V*Con wrapup

So in the past I may have mentioned a time (or six) that I am a HUGE Blood Ties fan.  A number of months ago I heard that the author, Tanya Huff, was going to be appearing at a convention in Vancouver. Living not too far south of the border I vowed that even if I had to hitchhike or fly or whatever I WAS going to be there.

 

Saturday morning I woke very early(apparently when nervous I wake up *way* too early) and headed off to Vancouver. After visiting with some great friends from twitter and meeting a lovely French Bulldog I headed to the convention.

 

Much to my credit on my way from the early meet-up to the con I did NOT get lost. Unlike on my way to the early meet-up when I spent a good portion of time following Canadi-Tom’s directions to Granville Island.

 

This being only my second con I didn’t have much to compare it to but it was MUCH more fun and relaxed(though that may have been because I wasn’t freaking due to traveling).

 

I went to both of Tanya’s panels for the day and then after the second one got to spend a fair amount of time chatting with her. She was absolutely entertaining and enchanting despite having a cold. I really wish I could have spent more time at the con(as her panel that I really wanted to see was Sunday) and also spent more time with her as well.

 

I do have one picture of her and I together and it is this one:

 

So apparently, I need to re-home some books

The other day I went to open my DRESSER and found the reason it has been creaking and groaning omninously from the corner in which it resides in. Apparently I stuffed it full of books.

Paperbacks, hardbacks, big books, little books all shoved in one of the drawers after I read them and forgotten like, well, books.

 

Actually looking at some of these I don't remember ever reading them, or buying them for that matter leading me to believe they are amongst those that mysteriously arrived from the book club I once belonged to even though I dutifully canceled every 'selection of the month'.

 

Since I have a to read stack that is a bit insane at the moment:

 

though just glancing at it I can see 4 books(the top 4) that can be knocked off the 'must read immediately' list.

 

I guess I will be needing to re-home some of the basket dwellers:

 

And drawer livers:

  

See just looking at those photos though I can see certain members of my 'family' that I just can't bear to part with:

 

Momzillas - a cute, hilarious read about the seedy underworld of the Type A mommy.

Mother- a story that brought me to tears, as I have always had a very rocky relationship with my mother at best

Marley & Me - a wonderful hilarious story about life with a dog, that sounds so much like some of mine(I get to see the movie tomorrow!)

Onion John- this may be a 'childrens book' but it has stuck with me through 2 moves, and several life changes.

Holy Bible- though I rarely read *THIS* copy anymore it was my first one that I ever got when we were actually going to church regularly. I have several other copies around, that get more use.

 

This leaves a few books out in the cold though:

You might be a Redneck if.... - just meh, considering who wrote it. Don't even ask about the patch on the front.

Nora Roberts Innocent in Death - I'm thinking this along with the James Patterson and the Johnathan Kellerman are from the book club of doom.

 

As for the basket books I found them and have to go through what looks like my 'humor' section and see what will make the cut.

 

Looks like I'll be doing some serious cutting if I want to get my room and such into shape though. *sighs*

At First Sight

If you follow my blog at all you know I don't tend to have a lot of 'free time' on my hands, so when I do I usually kick back, and relax.

A couple weeks ago, I was at the library working, and noticed that in their 'support the library' sale they had a couple of brand new hardcover books by Nicholas Sparks. Now I'd seen The Notebook, and thought it was okay, but wasn't too sold on it. My friends kept talking about various stuff they'd read by him and how good it was and since the price was right, I decided to pick them both up.

Fast forward to today, the books have been sitting staring at me for about two weeks now I hadn't even had a chance to crack them to read the dust jackets. Kenzie decided to take an extra long nap this afternoon leaving me with a chance to kick my feet(and twisted ankle) up and read.

I picked At First Sight to read (the other is True Believers).

I was totally engrossed into the book to the point that I could NOT put it down. I read the whole thing(277 pages) in a little over 3 hours.

The author did a really wonderful job of bringing you into the story, and in fact for a lot of it I felt like I was sitting right there with Jeremy and Lexi. Now I'm not one to cry, but this book left me with tears hovering in my eyes, but the warm fuzzies as well.

I had NOT read the previous book when I started this and still felt with in the first chapter like I 'intimately' knew the characters and their lives.

The plot was good, and well developed with no glaring plot holes, and left me with relatively few unanswered questions. So if you are looking for a good 'quick*' read I'd really recommend this book to you!

 

* I am a fast reader to start with, add in something that 'catches' me and I will inhale a book. I can finish a 700 page book in less than 6-7 hours if motivated.

Snow days, and books

Why is it that when we are kids, we look forward to snow days with such excitment that when we have them it is too much for us? At what age is it that snow days become the bane of our existance- a day to be reviled as we have others to entertain and none of our precious 'kidless time'? Is it when you graduate from high school? when you are in college? when you have school age children? What about none of the above?

Today our school district(and many others) had a snow day. Now granted I could see the point down south where they got several inches of snow. Up here though our grand total was under 2 inches of snow. The roads had some compact snow but weren't really all that icy nothing that chaining the buses and putting them on snow routes and a 2 hour delay wouldn't of been able to handle. Honestly I think I resented the snow today more than I ever have. See when there is no school it means that my whole family ends up staying home. That SUCKS!

Now don't get me wrong I love seeing the joy in kenzie's eyes when she saw the snow falling lazily out of the sky; but I just cannot stand spending weekdays with the family!
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This week was marked by another trip to the library to pick up some more reading material. So today I finally got to sit down and read the last book(i still have one more but its the most current book) of the Temperance Brennan series. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love that series. Its suspenseful but not overly so, it has plot twists that you don't see coming, and a cast of characters that you're guaranteed to find someone you identify with. I finished all 40 chapters in less than 4 hours tonight. I cannot wait to get my hands on the first book of the series- Deja Dead.

My recently read list

I feel the need today to sit down and type out a list of some of my recently read books. These are listed in no particular order whatsoever. These are just the books I have read since September 1st of this year.

1. The Merck Veterinary Manual
2. Free Stuff for baby: how to save hundreds of dollars
3. A Few Good Eggs: two chicks dish on overcoming infertility
4. The single parent resource: an a to z guide
5. The secret lives of toddlers
6. Blood Price (bk1)
7. Blood Trail (bk2)
8. Blood Lines (bk3)
9. Blood Pact (bk4)
10. Blood Debt (bk5)
11. Blood Bank (short stories)
12. Death Du Jour
13. Monday Mourning
14. Break No Bones
15. White Night: a novel of the dresden files
16. Dead Beat: a Novel of the dresden files
17. Fatal Voyage
18. Cross Bones
19. Bare Bones
20. Deadly Decisions
21. The Princess Bride
22. The Deserter's tale: the story of an ordinary solider
23. Seven spiders spinning
24. Five Alien Elves
25. Six haunted hairdos
26. The Good Liar
27. Ruled Britannia
28. My Detachment: a memoir
29. One Final Firecracker
30. Three rotten eggs
31. Going Postal a novel of discworld
32. Son of a witch: a novel
33. The Time Travler's wife
34. Sex and shopping a wicked words short story collection
35. The Manual a bad boy explains how men think
36. White Fang
37. Call of the Wild
38. Jane Eyre
39. Little Women
40. Tale of Two Cities
41. Leaping Beauty: and other animal fairy tales
42. Four Stupid Cupids
43. A couple of April Fools
44. You're Wearing that? understanding mothers and daughters in coversation
45. Making Money
46. Smoke and Mirrors
47. Smoke and Ashes
48. Smoke and Shadows
    

I will continue to add to this list as time goes on until the end of the year(Dec. 31) and than I will start a new list for next years books as I am curious as to how many books i go through in a year.