Someone's Having a Birthday!

Happy Sunday everyone! I need to start off this post by letting everyone know that today is Michael Koryta's birthday!! So, send a little birthday love his way today. Best wishes for a fabulous year 27, Michael. Not that you haven't had tremendous success already, but may this year bring you much more.

A few other odds and ends to mention, since I've been focuses on Book Blogger Appreciation Week this past week. It was a wonderful week and my warmest thanks go out to everyone who voted for Jen's Book Thoughts in the awards. We didn't take the whole shebang, but the nomination means the world to me. Thank you! I'm so thrilled to have you all to share fun crime fiction book stuff with.

I received an email the other day that this onlinecollege.org group listed Jen's Book Thoughts on their 100 Best Blogs for Book Reviews. So, thank you very much to them for that recognition.

I am continuing to update the Twitter Crime Fiction Directory. I am planning to put a link to it over in my sidebar so you can easily access it any time. I have a lot that needs to be updated over there. I apologize. I've fallen a bit behind, but I intend to catch up. I have several reviews I'm excited to share with you as well.

This Wednesday at 6:00p.m. is Tim Hallinan's event at the Foul Play bookstore in Westerville. I'm very excited about heading out there to see him. I hope you will join us if you're in the area!
Tim has been receiving absolutely RAVE reviews for BREATHING WATER. Of course, mine were among them. The Poke Rafferty series is outstanding. So, snag this chance to meet Tim if you can!

The final topic for Book Blogger Appreciation Week was:

"Write in 50 words or less…what do you like best about your blog right now and where would you like your blog to be a year from now?"

I didn't respond to this one on Friday since I was hosting that deliriously fun interview with Kelli Stanley. But I did want to respond to it because it gives me a chance to reflect and to look forward. Sometimes I get so caught up in the "right this minute" - because there is a ton to do right this minute - that I forget to look forward or back. I may have to cheat a little on the 50 words, though. So, here goes:

I love the sense of community here and my hope is to build that even more. I'd like Jen's Book Thoughts to really be a meeting place for lovers of crime fiction to share and discuss. So, my hope is to continue increasing the traffic and the comments. I'm definitely going to continue to work on new ideas and projects and recruiting special visitors in interviews and guest spots. But, on that same note, I have to work on saying, "I'm sorry, but I'm just overbooked right now." I need to be better about staying on top of my reviews and not getting so far behind. That's when the quality starts to diminish. I wish I could read EVERYONE'S book, but this is not my full-time job, it's my hobby. And as much as I hate the fact, I have to remind myself of that. So, I'm also working on building in parameters. That means I'll have to work on staying within those parameters as best I can.

This was a wonderful Book Blogger Appreciation Week. I have to send out special thanks to Amy from My Friend Amy and her whole crew of helpers who made this week happen so spectacularly. And now it's time to look forward. I have another rather exciting week coming up on the blog. A very special give-away, some new reviews, and another special interview. We will also have another special 6-word memoir post on Wednesday. So, I hope you'll be back to enjoy all the fun.

And of course, we need to know the Bouchercon countdown: 25 DAYS!!

Getting to Know Lana from A Hoyden's Look at Literature

Today I'm hosting an interview with a fellow blogger involved in Book Blogger Appreciation Week. For those who don't know about this little element of the celebration, we had the opportunity to sign up prior to BBAW to be put in the interview exchange. The committee in charge of the interview exchanged arbitrarily matches up two bloggers and they interview each other.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Lana from A Hoyden's Look at Literature. And I'd like to start out the interview by saying Happy Book Blogger Appreciation Week, Lana! And congratulations. She received a nomination for Best Romance Blog. You can see her nomination information as well as the posts she submitted for the nomination panel here. But, let me quit yapping and let Lana tell you about herself - and her blog:

Q: It appears that you have been blogging for several years now? What got you started in book blogging?

Lana: I really got started blogging last summer. I’d been playing around with it before then, but a lot of the posts you see before May 2009 are back-dated posts of reviews from elsewhere (mostly LibraryThing) that I wanted to expand on.

What got me started was that I got a job in London. Moving to a place that was several hours off time-wise from all my friends meant that I got a lot of reading done… and that I had nobody to talk to about it! So I started tossing my thoughts out there to see if anybody would respond – and to ease my way back into writing for fun. And it worked! Some friends dropped by, some strangers left encouraging comments, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Q: And since you’ve been at it for several years now, what aspects of your blog keep you going – because it’s a significant investment in time to maintain a book blog?

Lana: Comments. I love comments. There’s nothing like opening up the email inbox and finding a comment! I love being able to participate in all these conversations around the blogosphere. I love to share my experience with books, from those that just make you giddy because you love them so much to those that make you throw them away in frustration (there’s a lot of comedy to be had from reading bad books!). And the best part about it is when someone finds a post of yours and leaves a note to say that you managed to capture part of how they felt about a book – or at least re-evoke it for them. I love that.

Q: What do you find most challenging about your blog?

Lana: Keeping on top of things! I love to work on my blog, I do, but I’m kind of like a kid doing homework. I’ll put off doing it and let reviews and everything just pile up, get overwhelmed and petulant. But when I finally sit down and actually work on it, I enjoy it so much that I just want to shake myself for being such a dreadful procrastinator!

Q: If you were going back to start the whole blogging process again at the beginning, is there anything you’d want to do differently?

Lana: Hmm, I probably would have jumped into the community sooner. I sort of dabbled in my own corner of the pool for a while before I worked up the nerve to comment on anyone’s blog. I shouldn’t have worried about it, the book blogging community has been really helpful and welcoming. A while back, I started linking to others’ reviews at the bottom of each of mine (and leaving comments) – and I wish I’d done it from the beginning!

Q: Obviously, you are fond of the romance genre – or else you probably would not have been nominated for Best Romance Blog – but looking at your blog you actually read quite an eclectic selection. So what helps you to determine what’s on your to be read list? And how do you determine what order you read books from your TBR list?

Lana: My TBR pile is mountainous, really. It includes just about anything that I find interesting – anything with sailing ships, pirates, archaeology, witty romance, Shakespeare-inspired fiction, forensic profilers, spies, psychics, all kinds of things! I’m fascinated by all kinds of topics, and it’s ever-expanding. Which of course makes it difficult to figure out what next!

When it comes to deciding what comes next, I don’t really have much of a system. Books I was sent for review come first if I have any, but after that it all depends on my mood. I browse through my unread shelves until something grabs me. If I just can’t make a decision, I’ll sometimes ask friends to pick something for me at random – always an adventurous move! But I do try to mix things up a little. If I’ve read a bunch of Regency romances, I’ll try for a young adult novel or a mystery to mix things up and avoid the dreaded reading slump.

Q: What authors do you drop everything to read? And what about them puts them in that category?

Lana: I’ll drop absolutely everything when a new Tamora Pierce novel comes out. I love her heroines who are all strong and clever, but in different ways. Alanna is hot-headed but has more determination than anyone; Daine is emotionally and empathetically strong; Kel is calm, sensible and protective. I love to see what they can do when they put their minds to it. Pierce’s books have meant a lot to me over the years, and the few times I’ve been lucky enough to meet her, she’s been amazing.
I’m in love with Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody, so everything takes back seat to her when a new mystery comes out. Amelia is just such a character – digging in the Valley of the Kings, matchmaking, smacking people with her (reinforced) parasol! Add her irascible husband and charming son into the mix and what more could you want?

Perhaps surprisingly there aren’t a lot of romance authors that fall into this category. It’s rare for me to find someone whose books consistently hit just the right note – but Maya Rodale (The Heir and the Spare (http://caramellunacy.blogspot.com/2008/09/heir-and-spare-maya-rodale.html), The Rogue and the Rival (http://caramellunacy.blogspot.com/2009/02/rogue-and-rival-maya-rodale.html)) is about as close as I’ve gotten. Her books are funny but emotional, they deal with real issues without bogging down – they’re just charming.

Q: You also rate the books you read with a star rating. What constitutes a 5-star book?

Lana: To be honest, my star ratings are mostly about my emotional response to a book rather than anything like literary merit. I don’t really have much in the way of articulable criteria. But a five-star book is one that just leaves me feeling perfect. There’s something powerful about the book that really touches me and finds its way into my heart – a book I could never give away, that I feel like I HAVE to have with me because it’s become a part of me. Not a lot of books qualify!

Q: If you were choosing a favorite book of all time, what would that book be?

Lana: You know how dreadfully hard that question is! Since you asked it anyway, I’m going to cheat and give you two. The book that’s been most meaningful in my life, and the book that I would give you to figure me out today. As for the most meaningful, we go back to Tamora Pierce – when I was eleven, someone gave me my first Pierce book, Alanna: The First Adventure. I actually wrote a little tribute about this for the book’s 25th anniversary (http://caramellunacy.blogspot.com/2008/09/tamora-pierce-and-alanna-of-trebond.html). This book really shaped me growing up, and it still means a lot to me. It definitely goes with me wherever I go.

My current favorite is Anne Gracie’s The Perfect Rake. It’s just about the most perfect romance (for me) that I can think of. The heroine, Prudence, is smart and fiercely protective of her younger sisters Gideon, the hero, is utterly charming and oh-so-funny – there’s a hilarious scene where he talks about the dangers of musicale evenings… among many others. It’s emotional, touching and always makes me laugh. A fantastic read!

Q: What kinds of things do you enjoy doing when you aren’t blogging?

Lana: When I’m not blogging, I love to go dancing – particularly ballroom dancing (although I’m not much good at it at all). Though I recently got to go to a Regency ball at a fantasy convention that was a ton of fun!

I like to travel, and I’m particularly fond of visiting castles and art museums. I dabble in painting, cross-stitch, writing silly stories and I love to bake! And lest anyone get the idea that I’m particularly ‘girly’, I also like to help my parents fix things (my latest project was a weed eater) in my spare time – I get a real kick out of making something work again! IKEA was totally made for somebody like me!

Thank you, Lana, for taking the time to swap interviews with me. And thank you for all the work you put into your blog on a regular basis. This was fun. I hope you have a wonderful Book Blogger Appreciation Week.

And thanks to all the readers who stopped by. Be sure to say "hey" and wish Lana well. If you're interested in my interview with Lana, you can check that out over at A Hoyden's Look at Literature!

Happy Reading!

Bouchercon countdown: 30 DAYS!!! 1 Month!!

Reading Meme

This post was actually the topic for Wednesday, but since Wednesday is my special 6-word memoir post, and I wanted to do this topic, I decided to make it an additional post for Monday. Again, I hope you don't mind two posts in one day. I just really enjoyed these questions that the BBAW committee came up with. So here we go:


Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you? I do write in my books, but only with pencil and very minimally. Mostly to just underline or star an area so I can quickly find it later. I remember immediately what I marked it for as soon as I see it.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears?Laying the book flat open? Oh dear God! While I have my "dog-ear this site" subtitle on my blog, I do not dog-ear my books, nor do I lay them flat open. I cringe when I see either of these practices in action. I have a plethora of bookmarks, and if I don't have a bookmark handy, I'll use an old movie ticket or a receipt or anything else that is small and flat and won't damage the spine or the pages.

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both? Mostly fiction but I do read non-fiction if it's a topic that interests me.

Hard copy or audiobooks? BOTH! I love my audiobooks when I'm walking, exercising, crafting or working in the garden. And of course, when I'm driving in the car. But nothing will ever replace my love of the printed book.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point? I try to always read to the end of a chapter, but if it's too far off and I have to stop (i.e. lunch breaks at work, waiting room of the doctor's office), I'll stop at a break in the chapter or where a sentence ends at the bottom of a page. I don't ever stop where there isn't some kind of noticeable break.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away? Yes, if I can't discern its meaning from the context. Most times I can understand it from context, though.

What are you currently reading? I'm typing this on Saturday and I'm currently reading Brian McGilloway's GALLOW'S LANE and listening to Louise Penny's THE CRUELEST MONTH. Ha! I didn't notice before, but this is rare that neither is an American author.

What is the last book you bought? They haven't arrived yet, but this past week I ordered A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART by Timothy Hallinan and BLOWN AWAY by Shane Gericke.

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time? I read only one print book at a time. I might have two audio books going simultaneously with the print book. I usually have one audio in my car and another on my mp3 player. So I could have three books going at the same time, but always only reading one print at a time.

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read? I always read before bed, but I'm willing and ready to read at any time in any place. It is VERY rare for me to be without a book since I usually have one tucked in my bag, my purse, the car, etc.

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books? In a general statement, series because I love character so much. Character can be developed so much more over a series of books. But that being said, some of my favorite books of all time are stand alones: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY, LORDS OF DISCIPLINE, SHUTTER ISLAND, etc.

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over? I'm forever recommending Craig Johnson, Alafair Burke, Michael Koryta, Louise Penny, Timothy Hallinan, Thomas Holland, Chris Grabenstein, Jane Cleland, Rosemary Harris. It really depends on who is asking for a recommendation, but you can pretty much be guaranteed Craig Johnson will come out of my mouth! I've yet to recommend his books to someone and have the reader not absolutely ADORE them.

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?) organize books? You mean people do that? I have chaos mostly. I have a special shelf on one book case that is for signed books - those are organized on that shelf by author. I have a shelf that is the "high priority" shelf in that same bookcase. Those are just shoved in there. The second bookcase houses classics: two shelves are American Lit, one shelf Brit Lit, and one shelf World Lit. And then I have chaos everywhere else: six large Rubbermaid containers of books - my TBR pile. If I'm looking for something particular, it usually takes me a little while to find it.

And there you have it. Now you know some of the dirty secrets about my reading habits! Enjoy the rest of Book Blogger Appreciation Week!

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.

Kicking Off BBAW with a WINNER!

Yesterday was the deadline to enter THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE drawing. So with the help of the Random Number generator, we have a winner! To kick of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, it is my pleasure to announce that Lydia from New York is the proud owner of Stieg Larsson's second book in the trilogy. Congrats Lydia!!

To give you an idea of what you can expect here this week for Book Blogger Appreciation Week, I wanted to run down my planned schedule and let you know some thing about the BBAW site. First of all, you can kind of keep track of what all is happening in the whole celebration here. They are going to have plenty of giveaways here, so make sure you're checking there regularly.

Here I will be posting all week, so make sure you're checking back.

Monday: I'll actually have two posts. Please forgive me, I'm not trying to stuff anyone's readers or inboxes and I try not to blog more than once a day, but there are just so many wonderful activities for this week, I couldn't fit them all in the allotted time. First thing Monday morning I have some blogs to recognize who are AMAZING but sadly didn't make the short lists for BBAW awards. I hope you'll stop by and see who these great folks are. If you aren't already reading their blogs, I'm sure you'll want to add them to your list.

In the afternoon I'm going to answer a meme that was actually the topic for Wednesday in the BBAW schedule. However, Wednesday I have an extra-special six-word memoir post, so I've scheduled my meme responses for Monday afternoon. You can find out the dirty details about me as a reader - Yikes!

Tuesday: Last year I participated in the exchange to interview a fellow blogger, and I enjoyed it so much, I decided to do that again this year. I have that to share with you on Tuesday.

Wednesday: The aforementioned extra-special 6-word memoir will appear on Wednesday.

Thursday: A guest blogger will be taking over the reigns. The author of one of the books I raved about this summer will be joining us for Book Blogger Appreciation Week on Thursday.

Friday/Saturday: I have one of the most fun interviews to share with you on Saturday. An author I am so excited to have on Jen's Book Thoughts. She and I chatted it up so long that I need to spread it across two posts. I hope you'll enjoy this interview as much as I did. Heck, if you enjoy it half as much as I did, you'll really have a great time.

So, that's the run-down for this week of celebration of Book Bloggers. I hope you'll visit your favorite bloggers this week and just let them know how much you appreciate what they do. I know that since I started hanging out in this blog-o-sphere, I've gained far more than book recommendations. I've made friends and joined in activities and groups that I never would have otherwise. I've been motivated and appreciated and all that just wouldn't have happened without the entire community. So, let's kick off this celebration!!

A Crime Fiction Twitter Directory

I've noticed folks putting various Twitter author directories together lately. I thought if I found one that represented the crime fiction authors well, I'd link to it here. I haven't come across one...not to say there isn't one, I just haven't stumbled on it myself. So, I thought I'd put one together myself of the crime fiction industry folks I'm aware of on Twitter. Then if you know of some others that I'm missing, let me know in the comments and I'll get them added on the list and I'll probably also follow them on my own Twitter account. Just a note, there are other authors on Twitter, but if they haven't been active since, say July, I didn't include them on my list. Each of their twitter names is linked directly to their Twitter page, so if you'd like to follow them, you can easily click on the link and follow!

Alright then, let's start with the authors I know of - provided I can recall my alphabet today, I'll put them in alphabetical order by last name:

• Jeff Abbott @JeffAbbott


• Megan Abbott @meganeabbott
• Tasha Alexander @talexander
• Elspeth Antonelli @elspethwrites
• Deb Baker @debbaker1


• Navada Barr @nevadabarr
• Lorna Barrett @LornaBarrett
• Lorraine Bartlett @LorraineBartlett
• Stephen Booth @stephenbooth


• Rhys Bowen @Rhysbowen
• Paul Brazill @paulbrazill
• Gerard Brennan @gerardbrennan
• Robin Burcell @RobinBurcell


• Alafair Burke @alafairburke


• Declan Burke @declanburke
• Jan Burke @Jan_Burke


• Chelsea Cain @ChelseaCain


• Pamela Callow @PamCallow
• Bill Cameron @bcmystery


• Rebecca Cantrell @rebeccacantrell


• Kathryn Casey @KathrynCasey


• Sean Chercover @SeanChercover


• Harlan Coben @harlancoben


• Jeff Cohen @JeffCohen


• Meredith Cole @MeredithCole
• Sheila Connolly @SheilaConnolly
• Cleo Coyle @CleoCoyle
• Elizabeth Craig @ElizabethSCraig


• Bill Crider @macavityabc
• Charles Cumming @CharlesCumming


• Hilary Davidson @hilarydavidson
• Krista Davis @kristadavis


• Jeffery Deaver @JefferyDeaver
• Vicki Delany @vickidelany


• Robert Dugoni @robertdugoni
• Jeremy Duns @jeremyduns
• Dianne Emley @DianneEmley


• Joseph Finder @JoeFinder
• Jamie Freveletti @Jamiefreveletti


• Michelle Gagnon @Michelle_Gagnon


• Alison Gaylin @alisongaylin


• Lee Goldberg @LeeGoldberg


• Andrew Grant @Andrew_Grant


• Andrew Gross @The_AndrewGross


• Timothy Hallinan @TimHallinan


• Libby Hellmann @libbyfh
• David Hewson @david_hewson
• Steve Hockensmith @MrSHockensmith


• Harry Hunsicker @harryhunsicker


• Gregg Hurwitz @GreggHurwitz
• Julie Hyzy @JulieHyzy
• Sue Ann Jaffarian @SueAnnJaffarian
• BV Lawson @BVLawson
  
• Daniel Levin @Daniel_Levin


• Michael Lister @MichaelLister


• Sophie Littlefield @swlittlefield


• Bill Loehfelm @nolabill


• CJ Lyons @cjlyonswriter
• Brad Meltzer @bradmeltzer


• Craig McDonald @HECTORLASSITER


• Toni McGee Causey @ToniMcGeeCausey
• Gary Moffat @GJmoffat


• Rick Mofina @RickMofina


• David Morrell @DavidMorrell


• Steve Mosby @stevemosby
• Stuart Neville @stuartneville
• Alan Orloff @alanorloff
• Brad Parks @Brad_Parks


• Ridley Pearson @RidleyTheWriter


• Sara Paretsky @Sara1982P


• Hank Phillippi Ryan @hank_phillippi


• Jason Pinter @jasonpinter


• Neil Plakcy @NeilPlakcy


• Tom Rob Smith @tomrobsmith


• J.D. Rhoades @JD_Rhoades


• Linda Richards @lindalrichards


• Marcus Sakey @MarcusSakey


• Tom Schreck @SchreckTom


• Theresa Schwegel @theresaschwegel


• James Scott Bell @jamesscottbell


• Lisa Scottoline @LisaScottoline


• L.J. Sellers @ljsellers
• Clea Simon @Clea_Simon
• Daniel Silva (rep) @danielsilvabook


• Roger Smith @rog_smith


• Alexandra Sokoloff @AlexSokoloff
• Erica Spindler @EricaSpindler


• Kelli Stanley @kelli_stanley


• Michael Stanley @detectivekubu (tweeting as Detective Kubu)


• Diane Stuckart @dianestuckart
• Duane Swiercynzki @swierczy
• Dennis Tafoya @DennisTafoya
• James Twining @jamestwining


• Lisa Unger @lisaunger


• Joseph Wallace @Joe_Wallace
• Dave White @Dave_White


• Stephen White @WriterWhite

And here are some additional folks in the crime fiction community that are folks to follow on Twitter:

Reviewers/Bloggers/Blogs

• 7 Criminal Minds @7CriminalMinds
• Maxine Clarke @Maxine_Clarke


• Oline Cogdill @OlineCogdill
• Cozy Chicks @Thecozychicks
• Rhian Davies @crimeficreader
• Sam Eades @HeadlineCrime


• Lesa Holstine @LesaHolstine


• Jon Jordan @CrimespreeJon


• Ali Karim @AliChemist


• Jeremy Lynch @MysterLynch
• Karen Meek @eurocrime


• David Montgomery @djmont


• Murderati @Murderati
• Mystery Lovers Kitchen @mysterykitchen


• Pop Culture Nerd @popculturenerd


• Peter Rozovsky @DBeyondBorders


• Janet Rudolph @JanetRudolph


• Sarah Weinman @sarahw
• Writers Plot @Writersplot

Booksellers

• Murder by the Book @murderbooks


• Mysterious Bookshop @TheMysterious


• Mysterious Galaxy @MystGalaxyBooks


• Mystery Bookstore @mysterybooks
• The Poisoned Pen @poisonedpen
  

Publishers/Organizations/Other Industry-Related Tweeters

• Busted Flush Press @bustedflushpres
• Rachel Rayner (HarperCollins UK) @thecrimedesk


• ITW Organizations @thrillerwriters


• Moments in Crime @MomentsInCrime
• Rae Helmsworth tweeting for Bouchercon 2010 @Bouchercon2010


• Jon Jordan tweeting for Bouchercon 2011 @Bcon2011


• Debby Buchanan tweeting for Deadly Ink Conference @deadlyink

O.k., so there's my list to share with you. I'm probably missing some important folks, so you can let me know in the comments who you think should be added. And of course I hope you'll follow me as well. You can do so by clicking my little Twitter Bird over in the sidebar.

We Interrupt this Program...

...to let you know that the Book Blogger Appreciation Week short lists are up at the website and you can now vote. We would also be remiss if we didn't announce that JEN'S BOOK THOUGHTS IS NOMINATED FOR BEST MYSTERY/THRILLER/SUSPENSE BLOG!!

Congratulations to all the nominees, especially Corey Wilde over at The Drowning Machine. You know I mention his blog often, so I'm glad to see it recognized - just wish it wasn't directly opposite Jen's Book Thoughts! Good luck, Corey!

And also many thanks to My Friend Amy who is the coordinator of this whole big circus. She has many folks helping her out, but it wouldn't happen at all without her at the helm.

Voting will continue through the end of the day on Saturday, September 12th. Don't dwaddle! Get your votes in:

http://bookbloggerappreciationweek.com/index.php/awards

Thanks for all the support everyone! Happy Labor Day!

A Weekly Roundup - and Input Requested

Wow! Where in the world did August go? It seems to have just zoomed by. The days are getting shorter again, which means the cold weather is just around the corner. I saw some leaves turning colors, and I was stopped by the school bus twice this past week on the way to work. It wouldn't be bad if the stop was ONCE, but no, it's about 5 times in less than 50 yards. The bus usually has 20-30 cars lined up behind it before it turns off that main road. I didn't miss the school buses over summer. Going to have to leave about 5 or 10 minutes earlier again so I can have a better shot at beating the bus now.

In book news, however! This was a fun week with another great six-word memoir round-up and a guest post on "Madcap Noir." And this week the visitor counter topped 19,000. That's amazing to me. After year #1 of Jen's Book Thoughts it hadn't quite hit 5,000. So, yes, I'm doing the requisite little happy dance over here in Lorain, Ohio. But there's fun stuff going on elsewhere that I'd like to tell you about, too.

My friend Corey over at The Drowning Machine has announced a crime fiction short story contest called "The Watery Grave Invitational". And he's rustled up some big time judges for this contest, too. So, all you writers make sure you hustle over to Corey's blog and find out the details to enter your short stories!

I know it may seem like a long way off, but the blog for Bouchercon 2011 in St. Louis is live now. I, of course, am already making plans for this one since Robert Crais will be one of the guests of honor! The hosts include David Thompson and Jon Jordan; I have a feeling it will be a hoppin' time in St. Louis Sept. 15-18, 2011!

I've started to hear rumblings about panel assignments for Bouchercon 2009 in Indianapolis, so if you've been assigned a panel, let me know so I can start making out my plan. Since this is my first B'Con, I'm a little obsessive! ;)

Also don't forget that Tim Hallinan is going to be in Westerville at FOUL PLAY Bookstore on September 23rd. I hope you'll make plans to come out if you are in the vicinity. I'll look forward to seeing you there!

This week has also been full of Book Blogger Appreciation Week work. I will again be participating in the blogger interview exchange, so I'm getting to work on that. I'm working on one of the award panels and that's keeping me busy. I submitted my links for my own award nominations. That was a killer! I appreciate all the input people gave me on what posts they most enjoyed. It helped me a lot; I discovered that trying to pick your favorite posts is like trying to pick your favorite child! Again, I thank all of you who submitted nominations for me. I'm not really expecting the nominations to turn into me being on all the short lists - there are a lot of great blogs nominated. It's an honor just to receive a nomination. Thank you.

Thanks also to everyone who voted for Hershey and Nestle in the Dog Days of Summer photo contest. Hershey managed to snag 2nd place and Nestle got 3rd. The two of them together actually had 50% of the votes. Maybe I should have found a picture of them together, huh? Literate Housewife, Jennifer, did an awesome job on coordinating the theme week. And she planted some seeds in my little brain as well.

And finally on tap for today is a question for you all. I've been doing author interviews for about a year now. I enjoy doing the interviews and hope to keep highlighting fun crime fiction writers for you. So, I'd like to know what kinds of questions you enjoy hearing responses for. A lot of the questions I develop have to do with my own curiosity. But what types of things are you curious about? Are there questions I seem to have stopped asking that you'd like me to fit back in? Are their questions I ask that you couldn't care less about? What peaks your interest? You can leave your responses in the comments section or you can always feel free to email me.

And I think that's about all I have for today. Hope your weekend is a great one, and happy reading!!

Bouchercon countdown: 47 days!!

A Whirlwind Week

Whew! This week flew by. And that old adage holds true: time flies when you're having fun. It was a very good week for Jen's Book Thoughts. Not only did we have TWO fabulous guest posts and another great 6-Word Memoir week, BUT Jen's Book Thoughts ended up with FIVE Book Blogger Appreciation Week Award Nominations!

THANK YOU!

I am literally flabbergasted. I know I pestered you all to get over and get your votes in, but I honestly did not expect to receive five nominations. And bless whoever voted for Jen's Book Thoughts for Best Non-Fiction Blog, but since out of my 450 posts only 5 are related to non-fiction books, I declined the nomination so I wouldn't be wasting the committee's time. The five nominations that I received because of you all were:

Best Mystery/Thriller/Suspense Blog
Best General Review Blog
Best Series/Feature - for "You Have the Right to Six Words: Six-Word Memoirs from Crime Fiction's Best Writers."
Best Writing
Best Reviews

So what happens now is I've submitted five posts for each of these nominations. Those five posts will be given to the members of a committee (each category has its own committee), and a "short list" will be based on their ratings of all the nominees. So we wait now. I can tell you that I can not be short-listed for all five categories. For the niche categories, a blog can only be nominated in one category. So Best Mystery/Thriller/Suspense Blog and Best General Review Blog can't both result in short list nominations. That means at the most I could be short listed for four categories. In all honesty, I would be over the moon if I was short-listed in one. I am grateful beyond words just for these nominations; I am beyond flattered at the Best Writing and Best Reviews nominations. Truly folks, "thank you" doesn't even come close to expressing my gratitude.

Enough gushing. I am hoping to get a couple reviews up this weekend. I am now officially seven reviews behind. Yikes! September has a lot in store. I have some big giveaways coming up so be on the look out for those. Of course Book Blogger Appreciation Week will be coming up in September. I have a couple interviews, a couple guest spots, and hopefully a whole lot of fun.

My puppies are going to be in a blog contest next week. They - or rather their pictures - are being entered in the Dog Days of Summer contest at Literate Housewife's blog. I will also be reviewing one of the books for Jennifer's theme week, too. You know I can't resist anything having to do with dogs! I need to find someone who can make me a button for my blog that is dog-related. Anyone know how to do that?

The Shamus Award Nominations for 2009 have been announced. Bill Crider has them posted over at his blog, so I'll let you step over there and see the list. The winners will, of course be announced at a reception at Bouchercon.

That's enough for now because I'm hoping to post again later with a review. Until then...happy reading!



Countdown to Bouchercon: 54 days!

A Smattering of Stuff on Sunday

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. We had a lot of rain here yesterday and today the rain has stopped and the thermometer is steadily rising. The forecasters are saying 90s for today. This is the first time this summer we've been this high here in Northeast Ohio, I believe. Very unusual. But regardless of the weather, I have lots to do for this blog. There's exciting stuff coming up. So, Twitter and Facebook are going to remain off and I'm going to be working, working, working!

In the meantime, I thought I'd pass on a few things for you all to check out.

First thing I have today is a blog I've mentioned on here before. It's become one of my new favorites, and I simply adore the writing from each of the seven authors who blog on 7 Criminal Minds. Each week they have an assigned question to respond to, so it's like a virtual panel. They are fun responses every week. And did you know that if you comment, they'll put your name in the monthly drawing for books and gift cards? If you haven't checked it out, make sure you do so soon. You don't know what you're missing if you don't!

Another of my favorite blogs to visit belongs to Tim Hallinan, one of my favorite authors to read. He has an excerpt ready for you to check out from his new novel, BREATHING WATER, which will be available August 18. Of course, I'll be reviewing BREATHING WATER, but more exciting than that, Tim will be guest blogging. So while we have that to look forward to, you can check out the excerpt, and there's a contest involved so you can try to win a personalized copy of BREATHING WATER.

Also, you can check out the first part of Tim's book tour here. And for those of you in the Ohio neck of the woods, he's going to be at the Foul Play Bookstore on September 23rd. I'm already planning my trip down there. I hope you'll come out that day as well!

Jason Pinter is also running a contest connected to the excerpt from his upcoming novel in the Henry Parker series, THE FURY. You can check that out here. Here you can win an iTunes gift card, a bookstore gift card, or your name as a character in a future book. I'm going to try to meet Jason at Bouchercon since he'll be an attendee this year.

And of course THE SILENT HOUR, Michael Koryta's fourth Lincoln Perry novel, came out this past week. He was also at Foul Play last week. I believe he's at Aunt Agatha's in Ann Arbor tomorrow. For us here in Northeast Ohio, though, Michael will be here Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Tuesday he will be at the Fairview Public Library. You need to register for this event and you can do so here. On Wednesday he will be at the Rocky River Don Umerley Civic Center (sponsored by the Rocky River Public Library). This is a pdf flyer, hopefully the link will work for you. Otherwise, try the library link here. Alright, so Rocky River is Wednesday and there's no registration required for that one. Thursday you can see Michael at the Bay Village Public Library. This one is another registration required, so you can register for that here. The next few books Michael has in the works aren't Lincoln Perry and aren't set here in Northeast Ohio, so if you have the chance to get out and see him, I urge you to do so. Who knows when he'll be back to see us again!

And once I post my recap of the event, I'll be sharing a special surprise with everyone. The cat got out of the bag in Columbus last week, so if you already know...don't tell! ;)

My friend Linda from The Mystery Bookstore out in L.A. announced that October 24th is going to be a huge date for them. They will be hosting both James Ellroy and Michael Connelly, plus celebrating their owners' anniversary! If you're in the vicinity of L.A., you need to make plans to be there!

Before that, though, on August 22nd, they're going to be hosting my new friend Sophie Littlefield for her debut book A BAD DAY FOR SORRY. If you're in the area, go see Sophie and tell her I said "hi!"

And finally, bringing up the end of this post of links is the reminder that this is the final week to nominate your favorite blogs for Book Blogger Appreciation Week awards. So, if you haven't done so already, get over and nominate those book bloggers you love.

If you're a book blogger and haven't registered for the event yet...get over and get registered! Don't miss out on the festivities. Remember, that is September 14 - 18 this year. And bloggers who are registered, are you signed up to interview another blogger? You can do that here. It's a lot of fun. Meet someone new!

If you're an author/publisher/publicist you can donate prizes to the Book Blogger Appreciation Week. The committee is hard at work collecting prizes for the festivities and would love to have you included. It's a great way to promote your books to the book bloggers!

Whew. That's it for today. Now I have to make the weekly run to the grocery store and then get down to work. Lots to do. Have a great Sunday, have a great week - see ya at Michael's event if you come out - and as always HAPPY READING!

**side note: anyone find it ironic that the spell check in Blogger, picks bloggers up as a mis-spelling? ;)

Bouchercon countdown: 67 days!

Some Reminders

Sorry for the little silence there folks. I'm slipping behind a little and am trying to do a little catch-up this weekend. I've been spending some time working on the scrapbook to go with the 6-word memoir project. I'm very excited about this book, it's off to a good start but there's still a lot more to do before Indy in October!

This summer has been an exquisite one for reading. I can't get over all the fabulous books I've had the pleasure of reading the past few months. And I have a rather daunting stack still waiting for me. I've got a few reviews to catch up on as well; some books I'm very excited to tell you all about. In addition we have some fun guest posts coming up, some fun interviews, more backlist titles and of course more 6-word memoirs! Speaking of which, the memoirs will be posted on Tuesday this week, don't forget. We have another great batch of writers hangin' out with us sharing memoirs this week.

In other reminder news. This Tuesday is a big day for releases. I wanted to remind you about three of them. A BAD DAY FOR SORRY by Sophie Littlefield comes out this Tuesday. I'm so excited about this book. Sophie is just a magnificent, fun writer. Also up is THE SIEGE by Stephen White who, of course, was one of our memoirists last week. Looking forward to another great work from him. And finally, THE SILENT HOUR, Michael Koryta's fourth Lincoln Perry novel will be available this Tuesday.

And to continue with the Koryta reminders, those of you who live near me here in Northeast Ohio, we have the luxury of THREE stops on Michael's book tour. August 11th he will be at Fairview Park Public Library. You can register for that event here. On August 12th he will be at the Rocky River City Hall Umerley Center. There is no registration required for that one. And finally on August 13th he will be at the Bay Village Public Library, and you can register for that event here. If you're in the Columbus area, hop to it! Michael is at Foul Play Bookstore on Wednesday...yes, THIS Wednesday! The three events here in NE Ohio are at 7:00 p.m. and the Columbus event is at 6:00 p.m.

Another Ohio event to announce...mark your calendars, I'm so excited! Tim Hallinan is going to be at Foul Play Bookstore on September 23rd! He has an exciting presentation about Bangkok, the setting of his Poke Rafferty novels. And of course, he'll be talking about BREATHING WATER, the third Poke Rafferty thriller. If you can make it, I hope you'll be there. I certainly will!

And my final reminder is simply to remind you to vote for your favorite book bloggers. You have until August 15th to get your votes in for the 2009 Book Blogger Appreciation Award nominations. And if you're a book blogger and you have registered yet, what ARE you waiting for? So, registration here...nomination voting here. EVERYONE and ANYONE can put in their nominations. You need not be a blogger.

That's all she wrote for today. "She" will be back tomorrow with a new backlist title. In the meantime...happy reading!

Bouchercon countdown: 74 days!

News and Other Such Stuffs...

I have so much to share with you that I'm not even sure where to start! First, how did it get to be the end of July already? Someone is stealing my summer and I'm none too happy about it. It does take us a little closer to Bouchercon in October, though. Official countdown: 82 days! And the other thing about this summer? I've read a lot of GREAT stuff. I just finished Michael Lister's DOUBLE EXPOSURE, which you'll hear about soon, but it was fantastic. Just brilliant. And now I'm in the throws of Ridley Pearson's KILLER SUMMER. Good stuff, good stuff!

First up on the list for today is an announcement for my audiophile friends. Michael Koryta's new book THE SILENT HOUR will be available from Blackstone Audio read by Scott Brick. You can listen to a sample of it here. In addition to that, Michael informs me that ENVY THE NIGHT has been recorded for Audible.com. I don't have more details on that one, but when I do, I'll pass them along.

I've spoken before about The Mystery Bookstore in Los Angeles. These are the folks who so generously allowed me to attend their Festival of Books pre-party back in April. Well, I have to tell you that their customer service continues to astound me. Assistant Manager Linda Brown maintains Mystery Bookstore's Twitter account (@mysterybooks) and whenever possible she tweets during their book events. So, from across the country, I was able to join in the release party for Brett Battles new Jonathan Quinn novel, SHADOW OF BETRAYAL, and was able to attend Gregg Hurwitz's event where he signed my book for me, see:





Linda posted these pictures to TwitPic for me so I could see them in real time during the event. And I got a "hi from Gregg at the author's table." Now that's amazing customer service! And it totally made my weekend. I just love these folks. They have some more great events coming up too if you're interested. If you're in the area, of course nothing tops seeing the authors live. But, this is a great alternative for when the authors aren't close enough to you. And Mystery Bookstore will gladly save books and have them personally inscribed for you if you can't make the event (like me).

You can see the link here for their August events, but I wanted to point a few out to everyone. On August 1st a debut author by the name of Kwei Quartey will be signing his book WIFE OF THE GODS. Kwei will be here on my blog the following week. August 15th they will host Linwood Barclay signing his book FEAR THE WORST. Linwood will be a 6-word memoirist, so he'll be making an appearance here soon, too. And you all know how much I adore Poke Rafferty. Tim Hallinan will be signing BREATHING WATER on August 21st. I haven't posted my review of this book yet, but I'll tell you that you should NOT miss it. Call and order your copy now! And the last event I want to point out to you is the following day and it's called A DEADLY COMBINATION. MBS will host three talented female crime fiction writers, one of whom is Sophie Littlefield. I am SO excited to get my copy of A BAD DAY FOR SORRY, which is coming out this week. I really am looking forward to this debut novel. Sophie will also be one of our upcoming memoirists and she's one of the bloggers over at Seven Criminal Minds.

I've been meaning to mention this for awhile and haven't gotten around until now. I won what I think is the most creative contest from a book blogger. Jennifer over at The Literate Housewife held a contest awhile back to win a membership in the bookmark of the month club. Each month she MAKES a book mark for the folks who won this membership, and these bookmarks are absolutely wonderful!! I wanted to post a picture of a few so you can see. This was just a superb contest. She's a thinker, that lady is.


And another cool book-related item I want to share with you is this gift my boss gave me. It's called the Porta Book and I guess it's been advertised on TV. My boss (who is awesome by the way) bought a case of these to use as graduation gifts. I wanted to know if she was keeping one for herself and if she would tell me how it was for reading in bed because I wanted something since I do that so often. She reached in and pulled one out and said "happy graduation." And let me tell you that this basic little gadget is heaven for reading in bed. I use it literally every night now. I keep a pencil in the tray for making my notes while I read, and it folds up when I'm not using it so it isn't an inconvenience to store. Honest, I'm not trying to do a commercial - "the blogger has not been paid for these comments," I just really love this thing. It has made my evening reading 100 times more comfortable. I love that it props my book up for me and I don't have to hold it - and it weighs nothing. Thanks Candace!!



Really quick I want to remind you that the nominations are still being accepted for Book Blogger Appreciation Week. They will be open until August 15th and EVERYONE, blogger or no, can vote in the nominations - there are quite a few categories. So make sure you get over and recognize your favorite bloggers. If you are an author, publisher, publicist, whatever and you'd like to donate a prize to the BBAW, you can find a form to do so here.

Alright, hopefully that covers everything I wanted to mention...oh wait! One more thing. It's official now (I saw it with my own eyes) so I can mention it. Two of my reviews are printed in the new edition, #31 July/August, of CRIMESPREE magazine! I'm officially published! I don't think I could be more thrilled because I love this magazine. It is all about highlighting the amazing world of crime fiction literature. Every edition I pick up is packed with great stuff. I read about authors I enjoy, I learn about new authors and events. And they have tons of contests for you contest lovers. I am beyond humbled to have my name appear in this magazine. O.k., what are you waiting for? Go buy it!! ;)

Alright, now I really am done. That's all the news for this Saturday. Hope you have a wonderful last week of July 2009. Happy Reading.

My Six

It's been an incredible week already and golly, it's only Wednesday. I hope the rest of the week goes as well as the beginning.

I mentioned Tuesday that the registration for Book Blogger Appreciation Week is up. So if you are a book blogger and want to get in on the action scheduled for September 14th to the 18th, you can register here:

http://bookbloggerappreciationweek.com/index.php/site/register_for_book_blogger_appreciation_week_2009/

For EVERYONE, blogger or not, you can go and nominate your favorite book blogs for the Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards here:

http://bookbloggerappreciationweek.com/index.php/awards/bbaw_2009_award_nominations_now_open/

There is a Mystery/Thriller/Crime category again this year if you think Jen's Book Thoughts is deserving of a nomination. But of course, I would never want to influence your vote or anything! ;) But seriously, go and vote. Show some love to those book bloggers that you enjoy visiting.

Some other exciting news to share with you. John Ceepak and Danny Boyle probably have a new publishing home! Chris is going to share details as soon as everything is signed and sealed. Once I have details, I'll share them with you. And he's working on book #6! Yes, yes, yes!

UPDATE: Since writing this post last night, it has been officially announced that Pegasus will be publishing the next Ceepak novel, ROLLING THUNDER. Oh, happy day!

Also this week I received a copy of THE SILENT HOUR, Michael Koryta's fourth book in the Lincoln Perry series. Many thanks to St. Martin's for that wonderful present that showed up and made my day. I want to remind folks around me that Michael will be in this area August 11, 12, and 13 (Fairview Park Library, Rocky River Community Center, Bay Village Library). He will be in Westerville at Foul Play bookstore on August 5, which is the day after the book release. And my friends up near Ann Arbor, here's your chance now to go to Aunt Agatha's. Michael is going to be there on August 10. His complete event schedule is here.

And I'm filling this blog post with 6s. Today is July 16th. October 16th is when I'm headed to my very first Bouchercon. So, I'm beginning the countdown. Counting today, there are 91 days to Bouchercon!

And finally, the most important 6 of this blog post, which is sort of not even book related. But...in another way maybe it's remotely related. Many authors will mention how music influences their writing. Of course we know Bruce Springsteen influences Chris Grabenstein's Ceepak series, ENVY THE NIGHT came from song lyrics, Tom Schreck's Duffy Dombrowski series is influenced by Elvis, etc. So, now I'm going to springboard off my dear friend Michael over at Lazy Thoughts from a Boomer who did this outstanding post on 6 songs that trigger important memories for him. Mine will not be anywhere near as awesome as his, so I encourage you to go check his out. And I will also warn you beforehand that I have very eclectic taste when it comes to music. I'm sure you'll notice that here. The first three were easy for me to come up with. The last three took a little more effort. But here are MY SIX:

1. Thank God for Kids - The Oak Ridge Boys. This song fondly reminds me of every small child that has had an important role in my life. I've always wanted to have children of my own, but as of now, I've had to make due with enjoying others' children.

2. The Little Old Lady from Pasadena - either Jan and Dean or The Beach Boys. My dad has always been an important influence in my life, and he always loved music from the 50s and 60s, especially Jan and Dean. His love of that era rubbed off on me. My very first music concert that I went to was with my dad and it was to see The Beach Boys. We sat on the lawn at Blossom and it rained...horribly. We were soaked. But, I remember that concert to this day.

3. There Once Was a Man - sung by Harry Connick Jr. and Kelli O'Hara in THE PAJAMA GAME - I don't get to travel a whole lot, but one of the greatest trips I've ever taken was my trip to New York City with my sister and mom. We went with the express reason of seeing Harry Connick Jr. in THE PAJAMA GAME, but we made a weekend of it. This song was my favorite from the show and I can't help but think of this weekend whenever I listen to it. I think it was also my sister's favorite. She calls it the "Wo-Man song."


4. Go Rest High on That Mountain - Vince Gill. I debated including this one because the memory it evokes is extremely painful. But, since it is still a powerful memory, I think it merits being included. My sister dated a young man in high school who was very well liked by our whole family. He died suddenly and inexplicably during his freshman year in college. Vince Gill released this song as a tribute to his own brother right around that same time. To this day I can't listen to that song. It just brings all the pain of that loss right back.

5. Playing with the Boys - Kenny Loggins. In high school, I was a student assistant for the football team and a statistician for the baseball team. I loved these jobs more than anything else in high school. That's where my fondest memories of those years are. I had the soundtrack to TOP GUN on cassette at the time and I remember one especially nice day on the way to a baseball game I had it playing in the car: windows down, volume up, typical teenager. I remember that day as though it was yesterday, and while the day wasn't anything distinctly special, I always remember it. And I, likewise, always associate this song with those jobs in high school.

6. 19 Somethin' - Mark Wills. This song reminds me of almost everything significant that was going on during my youth. And to understand what I mean, you can hear the lyrics and see the video here. (Sorry, I can't embed it.) I think they speak for themselves.

Did you notice the Atari there at the end? So, those are my six. Yeah, like I said, Michael's post was way better! But it was still fun to do. Thanks Michael!!

Now, while I have a couple of reviews I SHOULD be working on, I'm going to sneak off for a date with Lincoln Perry (shhh, don't tell Amy!). Have a great Thursday and Happy Reading!!

Book Blogger Appreciation Week Announced

Just finishing up the final details for tomorrow's six-word memoir post, but I wanted to let you know about the announcement of this year's Book Blogger Appreciation Week.

This year, the celebration will be held September 14th through the 18th. If you are a book blogger and want to register, you can do that here:

http://bookbloggerappreciationweek.com/

Tomorrow they will be starting nominations for this year's book blogger awards. I'll update you when I have more info on that. Now I have to get crackin' on some fun things to do and give away during that week! If you have suggestions, feel free to send them my way.

See ya tomorrow for memoirs!