Preparing for Muskego

A couple fun things for you as I'm preparing for Felonious February up at the Muskego Public Library this weekend. If you're in the area, you should come. It's going to be fun!

First, my very good friend Michael from Lazy Thoughts from a Boomer is running a series on the Robert Crais audio books. Michael is an expert on audios and especially on Robert Crais' audios. He's running through the whole Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series and we're having some fun discussions about them. If you haven't checked this series out, I encourage you to do so, even if you think you aren't an audio fan, it's still a great look at how different interpretations can create different effects in reading. Fun stuff, and many kudos to Michael for the series. It's fantastic!

I'm grossly behind on my blog reading, and I need to get over and chat with Hank Phillippi Ryan who is guesting at 7 Criminal Minds this week. What a fun, talented woman. Stop over and say hi to her!

Don't forget to enter your nominations for the World's Favorite Detective tournament. The form for entries is here. Thanks to everyone who has been helping to spread the word. We aren't going to have any trouble filling the 64 slots. The question will simply be who fills those slots. And there's still time to sign up to participate in the "Detectives Around the World" theme week. Info on what to do for that is here. We've got over 20 participating blogs right now, and everyone is welcome. There will be lots of prizes and lots of fun. Hope you'll join in.

And finally, I want to share this trailer for Alafair Burke's 212 with you. For those that don't know, I will be interviewing Alafair at Felonious Friday this weekend. It's my first LIVE interview, so wish me luck. Alafair's an old pro...me, I'm the novice! But, while I'm traveling to Wisconsin tomorrow, I have my review of 212 set for you to check out. To prepare for that, check out this fun trailer:

Sunday Odds and Ends

Well, despite the fact that I abhor snow, and we've been getting plenty of it, January is off to a great start for me. I hope that's true for you, too.

Today I thought I'd do a little round-up of various things I've seen on the web this week. But first I wanted to remind you that time is running out to enter my blogiversary contest to win one of two signed books from Steve Hockensmith's Holmes on the Range series. You can enter here.

Speaking of blogiversary, it will be two years ago on Tuesday that I started Jen's Book Thoughts. Do you know what else is Tuesday? Yep! The release of THE FIRST RULE. Coincidence? I don't think so! Thanks R.C. and Putnam for helping to celebrate my blog's birthday. And R.C.'s visit to Ohio is closing in. Two weeks from today! Can't wait!! If you're going to be in Dayton to see R.C., make sure you drop me a note and let me know so we can make a point of meeting and saying "hi."

I was over the moon to see some authors scheduled at Mystery Lovers Book Shop. You can see their entire line-up here. I've already got my spot for Jo Nesbø's and Alafair Burke's events in March. And I'm also planning to attend the Festival in May. I have it from a good source that Brad Parks is scheduled to be at the festival this year.

Speaking of Brad Parks. The scoundrel put my reputation through a blender this week in his interview with Pop Culture Nerd.

I went back and forth this week with Tom Schreck about the need for sidekicks to have sex. You can weigh in on the topic here.

The folks over at the Criminal Minds blog are growing in number. Have you been there lately? Stop over and wish the new contributors a warm welcome. And some changes are going on over at The Outfit.

And today, Lesa Holstine has posted her first video production to her blog. She's highlighting some cozy mysteries from Penguin, and she did a fantastic job.

I still have three reviews from books I read in 2009 that I need to finish to have last year totally wrapped up. I'd love to get those done this week. Then I have four others that I've finished reading so far this year. Geez, already starting off the year behind! I'm also doing a lot of behind the scenes prep work for some things to come, so if I'm a little sparse, that's what I'm doing.

Hope you have a wonderful (warm) week filled with great reading!

Appreciating Book Bloggers This Week

Welcome to Book Blogger Appreciation Week everyone! One of the topics that is suggested by the Book Blogger Appreciation Week committee is to blog about our favorite blogs that didn't make the short lists in award nominations. There are so many great blogs available in this blog-o-sphere of ours. Sometimes they get lost amidst all the ... sorry ... crap that's out there. Yeah, there's plenty of that, too. So, please allow me to share with you some outstanding blogs that deserve recognition every day:

Lazy Thoughts from a Boomer is absolutely one of my all-time favorite blogs, period. My great Boomer friend, Michael doesn't always blog about books; it's much better than that. He mixes in music and movies and "kids say the darnedest things." It's absolutely wonderful. And he's my go-to guy on recommendations for audio books. He is IN THE KNOW about great narrators and excellent recordings. And on top of being one of my favorite bloggers, he's also a great friend. When I traveled to SoCal to attend the L.A. Times Festival of Books, he met me, chatted up authors with me, secured my panel tickets, bummed around with my sister and I...he just made my trip a million times better than it would have been without him. So he's a prime example of the Internet creating friendships that wouldn't have otherwise existed. I hope you'll take a few minutes to recognize Michael's great blogging work; stop over and say 'hey.' I'm sure you'll enjoy his blog as much as I do!

Lesa's Book Critiques is a definite must-read for mystery-loving readers. This amazing librarian keeps all of us in the know on the latest and greatest in the mystery genre! I've often said to Lesa that I view her as my blogging mentor. I'm regularly pestering her with ideas to see what she thinks of them and if I should try them. And she never seems to tire of my pestering either. Lesa and I share another link, and that is the state of Ohio. Lesa was a librarian in NE Ohio in a previous life, and we let her get away. Now she's in Arizona hatching up all these amazing programs for her library and I'm wishing she was running MY library! Although, I've been trying to coax her into getting web cam set up so I can experience virtually! ;) Lesa hosts a series called Authors at the Teague, and she regularly shares those events on her blog. She also shares the Brown Bag Luncheons that she sponsors for her staff and for the community. Every week she hosts a fantastic book give-away. And of course, her blog is full of reviews and interviews and guest posts. But one of my absolute favorite features of Lesa's blog is her "Treasures in my Closet" posts. Here she shares with us mysteries that are upcoming releases so we can wait on pins and needles for them to make it to our bookstore shelves.

Kaye Barley is one of the most well-known folks in the mystery community. She writes the Meanderings and Muses blog. While she doesn't consider herself a reviewer, she is definitely an appreciator of great mystery literature. All this year she has been hosting guest posts from various folks throughout the mystery community. And she's more than generous to share with us experiences she has at author events. And what is especially fun is when she blogs about special topics like hats and inaugurations and tea parties! If you don't feel at home and loved at this blog, there may not be much hope for you, sorry. I hope you'll visit Kaye and soak up a little of the love that emanates from Meanderings and Muses every single day.

There are three published authors who have blogs I read religiously. Of course I often mention Alafair Burke who blogs about everything from her books to her job as a law professor to pop culture. She also has a knack for finding the best video clips from UTube.

Tim Hallinan's blog is very artistically centered. He hosts guests who talk about the creative process and what works for each of them. He's shared segments of books he's working on, and he's a wealth of knowledge when it comes to great book recommendations. He knows the genre well.

And finally, the most recent blog to be added to my must-read list: Louise Penny. In my eyes, her blog is just like her Three Pines series: quaint, funny, warm, inviting. A little less murder, though. She is a consistent blogger and it's nice to feel that regular connection with her. Maybe it's intimidation, I don't know, but I mostly lurk there; I've never left a comment. It's just nice to BE at her blog. I simply love it.

And finally, I want to recognize two collective blogs, each hosted by a group of mystery writers. First is a new blog this year: 7 Criminal Minds. They are comprised of Gabriella Herkert, CJ Lyons, Rebecca Cantrell, Sophie Littlefield, Kelli Stanley, Shane Gericke, and Tim Maleeny. I look forward to reading this blog every day. It is a virtual panel where each of the authors responds to the same question - a new question is posed each week. From questions like "Do you control your characters or do they control you?" to "What characters would you most like to see in a cage match?" This blog is never boring! The second blog I want to mention is The Outfit. This is a group of authors representing Chicago. It includes ten different authors: Sean Chercover, Libby Hellmann, Marcus Sakey, Sara Paretsky, Laura Caldwell, David Ellis, Barbara D'Amato, Michael Allen Dymmoch, Kevin Guilfoile, and David Heinzmann. And here you can find any kind of post from some of crime fiction's greats. Again, it's never boring on The Outfit!

There are so many more blogs that deserve recognition on this day. Blogs that didn't make the short lists. But I wanted these particular blogs to know that they are on my short list every single day! Thank you for all your hard work! Happy Book Blogger Appreciation Week!

Note: I usually try to post just once a day, but for this week's celebrations, I'll have an additional post later today. Hope you don't mind.