Sunday, September 26, 2010

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!



29 comments:

bermudaonion said...

Last night was so much fun! I can't wait to hang out this morning - I hope we get tickets to the Moveable Feast.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like it isn't that hard to set up a Reading Group, if I had the guts to start one :) It sounds like you have a fun group together and I want to read most of the books you selected as well (I sadly have never heard of the second book before).

rhapsodyinbooks said...

Glad to hear the surgery went well! That's so funny about your jaw hurting! I hope you get some better pictures today!

Tales of Whimsy said...

That is so cool! Another Florida blogger :) I wish I could have made it. I live in Tally.

Kaye said...

If you're enjoying Peyton Place, you might like Looking for Peyton Place by Barbara Delinsky. It's a story about Grace Metalious, author of PP. Good book, I enjoyed it.

Unknown said...

It is great that you got to meet so many bloggers. I wish I could have been there.

Your literary society sounds great too. I loved The Book Thief and am looking forward to reading the other two. Enjoy :-)

Book Bird Dog said...

Great you got a chance to meet bloggers! What fun!

caite said...

I envy you your 'literary society'...

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

What a lot of fun you're having! I found the link to your post from Take Me Away.

Wow! When you mentioned Peyton Place, that took me back...furtive peeks at special pages while in high school biology, etc. Then, of course, I finally read the book (a bit later in my teens).

But speaking of Banned Books Week, I'm pretty sure that one was on a list at one point.

In the sixties, there was a TV series starring Mia Farrow, et. al.

Here's my Salon:

Click my name....

Molly said...

The first three book selections for the book club sound delightful. Glad all involved are as eager as you!

Hope you have a great week - and dare I say, perhaps a bit less hectic (if there is such a thing)

Alyce said...

The Literary Society and the book exhibit both sound like a lot of fun!

I hope your daughter is feeling much better!

Stephanie said...

I hope your daughter is doing ok. I definitely want to read Peyton Place!

Unknown said...

I'm glad to hear you love Peyton Place, a little relieved too. Isn't it odd how such a page turned can be such slow-going at the same time.

BTW, I found a little book by Mr. King called Blockade Billy that just came out this year. It's a novella, just 112 pages. Interested?

Cathy said...

A new literary society--what a cool thing. And to get together with book bloggers. I've found that when you get together with people who read, the conversation has no end, even if you've never met each other before!

Trisha said...

So jealous of all of you getting together! And of your book club. I really need to find me one of those.

ds said...

So glad to know your daughter's surgery went well. Hope she is feeling much better by now!

Book group sounds great, with an interesting reading list. Have fun!

I don't know how Mr. Mieville does it, either. Read UnLunDun & loved it--you might, too.

Have a great week!

Melody said...

I'm glad the surgery went well! It's so wonderful that you got to meet up with a few book bloggers!

Julie P. said...

So jealous! SO so very jealous! I'm happy that you had the chance to meet up with some bloggers. Isn't funny how much we can all talk when we get together?

Natalie~Coffee and a Book Chick said...

It was SO MUCH FUN meeting you all!! I had such a fantastic time and I cannot wait for when we could do another meet up -- we don't need to wait until the next conference, right?! :)

Kathleen said...

That's so cool that you got to meet some of our fellow bloggers! I can't wait for the opportunity to meet a few in person. Sounds like you have been busy, as always. I hope your daughter is feeling better!

JoAnn said...

Glad your meeting went so well - the reading list sounds excellent! I read Peyton Place a couple years ago - very entertaining! Hope your daughter is healing quickly.

Unknown said...

Your Literary sounds great aside from pushy woman but I'm sure the reast of you can calm her down. I love your first 3 choices!

I'm so glad you were able to get to SIBA. Such a great opportunity to spend time with awesome bloggers!

I hope your daughter is feeling better. Procedures like the one she went through can be very painful & unpleasant. Good luck with it all.

~ Amy

Zibilee said...

I am so glad that you came to SIBA this weekend! I had such a crazy good time with you, and was just totally thrilled with how everything worked out. Enjoy all those new reads!

Jenners said...

Aww...hope your daughter feels better soon. I'm sure mommy can help make it all better.

And I love the name of your literary society ... it is just perfect.

Cant' wait to hear about the books you scored at the blogging event!

Becca said...

I'm so jealous of all of you who've been to the book conventions! Getting to one of those is on my "must-do" list, for sure!

I didn't know there were so many Florida bloggers -I'm from Naples.

Iliana said...

Oh your poor little girl having to go through that. Glad it was caught early and hopefully no more stuff like that!

And, so jealous you got to meet up with such cool chicks! :)

I'm looking forward to your review of the Henrietta book and the Jon Stewart one. I can imagine that one is a hoot!

S. Krishna said...

You have had a lot going on! I'm hoping to make it to SIBA next year.

Melissa said...

Sounds like SIBA was an awesome event and I hope your daughter if feeling better soon!

I was also glad to hear that the curt woman decided your book group wasn't for her. :)

Alice said...

You're one fine, mommy! I'm so jealous you always get to meet all the lovely bookish people. I hate Kathy. I hate you. NAH, JUST KIDDING!!!

I'm glad your daughter's surgery went well. I hope she's feeling a lot better now.