Book Groups

I did not turn in a blog post yesterday since I have not yet figured out how to attach picture in blogger via my phone and I have never liked the way my blog posts and pictures turned out trying to do it using my email. Next week maybe I will have all my technological issues worked out but in the meantime, here is an unsuccessful picture I took of my cat, who is decidedly not thrilled about flash photography.

Now on to book related topics....

In the past year I have gone from not being involved in any personal book discussion groups to being involved with two. The first group is run by a close friend and his wife and makes some attempt to actually discuss the book before the socializing starts so from now on I will refer to it as my "serious" book club. The other is called the Martini Book Club and the group really does care more about what martini we will be serving than what book we are reading.

Last night I went to my "serious" book club and we discussed Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. I have to admit I procrastinated when reading this book so I only finished the first fourth of it but I have always enjoyed the British sense of humor and will finish this book in the near future. One of the other participants said she felt like the author nailed life in academia and I think she is probably right and this is a major strength of the novel.

In a couple of weeks I will be hosting the Martini Book Club and, since I hosted, I also get to pick the book. I decided to select one of the American Library Association Reading List Award winners for us to try. I selected the 2010 Women's Fiction award winner Very Valentine: A Novel by Adriana Trigiani. This is a pretty easy group to pick a book for because we don't actually spend much (if any) time discussing the book so I don't need to look for books with "issues" and could select based on the fun factor. Also since the last few books fell into the genre "messed up childhood memoirs" I thought something lighter might be nice as well. Now all I need is to find a fun new martini to introduce to the group. If you have a fabulous recipe please let me know!

The next book I need to read is Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson since it is the Kansas City Public Library BIG READ title for this year. I will keep you posted on this upcoming event so you can also participate.

Renaming the Blog

Now that I am finished with my book award committee (see photo for committee members hard at work) and assuming I do not get assigned to a new one, I think I should find a new focus for my blog. I used to post my concert/event/personal musings on my Myspace blog but since so many friends have dropped off the site my blog posts have devolved into more of a personal journal instead of a blog to share with others. So.... I could conceivably post about some of those topics over here. Not the dating woes perhaps, but the things I wouldn't care if library users know about me.

Since I working more at the part-time job again it looks like I might have time between reference questions to post some entries and, hopefully, won't be so burnt out that I can't try to post a bit more often than I have been lately. I think having a "schedule" might be beneficial to keeping the blog posts flowing.

Here is my proposed schedule:

Sunday - I am hoping to have more variety in my social life than I managed in past years so on Sundays I will try to post about a weekend event or activity that I have indulged in. If I spent the weekend in my PJ's with a stack of books, I will blog about that too.

Monday - Library related blog post, which leaves it pretty wide open. It can be a program at the library, a new library innovation, something to share from another blog, etc...

Tuesday - Musings

Wednesday - Picture of the Week

Thursday - Book review, poetry or a book list.

Friday - I will try to get Free e-book Friday back up and running.

Saturday - Free Day

Disclaimer: This is not a set-in-stone schedule, just something to keep me motivated.

Blogging Anniversary

Three Halloweens ago I went to my first blogger meet-up. It was a relatively safe start for trying out these events where I would be meeting whole new groups of people. Especially since the friend hosting, gonemild, is a dear friend and someone I have known for years. It was supposed to be a Halloween party but I didn't get past the "and I will be serving my homemade beer" part of the invitation before hitting the RSVP button so I was the only one there without a costume. In spite of that, or maybe because of the beer (which remains my all-time favorite gonemild brew) I had a wonderful time.

That night was so important to me because I ended up meeting people that have become some of my very best friends. In addition to gonemild and his wife, I found Keith, Janet, Spyder, Kanga, XO, Eric, Well Hell Michelle (blog now retired), Average Jane, M Toast (blog now retired) and Krissy. I have met many wonderful people since that party but these are the people who will always hold a special place in my heart for their warm acceptance of me in their lives.

And General Blather, of course!

Bloggers and blogging

Today was super busy at work so it wasn't until about 8 p.m. tonight that I had a chance to check my Google Reader account, which I love almost as much as my phone. And not to go off on a tangent but...For those of you who use Blogger, PLEASE change your feed settings to full so that the whole blog post feeds into my reader. 99% of the time I don't go to your blog to see the rest of the post, I just skip it.

Anyway, after a whole day of getting a lot of email from some very odd people (not naming any names here) I look at my reader account and have 412 blog posts to read. May I just say...Damn, you people talk a lot!

Meme

It's been a couple of days since Spyder tagged me but I finally have time to work on it so here is my quirk list...

The Rules:
a. list seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself
b. tag seven people to do the same
c. do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag "whoever wants to do it"

My Quirks:
1. I owned and showed American Quarter Horses when I was younger. I have been bucked off, kicked, stepped on and bitten by horses and I still unconditionally love them, which I guess is proof that love is not rational.
2. I haven't watched TV in over two years although I still watch movies.
3. Every year when the Oscar nominees are announced I try to watch them all, even the documentary shorts. Some of my friends have pointed out that I am a wee bit obsessive about this.
4. I own two tiara's and I wear them at least once a year.
5. I have been to more than one shoe museum in my lifetime. What can I say, I really like shoes.
6. I keep my top friend list on myspace alphabetized and it makes me a little crazy when they change their name.
7. I like all kinds of music but I will love hard rock and metal forever.

And my tags are: Expat-Experience, Average Jane, Bea and her charming husband, Logtar, Kansas City Daily Photo, Well Hell Michelle and Keith (since Janet didn't post her's fast enough.)

Cartoons for librarians and KC Blogger fun

I've been reading like crazy but since I can't talk about anything I am reading now (all nominees for a national book award) I decided to do another day of fun stuff.



A cartoon just for librarians...Unshelved



And because all the other KC Bloggers are doing it....

Blogging and the Law

I found this handy dandy little list of US Laws that affect blogs and bloggers and thought I would share it.

http://www.avivadirectory.com/blogger-law/

Blogger Happy Hour

This Friday the Kansas City Bloggers are getting together at my friend Dan's for some beer, well other things as well but mainly for the beer. Dan is a home brewer extraordinaire and I can't wait to sample his latest product. This will also be a chance to meet a couple of the bloggers that I have been reading (and reading about) for the past year or so. I can't wait.

Blogs I Like

Lately I have added two blogs to my daily (or at least weekly) blog browsing. The first is called The Happiness Project http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/. I can't say that it is making me any happier, after all, I am the queen of living in the past (or so I am told) but I am finding it interesting.

The second is Both Sides Of The Mouth http://bothsidesofthemouth.blogspot.com/ which reviews music and even offers free downloads. I love discovering new music so I try catch this one as often as I can.

I don't have any book review blogs that I read (except one I read because she is my friend) but I think that is because I am completely overwhelmed with the amount of reading I have to do anymore. The crazy thing is that I just signed on for two more years of Notable Reading.

Addictive behavior

Thank you, Mark, for actually answering your phone. It made my life so much easier and that is the point, isn't it, to make my life easier (right?). Googling your name would have probably not pulled up my blog since there are a very large number of famous (sort-of) Mark Turner's in the world.

I actually logged on this morning to look up the time for the play I am going to this afternoon, not to blog. Apparently, this is somewhat addictive. Since I am now officially addicted, later tonight I may actually talk about books again. No promises but it is on the schedule.