Month: October 2012

IT’s a Clownish Quiz – guessing closed

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Coming up with an IT quiz that lots of people could participate in was just too hard, so I came up with a quiz full of clowns, circuses and carnivals.  Really, the opposite of It, but too bad 🙂

You have until noon Sunday to submit your answers as a comment.  Comment will be hidden until I post the answers.  No Googling! The person with the most points this round will win a B&N gift card (total $ based on # of total participants, so please play) and a randomly selected participant will win a fun prize from me.

1. The main characters of this book about circus life were played by these two stars on the big screen  Like Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

2. Ray Bradbury wrote a classic about carnivals.  What’s the title of this good vs. evil tale? Something Wicked This Way Comes

3. The Circus Fire: A True Story of an American Tragedy about the Barnum & Bailey tent fire of 1944 was written by what author, a book blogger fave these days?  Stewart O’Nan

4. The World’s Thinnest Man is working in PT Barnum’s American Museum in this 2010 novel.  The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno by Ellen Bryson

5. The Binewskis are one odd family of carnies in this 1989 novel, a National Book Award Nominee.  Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

6. If you’re looking to visit the circus during the day this is not the story for you.  The Night Circus by Ellen Bryson

7. First published in 1984 this Dean Koontz book has a girl who joined a traveling carnival and ended up killing her own child.  Twenty-five years later the carnival is coming back.  The Funhouse

8. The subtitle of this book is, The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived.  Madoc by Ralph Helfer

9. “All ready to put up the tents for my circus

I think I will call it the Circus McGurkus

The Circus McGurkus!The World’s Greatest Show

On the face of the earth, or wherever you go!”

Name that book or author.  If I Ran the Circus by Dr. Seuss

10. And this one sounds the closest to IT.  “You have two days to pass your audition. You better pass it, feller. You’re joining the circus. Ain’t that the best news you ever got?” Delivered by a trio of psychotic clowns, this ultimatum plunges Jamie into the horrific alternate universe that is the centuries-old.”  The Pilo Family Circus by Will Elliott

Answers to last week’s Mystery Writers Quiz here.  Leaderboard here.

And I want to thank Nise once again for her great Michigan Authors quiz.  She got 100 big ones and you can too if you want to try and stump your fellow bookies.

Sundays with Gage and some birthday winners

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First, Birthday Winners!!  Lloyd is winner #1, Tara is winner #2, Nise is winner #3.  Lloyd, if you read this before I send an email let me know which book you want from my Bouchercon stack (pic here).  (Winners randomly chosen by Jason)  Thanks for stopping by this week and leaving comments!

We went to a pumpkin festival today and I thought I’d share some pics from the morning…

It’s a beautiful fall day here.  Hope it is where you are too!

24 Hour Read-A-Thon Hour 16 Time Flies Mini-Challenge – CLOSED

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Thanks to all of you who played! Keep reading 🙂  The first reader to get all 13 books correct is Megan (YA? Why Not?) and she will receive a $24 B&N giftcard.  The secondly winner (randomly chosen by drawing names out of a hat) is Dilatory Bibliophile and she will receive a $12 B&N giftcard.  Congratulations, readers, I’ll be in touch 🙂  I’ll be stopping by everyone who played along in the next few days to say hi.

Hi read-a-thonners!  I hope you’re all still awake and having fun.  There are two ways to play this mini-challenge…I made a fall Read-a-thon Clock (yes, it looked more like a clock in my mind ;)).  Just tell me the titles and you could win a prize, the reader with the most correct answers wins a prize. (in the event of a tie the first person to submit their answers will win)  If you get even one title correct I’ll throw your name in the drawing for a second prize.  Keep in mind that each number on the clock is correctly represented and don’t forget about the book in the center.

I’ll periodically hide the comments so don’t be worried if your answers disappear until I draw a winner at 1 AM.

(I apologize for the quality of the clock.  My camera died so I had to use my cell phone) You should be able to click on it to make it bigger.

There’s a second way to play…Make your own clock and post it on your blog.  Make sure each of the titles has something to do with time.  Make sure to leave a link in the comments.  You’ll be eligible for the second prize.

Wanna know what you’re playing for?  First prize (reader who guesses the most correct titles in my clock) will get a $24 Barnes & Noble giftcard.  The second randomly chosen winner will receive a $12 Barnes & Noble giftcard. (If you are not in the US I can do Book Depository)

If  you still want to extend your break with something bookish I do have another quiz going on with prizes.  The link is here.

Birthday Giveaway & Bouchercon Wrap-Up

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I was all set to do a few Bouchercon posts this week but to be honest, I’m just not that motivated.  I’ll leave you with a few fun tidbits that came out of two panels.  One of my favorite panels was Mysteries & the Movies and the first question referred to the casting of Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher.  All five of the panelists agreed that they would take the best actor over a physical resemblance.

Exciting news for Chelsea Cain fans, FX is adapting the Gretchen Lowell series and each book will be a different series.  She turned down $100,000 to write the script.

On the flip side, when Robin Cook sold the rights to Sphinx it came with a deal for him to write the screenplay.  When he turned in his four page sample he was promptly fired.  He got to keep the $1 million.

There was a Family Feud game with lots of fun authors and Hank Ryan Phillipi as host.  One of the questions was, Actor Who Should Play Jack Reacher.  Survey of 100’s of mystery lovers says

1.Liam Neeson (not bad)

2.Daniel Craig (also not bad)

3.Harrison Ford (huge laugh from the crowd)

4. Tom Cruise (a few groans from the crowd)

5. Anyone but Tom Cruise (another huge laugh)

Jason got me a Nook Tablet for my birthday.  Great, another device I need to learn to use.  I’m still figuring out my iPhone.  Seriously, it is a very nice gift and I’m looking forward to reading  on it.

I brought home lots of books from Bouchercon and I’m giving 5 away to you, my favorite bookish pals.  Just leave a comment on this post and you’ll be entered.  Leave a comment on any post this week and you’ll be entered every time.  On Saturday I’ll draw 3 winners.  The first will get first choice and choose one book, the second winner will choose two books and the third winner will get the last two.  Easy, right?  Just comment all week long and you might win.

You can earn more entries by commenting on this post , guessing on my Tuesday Quiz and commenting here.

Hey, I’m 29 again! w/ a birthday giveaway

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After last year’s milestone birthday today is a bit anticlimactic.  Jason and I will be heading out for a birthday dinner and that will be the big celebration.  Woo hoo 🙂  So, I’m pulling out the Bucket List I made last year at 40 to see how I’m doing.

1. Write and publish a novel.

2. Open my own bookstore.

3. Spend a night in an English castle.

4. Visit Ireland.

5. Meet a US president.

6. Learn to start a fire without matches.

7. Learn to play the piano.

8. Raise a happy and successful son.

9. Celebrate my 50th anniversary. (14 in)

10. Make exercise a daily priority.

11. Get back to my wedding weight, just once.

12. Try a vegetarian diet for a year.

13. Drive across country.

14. Visit all 50 states. (Only counting those states where I’ve spent any significant time seeing a sight or two, I’m at 22.  I’ve driven through six others but I’m not counting them.)

15. Stay in an overnight car on a train trip.

16. Fly first class.

17. Take Gage to Italy.

18. Ride a boat down the Mississippi River.

19. Trace ancestry to when all branches entered the US.  (we’ve been here a long time so this will take many more years of research)

20. Spend a week touring Napa Valley.

21. Live somewhere warm year round.

22. Volunteer on a political campaign.

23. Sit on a jury.

24. Buy only American for 1 year.

25. Have a library with wall-to-wall built-in bookcases.

26. Write and mail 1000 letters. These can include cards if I include a personal note. (Not much of a dent with 62 this year.)

27. Be an extra in a movie.

28. Watch a play from backstage.

29. Go skiing.

30. Attend a murder mystery dinner. September 2012

31. Volunteer weekly.

32. Read all the books I own.  (I’d like to have no TBR pile just once.  I can give away books to reach this goal)

33. Start my own book club.

34. See all 4 tennis majors. (2 down, Wimbledon & Australian Open to go)

35. Give blood.

36. Sleep under the stars.

37. Have a hammock.

38. Fire a gun.

39. Make a daily goal list and use it.

40. Do a random act of kindness every day.

There is a lot or travel on here but until Gage is a bit older I don’t see that happening so I’ll have to try some of the others.  I’ve done a little research on buying American for a year, but am not ready to start yet.  It will take some planning but I may be able to give it a shot sometime this next year.  You’d think with all of the time President Obama is spending in Ohio (Romney too) I may be able to meet him before election time.  He’d definitely want to kiss Gage, right?  As for reaching my wedding weight, let’s just say I have about 45 pounds to go, BUT I did start Weight Watchers a few weeks ago and have managed to lose 5 pounds.  My goal this year is just get back to my pre-Gage weight still over 25 pounds away, but I’ve gotta start somewhere.  I do have visions of a bookstore and that may be something I put some effort into this year.  So many goals to choose from.

On to my birthday giveaway.  I brought home lots of books from Bouchercon and I’m giving 5 away to you, my favorite bookish pals.  Just leave a comment on this post and you’ll be entered.  Leave a comment on any post this week and you’ll be entered every time.  On Saturday I’ll draw 3 winners.  The first will get first choice and choose one book, the second winner will choose two books and the third winner will get the last two.  Easy, right?  Just comment all week long and you might win.

You can earn more entries by commenting on this post or guessing on my Tuesday Quiz.

Mystery Writers Choose Great Mysteries Quiz & birthday giveaway – guessing closed

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At Bouchercon we had the opportunity to be the first readers in the US to buy the book Books To Die For – The World’s Greatest Mystery Writers on the World’s Greatest Mystery Novels.  Of the 119 contributors almost 30 were in attendance and they did a mass signing for everyone.  Let’s see if you can guess which author chose which of these 16 great works.  The autograph is from the author choosing the work.  Good Luck!

You have until noon Sunday to submit your answers as a comment.  Comment will be hidden until I post the answers.  No Googling! The person with the most points this round will win a B&N gift card (total $ based on # of total participants, so please play) and a randomly selected participant will win a fun prize from me.

To enter my birthday giveaway (details here) leave a comment with some guesses and you’ll be entered.

This is really a test to see if you can figure out signature’s but I thought you’d like to see what books they recommended too 🙂

On Beulah Height – Val McDermid, Little Sister – Michael Connelly, The Hunter – F Paul Wilson, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned – Martyn Waites, Possession – Erin Hart, The Damned & the Destroyed – Lee Child, Rogue Male – Charlaine Harris, Bootlegger’s Daughter – Julia Spencer-Fleming, Maltese Falcon – Mark Billingham, The Postman Always Rings Twice – Joseph Finder, Ms. Smilla’s Feeling for Snow – Michael Robotham, Cover Her Face – Deborah Crombie, The Goodbye Look – Linwood Barclay, True Confessions – SJ Rozan, A is for Alibi – Meg Gardiner, A Crime on the Neighborhood – Thomas H Cook

 

 

Tales from Bouchercon, with a birthday giveaway.

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Thought I’d drop a few names from my days at Bouchercon…

*I was at the bar when Carol Higgins Clark came up to order drinks for her and her mother (I think her name was Mary).  The man next to me, who I later learned was author John Clement, started chatting with her.  Feeling happy I said a few words too (don’t ask me what they were I have no idea) and when Carol started fishing around in her purse I offered to buy her drinks.  When am I ever going to get the chance again?  Can you say legend?  She does warn me that it may be pricy, but what do I care?  She graciously thanks me and offers to send me books and then returns to Mary who is signing books elsewhere.  The moral of this long-winded story?  Bestselling authors drink more expensive wine than we do.

*Chelsea Cain gave me the finger!  I only took two books to be signed and one was my hardcover of Heartsick by Chelsea Cain.  She proved to be a lovely lady with a wicked sense of humor.  She signed my books, posed for pictures and handed me something out of her purse.  It was a severed finger, which went very well with the inscription on my book.

I saw her the next day and told her how much I loved it.  More Chelsea news on Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taylor Stevens, author of The Informationist, was up for the Best Debut award and I saw her waiting in the back of the ballroom with eventual winner Sara Henry.  I went up to say a few words of encouragement and we ended up chatting for a few minutes.  After the awards and before the reception we ran into each other again and got into the food line together.  Taylor grabbed my bag and went off to save us seats.  I haven’t read The Informationist yet, so during our time in the long food line I asked her questions that a true fan would have already known, but hey, I did get to hear answers directly from her and not Google (or the other Taylor Stevens, porn star).  More chatting over the food and then I decided to head back home so I could see Gage before he went to bed.  I also figured that this would be the perfect way to end my Bouchercon experience.  Time well spent with a warm, gracious and fun author.  I am fan of Taylor the person now I just need to read her book(s)!  This picture really doesn’t do her justice.

My Bouchercon/Birthday week giveaway…I brought home lots of books and I’m giving 5 away to you, my favorite bookish pals.  Just leave a comment on this post and you’ll be entered.  Leave a comment on any post this week and you’ll be entered every time.  On Saturday I’ll draw 3 winners.  The first will get first choice and choose one book, the second winner will choose two books and the third winner will get the last two.  Easy, right?  Just comment all week long and you might win.

Sundays with Gage – Mommy Vacation

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My three days spent at Bouchercon with mystery/thriller readers and writers.

I didn’t have to say a word to feel at home among the 1800 readers and writers who spent Thursday-Saturday mingling and laughing together.  I saw and chatted with Lee Child, Charlaine Harris, Daniel Palmer, Linwood Barclay, Karen Olson…  Chelsea Cain gave me the finger (more on that another day).  I got to hang out with Taylor Stevens who even told me a secret (I’d tell you but she told me I’d be dead to her if I did, ;)) I’ll be sharing more of these fun stories throughout the week.

So, I came and enjoyed and, surprisingly, worried little about Gage at all.  Is this how moms with jobs feel?  Since Jason and I came and left downtown together on Thursday and Friday it was a real eye opener to me.  I now understand better why when he comes home he is not always 100% enthralled with the daily minutiae of my day with Gage.  He has 2 1/2 hours to soak up all the (almost) 2-year-old antics that I take in over my 11 hours with Gage before he arrives home.

I am so grateful for the time spent with adults, talking about adult things and I needed it more than I realized before I went.  Stay at home moms can get lost in the little things.  While appreciating a banner day in dirty diapers is very interesting, there is a world out there that goes on without us, one that I was able to savor this week.  I feel almost interesting again.

On Saturday I didn’t feel guilty about the time away, I felt guilty about how I didn’t want the vacation to end.  I wanted to go on mingling with the superstars and fans, my peeps.  But as all vacations must, it came to an end.  I’m home and my parents will be leaving soon and when Jason goes back to work tomorrow I know Gage will look at me and be just a tad bit disappointed that I can’t morph into more people to entertain him.  I am very grateful to my parents for babysitting all day long so that I could go play.  They are the best parents ever.

Snapshot Saturday – Me, Me, and Me

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To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link here. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Just a few shot from around Bouchercon…

Had a few minutes to chat with Karen Olson and she was as sweet as expected.

Jason and me at the opening night event at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The adorable Chelsea Cain gave me a special gift when signing my book.  You’ll have to check back next week to see what it was.

I’m having a blast at Bouchercon. I still have 1 1/2 days left on my mommy vacation and I plan on savoring every single minute.  Next week is birthday week, so I’ll be doing giveaways along with my mini conference recaps.

My first Conference

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I am a full-time mom.  It’s not something that was a dream of mine growing up, but I sort of fell into the job (haha) and it has proven to be every but as challenging as promised.  This is not a post on motherhood, well, entirely anyway.  When you stay home with a baby/toddler for almost 2 years it’s a little scary how a mind starts to lose its sharpness.  I feel about as interesting as a potato sack most days and with that in mind it is no surprise that I am SO EXCITED to be attending Bouchercon Thursday-Sunday.  My parents are coming up to help with Gage and I am taking some time for me.  I told Jason a few nights ago that it was ridiculous how much I was looking forward to it.  I never get this much time to myself and I am giddy with anticipation.  Yes, there will be over 1000 attendees, but I’m going by myself and can be as social or shy as I want.  It is an early birthday present from Jason and my parents 🙂 And Max will be coming to visit too, bonus!

On Thursday and Friday I’ll go into work with Jason and get to see his new place of employment and co-workers and then I’ll walk a couple of blocks to the conference and get to enjoy milling around with the likes of Mary Higgins Clark, Lee Child (!), Elizabeth George, Robin Cook, Charlaine Harris, Chelsea Cain, Michael Connelly, Michael Koryta, Karin Slaughter, Linwood Barclay, Karen Olsen, and the list goes on…On Saturday and Sunday I’ll drive myself downtown and stay all day and TRY not feel guilty about it.

The opening ceremonies are Thursday night at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Jason and I are really looking forward to it (he’s my +1).  I may try updating everyday on Facebook (let me know if you want to be buds), but most likely it will be one or two posts here on the blog over the weekend.  Look for a related giveaway next week on my birthday.

If you want to see how much fun I’ll be having, check this out.  I’m so excited that I don’t even care our furnace quite working yesterday 🙂