Ti said...

I have been trying to cut back on my spending so shopping sounds lovely.

I bookmarked your festival post because I was distracted last night and wanted some quiet time to read it. Will get to it tomorrow for sure.

Julie P. said...

SO jealous about the festival. Glad you had a great time!

Zibilee said...

I had such a fun time this weekend and was able to indulge every bookish whim I had. It was so great to get the chance to have dinner with the other bloggers, and as usual, I was impressed with everyone and the way we all dived right in like we knew each other! I hope that you have a great week, and I look forward to reading your post on the event.

Unknown said...

The UCF Book Festival sounds wonderful! I loved your post about it.

I haven't read a western before so maybe I'll participate in James' readalong.
I'm thrilled to read that you are loving Revolution. I have Donnelly's Northern Lights here and will read it soon. I', going to pick up Revolution my next buying spree.

I hope you have a good week, Sandy!

Unknown said...

Sandy, your non-busy week sounds full.
I also attended the UCF Book Festival yesterday, then I returned to home and went to chaperon Relay for Life...a really inspirational and wonderful all nighter. Most of today I slept, read and played online.
I finished The Immoral Life of Bezellia Grove, and started Left Neglected by Lisa Genova in print, and on audio I started Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown.

Alyce said...

I've read a few westerns that have been fun reads, but the only ones I remember off the top of my head are Louis L'Amour's. I've heard Lonesome Dove is supposed to be very good and I hope to read it someday.

The book fest sounds awesome! I'm glad you had a good time.

I've been meaning to read Revolution and with your description of how good it is I'm thinking I need to add it to my library hold list now (I keep forgetting and adding a ton of other books instead).

Jenners said...

Oh la la...writing on the blogging suite!

and every week sounds like Busy Sandy week to me.

One of my all-time favorite books was a Western--Lomesome Dove. And I thought I was going to hate it because Westerns are not my thing...yet a good book is a good book.

Darlene said...

The festival sounds like so much fun! Wish I could have been there! Hope you have a great week Sandy!

Kathleen said...

The festival sounds GREAT. You have lots of fun things going on and good books to read. Enjoy!

Melissa said...

If you want another western to try, Lonesome Dove is amazing!