The Sunday Salon -- Checking in with the Challenges and Links

Happy Sunday everyone!

It occurred to me that I host some challenges and that it was time to check in on them.

The Beth Kephart challenge wrapped up on June 30th, but I received some requests to extend it, and so I shall! We'll let it end on December 31st, 2010 Hopefully, a few of you will be able to add a book or two to your list. :)

The L.J. Smith challenge: The Vampire Diaries will wrap up on August 31st, 2010. I have decided we'll read The Forbidden Game trilogy for the next year. I will, however, start recapping The Vampire Diaries TV show on a weekly basis. It will be much easier for me to do that now that LOST is over (SOB!) I will add a Mister Linky to the posts so if you recap the show as well you can add it.

Speaking of LOST, Heather and I decided to extend the LOST Books challenge. It will be a perpetual challenge now. Please head over to the blog and check it out..you can add your reviews as well as post tidbits about LOST now that it's over and all the things the cast is up to.

Buy One Book and Read It is still going strong.

Upcoming

I had so much fun with the Gone with the Wind readalong that I've decided to start doing these readalongs twice a year. This fall, I'll be hosting a readalong for Lonesome Dove, starting in October. Please mark your calendars and don't tell me I didn't give you enough time!


Links
Two weeks worth, though, I barely had time to read blogs this past week. Sometimes people ask me if I sleep and let me tell you how it goes. This past week I slept like 3 hours a night and then Saturday, I kid you not, I slept ALL DAY. I woke up at 4:30 PM. I didn't even know it was physically possible to sleep that long. So anyway, it's my own fault because I'm trying to wrap up some major work projects, as well as work on major blogging projects like BBAW and the INSPYs. And yes, I know if say, the reason I wasn't sleeping was because I had a newborn I wouldn't have the option of sleeping in on Saturday to make up for it!

So! Noteworthy Links!

Beth Kephart blogs about the book trailer dilemma and what a dilemma it is. I talk to people who frequently hate book trailers but just because you might hate them doesn't mean they aren't actually playing a huge role in book marketing today. What does an author do who doesn't have a massive budget?

One of the new problems presented by ebooks has to do with territorial rights. Even while an ebook may be available in English, it may not be available in your country. Read from a literary agent why this might be.

The fabulous Lenore is bringing dystopian fiction month back in August. She really likes dystopian fiction if you didn't know, enough to focus two whole months out of the year on it. She's introducing a community component so be sure to check it out!

I really enjoyed Alyce's reflection on The Long Winter as part of her "My Favorite Reads" feature. Enjoying The Long Winter as a child was maybe a sign of things to come for me...enjoying apocalyptic and dystopian works!

This ode to Reese's is something I can get behind.

I haven't managed to finish The Road yet, but this analysis of the two reactions to the book made me think of the general reaction to dystopian books or books that deal with any incredibly heavy subject matter. I also really want to read Terry DeHart's The Unit.

This NeigborGoods idea seems good in theory but I'm not sure how it would actually work out. What do you think?

I saw Knight and Day was pleasantly surprised by how much fun it was. I enjoyed this blog post on whether or not an actor's press can ruin their movies. I think yes it can, if I have a hard time divorcing the onscreen character from all the stuff going through my head about their constant presence in the media.

Also loved this post from author Tess Gerritsen about being a real American girl. I'm looking forward to Rizzoli & Isles starting this week.

I might read my first LDS book! I really liked Susan's review of a book called The Silence of God and I think the history sounds quite interesting. On a related note, I enjoy Susan's series about Mormon mentions. I'm not Mormon, but I love the idea of pointing out where literature gets it right about people of faith and when it doesn't.

Jenny asks the question, What is Historical Fiction? I think lots of books cross genres, don't you?

Why is Speculative Fiction is under-represented in Christian fiction? I think this is actually a good question since the likes of C.S. Lewis and Tolkien are always held up as these excellent examples of Christians writing fiction.

Pro-Blogger's post on how preparing a sermon is similar to writing blog posts made me laugh because I've often thought about the similarity in the two.

Last Bits of News
THRILLED with the Emmy nods for LOST! Especially for Matthew Fox and Elizabeth Mitchell.

The full Comic-Con schedule should be up by well maybe by the time you read this. Once again, if you're a bookish person planning to be there, please fill out this form.

Thank you all for your supportive comments on my letter to Barnes & Noble and Borders. Ari is organizing a letter writing campaign. Please add your own voices to the mix if you feel the same way.

Have a great Sunday all! Do you have plans to read anything great or maybe watch a movie? How will you keep cool?

This Week in Links 6/27/10

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope this past week was a good one of reading for you. :)

Just a few links to share with you today.

A special thanks to the Los Angeles Times and Carolyn Kellogg for giving some space to book bloggers and our ever growing relationship with publishers. If you are new to book blogs, let me tell you--this is a fantastic, growing field. There are thousands of active book blogs all over the world that cover books in many different genres. If you are interested in learning more about book bloggers and celebrating what we do, I highly recommend tuning into Book Blogger Appreciation Week, where we seek to recognize and celebrate the many different roles book bloggers play.

Also, a thank you to Profitable Mommy Blog for recommending My Friend Amy as one of 36 sites moms should keep an eye on in the book category.

A Few Other Links of Interest

I found Russ Ramsey's piece about how 3-D doesn't seem that spectacular to be pretty interesting, especially the conversation that continued in comments comparing 3-D to advent of color films. Interesting to think about!

I also enjoyed these pictures of Finn and Emmy with Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? at Lenore's blog. By the way, this book is out now and you don't want to miss it!

Marie had a great post on What IS a Graphic Novel? and a call for an alternative name!

I also really enjoyed this guest by C.W. Gortner at The Eclectic Reader about Catherine de Medici's passion for the arts...especially since I so enjoyed his book about her!

Last but not least, the next #bblog chat is this Tuesday at 9 PM EST on the subject of branding your blog with @whatsheread.

I have a busy day ahead--I will hopefully be able to share with you a couple of the things I've been working on for months now in the forthcoming week but it depends on whether or not I get everything done. How about you? Do you have special plans for today?

The Sunday Salon --I'm Back and Important Bookish News

It's true I was never really gone, but this week has been fantastic for reading. I feel like I'm finally finding my reading groove again! This week I managed to read Broken by Travis Thrasher, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, My Wife's Affair by Nancy Woodruff, and some of The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan. Rediscovering a love for reading is the best thing ever!

Events
The land of books and book blogging is very busy now as you know. I hope you are all planning to register for Book Blogger Appreciation Week. Please do not hesitate to ask us questions or give us some feedback on the process this year.

Also, another one of the projects I'm involved with, the Small Press Spotlight Tour is currently taking sign-ups for Graywolf Press. This is a great chance to help out some of the underrecognized presses by reviewing one of their books on your blog!

Links I Enjoyed
Nicole of Linus's Blanket posted the trailer for Never Let Me Go. She didn't like the book. I haven't read the book, but I think I've been spoiled on it already.

I enjoyed this review of one of my favorite books of the year I've read so far, Battle Royale.

Daniel Goldin of the Boswell Book Company tells us why Father's Day is a good time to start thinking about Lily King's Father of the Rain.

Lenore of Presenting Lenore was not as excited with her first romance read as she could have been, sadly.

Ari of Reading in Color wrote a very insightful and informative post explaining why she hasn't told her real life friends about her book blog.

Ana of Things Mean a Lot wrote a very insightful review of The Magician's Book, which is still on my TBR.

Little, Brown launched Mulholland Books a new crime imprint.

And finally, my favorite post of the week and one I'll be revisiting later this week or next, was on The Bumbles blog, On Books: Never Apologize for What You Read. Seriously, if you read one post out of these links make it this one....I feel it's the most important of all.

What did you come across this week in your blog reading? Was it a good reading week for you? Add any books to the TBR pile?

This Week in Links

Here's some of what caught my eye this week...

For Fun
Seth posted a rather disturbing picture of an actual float in a parade of Germany. You need to click through on this one to see the "tier of wrongness culminating in one great wrongness overshadowing all other wrongs." (well that's how he put it)

Kristin tried making homemade laundry soap (this is the kind of thing I think I would like to do and just never get around to doing) and these pancakes made me seriously hungry. I can just taste them, looking at that picture!

Music
Brant offers an insightful review of the new U2 album and Brody Harper was nominated for a Dove Award!

Stephen shares a song of the day over at the Rabbit Room accompanied by some great thoughts.

Movies
Kat asks Christians why they're okay watching explicit sex at the movies and Wendy takes Hollywood to task for considering a remake of the movie Clue.

Books
Condoleeza Rice scored a three book deal including a YA version of her memoir. I think I'll be interested in reading the personal memoir, she's an important historic figure no matter your politics.

Tess Gerritsen blogs at Murderati about when a series is over and Nymeth reviewed a book that I immediately ordered! This was a perfect example of a book blogger generating interest in a little discussed book.

Boswell and Books observed how to spot a book they can sell....really this is a fantastic blog if you're not reading it, I link to them almost every week. Great example of how a bookseller can use a blog to give us some inside perspective and show us the value of the independent store.

Jen hosted Robin Maxwell for a guest post about the Shadow Renaissance which was an interesting aspect of the book Signora da Vinci, and Beth reviewed Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke, which was a book meant for a younger audience than she's used to, but she still enjoyed it.

Tracy reviewed My Little Red Book, which is for women! I will be reviewing this book soon as well, so stay tuned for that! ;) Book bloggers have been gobbling up Deanna Rayburn's books lately and Wendi is no exception! She really made me want to got get my copy and read it now! Shelly reviewed A Carousel Tale which looks like a really sweet children's book! Meanwhile, Carrie added several books to her TBR pile from Bookmarks magazine!

Also, the Share a Story, Shape a Future blog tour was announced this week which looks awesome!

Becky asks if it's okay to ever hate a book, and Natasha wants to know the worst thing you've ever done to a book! (which if you hated it, really wouldn't matter. ;)

ANNOUNCEMENTS
A few of the links I share each week are agreed upon link exchanges. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the posts or that I don't wholeheartedly endorse those blogs...I do. It's more a strategic effort to help book blogs get more attention. If you are interested in participating in something like this, please let me know. I don't want anyone to ever feel it's an exclusive club. Everyone is welcome to join in the effort.


Looking for a Co-reviewer
Deborah and I were chatting about co-reviewing some things on our blogs (namely books and possibly tv shows), but we were having some trouble coming to an agreement on which one (I think we know which one we'll be doing now, though). I have several TV shows on DVD waiting to be watched and I thought it would be all kinds of fun to have a co-reviewer while watching them. Ideally these shows would be new to you, too. Some possibilities include Dead Like Me, Burn Notice, Six Feet Under, The Wire, Arrested Development, and Supernatural. If you're interested, email me and we'll talk!

This Week in Links

It's that time again! Some links you might enjoy! Mostly book related this week as I'm having to seriously cut down on time spent reading blogs.

News
You might think 3 billion dollars in federal funding would make a difference towards homelessness, but are you right? You might be surprised.

Seth weighs in on the new airport security and I have to say..I agree with him. El-creepola indeed!

Giveaways
Trish, proving her coolness again and again, is giving away a slanket. You should definitely check this giveaway out and learn just what a slanket is!

Twilight News
Yes, I just added a potential new category for you Twilight fans! Tracy brings you the latest in the continuning saga of the Twilight films. The drama oh the drama!


Book News and Chatter

Loved this article about persuading adults to read YA, since there are still many adults refusing to see the light. ;)

Liz discusses what books there are for Catholic children...I have to say this is an issue near and dear...if I were rich I would spend my days finding ways to fund the writing of books for children in every country so they could see themselves in the pages. I think of books with children of different faiths as part of that goal.

Tess Gerritsen offers up some advice to writers on what not to write about and Boswell and Books talk about different titles for different countries. (plus an interview with Chris Cleave)

This story reminds me of the importance of the freedom of speech and Kristin reminds us that it used to be much harder to be a writer with a gentle tribute to Christopher Nolan.

Ever wonder what kind of books get donated to the library? Wendy shares the scoop.

Book Reviews
The rate at which I add to my TBR pile is alarming. But here are some reviews some of my fellow bloggers would love for you to check out.
Jen reviewed The Sonnets and pointed out that she normally skips over poetry and songs in books..how about you? Go tell Jen what you do!

Beth reviewed this food memoir that looks really good. It seems to touch on many different aspects of the whole eating experience!

Speaking of food, Wendi reviewed Confetti Cakes for Kids..and while I don't have any little ones of my own, the picture of that cake made me hungry! Looks like a fun book.

Marta discovered a new favorite book of all time with While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky...I guess I'll have to check it out at some point!

Meanwhile, Kathy reviewed Very Valentine by Adrian Trigiani. I have never read anything by Trigiani though I know she's quite a popular author. Kathy's great review certainly made me want to read this one, though!

Just for Fun
Jen gave us some Oscar eye candy and I discovered that Shelly is not nearly as addicted to blogging as I am!!!

This Week in Links

This week, when talking about author blogs on Booking Through Thursday, I totally forgot to mention Beth Kephart's blog which is a daily read for me. For a sample of how wonderful she is, read this post.


In the News
I think we were all saddened to hear about Continental Flight 3407. Laura of Texas in Africa wrote this very informative post about Alison des Forges who was aboard the airline. A great loss indeed.

Sherry from Semicolon has been keeping up with the law meant to protect kids from lead poisoining and its effect on children's books. Read her posts here and here. This is something we should be paying attention to and another classic example of how government even with good intentions, can get it so wrong.

Movies
I've already talked about the Confessions of a Shopaholic movie out this weekend, but I'll say as many times as needed that I love this book. In typical fashion, a lot of people who never read it judge it. I remember overhearing some librarians talking about it..."there's just nothing funny to me about a woman who can't control her spending." (she then proceeded to discuss how Twilight was a literary masterpiece) Anyway, I really enjoyed this article in the New York Times where they seemed to get it a little bit more. (HT: S.Krishna)

Books
Kathy of Bermuda Onion has started a fun new meme where you can share the new words you come across in your reading. I love the idea of this because it's so important to know what things mean when we're reading. Do you remember being forced to look up words you didn't know in school and realize you had misunderstood something because you had used context clues alone? :)

Dear Author has a great post up about the author/reader relationship. I think about this a lot.

Trish from Hey Lady! reviewed The Help by Kathryn Stockett this week and she's also doing a giveaway. I've heard nothing but amazing things about this book, and it's in my TBR..I hope to get to it soon.

Wendi started a discusson on Tuesday about the importance of ratings...I have recently added a ratings system to this blog, but it's a work in progress.

Beth reviewed a Michael Connelly book, The Lincoln Lawyer. I haven't read any of his stuff, but I'd like to. Unlike Beth, I really enjoy legal thrillers.

Shelley posted an interview with author Barbara Worton who wrote Too Tall Alice.

Marta reviewed The Terror by Dan Simmons and is giving some copies away as well. I have to admit I'm impressed she read it...it's huge. I recently bought this book at Wal-Mart (sue me, it's the closest store to my house now..I go to Target the most) and the clerk asked, "oh so have you read the Twilight books?" Like for most people that don't read as a way of life, if I liked one big fat book, I must like them all! Anyway, I really look forward to reading it.

The Cybils Award Winners have been announced. I love the idea behind the Cybils and think it should be expanded to other books. People who blog books are pretty dang passionate. We should make our voices heard. I have had The Hunger Games on my TBR since the first positive reviews came out, but its apparently such compulsive reading, I've been waiting until I have an entire day to devote to it. Who knows when that will be?

Shorter round-up this week, but my blog time has been cut in half. :) Happy reading everyone!

This Week in Links

Much of the awesome stuff I found in the blogosphere this week:

In the News
Already, Sasha and Malia Obama face the world of celebrity brought to them not of their choice. I have to admit I found this letter from the Bush girls touching and I cried a little! While not on the same scale, I can relate a tiny bit to some of the feelings having grown up with a pastor for a father. (HT: Without Wax)



Faith
Brant Hansen started a festival of judgement over at Letters from Kamp Krusty. And wow, what's scary is just how spot on some of the comments are! Anyway, if you need to laugh at just how ridiculous Christians judging Christians can sound, you should check it out and maybe even join in. In other news, Laura featured a great two part interview with What's Your Response? an organization fighting human trafficking at the local level at Inspired to Action.

Film
Author Kristin Billerbeck doesn't seem overly thrilled with the choices for this year's Academy Awards. Go check out her nominations and see if you agree with her or not. (for the record, while I do believe Hollywood is overly invested in political films, I don't agree with her!)

Strange Culture takes a look at Best Picture nominees adapted from books and gives us a wonderful list of more adaptations coming out...in case we want to read the books first!

Books
I read a non-fiction book a few years ago that was a collection of stories of the women of China. I forgot the name (I borrowed it from a friend) and have since wondered how to find it again. Lo and behold the magic of the book blogosphere..it popped up here in a review!

Harelquin is giving away 16 free ebooks! Check it out, there's something for everyone!

Jen pondered the definition of handsome during the 14th and 16th centuries (read the comments there's some interesting stuff there!)

Shelly shared another great author interview with Merrily Kutner. Shelly does a really fantastic job at the author interviews, unlike yours truly.

Tracy has another review of Beat the Reaper. Have you read this one? I still haven't decided whether or not I'll read it. Wendi gave a fantastic review of The Heretic's Daughter...I really want to read this one! Speaking of which, Trish reviewed The Bodies Left Behind by Jeffrey Deaver...I definitely want to read this one as well. Beth reviewed a graphic novel that looks interesting. Her enthusiasm for graphic novels is definitely inspiring me to give the desire to dedicate more time to them. Marta reviewed the Famiy Bones which I've been thinking of checking out myself.

Have a smoke stench in your books? Sometimes when you buy books secondhand this can be a problem. Check out these great tips for getting rid of it!

Wendy shared her list of 50 must read novels which, considering how few I've read, kind of stressed me out a little! Wendy also lost Caribou this week. My prayers are with her, you can read her beautiful tribute here.

John Updike's death will increase sales of his book and by the way, did you know a lot of indie booksellers blog? Check out the sidebars here and here and watch your google reader explode.


Other
Cute kid drawings here and here. Shaun Groves shares his judgemental theory about beautiful people. And a lover of literary theory celebrates the power of story.

This Week in Links

In the News
Just in case you missed it, Barack Obama became president this week! I found this opinion piece to be an excellent reminder that we must judge him fairly by the job he does in order for this to be the significant presidency we think it is. And one of the best pro-life videos I've ever seen emerged...watch it...even if you are adamantly pro-choice you have to admit it's good. (HT: Semicolon) Meanwhile, it looks like Hollywood is about to become the most loving generous place on the planet! (for the record, I find this video creepy at the end)

In Television
LOST is back and if broadcast television is to survive, it will have to be like LOST! The LOST Books Challenge blog is up and running and promises to be an awesome place to talk about some of the more important aspects of the show. Meanwhile, Brant wants to save you the time of watching 24 by providing his own recaps.

In Books
Trish does love to stir up a good conversation and this time she raises the question of whether or not book bloggers need to disclose where they got a copy of the book. For the record, about 90% of the books reviewed on this blog were received for review. I generally don't point that out, but I'll write a post on it later to clarify.

S.Krishna, whose sheer ability to read massive amounts of books always amazes me, reviewed two books this week that I feel I absolutely must have now!!! Be sure to check out her review for Conscience Point (I'm finding Unbridled Books to be among the best out there) and Midori by Midnight. Marta reviewed Houston, We Have a Problema which she found to be really good, which is a relief since it's on my TBR pile! Wendi reviewed The Valentine Edition by Robin Shope which she described as both a fun and light read. But also it looks like a book with a positive message! Shelly shared an interview with Tony Peters, who wrote Kids on a Case: The Ten Grand Kidnapping, which sheds some light into various aspects of being an author. Julie, the beloved Booking Mama reviewed the much hyped book Beat the Reaper. She says she doesn't get squeamish when reading, but the scene at the end shocked even her....so I'm still not sure what to think of this book! Melissa reviewed another book on my TBR pile, The Centurion's Wife, which she loved so much she couldn't find anything bad to say about it! Kathy at Bermuda Onion reviewed American Savior, another book on my TBR pile! She highlighted a quote that made her think and I also think you might enjoy reading the comments. (I did!) Beth reviewed Rebel, a book I've never heard of but it does look good. It's the first in the series, which Beth thought showed, but still a good read.

Finally, author Jennifer Weiner wrote about the discrepancy between reviews for memoirs by males and females that share about their messed up lives. An excellent piece and I'm so glad she finds these things and brings them to our attention. Subtle discrimination in thought can truly shape who we are as a people.

That's it for this week. A big huge shout-out to Florinda...I stole her style of doing a linky round-up because she does such a fabulous job!