The Cove Won!

Didn't exactly make it to the Oscar party here in town -- turns out there was some miscommunication about the event and the plus ones had to buy tickets (yeah, complete communication meltdown I would say since all of us here in town were in the same boat finding this out day of).

We ended up spending the evening as it should be, with friends rather than strangers.

I have to admit, it's pretty surreal and hasn't yet sunk in that the movie Mike spent over two years on won the Oscar for Best Documentary tonight. Crazy! Crazy! Crazy!

New Releases 3/09/10

Some of the new titles hitting shelves this week are:

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman

Abandon the Night by Joss Ware

Devil's Star by Jo Nesbo

Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

The Serialist by David Gordon

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler

Hell Gate by Linda Faistein

The Silent Sea by Clive Cussler

So Much For That by Lionel Shriver

New on DVD:

Up In the Air

Precious

Old Dogs

Bookdock Saints II

Possession

New reviews at Bookbitch.com:

The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn

Excuses, excuses!

Hi, all. A bit under the weather today. I actually went to the doctor this time around: with so much going on this weekend and my proclivity towards strep throat, mom suggested actually seeing a doctor might be a good idea.

Typical of my luck, if I'd not gone I'd probably be on my deathbead Sunday before the Oscar party. Turns out it's nothing. Doc says probably a virus that will clear up on its own in a few days.

Anyway. I'm taking the cupcake class tomorrow and didn't get around to preparing a scheduled post so I'll get to it when I return later Saturday afternoon. (Psst, it's the pre-pub post for Angelology that I promised you. I'm reading it right now and it's really good!).

Wish me luck! Here's hoping I come home a high-altitude baking genius!

A Book Lover's Holiday

Apparently, today is World Book Day in the UK and Ireland. The site says that most other countries will have theirs on April 23. Not sure if that includes us as I've never heard of World Book Day, but it's certainly a day I can get excited about.

The book holiday was created by UNESCO as a celebration of books. Wonder if this means I should get my butt over to the bookstore to buy something. Nah. I think that would be a great excuse to blow some money that I don't have, but still an excuse. But I'll plan on doing so on April 23 if my local bookstores are getting behind the incentive of the day, how's that? And by that I mean if my locals are doing book donation drives as the UK and Ireland stores appear to be doing today.

For today, I'll simply commemorate the "holiday" with this post, letting all of you out there know that World Book Day exists and to do my part to help "...promote books and reading for the personal enrichment and enjoyment of all."

Wikepedia even has a listing for World Book (and Copyright) Day, though it only includes Spain and the UK and Ireland in their listing of how other countries celebrate. I like Spain's idea of a two-day readathon of Don Quixote. I've never made it through the Spanish classic once so I think two days would be a stretch for me.

I especially love this article from the Guardian and its various links. I find the whole idea of what the UK is doing with this day truly magnificent. I wish I could say that the US was doing something similar. I have to say thanks to Tattered Cover for posting the link on FB in the first place.

The Next Big Thing

I started reading Danielle Trussoni's Angelology this evening. If you haven't heard of it yet, trust me you will, it's been getting major buzz in the book world these past few weeks (look for a pre-pub post this weekend). And honestly I'm not surprised at all. When I first heard about it, I immediately knew that I had to have it.

In fact, talk around this book is reminding me of another HUGE release from a few years ago (another book that I desperately had to get my hands on when it was released): Elizabeth Kostova's highly anticipated debut, The Historian.

I remember that Mike's folks were visiting when The Historian hit shelves in 2005. I dragged that doorstopper around with me the whole time we were doing the hosting siteseeing gig (came in handy driving up the mountains since I get seriously skeeged out with heights).

And you know, it's appropriate, I think, that Angelology is reminding of The Historian. I mean, angels are supposed to be the next big thing to follow the vampire craze and The Historian was about Dracula. I got a big kick out of the fact that everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, was snatching up a book about vampires.

I lurved it. The Historian is definitely on my favorites list. I love the gothic tone and the way the book unfolds. It's a book that I wanted to savor but found myself zipping through so that I could see what would happen next.

If you haven't read it, The Historian concerns a girl who discovers a strange book in her father's collection. When her father disappears, she follows him on a journey that leads her to Eastern Europe and the legend of Dracula himself. Here's the starred review from PW since I don't trust myself to do it justice after this long:

Considering the recent rush of door-stopping historical novels, first-timer Kostova is getting a big launch—fortunately, a lot here lives up to the hype. In 1972, a 16-year-old American living in Amsterdam finds a mysterious book in her diplomat father's library. The book is ancient, blank except for a sinister woodcut of a dragon and the word "Drakulya," but it's the letters tucked inside, dated 1930 and addressed to "My dear and unfortunate successor," that really pique her curiosity. Her widowed father, Paul, reluctantly provides pieces of a chilling story; it seems this ominous little book has a way of forcing itself on its owners, with terrifying results. Paul's former adviser at Oxford, Professor Rossi, became obsessed with researching Dracula and was convinced that he remained alive. When Rossi disappeared, Paul continued his quest with the help of another scholar, Helen, who had her own reasons for seeking the truth. As Paul relates these stories to his daughter, she secretly begins her own research. Kostova builds suspense by revealing the threads of her story as the narrator discovers them: what she's told, what she reads in old letters and, of course, what she discovers directly when the legendary threat of Dracula looms. Along with all the fascinating historical information, there's also a mounting casualty count, and the big showdown amps up the drama by pulling at the heartstrings at the same time it revels in the gruesome. Exotic locales, tantalizing history, a family legacy and a love of the bloodthirsty: it's hard to imagine that readers won't be bitten, too.

I definitely highly recommend The Historian to anyone who hasn't read it. Be warned, however, this one builds gradually. If you don't like gothic tales, you probably won't enjoy this one, But, if you are a reader who does like a slower pace and a deliciously satisfying long read, then you'll love this book as much as I did. I'll keep you posted on Angelology, but I suspect it's going to live up to expectations very nicely indeed.

Holy Smokes! I'm a Winner!

So I told you all about the League of Reluctant Adults Mini-Challenge hosted by Jackie at Literary Escapism as part of her New Author Challenge. If you don't recall, the challenge was to read 5 new to you authors from the roster of League participants during the month of February and post reviews online (there are 22 current authors -- all listed under the About Us section of the League homepage if you're curious).

Just to recap, my five were:

Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead

Greywalker by Kat Richardson

Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs by Molly Harper

Mark of the Demon by Diana Rowland

Street Magic by Caitlin Kittredge

Now, Jackie was offering a prize for the challenge, but then the Leaguers got wind of it and all started throwing in rocking swag as well. So seven of us fifty-two participants got to pick five titles each as a prize. And I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the winners. Makes me feel all special inside!

So, with a seriously amazing list to choose from, I picked three more new to me League authors. Here were my picks:

Three Days to Dead by Kelly Meding

Black and White by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge, first in the Icarus Project series (I read Kittredge for the challenge but haven't read Kessler yet)

And, Anton Strout's Simon Canderous titles, Dead to Me, Deader Still, and Dead Matter

And I wouldn't be doing my duty if I didn't swear to all of you that you'll see reviews for each one here!

So I've now read thirteen of the Leaguers and this will add three more to that list (a tentative three since I think Kessler's solo books would count more strongly). I should issue myself a challenge to read all of the remaining authors before the year is out. Lord knows I'll buy that many more books before the end of the year.

Hm. It's definitely a thought! Right now I've placed my first post challenge order for some follow ups to books I read for the challenge and I've got more Leaguers (pre challenge reads) in the TBR stack already. I think they're dominating it!

So I'd like to thank Jackie at Literary Escapism. I think this was a really cool challenge, especially when you see the results: her numbers posted show that the challenge resulted in 126 new online reviews! This is word of mouth at its finest, readers, and is exactly why I blog about books that I enjoy!

This morning, I'm thinking...

... I'm thinking about starting some sort of food blog. I mean, it is the one thing I love as much as books and movies. We have friends over for dinner on average at least once a week. I send recipes to my mom and my aunt. And I review cookbooks whenever I have the opportunity.

So I'm thinking about taking all of those elements and turning it into a second blog. That way all of the food related stuff will have a home.

Thoughts?

This weekend was absolutely nuts. Bonkers. Crazy. Whacked. I didn't get any reading done at all and even though I know I got some things done, I basically feel as though I wasted my little weekly vaca.

As you all may know from reading, Mike worked on the film The Cove, which has been nominated for an Oscar in the doc category. He gets to go to LA this week to attend their official Oscar party and then will be back in time for the two of us to attend a party being thrown locally in honor of the film -- and he will be the film's representative since the others will actually be in LA at the time the Oscars air.

I've not had much opportunity for getting all spiffy and dressed up lately, and I kind of prefer it that way. I like to eat out at fancy restaurants (or more accurately restaurants with fantastic food that may just happen to be fancy). But since we really can't afford that very often, I haven't gotten all dolled up in a while. And that means not having anything appropriate to wear except shoes, because I never outgrow those.

So this weekend was a fun (read sarcastic) whirlwind of trying on dresses and trying to pick out matching shoes and color appropriate makeup. And on that note, I did not realize just how much I had apparently failed at being a girl these days!

Finding makeup was agonizing. I mean painful for both me and my bank account. I'm going to go into shock when I really look at those receipts. After trying out nonreturnable, not try-out-able in the store, regular brands that made me look like I was auditioning for a role as Casper's best ghost friend, I ended up at one of the department store counters letting someone choose the right shades for me.

The shoes were much easier, but about $30 more than I'd hoped to spend. They're adorable and they're definitely going to kill my feet. But maybe I'll get some torturous wear out of them a few times to make up for the cost.

Hopefully I've not got everything I need to attend the fancy, schmancy Oscar party dinner next week. And hopefully I don't end up looking like someone's overgrown kid playing dress up.

But I do have to say, after running around flushed and a little pissed yesterday about the fact that I can no longer put on eyeliner without looking like a raccoon (was I just so determined to wear it as a teen that I got it right every time? Or am I imagining that I look as ridiculous as I do now?) we were cooking for friends last night and the dishes I made turned out very successfully. Thank GOD!