A Very Special Evening with the Remarkable Judy Blume

Judy Blume sigining copies of her new novel!

Last weekend was the Bay Area Book Festival in Berkeley, California. The Bay Area Book Festival was a fantastic two day event taking place on both Saturday, June 6th and Sunday, June 7th.

I was thrilled to learn that legendary author, Judy Blume, would be spending the evening of Saturday, June 6, 2015 at the Berkeley Community Center from 7pm-9pm and interviewed by Walter Mayes! 

Since the Bay Area Book Festival had several authors speaking and signing books at their event that write books for children, young adults or adults, I thought that Judy Blume was the perfect single author to have speak at a single one night event because she has written books for all three age groups.

Of course, in my excitement, I bought tickets for my husband and I to see Judy Blume speak at the Bay Area Book Festival. I thoroughly enjoyed spending the evening hearing Ms. Blume discuss her writing career and her new novel for adults titled, In the Unlikely Event. 

During the course of the evening, I learned that Judy Blume has been writing now for 46 years!!  Wow, isn't that fabulous?!? I didn't know that she'd been writing for that long... By the way, I also learned during the course of the Blume's speaking engagement, that she is 77 years old. She looks fabulous and really young for her age... I would have never guess that she was in her seventies at all. Ms. Blume is so vivacious and she seems like such a fun person you'd like to get to know.

Judy Blume being interviewed by Walter Mayes on stage

After about an hour of speaking, Ms. Blume signed copies of her new novel, In The Unlikely Event. I was thrilled to have my copy of her new novel signed that evening. I only wish that I was able to have my picture taken with Judy Blume as well as having her personalizing my copy of her new book for me. Unfortunately, because there were so many attendees that evening, she didn't time to do either task. 

All in all, it was a wonderful evening and I am glad that we saw Judy Blume!! 

Check out the following NPR link to hear Judy Blume talk about her new novel In The Unlikely Event. 

I will be making another post of my time spent at the Bay Area Book Festival shortly. So, until my next post, happy reading!

World Book Night: Cops are called as Idaho teen hands out challenged book!!

I found reading the following headline so disheartening!! I came across an article on The Christian Science Monitor titled World Book Night: cops are called as Idaho teen hands out challenged book by Molly Driscoll.... I simply had to read the article to see why the cops were called in while a teenager hands out a book to read on World Book Night.... And, of course, to read which challenged book was causing such a stir that police arrived on the scene! 

Seriously, after reading Molly Driscoll's article, I still can't believe the police were called to the scene! Basically, a teenager named, Brady Kissel, along with a couple of bookstore employees passed out copies of 'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian' by Sherman Alexie at a high school in Idaho on World Book Night. Essentially, 'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian' by Sherman Alexie had been removed from the school's reading list because parents had complained about the book. 

So, when Brady Kissel and a couple of bookstore employees passed out copies of 'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian' by Sherman Alexie on World Book Night to other students, "police arrived at Kleiner Park, saying someone had called them, worried that young people were getting copies of the book without having permission from a parent." 

Gawd, I'm rolling my eyes here... I'm an adult in my 40s and I've read 'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian' by Sherman Alexie. 'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian' is awesome and I can't believe parents have an issue with this book. If I had a teenager in high school, I'd have no problem whatsoever with letting them read 'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian'. 

I believe in the freedom to read books without censorship. We live in the land of the free for goodness sake. Everyone, including our children, has the right to read books and other printed material without censorship. This banning and challenging of books is out of control and needs to stop. 

However, there is some good news to share here. In Molly Driscoll's article, she writes the following:

However, after talking with Kissel, police “said they found nothing wrong with what was going on in the park,” according to Shelf Awareness. 

The books that weren’t given away on April 23 were stored at Rediscovered Books for students and “Diary” publisher Little, Brown has said it is donating another 350 books. According to Rediscovered Books, those copies will be given to local libraries, school libraries, and teachers who are in need of more copies. 

Laura “Wally” Johnson, one of the bookstore workers who handed out copies of “Diary” with Kissel, told Publishers Weekly that her time doing so “was a fantastic experience with a warm and enthusiastic atmosphere and a steady stream of polite and engaged young adults.”

“We got to have a lot of conversations with students about the history of censorship and book banning and we got to talk a lot about World Book Night,” she said. 

Alexie himself praised the efforts of those involved, particularly Baker and Lott, to get copies of "Diary" to students. 

"I am honored by the hundreds of Meridian students who showed incredible passion and courage for books,” he said, according to Publishers Weekly. “Mine, yes, but literature in general. And Sara Baker and Jennifer Lott are friggin’ superheroes. If I ever get caught in a fire, I’m calling them." 

"Diary" placed at number three on the American Library Association's list of most-banned or -challenged books in 2013. 

Yes, you have to love a happy ending to a story!! 

Best of 2013 Audiobook Blog Hop

Best Audiobooks of 2013 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Best of 2013 Audiobook Blog Hop hosted by Hot Listens, The Geeky Blogger and The Book Nympho.  

The Best of 2013 Audiobook Blog Hop will run from January 1, 2014 through January 15, 2014.

I've become addicted to listening to audiobooks this year! I've listened to a total of 26 audiobooks in 2013. 

I had a difficult time narrowing down my three favorite audiobook choices for 2013 as there were several good books, which I listened to throughout the year.

However, the following three audiobooks really stood out above the rest, so I'm pleased to announce my three favorite audiobooks for 2013 below!!

1. 'Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof That You Can Heal Yourself' by Lissa Rankin MD

I love this nonfiction book!! It's unabridged and narrated by the author herself. The message given by Lissa Rankin MD is one of EMPOWERMENT--- You can truly heal yourself! 

This isn't woo-woo, feel good medicine. Lissa Rankin MD gives YOU the scientific research and all the tools you need to help heal yourself in a clear, concise, and easy to understand manner.

Even if you don't have a current health issue, this book will most likely benefit you in a positive way!!

2. 'The Secret Life of Bees' by Sue Monk Kidd

I loved the storyline and characters of this novel!! It's told through the eyes of a 14 year old girl named, Lily Owens. 

What really made this novel come alive for me was the narrator of this novel, Jenna Lamia. I couldn't imagine a better person to read 'The Secret Life of Bees' than Jenna Lamia. She nailed the southern accent! A narrator can make or break my audiobook listening experience... If I don't like a narrator, I won't listen an audiobook period. It's that simple. However,  Jenna Lamia is probably one of the best audiobook narrators I've come across in my audiobook listening experience to date.

3. 'The Girls' by Lori Lansens 

This audiobook is a novel about the lives of conjoined twins. At various times throughout my listening experience, I'd have to remind myself that 'The Girls' wasn't really a memoir, but a novel instead.

I enjoyed listening to the alternating view points of the conjoined twins, Ruby & Rose Darlen, as they shared their lives together as conjoined twins. 'The Girls' is read by actresses Stephanie Zimbalist & Lolita Davidovich and they both did a phenomenal performance of reading their roles.


To read more of what I enjoyed of each of the three audiobooks, please click on the links provided above.

Please feel free to leave me a comment and share with me some of your favorite audiobooks from 2013!! I'm so looking forward to listening to more audiobooks in 2014... In fact, I've already signed up to participate in the 2014 Audiobook Challenge!!

Last, but not least, please feel free to peruse the blog posts of the other participants in the The Best of 2013 Audiobook Blog Hop. The list of participants is as follows:
 

Partake in Random Acts of Literary Kindness!!

I came across another wonderful article on BuzzFeed titled 9 Ideas For Random Acts Of Literary Kindness! These nine ideas offer ways to be generous in 2014 in terms of doing literary good deeds. I already partake in leaving random books to be found by other readers by reading & registering books on Bookcrossing.

What other random acts of literary kindness would you propose??

Ho-Ho-Ho Read-A-Thon Day #2 Check-In

I'm still reading 'An O'Brien Family Christmas' by Sherryl Woods today for the Ho-Ho-Ho Read-A-Thon.

Today, I read for roughly 2.5 hours total and have read 175 pages of  'An O'Brien Family Christmas'. I'd love to read more this evening, but I won't continue reading anymore tonight because I have a headache right now. :-(

Bouchercon 2014: Murder at the Beach!!

I just learned about Bouchercon this past weekend and here's what I learned about it via Wikipedia:

Bouchercon, the Anthony Boucher Memorial World Mystery Convention, is an annual convention of creators and devotees of mystery and detective fiction. It is named in honour of writer, reviewer, and editor Anthony Boucher, and pronounced the way he pronounced his name, rhyming with "voucher".

It is held annually in the fall, each year being hosted in a different city by a different group of volunteers.The convention typically starts on Thursday and finishes on Sunday.

Each year, Bouchercon nominates and votes the Anthony Awards for excellence in crime fiction, including but not limited to: Best Novel, Best First Novel, Best Short Story, Best Critical Non-Fiction, and Best Paperback Original.

Bouchercon 2014: Murder at the Beach will be held in Long Beach, California, USA from November 13th-16th. I also learned through Wikipedia that Bouchercon is an event for fans, authors, and those who work in the publishing industry.  Click on the link for event details and registration.

Has anyone ever heard of and/or attended a Bouchercon event??
It sounds like an interesting convention to attend for mystery lovers!