Five on Friday: Laura Lippman

Happy Friday everyone! Slowly but surely I'm getting closer to that "caught up" status. I'm not sure that I've ever been ACTUALLY caught up, but some times it seems attainable at least. :-)

Some fun things to share with you before we get to our wonderful guest today. First is this month's Nerdy Special List.  I've been reading more non-fiction lately in my Shelf Awareness role, so my pick for April, like March, is a non-fiction title. For April, though, this title will likely appeal to crime readers because of the nature of the subject. Curious? Click over and check out what all the blogger choices for April are.

This isn't crime fiction related, but you may be interested in checking out this HarperCollins book and contest. You could win a cruise for two! I'm fascinated by the book, though. I'm constantly trying to remind myself to always celebrate the people in my life. It might be a title I want to check out.

Lesa's book giveaway this week is titled "The Child in You." Remember to act fast on this one, entries have to be in by tomorrow morning.

The Friday Reads contest for this week includes: Austin Grossman's You, Kyle Mills' The Utopia Experiment, and Hugh Howey's Wool. I can't really speak to any of these titles, except to say I really liked Kyle Mills' last Ludlum novel, The Ares Decision.

I mentioned this, this week on Facebook, but wanted to reiterate it here, the Murder and Mayhem in Muskego schedule is starting to come together. The complete schedule is not finalized yet, but a number of people have been confirmed including Marcia Clark, Gregg Hurwitz, Dana Cameron, Duane Swierczynski, Megan Abbott, and more (Dan Malmon has informed me he's going to have a name badge that reads "...AND MORE"--like me, he'll be there to moderate the motley crew. I can't wait). Anyway, the reason I mention it is to encourage you to set aside the date: November 9th and get to Muskego (outside of Milwaukee) for this wonderful event. When the website is ready and registration is open, I'll pass on more information.

I know, enough Forbus, let's get to the main event. And I am very happy to do just that. I have admired Laura Lippman for years. Of course I love her writing; she has a gift, but she also works hard at what she does. She has goals and sets standards for herself. I also admire her confidence. I find that to be her most stunningly beautiful trait. She doesn't view herself as perfect, rather she's comfortable with who she is and doesn't need to prove anything to anyone.

Laura Lippman is the kind of woman I hope young (and not so young) girls find to admire. And I don't say that to throw a bunch of unreasonable expectations on her. I simply know that if a generation of young women aspired to have the integrity, strength, confidence and work ethic that Laura Lippman does, the future of our country wouldn't concern me in the least.

For those unaware with her most recent novel, it's called And When She Was Good. I don't know how you can read the jacket and not want to snatch this one up. I am very selective about the books I buy because I receive so many for review--and quite frankly they are taking over the house. But, this one was one I knew I had to have.

I am honored and tickled to welcome Laura Lippman to this week's Five on Friday:

Laura helps Brad Parks celebrate the Lefty Award in Colorado Springs

When I’m reading a book, I absolutely hate it when a writer uses "disinterested" incorrectly. And, yes, I'm sure I make similar errors all the time. But as I have told disgruntled readers, we all put a high premium on what we know.

If I could sit next to anyone (not related to me) on a cross-country flight, it would be the Invisible Man because even if he had gross, disgusting feet in flip-flops and he crossed his legs in such a way that his foot was in my personal space and his toenails were yellow and talon-like -- well, I wouldn't see it. Although I suppose if he was one of those guys who splays his legs, I might feel it, which would be very weird and disturbing. Heck, just make it Jensen Ackles.

The best car I ever owned was a 15-year-old Toyota Corolla that cost $350 and had 167,000 miles on it and ran for two years without incident. I didn't get rid of it until I could see an alarming swath of road through the floorboards, which were beginning to resemble lace. $350!

My favorite vegetable is kale. It's one of the few trends I was ahead of the curve on and I love the version known as kale-crack.

The #1 item on my bucket list right now is to live long enough to experience as many milestones in my daughter's life as possible. That's probably the prayer of every late-starting parent. Or maybe just every parent. 

And that last response is yet another reason I admire this woman. When you listen to her talk about her family, she simply lights up. You can't help but be happy at such a sight. And if you check out my highlight moments from LCC in this weekend's post, I'll give you one more reason why I really, really like and admire Laura Lippman. But until then, my thanks to Laura for her wonderful responses. I'm off to check my uses of "disinterested" and I wish you all Happy Reading!