Tuesday Book Club!
It gets the exclamation point this time because this week I finished a book. It was getting a little touch and go there for a while.
So this week was The Princess Diaries, Volume VII: Party Princess, which I’m happy to report made me laugh out loud just as much as all the previous ones. Meg Cabot is my go-to writer for unwinding from a hectic day. She’s like my bubble bath. But in this case, on a plane.
And if you aren’t already, will you please make a point of reading Meg’s Diary? She updates a couple of times a week, and between stories of her cat Slutty McSlut-a-Lot, her various issues with giving up caffeine and chocolate to cure her migraines, and the inevitable tales of how she continues to find herself in as embarrassing of situations as she did when she was a teenager (all of which are captured in her 40 books–to date. She is a writing machine, and I am in awe), Meg’s blog is one of the most entertaining out there. So please tune in.
And it just so happens that right now she has an excellent post up about how to be the perfect fan at a book signing. I think I’ve violated only one or two of those suggestions. But I’ll do better from now on.
So that’s my story. What did y’all read this week?
Technorati Tags: Meg Cabot, Princess Diaries, Party Princess, Reading, Books, Reading Clubs, 50 Book Book Club, Tuesday Book Club, Book Reviews, Book Recommendations, Book Lists, Young Adult Fiction
February 27th, 2007 at 6:20 am
For other good tips on how to behave at a signing, read Barry’s book!
I finished The Gunslinger. Not sure yet, Herb. I’m unsold so far, but I was told by a friend which similar tastes that it really picked up half-way through the next book.
Currently reading The Nymph King. Fell asleep on the plane and early in the hotel, so I didn’t finish it in time for this morning’s update.
February 27th, 2007 at 6:21 am
which = ‘who has’
February 27th, 2007 at 6:32 am
Patrick, excellent point about checking out Barry Lyga’s book for tips about how to act at a signing. It’s my favorite scene in The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl. How could I forget?
February 27th, 2007 at 8:12 am
Good advice indeed. I flashed Barry and the rest is history…
February 27th, 2007 at 8:23 am
Well,I finished The Rabbit Factory and Robin’s Evolution,Me and other freaks of nature(review to come this week at my blog). I started The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood for two reasons: a)picked up a copy at a rummage sale last October so it’s about time I read it and b) there’s a TV movie version of it that will be shown this Saturday on Oxygen.
Margaret Atwood is not someone who usually gets adapted for the small screen but times are a-changin’!
February 27th, 2007 at 8:25 am
Molly, Molly, Molly . . .
Lady T, you finished it already? Wow. And from the looks of your output (or is reading input?) this week, I’d say the cold weather you said would keep you inside with your books really did. Good job! And yeah, Atwood on TV does seem pretty odd. I’m glad you mentioned it, though. I want to watch that.
February 27th, 2007 at 9:23 am
I read Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell. Very fast read and very good, if not a little disturbing. It’s the first book I’ve read of his, but now am interested in gong back to read some of his earlier ones.
February 27th, 2007 at 9:39 am
I’m finishing up Hitting The Mark by Jill Monroe today. (It’s a Harlequin Blaze.)
February 27th, 2007 at 10:08 am
Good job, Deborah and Heather! Deborah, that description sounds intriguing. Let me know if you read more of his stuff. Heather, I love Blaze books. Can’t believe Harlequin closed that line.
February 27th, 2007 at 10:47 am
Patrick, I agree with your friend. I’m holding back on my critique of the series. I’ve become very jaded with S. King.
I am stuck in the reading doldrums. I was reading “The Last Ship” by William Brinkley. I’m afraid that the author’s prose was so stilted that I could not carry on after 100 pages. I wanted to finish. The premise of the story was intriguing, but when I had to stop reading and go back to try to understand the last sentence continually, I kept losing the thread of the story. I do not not deal well with frustration while I read.
Not that I have not read during the week. I subscribe to the Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, This Week, SI (For signs of spring first comes Groundhog Day, then SI’s Swimsuit edition) Nat. Geo., This Old House and Readers Digest of course. The last being the legacy of a parent who though I should have access to different perspectives.
I hate putting down a book unfinished. I get angry at both the author and myself. And if it is an author that I have read before, I’m more angry at the author. The after effect is it takes me awhile to get back to reading fiction. I have to find a book that is a quick read to get started again. The new book I’ve started is not the one. Sigh. Back to the unread pile.
February 27th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Herb, I have so been where you are. You’re like a kid with an upset stomach, and nothing sounds good. Usually I end up watching mindless TV, when really I should be catching up on all those magazines that pile up next to the novels that pile up.
I feel for you. But I also know the tide will turn and you’ll be reading again. Give yourself a fun book, like that Meg Cabot one I read (hey, you might like it).
You seem like such a voracious reader. I know it will come back.
February 27th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Robin, No offense to the author but, Princess Diaries is a little too… ahhhh, I’m not sure how to describe it. I’ll have to get back to you.
February 27th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Herb, I don’t/can’t read horror, so I haven’t read much King at all. Also, I think he does a lot with untrustworthy narrators and I get easily confused.
I’ll give it through book three, if I am still struggling, I’ll stop.
February 27th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
I’d like to hear from Barry if his book has affected his book signing experience.
February 27th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
So I finished the new JD Robb, interesting mystery and I still love the characters. They grow more familiar-family like-in each book.
We had a cold rainy weekend so I read a couple of historicals.
I have just started Mercedes Lackey-Fortune’s Fool. This is part of her satire on fairy tales.It doesn’t appear to be as “grim” as the original tales.
I have started a couple of books but they haven’t had the right appeal at that moment-they go in the TBR pile. I might get back to them.
February 27th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Readerdiane, I continue to be in awe of your reading productivity. Please tell me–do you own a TV? I know that’s BJ’s secret to reading as much as she does.
February 27th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
Just finished The Secret Life of Bees. GREAT book….but I hear the audio is a bit hard to take….especially on a long car ride. Started to read Eat, Pray, Love….thank you thank you for Robin! Don’t know where I would be finding my next books without your blog. Although on my recent ski trip I found some interesting titles in a Turkish magazine that I will go searching for at bookmans. (No I was not skiing in Turkey, the magazine just happened to be at the place I was staying). Will try (without to much trouble, if the first pages are any indication of the rest of the book) to finish the current book by next week.
February 27th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Michele, if you don’t love Eat, Pray, Love, I’ll eat a bug.
February 28th, 2007 at 10:18 am
We do own a tv but there is nothing on Sat. night and if I do watch something I will read during commercials.
My schedule has been pretty heavy during the week and until it lets up, I am allowing myself to rest & read on the weekends. “Get your chores done and you get the reward of reading,” I tell myself. Great motivator.
February 28th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Patrick,
The only effect the book has had on the signing experience (well, other than the fact that I now HAVE signing experiences!) is that one kid came up to me at a recent school event and handed me a folder, saying, “I know from reading your book that I’m not supposed to do this, but could you look at my manuscript?”
I had to say no. Hurt, too.
February 28th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Oooh. That’s rough, but at least (kid) knew what to expect, despite hopes.
February 28th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Well, I’m a day late but I finally finished The Time Traveler’s Wife!
It was excellent! Thanks to whomever originally recommended we all read it.
February 28th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Kimmy, I’m so glad you liked it! I agree–thanks to all of you who kept bringing up Time Traveler’s Wife so often that we all finally had to read it. I feel enriched because of it.
Annette, do not give up on that book. You have until February, 2008.