Socked and Sacked
October 31, 2010

I got socked with a bad cold yesterday and am sacked up in bed today. Except for having to put this issue out I would be there now. In fact, I feel so awful that I can’t even read. So I offer my apologies to everyone for this short—hopefully not too abrupt—letter, and say that I will be back again next week.

Just a quick notice: Beginning Sunday, November 21 this letter will offer our annual gift-buying guide for literary lovers. Five weeks of gift suggestions ranging from free to expensive and covering all types will be listed with links. In addition, I’ll be giving away some great gift items including six newly-released books for young girls.

Upcoming Book Festivals:
Lots of festivals beginning this week! If you are in or will be visiting Nevada, Louisiana, New York, Texas or Ohio consider these in your plans.

The Vegas Valley Book Festival will take place from November 3 through November 7 celebrates its ninth year with an amazing variety of events and authors, one hundred of each in fact. Opening night begins with the keynote address by author T.C. Boyle beginning at 7:00 pm. On Thursday, at the Clark County Library Theatre, the Perpetual Engine of Hope—Las Vegas Stories Inspired by Iconic Photographs will take place with eight local authors discussing their contributions to the Las Vegas Writers Project 2010. Friday evening is intriguing: a poetry night, a mobile poetry brigade, and readings. Saturday is busy with author sessions and book signings, writers’ workshops, readings, an exhibitors plaza, the children’s book festival, the comic book festival, and an evening reception and reading with Brian Turner. Sunday’s offerings include Feasting on Words (a celebration of food and literature), and the closing keynote address by Dennis Lehane.

Louisiana welcomes the  New Orleans Book Fair on Saturday, November 6 from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm, though there is a Pre-Bookfair Kickoff Party on Friday evening at the Sound Café (2700 Chartres). The free party, beginning at 6:00 pm, will feature readings by Sarah K. Inman and Jordan Flaherty; refreshments provided by the New Orleans Cake Café & Bakery. Saturday’s events occur on Frenchmen Street with tables set up in the Blue Nile and Cafe Negril, and live music performances scheduled throughout the day, in addition to readings at Snug Harbor and the Apple Barrel. There will also be a top-secret after-party is also planned—to be announced on the day of the bookfair.

In the heart of South Carolina, Charleston proudly hosts the Capital BookFest on Saturday, November 6. More then twenty authors will be appearing at the Charleston Main Library to talk about and sign their books. In addition, there will be a documentary film screening of You Saved Me: An Intimate Portrait of Black Marriage.

The Rochester Children’s Book Festival will be popping up in New York on Saturday, November 6, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at Monroe Community College. With more than forty authors and illustrators, an excellent presentation schedule, a marketplace, the Busy Bookworm Place, the Read to Me Corner, and the Brighton Room, this festival promises to keep children entranced and thrilled.

And on Saturday, November 6, Texas will be hosting the Houston Book Fair at the Museum of Printing History from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. A mere five dollars gets you admission to a wide range of events including over twenty dealers offering used and rare books;  working studios offering demonstrations ranging from papermaking to bookbinding, free book appraisals; a talk by the author of The Man Who Loved Books Too Much on tracking down book thieves and on his adventures as a featured appraiser on the Antiques Roadshow; and a talk by award-winning author and pet Chitra Divakaruni.

Wooster, Ohio is the site of the Buckeye Book Fair, which will take place on Saturday, November 6 from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm at Fisher Auditorium. One hundred writers and illustrators will be there to talk about and sign their books, chat with fans, and offer readings. Special children’s activities are also scheduled. Funds raised benefit the library and literacy programs.

If you are anywhere near Long Island, be sure to stop by and visit the Long Island Book and Ephemera Fair, to take place on November 6 (11:00 am to 6:00 pm) and Sunday, November 7 (11:00 am to 4:00 pm) at the Garden City Field House. Exhibitors from across the U.S. will be displaying and selling rare and unusual old books, maps, prints, ephemera, and more. There will also be book appraisals for five dollars per item. The fee is $6 for adults and $3 for those aged 12-21. Parking is free.

The Pub House:
Egmont USA is an American children’s and YA book publisher whose parent company, Egmont Group, is “one of Scandinavia’s leading media groups, with activities including film, TV production, and interactive games.” One of their recent titles, Wish You Were Dead, a teen thriller and the first in a new “thrill”-ogy, follows the events that happen when three popular girls of a local high school vanish after being mentioned on the blog of an anonymous blogger. The friend of the first one is puzzled and frightened when she begins receiving unsigned notes warning her she could be next, and she turns to another student who might be able to help solve the mystery—or not.  The Jaguar Stones Book One: Middleworld and The Jaguar Stones Book Two: The End of the World Club are stories set in the fictional Central American country of San Xavier. In the first book, Max Murphy’s parents, archaeologists and Maya experts, have disappeared, and in seeking to discover and rescue them he is must unlock ancient secrets and save the world from the Lords of Death who control the power of the Jaguar Stones. The second book continues the story of Maxs and his new friend Loa, the modern Maya girl as they continue to try to outwit the Lords of Death to uncover the secrets of the long-lost Yellow Jaguar and in their quest travel a land steeped in legend, superstition and bizarre tourist festivals. Dangerous Neighbors is set in 1876, the year of the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Katherine having lost her twin sister to a tragic accident  the year before, decides to take her own life to atone for her responsibility. But as she repeatedly returns to the fairgrounds, the futuristic marvels and some unexpected events interrupt her plan. Framed by the fair’s exhibitions, she begins to re-examine her past and the final sequence of events (leading to her sister’s death), leading her through love, remorse and eventually, redemption.

Imaging Books & Reading:
If you read in bed and if you have ever had the experience of dozing off while doing it, this cartoon ought to ring some bells and provide a laugh or two.

Of Interest:
For bookmark lovers, there is the opportunity to create a new word. Mirage Bookmarks, a Swiss firm that makes gorgeous steel and paper bookmarks and has a fantastic website, is running a competition to find “an expression (or a pair of words) in order to solve the problem of the word bookmark. As Asim Maner points out, ever so accurately, the word which used to refer to an instrument that marked your place in a book, has been co-opted  by web developers. It makes sense yet it also creates another problem—at least for bookmark lovers and collectors. Searching out bookmarks (of the tangible kind) has become a source of frustration because inevitably the hundreds of thousands of results include far too many of the electronic kind. “What we are looking for,” he specifies, “is a new expression (or a pair of expressions) to distinguish between the two meanings of the word bookmark. Deadline for submissions is January 30, and we will publish the suggested words continuously.”

The deadline for entry is January 30, and the prize is $50 cash. So hurry and get your entries in since there seems to be no limit on the number you can enter. If you are a word fan rather than a bookmark collector this is still a great opportunity to not only win money but to create a word or pair of words to add to the world. Go here for more details.

Until next week, read well, read often and read on!

Lauren