Playaway

Have you seen Playaways? I think they are SO so nifty. It's basically like a little MP3 player that comes all loaded with an audiobook.

They are pretty pricey (between $30 and $80 each, generally, depending on copyright and length and probably other factors I know nothing about), so they are not really meant for the casual consumer (unless you are very rich and also very happy to throw money around), but they've started to get very popular as an addition to library collections.

The Austin Public Library has just started offering them and I am ridiculously thrilled.

You have to supply your own AAA battery and headphones (which, I am completely for because I certainly have no interest in sharing earbuds with some sweaty gross teenager or sweaty gross old man (I am nothing, if not an equal opportunity ear sweat hater)).

You may know that I listen to a LOT of audiobooks, what with the driving to and from school and work and the elementary school library, not to mention the grocery store and Old Navy's clearance racks. I also have a desk job, cook a lot, vacuum, fold laundry, and walk around campus, all of which allow me plenty of time to listen to various things.

Currently, I check out audiobooks from my library, which has a terrific collection, load them on to my computer, and then upload them to my iPod (and yes, I do delete them when I'm done (I get asked this all the time) because my poor tired old iBook G4 has no where near the space to hold the scores of audiobooks I've churned through in the past three years)).

Anyway, do you not think these are the coolest things ever? You must, I think, because they are so nifty. I hope, for you, that your library has them.

(P.S. I just went and looked more at the website and it turns out they do market to consumers too. I am kind of in shock that someone would pay $79 for a copy of The Hunger Games. I love that book as much as the next person, but really? SEVENTY NINE DOLLARS?! Do not even ask how much Jane Eyre costs ($84)).

April Insanity

April has been insane.

I have been on three different trips (three days at the Texas Library conference in Houston, three days in Phoenix with Kayla, and four days in Salt Lake City with Bart's family).

I've been finishing up my capstone project, writing the abstract for it, and prepping the poster for the poster session.

School assignments have been coming fast and furious. My jobs have been busy.

And through it all, I've been picking up books here and there, the stack next to my bed, on the coffee table, the end table, and my desk getting larger and larger, while I get increasingly wild-eyed whenever I think about how little reading time I have and how much school work I have to do.

The end is in sight, though. Two of my classes met for the last time this afternoon, and my final project in another class is due tomorrow. After that, it's just bits and pieces to finish up (I hope), and then, at last, summer, glorious summer, will be here.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

7 of 10: Gorgeously written, but fairly depressing. And zombies. I still don't really know what to make of the book.

I wasn't really prepared for this book. I had heard a lot of comparisons to The Hunger Games, with good reason - a strong female character, death galore, a post-apocalyptic world - but while I've assured dozens of people that, despite being about kids killing each other on television, it's not that dark or depressing, The Forest of Hands and Teeth is quite depressing. And quite dark. Liking The Hunger Games is not an automatic guarantee that you'll like this book.

Mary has grown up in a small village surrounded by a fence. All around the fence are the Unconsecrated (code name for zombies), so you can't go too near the fence of you'll get bitten, become infected, and then you'll have two choices: be killed or let yourself die and then return as a zombie (obviously, you get chucked outside the fence).

The Sisterhood is the religious group that oversees the village, insisting that this tiny set of people is all the remains of the human race since the Return (when people started coming back to life as Unconsecrated). The Return began generations ago - people in the village have no memory of life before it, nothing with which to compare the way they live.

Mary's mother has told her stories about the ocean (apparently her great-great-great-grandmother visited it) and Mary dreams of seeing it - a place untouched by the Unconsecrated, a world without a fence around it. Somehow this dream has become the overwhelming goal of Mary's life and she will be forced to see how much she is willing to sacrifice for this dream.

I haven't read any zombie books before (because, ew, yuck), and I was simply not prepared for the fact that there would be so much death. Without spoiling it anymore, just be prepared for there to be an unbelievable amount of death.

This book has so so many themes going on (not in a heavy-handed way; it's just a complex book), including religion, family and marriage, love versus commitment, and then various puzzles about the Sisterhood and a very fast zombie and the Guardians (the people who protect the village, killing Unconsecrated), but almost none of them are resolved. It didn't feel like it was lazy, it just felt unfinished, which, while frustrating, also felt like it matched the tone of the storyline and the world that had no easy answers. There's a sequel coming out next year (well, sequel of sorts) and I'm curious to see what answers it will present. Because I am burning with questions.

This book reminded me vaguely of the The Giver (what with a very different world that no one remembers life before) and Graceling (with a main girl torn between love and dreams).

My initial reaction upon finishing the book was despair, but a day later, I'm still thinking about it, about the characters, and the themes, and that warms my opinion of it considerably. I think for me the problem was that my expectations were so far off from what the book really was about. It keeps getting billed as a romance and, I don't know, I just couldn't call it that.

There is no denying that this is a beautifully written book. For a first time author, this is just astounding.

Am I the only one torn on this book?

Unpopular

Look, I know this is a deeply unpopular view, but I need to get it out in the open.

I like humidity.

I prefer it to dryness.

Let me count the ways:

• My hands do not crack and bleed
• My face does not feel tight and stiff
• My hair does not become a static-y crazy halo
• My lungs do not want to explode when I exercise
  

I always hear people say things like, "Humidity is like being in the bathtub all the time."

To which I ask, "What's so wrong with that?"

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

9 of 10: If I Stay is a terrific book. Well-written, excellently paced, and will probably shred your heart into a trillion pieces. If you like contemporary YA fiction, you will probably love this book.

I have heard nothing but rave reviews about this book and sometimes that makes me worried that it'll turn out to be a huge fat disappointment. This book was not a disappointment. The praise is well-deserved.

It's a short book (less than 200 pages), and I read it in less than two hours, but then I kept returning to it to read bits over again.

Mia is a concert cellist with dreams of going to Julliard (and a fairly good shot at getting in, based on the reaction to her audition). At the same time, though, she is sick at the thought of leaving behind her family, whom she is very close to, and her boyfriend, Adam, who is about as perfect as a boyfriend could be (despite their musical differences, since he is the guitar player in a punk band that is rapidly gaining local popularity).

And yet, all those decisions - stay at home with her loved ones or take the opportunity of lifetime in New York and Julliard - get put on hold when Mia and her parents and younger brother are in a terrible car accident. In the hospital, Mia has an out-of-body experience as she watches what is going on around here - her family members and her friends coming to visit her, the doctors operating on her, her body fighting back. And suddenly, of course, all the questions she had before, the difficult decisions she faced, fade away under the immediacy of the present circumstances, with decisions she has to make now, if she ever wants to be able to make the decisions she was contemplating before the accident.

You'd think that this would feel kind of supernatural, but it really has a very realistic fiction feel to it. Well played, Gayle.

Fair warning that this book will rip your heart out. I read it while I was at Kayla's, while we both sat on the couch, and when she read it after I left, she told me, "I have new respect for you for holding it together while reading that book." I assured her that, if she hadn't been sitting right there, I would have flung myself off the couch and sobbed into the carpeting. It is heartbreaking. In a good way.

Also consider this fair warning that there is some swearing in this book, so if you are sensitive to that kind of thing, you may want to steer clear.

If you are interested in a copy, Kayla's giving one away on her blog - just leave her a comment and you'll get a shot at winning it. It may be tear-stained.

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Thanks to Penguin at TLA for the copy of this book.

Three Weeks

In three weeks, school will be over. I will have presented my capstone project, every paper and notebook and project will have been turned in, and I will have a masters degree (I plan to insist on being called "Master Janssen." You are all asked to comply).

I will have only one job. I will have more time to read and to cook and to work on my own projects (Project #1: Throw out all the paperwork I have accumulated over 18 months as a student, including approximately 4 bazillion handouts from group presentations).

And yet, my brain kind of shuts down when I try to imagine post-school life. Perhaps its the mountain of work that remains between today and May 8th, but I cannot really fathom what my life will be like when I no longer have any homework to do. How can I contemplate evenings spent reading for fun and making leisurely dinners when right now I have 50 websites to grade for proper XHTML and a research proposal to write and a practicum log to fill out and a Five Year School Library plan to make and . . . and . . . that is why I cannot imagine my upcoming life of leisure.

On the other hand, WOOOHOOOO!!!! I'm going to be graduated!

I Went To Arizona and All I Got Was This Lousy Picture

That's not true. I didn't even get a picture.

Last year, when Kayla came out to Las Vegas, I'd neglected to bring my camera and she'd forgotten the memory card for her camera, so we ended up with a single picture taken on my parents' iMac. This year, despite having a professional photographer living in the house, we took not a single picture.

Which, perhaps, was okay, because we didn't do a lot of photograph worthy things.

I have always really valued low-maintenance friends - people I don't have to worry about entertaining or being really funny around. I don't particularly love coming home from spending time with people and feeling absolutely exhausted.

Of course, I did feel absolutely exhausted when I got home last night, but that was more due to the fact that Kayla and I got virtually no sleep in three days (staying up until 1:30 or 2:00 or 3:00 nearly every night). Kayla was the definition of low-maintenance; we sat around all Friday morning reading (I finished two books that day); we watched 10 episodes of Gilmore Girls; we went to four different clothing stores; we went to two grocery stores, a book store, and the public library; we went out to lunch at Cafe Rio. Basically we just really enjoyed ourselves.

I never worried once the whole weekend if I was boring Kayla (perhaps I should have) or if she was counting down the minutes until I left or if she was offended that I graded 50 essays while we watched Gilmore Girls.

What I did think was that I should probably move next door to Kayla so I could come over every single day and sit at her kitchen counter while she made me lunch. Because while I want a low-maintenance friend, I like to be a high-maintenance one.

Taken by Storm by Angela Morrison

7 of 10: Taken By Storm is not the best book I've read this year, but it handled topics I rarely see addressed in YA literature, let alone in such a thoughtful and realistic way. Cheers to Angela Morrison for tackling some hard issues so successfully.

Mainstream books about Mormon characters often make me a little nervous. I have seen far too many Mormon book characters represented in ways that make me feel like the author had a major agenda and made the story seem forced.

Furthermore, I don't tend to really love books that are told in a variety of formats (text messages, emails, etc), and this book was told in three formats: instant messages, dive logs, and poetry.

Also, haven't we all read far too many books with poetry in them where the prose is quite good but the poetry makes you want to just chuck the book out the window? I know I have read more than my fair share of such books.

Basically, this book had so many opportunities to fall flat on its face, and yet it turned out to be quite a lovely and interesting read.

Michael is a diver, left an orphan when his parents (also divers) are killed in a huge storm. Sent to live with his grandmother in a tiny little Washington state town, he is consumed with grief and guilt over the loss of his parents. Rumors start that he killed his parents, so between those rumors and his withdrawal into himself, he isn't making many friends in his new school.

Leesie is a Mormon girl, through and through, anxiously awaiting her acceptance into Brigham Young University, and willing to put up with the heckling of her fellow high school students for refusing to participate in drinking or sex.

As two outcasts, Michael and Leesie strike up a tentative friendship that quickly deepens into love, but Michael wants to have the kind of physical relationship he's had in the past, and Leesie is dead set against it because of her religious beliefs. Their relationship struggles along as they try and find a way to reconcile their very different views while falling pretty hard in love.

The book is written mostly in first person from Michael's point of view (with each chapter prefaced with a dive log opener (something I found a little gimmicky and not totally necessary)). The rest of the book is instant messages between Michael and Leesie and Leesie and another friend, as well as a number of poems written by Leesie. Poems that, shockingly, didn't make me want to claw my eyes out. Hallelujah!

I thought the parts of the book dealing with Leesie's religious views were very straight-forward and not at all preachy. I can't think of the last book I read where religion was a major relationship factor, and I thought this book did an excellent job of fairly presenting both of their feelings on the matter and what various decisions would mean for either of them. I found myself deeply sympathetic to both of them.

Even more impressive, I thought that the relationship and chemistry between them was very plausible, rather than seeming like a relationship forced by the author so she could manipulate their reactions, feelings, and the eventual outcome. It seemed perfectly reasonable to me that they would fall in love and that they would find, despite their many differences, a kindred spirit in each other. And these were not flat characters - no tough, grief-stricken surfer dude versus the upright Mormon girl - they both had a lot of depth to them, far more than the simple labels they've been given by their classmates.

I had absolutely no idea how this book was going to end - it seemed like there were a multitude of options, but none of them an easy or predictable one. I was happy with the way it ended up, though, and that's not something I was sure I'd be able to say.

This book also has a very nice trailer, if you're interested in such things.

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Other reviews of this book:
YA Reads
The Compulsive Reader
Addicted to Books

Tripping

There is something so delightful about the day you're going on a trip. Everything just seems a little bit magical. I mean, sure I'm going to school today just like normal, but I have a suitcase in the trunk! I have a backpack emptied of textbooks and loaded up with lovely new TLA books that will be devoured on the plane. I don't have lunch, I have snacks for the plane! (Nevermind that the snacks for the plane are in every way identical to the lunch I eat every last dang day).

Today is the much-anticipated trip to Arizona to see Kayla (the trip that was tragically rescheduled due to her husband coming down with the plague, but very untragically rescheduled for less than half of the original cost. I am swimming in Southwest credit).

The sun is shining, I just had a delicious lunch at a lovely little deli with my supervising librarian, and I'm going on vacation tonight. Not bad for a Wednesday in April.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

8 of 10: City of Bones is all that I can ask for in a fantasy book - action, romance, top-notch characters, and plenty of twists. If you're a YA fantasy fan or a Harry Potter lover, it is a good bet you will like this book.

I somehow completely missed the boat on this series. The third one came out about two weeks ago and they've all been on the NYTimes best-seller; yet, I was hardly aware of them until two weeks ago when Kayla said, "YOU MUST READ THESE BOOKS." And because she has kindly read every book I've forced on her, I figured I could return the favor. Once she told me about them, I started seeing them or hearing about them everywhere. Of course.

There were so many things that made me think I wouldn't like this book: lots of made up terms, vampires, werewolves, and fairies. The covers also didn't really appeal to me - they looked so dark and weird that I never really gave them a second look.

And yet, as you could probably guess, I loved this book. Like, kept having to shut off the CDs to text Kayla and say, "I will give you my first born child for telling me about this book."

Clary is a fifteen-year-old girl living in NYC with her mother (Jocelyn); one night, while at a dance club with her best friend Simon, she sees three teenagers lure a fourth teen into a utility closet and then kill him. Except the teen's body disappears. And when Simon, sent by Clary to get a security guard, shows back up, neither he or the guard can see the other three teenagers, even though Clary can see them perfectly.

And then, the next night Jocelyn disappears after a frantic phone call in which she warns Clary to not come back to the house but to get away as quickly as she can.

Suddenly her ordinary life becomes very unordinary when she discovers that her mom used to be a shadowhunter (a person who hunts demons), before she turned her back on a powerful and evil group of shadowhunters that were trying to exterminate all demons, no matter the cost to humans or downworlders (vampires, werewolves, etc). And as if the news of all this power and intrigue isn't enough, Clary finds herself making tentative friends with the far-too good looking Jace (and Jace knows just how good looking he is. He also knows that he's one of the best shadowhunters his age, so he's got enough ego for the both of them).

There are a lot of things going on in this story, with many plot lines and characters appearing and then intersecting in interesting ways.

It reminded me a lot of Harry Potter (the sudden discovery of a world you never knew about going on all around you, werewolves, flying motorcycles, bad guy obsessed with pure bloodlines, etc), but there was more romance and more snark.

I particularly loved Jace because of his snarkiness. You know I'm always most attached to the character with the snappy and sarcastic lines (see House, Sawyer, Jacob Black, etc., etc.,). Jace has some lines so hilarious, I was laughing out loud in the car and rewinding to listen to them again.

And, of course, there's a terrific love-triangle, another plot device I will probably never ever grow tired of. It comes as a surprise only to Clary that Simon has been secretly in love with her for years (Jace picks up on it approximately ten seconds after meeting Simon).

I guess if I was to make one negative comment about this book, it's the heavy handed foreshadowing (like the revelation half way through the book that Simon likes her - as if it wasn't SO so obvious from page 1) or the secrets about Clary's family.

The best part is that I have the next two books here waiting for me, courtesy of the Notable Books project. City of Ashes, here I come!

The Big Winner. . . .

On Monday, they'll start announcing the winners of the first round, so here are the rest of my predictions for the Battle of the Books:

ROUND TWO:

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves versus The Trouble Begins at 8. I'm going with Octavian again, even though if it were my own judging, I'm certain I'd pick The Trouble Begins at 8.

Chains versus Here Lies Arthur. Tricky, since I haven't read Here Lies Arthur and also don't know the author who is judging this round, but I'm going to say Chains, I think.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks versus The Hunger Games. Ack, this one makes my soul weep because these were my very two favorite books of 2008. And yet, to probably no one's surprise, I have to choose Frankie. There are not words to express the depths of my love for Frankie. Also, John Green is judging this round and judging by his books, he likes the quirky, free-spirit girls, and I think he will be drawn in by the siren song of Frankie.

Graceling versus Nation. Ergh, I have no freaking idea. Nancy Werlin is judge on this one and she does write fantasy, but hers is not as high fantasy as Graceling is. And Nation is kind of fantasty. Help! Okay. . . Graceling.

Which brings us to ROUND THREE:

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves versus Chains. Chains, I think. Linda Sue Park is judging and Chains seems like it might be more her kind of book. As if I know anything about what "her kind of book" is.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks versus Graceling . Frankie. Duh. Why are you even asking me?

And then, finally, left in the capable hands of Lois Lowry, for the final round, a face off between:

Chains and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. And I choose, once again, Frankie. C'mon, Frankie. You can win it all.

If I get even a few brackets right, I will be celebrating madly over h ere. Also, am I the only one that thinks Frankie Landau-Banks was seriously one of the very very best books of the year? I cannot be.

Welcome Strangers

A few weeks ago, Bart and I were at school, chatting with some friends of his from the business school. One of them had just started a blog, and we got talking about blogging in general. The topic of private blogs came up, to which Bart and I immediately expressed our vehement disinterest in having private blogs (although, of course, I see the appeal if you're going to post pictures of your children).

They asked why I wouldn't want my blog private, because, after all, you can invite all your friends to read, and when I said I liked having random people stumble across my blog, they both stared at me blankly.

"Why would you want people you don't know to read your blog?" they asked. "Why would you read blogs of people you don't know?!"

It's hard to explain to someone who isn't assimilated into the world of blogging why I would care about Britt's favorite TV shows or Isabel's parents vacation or RA's new kitchen.

It's even harder to make someone understand why you would go out of your way to meet people you don't know in real life. Why in the world would Kayla fly out to Vegas to meet me or why would I make plans to join Heidikins at the Salt Lake public library?

How DO you help someone who has no blogging experience understand that it's not some weird or creepy thing to make friends with people you don't know? I clearly failed miserably at it, since these two people obviously think I'm insane and probably going to be murdered in my bed when I go to visit Kayla, my creepy Internet friend.

April Madness

I do not care one bit about March Madness (let the stone throwing begin).

But when School Library Journal hosts a Children/YA book tournament where you can fill out a bracket? I'm there. I'm all there. (You can view the bracket in PDF form).

All the books are from last year (generally ones that were pretty popular), and the judging is done by authors or editors, including John Green, Linda Sue Park, Nancy Werlin, and, for the final round, Lois Lowry. Very cool.

The first round starts next week, so I'm making my predictions now:

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The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves versus Ways To Live Forever. I vote for Octavian Nothing, even though I haven't read it. I know it's been massively popular and Ways to Live Forever is sweet-ish, but I don't think will be able to stand against the hulk of Octavian.

The Graveyard Book versus The Trouble Begins at 8. I vote for The Trouble Begins at 8. The Graveyard Book is creepy and clever, but I'm putting my bets on the fact that the judge, Jon Scieszka, will be swayed by the antics of the always awesome Mark Twain.

Chains versus Washington at Valley Forge. Haven't read or even HEARD of the Washington book. Must vote for Chains.

Here Lies Arthur versus Tender Morsels. Two I haven't read. Here Lies Arthur sounds awesome while Tender Morsels sounds. . . horrifying.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks versus We Are the Ship. I'm sorry, We Are the Ship; I think you're awesome. But there is absolutely no way I could vote for you over Frankie. My beloved Frankie.

The Hunger Games versus The Porcupine Year. Duh, The Hunger Games. I mean, really.

Graceling versus The Underneath. Tamora Pierce is the judge for this one and, as a fantasy writer, I'm guessing she'll go for Graceling. Also, I don't think the weirdness of The Underneath can stand up to the mostly-awesomeness of Graceling.

The Lincolns versus Nation. Ooh, this is probably the toughest one for me. I think I'm going to vote for Nation. It made me weep a little at the end.

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In a few days, I'll put up my Round Two predictions. Are these some awesome guesses or did I make some lousy picks? What do you think will win in these match-ups?

Introverted

My freshman year at BYU, I took the Myers Briggs test and it labeled me an INTJ. The "I" is for Introvert, and multiple people told me there was just absolutely no way I was an introvert. I, however, was not surprised at all. I would have been utterly shocked (and disregarded the results altogether) if it had labeled me an extrovert.

How you know you're an introvert at heart:
Go to the Texas Library Association conference. Eat the same things you always do, sleep as much as you normally do, work out, but spend the day meeting people instead of walking around campus and work. Come home and sleep for two days in order to stop feeling the overwhelming crush of exhaustion.

I normally get seven hours of sleep a night. Last night, I got ten, and I'm just barely starting to come out of the fog.

Fortunately, I have piles of new books and a pan of Andes mint brownies with which to nurture my antisocial introverted side.

Far more than you wanted to know about TLA

I came back to our hotel last night with 21 books, and I thought, "How can today possibly be better?" (This is 20 books because I forgot to lay out "Tales from Outer Suburbia" by Shaun Tan which I'm WAY excited about).

But today was even better.

I went to some excellent panels with my supervising librarian, and then the Lone Star list author panel which included Gary D. Schmidt and Scott Westerfeld, two authors I really really admire. Gary Schmidt was exactly what you'd expect him to be - kind of quiet, but also quick-witted. He writes his books in a tiny little outbuilding on his Michigan farm, heated only by a wood stove. He said during the winter that is extremely fun. And he writes on a typewriter. A typewriter!! If you have not read The Wednesday Wars you should run right out and get it. That book is so well-written, you will hardly believe it.

Scott Westerfeld reminded me so much of Paul Bettany. He was very funny and also belongs to a writing group that shares a power strip at a cafe. He said his books were written while plugged into the same outlet that powered the laptop that Frankie Landau-Banks was written on. I am such a total fangirl for Frankie. Anyway, I need to read some more of his books, since I haven't picked on up since I read the Uglies series in a four day blitz.

(Roland Smith, Gary D. Schmidt, and Scott Westerfeld)

There were a lot of really good panels, but I had about 20 minutes between panels and I decided to run down and hit the exhibit floor again. I was wandering around the Walker publishing booth and there was this really pleasant author sitting there. I asked her what she'd written and she told me that her book was called "Winnie's War." It happened to be one of the books I'd picked up the day before and read the inside flap of and mentally noted since it deals with the flu epidemic during WWI which is a topic of particular interest to my father-in-law. I told her so and we chatted for a moment, before one of the publicity people running the booth grabbed a copy of it and said I could have it. The author, Jenny Moss, offered to sign it for me and then we started talking about the conference and the panel we'd both sat in on the morning before.

She said, "Did you meet Melissa Marr?" I had briefly introduced myself to her after the panel the morning before because I was so deeply impressed by how eloquent she was on the panel, but that was it. Jenny motioned her over, introduced me, and then they said, "We're going over to visit with some other authors. Come with us!"

And so I did, of course. We met John Green (who told me I looked like his high school girlfriend that dumped him) and then we wandered around to the Penguin booth and then sat on the carpet outside the exhibit hall and just chatted until they had to go catch their flights.

Y'all, I spent two hours with MELISSA MARR and JENNY MOSS. Best day ever, people. Really.

(with Jenny Moss)

(with Melissa Marr)

This last picture is of the general assembly meeting where Gloria Steinem spoke. She was terrific. And when I found out she was SEVENTY-FIVE, I almost died. The woman does not look more than fifty-five.

Anyway, Friday, I'm looking at you. You better be even better. Perhaps I will get a librarian job in Boston? I'll cross my fingers.

TLA and Interview

I am in Houston at TLA and it is everything I dreamed and more. I cannot even talk about it without going into wild-eyed and arm-flailing raptures. It is like trick-or-treating for book nerds - I came back to the hotel with three bags of free books. Brand-new, haven't even been released books. They are, understandably, covered in drool.

In other news, Katie interviewed me on her blog; check it out here if you are so inclined.