Update with Odds and Ends

Today I'm headed out of town for work. I'm not sure if I'll be able to post anything before I get back or not. In the event I can't I wanted to leave you with a few items to check out.

First, I'll give you a general update on Week 1 of the "World's Favorite Detective" tournament. It's been an interesting Week 1 actually with several contests volleying back and forth depending on the day. There are very few blowouts and most contests can still go either way depending on these last two days of voting. The voting booth for Week 1 will be open through tomorrow, so if you're pulling for your favorite detective to move on, now's the time to rally your friends and get the votes!

I was very excited to see that on Monday alone there were over 600 voters. Very cool. I hope you all continue to come back each week throughout the tournament and support your favorite detectives. I also hope you check out some whose names aren't familiar to you...or rather weren't familiar before the contest started. I'm hoping to do some highlights on the detectives when we get down a little further. I would have loved to have done a highlight for every single detective in the tourney, but time simply wouldn't permit it. That doesn't mean you can't check them out on your own. I've already requested audio books from some of the authors I wasn't familiar with before this. Very excited to discover some new detectives!

So, be sure to check back next week for Round 2. I return from my work trip Saturday night. If I can get to it, I'll post the winners of Round 1 Sunday, otherwise, I'll have it up for you on Monday and the new voting will start.

If you didn't have a chance to catch my interview with Tom Schreck earlier this week and you would like to, you can see that here. Tom turned the tables on me and I was in the interview hot seat this time. Tom's a super wonderful person, an extremely talented writer and I was honored to hang out with him at his blog.

And I also spent some time with my dear friend Kaye Barley this week over at her blog. I talked about my special family and I answered the question everyone's been asking me, "What is your six-word memoir?" So, if you'd like to see that, you can do that here.

Alright, I'm done being narcissistic for today. I want to talk about other cool places to visit if you haven't seen them already. I've actually fallen so far behind in my own blog reading that my friends are ready to send the lynch mob after me, I think. Naomi and Corey are staying very busy over at The Drowning Machine. Be sure to stop by there for a couple awesome reviews as well as an Indie Bookstore highlight. Absolutely love that!

Michael has been highlighting the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series on audio book at his blog. I believe I talked about this before, but this is truly a series that I get excited about every time I hear he has a new post. To combine my love of Crais with my love of audio books is heaven to begin with. But Michael is a connoisseur and it's so much fun to discuss these audios with him. I just never tire of it. Anyway, he's up to THE FORGOTTEN MAN. You can check that out here. And he has links to the remainder of the series if you need to catch up.

Michael's also been doing a series on movie Title/Credit Sequences. He's up to Part 4 on that series. You can see that here. Again he adds links to the previous posts if you need to catch up. I have been reading them utterly dumbfounded. I can't even contribute I feel so unworthy! I love his film knowledge. I feel as though I get an education every time he hosts a post. It's great!

And my idol, Pop Culture Nerd, is getting super fancy on us these days. She put together a slide show of fashion from the Academy Awards. I don't need to hit People Magazine's website, PCN has all the inside scoop I need. And it's far more fun to dish with her than People Magazine! You have to go over and see this slide show. Her captions are half the fun. Make sure that you see Robert Downey, Jr. Seriously, I laughed out loud at that one. My colleagues thought I was off my rocker. Damn cubicles! If you haven't been over to check out her site lately, what are you waiting for? Lots of fun stuff going on there. Had I not been visiting, I'd have never heard about Tom Kaufman. See, that's why I hate getting behind on my blog reading!

And finally, please go over and wish my good friend Jenn from Jenn's Bookshelves a happy blogiversary. She celebrated two years of blogging this week. And she has a nice contest going on in honor of her blogiversary where you could win the book of your choice! Can't beat that! You have until March 15th to enter for that contest. And you know if you have trouble deciding what you want, I'll be happy to give you a long list of suggestions! ;-)

All right. I'll shut my trap now...or rather my fingers, I guess. I just wanted to make sure I left you with enough fun stuff until I return. I promise some reviews next week. I have still been reading, I swear, even though I haven't done a very good job of posting the reviews in a timely manner. But you know, you can also always follow me on Twitter. I tend to talk about books there while I'm reading them (as well as other various odds and ends). I put the link to my Twitter page over in my side bar if you aren't already following and would like to, just click my little Twitter bird.

Have a great weekend everyone. I hope it is filled with sunshine and happiness and BOOKS! And remember to VOTE!!!