Yay!  You found me!  I moved SheIsTooFondOfBooks to a self-hosted site over the weekend, and left breadcrumbs for everyone to find me … I’m glad you’re here!  I’ll be busy updating links and putting the finishing touches on the new site this week.  It looks much like the old site, but I’ll have a bit [...]]]>

Yay!  You found me!  I moved SheIsTooFondOfBooks to a self-hosted site over the weekend, and left breadcrumbs for everyone to find me … I’m glad you’re here!  I’ll be busy updating links and putting the finishing touches on the new site this week.  It looks much like the old site, but I’ll have a bit more flexibility now.  I’ve been bold and e-mailed a few of my fellow book bloggers asking them to update links to my blog on theirs.  If you remember that you’ve linked to SheIsTooFondOfBooks (old site), would you consider updating the link to reflect the new site – thanks!

Monday 9/22 – I’m getting the package wrapped to mail to Melanie, winner of my BBAW House & Home giveaway package.  I like to avoid the Post Office on Mondays, so this will go in the mail tomorrow.  Congratulations, Melanie!

Tuesday 9/23 – Tuesday Thingers today!  You know the drill – the Boston Bibliophile asks, we answer, and I learn more about LibraryThing each week

Also, I’m heading into the Harvard Book Store tonight to see David Ebershoff.  He’ll be reading from his novel The 19th Wife and having a discussion about the book.  I’m especially excited to meet David, as I’ll be hosting him via TLC Book Tours next month!

Wednesday 9/24 – Check back to read this week’s Spotlight on Bookstores, about Tattered Cover Books in Denver.  This was written by Ti of Book Chatter and Other Stuff; I’m ready to hop a plane and shop!

My neighborhood book group meets tonight after taking the summer off.  We have two books to discuss, The Big House by George Howe Colt and Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson.

Also tonight, Book Club Girl hosts an interview with Ann Patchett, discussing her novel Run.  If you’ve read the book, head over to Book Club Girl’s blog to get the details of how you can call in to ask your questions directly to the author!

Thursday 9/25 – Today I’ll be participating in the online discussion of Run hosted by Gayle at Everyday I Write the Book.  Read Gayle’s blog to get several bloggers insight into this novel.

Friday 9/26 - There’s nothing “bookish” on my calendar; however, I have several pending reviews I’d like to get posted this week.  I’ve been playing “catch up” since the move to the new site, so I’ll probably be saying TGIF and buckling down to check more items off my “to do” list!

What’s going on with you this week?  Have you read any of the books I mention here?  This week especially, SheIsTooFondOfBooks is “too fond of comments”, so please leave a note and let me know you found the new place!

There’s still time to join us in planning “the week ahead”, and to enter to win a Page-A-Day Book Lover’s Calendar.  Find the details here:

A snapshot of what may, or may not, happen in my life this week:

Monday – We were away this weekend, so much of my day will be spent recovering from that [...]]]>

There’s still time to join us in planning “the week ahead”, and to enter to win a Page-A-Day Book Lover’s Calendar.  Find the details here:

A snapshot of what may, or may not, happen in my life this week:

Monday – We were away this weekend, so much of my day will be spent recovering from that – laundry and grocery shopping!  We were down the Cape visiting with friends at their family’s beach “lodge” – thank you Hilary and Tony (et al!).  The original structure of the Lodge was built as a fishing shack in the 1700s, it has been extended and updated throughout the years and has quite a bit of character.  As soon as we pulled down the gravel driveway and saw the building I said, “It’s The Big House!”, which was met by my children eye-rolling “of course it’s a big house”.  No, it reminded me of my mental picture of The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home by George Howe Colt.

Tuesday – TuesdayThingers, in which the Boston Bibliophile poses a question, somehow related to the LibraryThing site.  I also hope to have my review for Christopher Meeks’ short fiction collection, Months and Seasons, ready to post. 

Wednesday – I’ll post the next installment in my SOBs series, a photo and short blurb about R. Franklin Pyke Bookseller in Avalon, California, which was discovered by Lisa at Books on the Brain while on vacation recently.  We don’t have a lot of information about this bookstore; if you can add anything, feel free to Contact me or Comment on the post.  If there’s a special bookstore that you’d like to spotlight, please let me know!

Thursday – Tonight Book Club Girl will interview Debra Dean, author of The Madonnas of Leningrad.  If you have a quesion or comment for the author, you can call in (or e-mail your question to Book Club Girl ahead of time). 

Friday - Today’s the last day to enter the drawing for a copy of Andrew Davidson’s The Gargoyle.  The winner’s name will be posted on Saturday.

MizB at Should Be Reading asks what books have come into our lives this week.  Here’s my list:

The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home by George Howe Colt.  I’ve already read this book (twice even!), obviously I really like it!  My neighborhood book group chose it for our September [...]]]>  

MizB at Should Be Reading asks what books have come into our lives this week.  Here’s my list:

The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home by George Howe Colt.  I’ve already read this book (twice even!), obviously I really like it!  My neighborhood book group chose it for our September selection, and I was shocked to realize that I don’t own it.  I logged on to PaperBackSwap, made my selection, and the book arrived today. 

The publisher’s synopsis:  Faced with the sale of the century-old family summer house on Cape Cod where he had spent forty-two summers, George Howe Colt returned for one last stay with his wife and children. This poignant tribute to the eleven-bedroom jumble of gables, bays, and dormers that watched over weddings, divorces, deaths, anniversaries, birthdays, breakdowns, and love affairs for five generations interweaves Colt’s final visit with memories of a lifetime of summers. Run-down yet romantic, the Big House stands not only as a cherished reminder of summer’s ephemeral pleasures but also as a powerful symbol of a vanishing way of life.

I received an signed ARC of First Daughterby Eric Van Lustbader.  This looks like quite an engaging thriller!  I’m especially interested in reading it because I just read/reviewed Stone Creek by his wife, Victoria Lustbader.  Their writing styles and genres are very different; I wonder if I’ll see any stylistic links. 

A blurb from the publisher: Sometimes the weakness we fear most can become our greatest strength . . .   Jack McClure has had a troubled life.  His dyslexia always made him feel like an outsider.  He escaped from an abusive home as a teenager and lived by his wits on the streets of Washington D.C.  It wasn’t until he realized that dyslexia gave him the ability to see the world in unique ways that he found success, using this new-found strength to become a top ATF agent.   When a terrible accident takes the life of his only daughter, Emma, and his marriage falls apart, Jack blames himself, numbing the pain by submerging himself in work.  Then he receives a call from his old friend Edward Carson.  Carson is just weeks from taking the reins as President of the United States when his daughter, Alli, is kidnapped.  Because Emma McClure was once Alli’s best friend, Carson turns to Jack, the one man he can trust to go to any lengths to find his daughter and bring her home safely.   The search for Alli leads Jack on a road toward reconciliation . . . and into the path of a dangerous and calculating man.  Someone whose actions are as cold as they are brilliant.  Whose power and reach are seemingly infinite.   Faith, redemption, and political intrigue play off one another as McClure uses his unique abilities to journey into the twisted mind of a stone cold genius who is constantly one step ahead of him.  Jack will soon discover that this man has affected his life and his country in more ways than he could ever imagine.

Christopher Meeks and I connected via a blog post about Jhumpa Lahiri’s award-winning Unaccustomed Earth and the difficulties I’ve encountered discussing short stories in a group setting.  Christopher wrote a thoughtful guest post on the subject, and offered me a review copy of his latest short story collection, Months and Seasons.  I’m looking forward to reading it, being receptive to themes, as Christopher suggests.

A sneak peek at what I may find: “Months and Seasons”is the follow-up story collection to Christopher Meeks’s award-winning “The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea.” With a combination of main characters from young to old and with drama and humor, the tales pursue such people as a supermodel who awakens after open-heart surgery, a famous playwright who faces a firestorm consuming the landscape, a reluctant man who attends a Halloween party as Dracula, and a New Yorker who thinks she’s a chicken.