The Sunday Salon: Let Another Year Begin!

Outside my window: It's Sunday morning right now, barely. About to change to afternoon, which means I have church then, which means I better hurry if I want to do this post because after church we'll have dinner guests and other activities!

I am listening to: the TV is mindlessly on... plus I hear the sound affects of kid#3s Koss pad that he is building. (It's like a synthesizer built into a guitar, in case you wondered.)

Song of the week: I can never get enough of this version of Hotel California.





TV Talk: Vampire Diaries ended until January, sadly... but with much craziness. Survivor has been very interesting with Cochran trying to take control over Ozzy. I love it. Amazing Race has been quite boring this season. I caught up with Once Upon a Time online, and enjoyed those episodes a lot. Doctor Who continues to work it's way into my heart. I haven't watched any Merlin or Supernatural this week. The husband is completely addicted to 24 and has been watching several episodes a night.

Reading Report
Books I'm Reading: The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan, though I don't think I actually ever read it this week. This means I am now many chapters behind in my buddy read with Ibeeeg! Dang.
Books I've Finished: The Death Cure by James Dasher, review to come this week.
Books I've Started: This morning I've been working on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for book club.
Books I want to start: So many I want to read right now, it makes me crazy. Like seriously, I'm beginning to fear for my sanity.

I am thinking: It's really time I had a shower and got ready for this day!

I am grateful for: family, as always, but it needs to be said again this week.

Around the house: I spent one whole afternoon this week cleaning the laundry room, which is really the junk room. I throw away a ton of stuff and wow, you can actually see the room again! It was an exhausting, but satisfying task. Here's hoping I can keep it clear for awhile anyway!

Recipe of the Week: This week I made Ibeeeg's Pumpkin Soup found here.(Everyone loved it!) Also we made gingerbread men cookies for Toto's "pioneer recipe" school project. This recipe came from an old bakery in Nauvoo:

Ginger Bread Cookies

from the Scovil Bakery in Nauvoo, Illinois

1 C sugar

¾ C butter

1 C molasses

½ C hot water

2 eggs

Stir

1 Tsp. Soda

½ Tsp. Salt

1 Tsp. Cinnamon

1 heaping Tsp. Ginger

6-7 cups flour

Refrigerate dough. Roll out and cut with cookie cutter. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Favorite things of the week: Yesterday was pretty awesome when I hung out at the library all day long and listened to four authors talk, mingled with other Utah bloggers, and got books signed, etc. Another favorite thing was taking the whole family to visit a spunky neighbor we have and left laughing and happy. Why don't we do things like that more often?

Family Matters: Kid#1 went golfing with Grandpa and needs to finish is English paper, Kid#2 did not have a good week at all and we'll leave it at that, Kid#3 is building the guitar as mentioned above and continues his zoombie game addiction, Kid#4 has learned how to make things, crafty things, out of duct tape.

Things we discussed at home this week: much talk on relationships. What a complicated bit of this life we live.

Things I hope to accomplish in the coming week: I've got to read more this week. Last week was pathetic on the reading front. I'm also going to learn my new video editing program I just got... Premiere Elements TEN!! Wahoo. Beware, I may make a movie and force you to watch it!

The Blog Report: I gave away a book, I discussed issues that bugged me, I pondered getting old, and I got excited about John Green.

Don't forget to go sign up for the Virtual Advent Blog Tour!!

Iron Knight Winner!

We have a winner!


Congratulations goes out to LEIGH whose number (#21) came up on random.org as the winner of my Iron Knight giveaway! Way to go.


I've sent an email out and hope to hear back from her quickly so I can pass her info on to the publisher.


Thanks everyone for entering.

On Getting Old... or Not

Awhile back while at a book signing thing with a bunch of other bloggers, I suddenly looked around and realized how freaking old I am! It took me back a minute! That's because I totally FEEL not old, (well except for the occasional ache and pain and the whole how-did-I-get-so-fat thing)  but then when I realized how much older I am than most of these other book fanatics I hang with now and then, I wondered if they think, what the heck? Who invited this middle-aged lady to our party??? Know what I mean?

But for the most part people seem sincerely thunderstruck when they do find out how old I am. I laugh at this because I don't know how to take it! Does this mean I look and act young-ish? Or does this mean I look and act immature? Because we wouldn't want that now would we...

So, as the weekend approaches and I have to add yet another year to my age tally marks, I'm pondering getting old.... yet trying to still "be" young.

Which of course means,  I made some lists. Here's how I know I'm getting old:

-- I remember when VCRs became the thing, and we had to rent them if we wanted to try them out.
-- I remember watching final episode of Mash.
-- I remember when MTV was first popular... one of the first music videos I remember was this one:



-- I went to Star Wars in the theater when I was 12 years old. We sat through it twice and I was completley blown away by everything about it.
-- I also remember LOVING this movie (Flash Gordon) when I was 16.
-- I remember watching Donny and Marie every Friday night, Emergency, Love Boat and Fantasy Island every Saturday night and The Wonderful World of Disney and Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys every Sunday night..



-- Of course I loved Donny... and Shaun Cassidy, and also  Leif Garret, Andy Gibb and Scott Baio

-- We had a class dance every Friday afternoon in 6th grade and I had a little 45 record of this song which the kids begged me to bring for that dance every week:

(I love this clip of it because it has both the original music AND the disco one which starts at 1:26 in.. plus it has clips of the movie! Embedding might not be working, so go on and click over to YouTube!)

 

-- Another song I remember we loved dancing to was More Than a Feeling by Boston
-- I remember watching Roots on TV.
-- I got an electric typewriter for my going to college Christmas present and that was so very very cool.
-- I was already married when CDs become the thing and we freaked out about them
-- I  watched Oprah from the beginning
-- I remember when disposable diapers were the next coolest thing
-- I remember when Ibuprofen was the wonder drug and you could only get it in prescription
-- I was in college when the shuttle exploded
-- I remember when John Lennon was shot... and Ronald Regan... but no, not JFK.
-- I remember when TV shows started advertising their websites
-- I remember first getting the internet and how that AOL "you've got mail" thing was so awesome!
.... and the list could go on and on and on.

BUT... I feel/act/seem younger because....

-- I get into all the new computer stuff
-- I think it's fun to have a lot of celebrity crushes
-- I like to blast music in the car... (my kids tell me to turn down the music all the time)
-- and go to rock concerts.
-- I have the confidence of a teenager... in other words... not much
-- I get excited about weird things
-- I like to read YA books and ponder my own high school years
-- I dress like a kid in jeans and tshirts/sweatshirts and tennis shoes
-- and... I don't know what else.... what else?

Anyway, here's to getting older, but staying young! If you have the secret to that, let me know!

Random Bookish Stuff... Again

Some bookish things on my mind....

** So...the other day I went to yet another library event where Dan Wells came to talk teens. The problem was, only about three teens showed up. Also a few older "kids" and then a bunch of library staff. People! Where were you??? But it was okay, because those of us that were there had a blast hearing how this crazy funny author came to write a book about a sociopathic kid named John Wayne Cleaver in a book called I Am Not A Serial Killer. And we learned his take on the steps a book takes to get published. We learned how John Wayne Cleaver took over and is now so important that he will have another series sometime down the road. We also learned there's a movie that is perhaps really going to happen. They even have the kid picked out to play this main part.... but alas, he couldn't tell us who. :( We also learned about all the other projects Dan Wells has up his sleeves, not to mention a new series that comes out in February. (Partials is the name of the first one.) Anyway, it was very fun and the hour flew by. Come see him next time he is somewhere you are!

** So... I bought Inheritance today at Costco! Sadly, I guess it won't be getting signed.

** So... there's a Teen Book Fest at the other library this weekend.  I'm very excited to go and support the event and say hi to the four awesome authors that will be there, including Ally Condie who is the keynote. Yeah! Fun!

** So... someone (Holly, Allison and Angie to be specific) was talking on Twitter today about a Robin Hood book... Scarlet I think? And of course I was eavesdropping! They said they loved it! So I looked it up and it's NOT EVEN OUT YET!! Argh people. Stop that. Now I'm in the mood for Robin Hood and so must find a book that IS out and read it. (Oh and hey look, Angie reviewed it today.)

** So... other Twitter-ness making me crazy is Emily watching North and South and tweeting at the same time.... all that swooning going on. I'm thinking it's time for a rewatch of this movie? Yes?

** So... if I want to request an ARC and they say you must fax the request on company letterhead.... do I make up letterhead for my blog? Have you people done this? I need to get the hang of this requesting ARC thing so I can get the "cool" books that I'm really wanting.


** So.... anyone know why my LinkWithin thing isn't working anymore? I mean, I thought it was supposed to suggest related posts.. and lately, the posts it's suggesting aren't even near cousins! Sheesh.

** So... I think that's it for a minute here. I know there was more I wanted to ponder on, but I can't remember them now. I need to read. I need another readathon. I need Netflix to not be so distracting... and... and... so many other things.

'Till next time!

Top Ten Tuesday: Outside the Zone

Today's topic over at The Broke and the Bookish for our top ten list... is what books have you read outside of your comfort zone.

Well, since my comfort zone is really quite large, I'm going to have to stretch a little to accomplish this list! But here's what I've come up with:

Ten Books I've Read Outside My Comfort Zone

1. Under the Dome by Stephen King... just finished and enjoyed this one, but I would say that anything by Stephen King is a bit outside the zone, just for the all round graphic nature of his books.

2. Truman by David McCullough.... a book read pre-blogging days and probably took me the whole summer.  Books this big AND political are not my norm. Fascinating stuff here though.

3. A Thief of Time by Tony Hillerman....a mystery. Not so much into them, but we read it for book club and guess what? I enjoyed it!

4. Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz.... a genre that I'm not especially familiar with, by a popular author I thought I'd probably never read. But thanks to Jenny, I tried it and liked it.

5. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis... books pondering religion, not my favorite. But C.S. Lewis was worth the try.

6. Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand..... a memoir about horse racing? How boring! NOT! Turns out this is one of my all time favorite books. It may be that I'm more of a horse person than I thought.


7. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy... a very strange author, and one to be a bit scared of, that is, until you become immersed, and then he's wonderful.


8. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert... a book about someone moaning about how horrible their life is... while they traipse around the world to find themselves? Not my normal thing, and I avoided it forever, but once again, there were parts I quite enjoyed. The writing was wonderful for one.


9. Beach Trip by Cathy Holton... a book I read for a blog tour, very chick lit-y, and I worried I wouldn't get it. But it also ended up one of my favorite books that year.


10. The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff... another blog tour book I read several years ago. I'm not a fan of polygamy books, they make crazy in all sorts of ways, but I got through this one just fine, with only a few moments of insanity.


Whew! I did it! Ten books outside the zone. I bet there's more, but I really do have to dig deep to decide if a book made me nervous much. 


How about you? What have you read that was outside your zone?

A Plug for John Green

Did I ever tell you how much I love this guy?

And now we get MORE of him!!! He's going to use YouTube to teach us stuff! I think I've said before, he would be an AWESOME teacher! Now he'll prove it.

Just like he said, I am so excited.

Oh, and he finished signing all the books too, for those of you following along. I so look forward to my copy and wouldn't that be cool if I got this last one... or one that was Hanklifyed... or Yettified... or Henry scribbled?  Awesome.

Now... watch....

Questions on Book Marketing Strategy

There's a library event coming up in a couple of weeks which I am very excited about! Christopher Paolini, author of The Inheritance trilogy, will be coming to talk and sign books! Very fun, yes? This particular library  continues to get some way awesome authors to visit. I'm loving it and in fact, it's almost hard to keep up! I hit a few and miss a few. This one is a no brainer though, and I'm going for sure!

So, most of the time when these authors come, we can bring in the books we already have and get them signed. Always, they will have a book seller of some sort on hand so you can easily buy books if you don't have them, or if you'd like to add to the stack you already have. I think nearly every time I use this service! I end up spending a lot of money at these "free" events!

This time, however, things are a little different. (My friend Jenny has already addressed this issue, so sorry if you've already heard her rant... but I wanted to weigh in too, so here goes mine!) This time, the library is making people aware (but I'm sure not everyone will get this message which means there's going to be a lot of really really bugged people that day) that you can only get this latest book signed if you buy it there. Now, of course, this isn't the first time I've heard of such a thing. Often, book stores will have signings and you'll need to buy the book from the store. Makes sense. But this is a library, so the library gains nothing from this.

It also makes sense if it's a launch party and the book is just being released that day. However, this event takes place nearly one month after the book's release date. So that is confusing to me.

It also might make sense if the library has some sort of agreement with the book store (Barnes and Noble in this case) so that the book store has motivation to come. But this is also weird to me because this book store has come to the library many many times and has never made stipulations before. So why now?

Which leaves the publisher. The library is saying that the publisher (Random House in this case) is the one making this rule. So my question is.... what does the publisher have to gain by making us all wait a month to buy the book? Don't they want poeple to buy the book the first week it's out? Isn't that first week really important number-wise and "best seller" status-wise? I thought someone told me this once upon a time, but I guess for some reason they'd rather we wait and buy it at the event a month later and not buy it that first week and help their numbers.

Unless of course the publisher has some sort of thing going with the book store, which I guess could be true. But someone needs to explain to me why a publisher would want people to buy the book from one certain place. Don't they want the book to be bought, no matter WHERE it's bought? Isn't the point to sell as many books as you can? Not as many books as you can from one store? I just don't get it.

Also, it makes me crazy because if we are excited to go see this author, which we are, that probably means we are big fans, which we are. And if we are big fans, that probably means we'd really like to read this book the second it comes out, which we do. And it's always cool when you meet an author to say, hey! Cool book! And to feel really smart and be able to say you have read it already.

But of course that won't happen if we have to wait to buy it there... so we'll just look like doofuses and won't be able to say, hey, cool book. Or maybe we could say, hey, I BET this is a cool book, if only I could have read it during this last month before coming to see you!

But I guess all this could be solved if we bought one copy now, to read. And one copy then, to get signed. Thereby, buying TWO copies of this $28.00 book. Because we can all spend that kind of money no problem, being book fanatics and all. Right? So maybe THAT'S what's behind this thing? The publisher wants us to buy two copies?

And if that's the case, it really makes me crazy.

So anyone out there have any better explanation for this? Publishers? Authors? Book stores? Libraries? Why would they do this? What would they gain? What if we all just refused to buy it there, and poor Christopher had no new books at all to sign? Wouldn't that be a bit embarrassing for all involved? And I wonder if he, as the author, has a say in all this? Because there's a certain other author that came awhile back (same publisher by the way, and same library, and probably same book store too) who I think would freak if this was going on at his signings.

Anyway, someone, please explain. Because I really really don't get it.

Meanwhile, I think I'll be buying the book ahead of time, and read it (hopefully) before the event and then take my older books to be signed, even though they are also saying he won't personalize them, because of course, he will only do that for the new one, the one we have to buy there.