At ALA

I am at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Anaheim. In the past week I have read 14 books and yesterday I attended my committee meeting to discuss them all. I will give a full report when I get back but for now just know this. I am shmoozing with authors and talking about books. My life really is cooler than most people's. :)

Entertainment Weekly Best Books

The New Classics: Books
The 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008

Well, I have read about 2/3 of these and some I loved, some I was underwhelmed by and a couple I didn't finish. All-in-all not a bad list. I loved The Road, preferred Murakami's Kafka on the Shore and couldn't get through The Stone Diaries to save my life so always remember, everything is subjective. Never feel bad when you don't agree with the "experts".

Friday Meme

This explains a lot about my life.

18 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Poor (Failure) Take the test!

108 As a 1930s husband, I am Very Superior Take the test!

Waldo Crawldo

I will not be able to attend but what could be better than drinking heavily for a good cause:)

Annual Spring Waldo Crawldo

Saturday, PM-Midnight

This annual spring pub crawl includes seven establishments all within walking distance: 75th St. Brewery, Kennedy's, Waldo Bar, Bobby Baker's, Tanner's, Waldo Pizza, and Lew's Grill and Bar. Tickets on sale now at each location. Visit all 7 the evening of the crawl and you will be in a drawing for great prizes.

Admission: $5 in advance, $10 at the door.

Waldo Shopping District
75th & Wornall
http://www.waldokc.org/

Memes of boredom

Instead of writing profound and wonderful reviews of books I posted myspace bulletins all evening at the part-time job. Since I spent so much time on them, I thought I would share them with you.

Survey #1

Who were you with last night around 9:00pm?
On a grassy knoll

Where is your sister right now?
Ummm….Colorado or India. It's hard to keep track.

What is one thing you would love to happen tomorrow?
For a knight in shining armor to swoop down and rescue me from the evil dentist.

Is your phone a flip, slide or neither?
It is actually a super secret spy phone imbedded in my arm

Do you bite your fingernails?
Not unless I am REALLY stressed out. Something that you never want to see. Trust me.

Do you like Mexican food?
Absolutely.

Did anyone see you kiss the last person you kissed?
Yes. I try to gather a large audience for these moments in life.

Do you watch a lot of TV?
TV is the opiate of the masses.

Are you hungry?
No. I had a yummy yogurt and carrot dinner in the car on the way to the part-time job. And yes, before you ask, I AM living the life.

Do you like your mom?
She's ok. I think I will keep her.

Are you tan?
Nope. Pasty white.

Do you have unlimited texting?
Super secret spy phones come with all the options.

Where were you at 9pm Sunday night?
What is this obsession with 9 pm? You got the wrong man, I tell you. I'm innocent. You'll never pin it on me.

What happened at 10:00 am today?
A stranger handed me a mysterious package with instructions to deliver it to the Russian or I would die a horrible death.

Have you kissed a boy in the last three days?
You all are just full of noisy questions today, aren't you?

How many hours did you sleep last night?
42 minutes.

What was the last text message you received?
From XO wanting to "entertain" me.

Does anyone call you babe?
Not if they want to live a full and happy life with all their parts intact.

What was the highlight of this week?
Well, the Russian was pretty cool.

Did you kiss or hug anyone today?
I took the world in a love embrace.

What was the last reason you went to the Doctor for?
To get a thorn out of my finger.
Seriously!

Do you have any birth marks?
Yes. I have the mark of "The Chosen One". All bow down and worship me. Ummm…. now people!

Who will you see the most this weekend besides family?
All my freaky friends.

Do you think you will be in a relationship 3 months from now?
Define relationship? I like to think that I have relationships with many people.

Do you drink tea?
Love it. It makes me feel very British.

Have you ever wanted something you couldn't have?
Not since becoming "The Chosen One"

What's the number one thing you want in life right now?
A super secret spy car.

Are you taken?
Where? If it is somewhere good, then yes.

Survey #2

1. What do you think happens after you die? I will be reincarnated as a superior being…no wait, that was last time.

2. What are you supposed to be doing right now? Whatever I want! I am a god at sea!

3. What do you wish you could be doing right now? The Twist

4. Would you marry for money? Depends? Is this someone who is hot, worships the ground I walk on, is uber-good in bed and follows me around buying me shoes? Then absolutely!

5. How long do you spend in the shower? Nuh uh. You aren't going to catch me with that one.
I've seen Psycho!

6. What are you wearing right now? I am naked in my skin.

7. What's the first thing you think about in the morning? Me :D Oh come on, like you don't?

8. And the last thing at night? Wow. It is dark behind my eyelids.

9. What type of toothpaste do you use? The kind with little bubbles….because EVERYTHING is better with bubbles.

10. Have you ever made out with a stranger? Define strange.

11. Are you an optimist or a pessimist? I like to think I am an optimist but sometimes I am very pessimistic about that choice.

12. Dominant or submissive? I am submissively dominant or dominantly submissive…take your pick.

13. Do you have psychic powers? Of course. I AM "The Chosen One"

14. If you could be any animal for a day, what would you be? Wouldn't that be cool if you could morph into an animal? But why just one? I want to be a panther and then maybe a dolphin and horse and ooooooh….a dinosaur. Definitely a dinosaur.

15. How often do you work out? The answer my friend is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind.

16. If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and you could only take 3 things, what would you take? My laptop, a solar battery and a wifi tower.

17. What superhero do you most identify with? I'm thinking I am like The Hulk but that is probably because of the green feet.

18. What is the greatest challenge you have ever faced? I laugh in the face of challenge….
Hah!

19. What is the best book you've ever read? That is like picking my favorite family member! Can't be done.

20. What person have you known the longest? Me

21. Would you have sex with someone for a million dollars? What??? I'm thinking!

22. What are you addicted to? You, baby!

23. Do you believe in love at first sight? Well, with all of the men throwing themselves at me declaring their undying love, how could I not?

24. What are your thoughts on true love? It makes the world go round.

25. What magazines do you read most often? Mad Magazine

26. What's the wildest thing you've ever done? I stood in the middle of Central Park naked.

27. Would you rather divulge your deepest, darkest secret or stand naked in the middle of Central Park? I think we have covered this.

28. What is the biggest problem in your life right now? Usually it is boys….or lack thereof.

29. What is your greatest fear? I fear giant spiders attacking the general population and me getting superhero powers and having to fight them.

30. What is your greatest hope? I hope that the Space Shuttle doesn't crash on my house cause that would be a bummer.

The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch

FYI: This is really long but very good so set aside some time to watch the whole thing if you can.

Free e-Books

In celebration of the publication of I SHALL NOT WANT, St. Martin’s Minotaur is offering the first two ebooks of Julia Spencer-Fleming’s A Clare Fergusson / Russ Van Alstyne Mystery series:

IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER and A FOUNTAIN FILLED WITH BLOOD.
Click here to sign up to receive.
Promotion ends June 12, 2008, 11:59 p.m. ET.

Book Meme

I was thinking of doing Bea's Meme because it is all about books but then I looked at the questions. In true INFJ fashion, I ended up writing paragraphs with all of the additions, exceptions and variables that could be included in each answer. This made it absolutely impossible to match to different pictures so you will just have to use your imagination.

1. Favourite author: In which genre? Which day? Which mood? This is like trying to figure out your favorite family member...impossible!

2. Favourite book: See question #1

3. Favourite poem: "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley

4. Favourite genre: I like everything but have never been able to embrace Horror.

5. Favourite non-fiction category: Egyptian archaeology

6. Favourite book as a child: Preschool: Green Eggs and Ham Grade School: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH and Black Beauty Tween: Swiss Family Robinson and The Witch of Blackbird Pond Teen: No one favorite but I seem to remember reading a lot of Danielle Steel and Zane Gray during those years.

7. What book are you reading now: A Life of Picasso: The Triumphant Years, 1917-1932 by John Richardson and Beautiful Children by Charles Bock

8. Favourite fictional character: I still like Ramona (of Ramona the Brave fame). I wish I was still that fearless.

9. Worst book you’ve read: Define "read". Do you mean books I have finished or books I have thrown across the room and refused to finish? Do you only mean published books? What about book manuscripts that authors asked for opinions on? Define "worst". Most poorly written? Not to my taste? Most repugnant hero/heroine? Worst editing?

10. A book that changed your life: Every book I have read has changed my life in large and small ways. I developed sympathy and empathy, respect for other cultures and religions, depth and breadth of knowledge, my ability to think critically, my questioning nature...from reading.

11. A movie that is better than the book: Every James Patterson.

12. Most disappointing adaption from a book: Every other movie from a book.

Cory Doctorow update

Cory Doctorow has just released comic adaptations of his award-winning science fiction stories — Futuristic Tales of the Here and Now. Download here for free or pick up a copy at your local library. Also, his recent young adult fiction novel, Little Brother, is the talk of the young adult librarian world.

And for those of you who think you are too old of YA Fiction...I have met you....remember?

My creation2

My creation2
Originally uploaded by A Librarian.

The concept:

1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

2. Using only the first page of results, and pick one image.

3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab's Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.

The questions:

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food? right now?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. What is your favorite drink?

7. What is your dream vacation?

8. What is your favorite dessert?

9. What do you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. What is one word that describes you?

12. What is your flickr name?

First seen on Average Jane's page.

Robert Asprin

I had been meaning to post about this a couple of weeks ago but have been so busy trying to read my ever expanding list of nominees/suggestions that I haven't had a spare moment to blog. I am still a Twittering fool in part because I can do that on my phone while standing in line at the grocery store and in part, because it is addictive. Right now I am reading a 811 page book about the Mitfords. Next up, the positively tiny 500 pager about Picasso.

Anyway, when I am not reading literary fiction and non-fiction for a book award, I am reading a mixture of mystery, romance, westerns and anything else you can think of, including Science Fiction. My favorite SF are space operas and humorous SF and fantasy. One of my favorite humorous authors was Robert Asprin, who passed away on May 22, 2008. This means that there will be no more Myth Adventures which makes me very sad indeed.

This is a light frothy fun series with a wanna be magician/thief named Skeeve, a demon from Perv named Aahz. Now, anything with a character named Perv is bound to be good but truthfully, the main attraction for me was the clever banter and lord knows, I am a sucker for clever banter. After the June award meeting I may have to take a little break and finish off the last few (or possibly re-read the entire series) to cleanse the palette for my next round of weighty tomes.