Either Rachel Cohn doesn’t exist or I’m in some weird romcom with her? @rachelcohn #BookFest #Fail

mzi.tpvequcw.600x600-75 mzi.zvulvobu.600x600-75 mzi.syxwtlwp.600x600-75I very much enjoyed reading Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.  My copies are not the movie tie in and I’m not really happy with the movie I’m sure my opinion would be different if I was attracted to the Cera like I am the Gosling. But I’m not.

Oh right I should explain the title of this post.  I’ve been trying to get my Rachel Cohn books signed but so far I haven’t had any luck.  This could be because she doesn’t actually exist (very unlikely) or that we’re both characters in some romantic comedy and we’re forbidden from meeting in the first act because when we do it will be very amusing and hilarity will ensue. Continue reading “Either Rachel Cohn doesn’t exist or I’m in some weird romcom with her? @rachelcohn #BookFest #Fail”

I was late but I still got a signature from Tim Federle @TimFederle #BookFest

9781442446908.600x600-75I’m about to reveal a secret about attending the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at USC that I found useful and sadly will probably forget next year.  But this is something I learned the hard way, by being late to the first author panel I wanted to see which included Tim Federle and Stephan Pastis.  (Apologies to Ellis Weiner, who was also on the panel but whose presence doesn’t add to my narrative)

TL; DR:  Stephan Pastis has more fans but I like Tim Federle more so I can live with the choices that I made.
Continue reading “I was late but I still got a signature from Tim Federle @TimFederle #BookFest”

I did not get to see or talk to Jeremy Iversen. #BookFest #Fail

So … one of the first books I read on my Sony Reader was a book called High School Confidential and it was written by this guy Jeremy Iversen and it talks about his experiences at my high school.

This was after I graduated.

Continue reading “I did not get to see or talk to Jeremy Iversen. #BookFest #Fail”

House of Secrets Panel Ned Vizzini @ned_vizzini, Chris Columbus #BookFest


9780062192486.600x600-75TL; DR:  I attended the panel with Ned Vizzini and Chris Columbus at LATFOB and just missed out on the opportunity to get a copy of their new book, House of Secrets. Continue reading “House of Secrets Panel Ned Vizzini @ned_vizzini, Chris Columbus #BookFest”

LATFOB the #BookFest Day One

I really should go to sleep.  I don’t even know why I went to the gym tonight.  Today was really tiring because it was like the book amusement park.  The book theme park.  No, I’m not going to call it the Disneyland of books because there was no admission.  HA.  YOU THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO BE CLICHE and I managed to avoid it.

So today is the first day of the 2013 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, the annual big book event in Los Angeles where I’m surprised at how many people come around to look at book stuff and hear authors and what not.  Los Angeles is not a big reading town.  That’s one thing that I have noticed while traveling on the east coast…people with their noses in books (on mass transit and so forth).  And not shallow glossy magazines.  Books that sometimes impress me, the former bookseller and intellectual snob. Continue reading “LATFOB the #BookFest Day One”

Body Mass Index Obsession

Those of you who know me may have noticed that I am not a skinny person.

I don’t even know what I’m trying to say with this post.  I’m obese.  I’m taking steps to become less obese.  My goal right now is to be overweight.  Out of context that sounds bad, but what I meant is I would like to decrease my body mass index from the “obese range” to the “overweight range” which is what stands in between me and “normal” …so that’s a goal.

As it stands I have fourteen pounds to shed before I pass the threshold between “obese” and “overweight.”  I don’t think I’m going to make regular updates about my weight, but if you want, I’m tracking everything on fitbit.  We can be friends.

Vromans Pop Up sucks up my cash

Oh Vromans. You are my local independent bookstore and I have given you lots of my moneys. I am the mayor of your Hastings Ranch branch and for some reason you think my address is the location of your old Museum Store on Lake Avenue. But when you tweeted that you opened up a temporary Pop Up store so like a fool I came by and purchased seventeen books at a time when I wasn’t looking for books to read.  (Of course they’re all remainders but they were half off the stickered price)

Selections include:

  1. Blue Bloods the graphic novel
  2. Smollett’s The Expedition of Humphry Clinker!  “The most laughable story that has ever been written since the goodly art of novel-writing began”
  3. American Turnaround.  I remember Ed Whitacre was on like The Daily Show or something.
  4. Fresh Off the Boat.  I saw this in Entertainment Weekly and had no intention of purchasing it.
  5. Native Son.  Also known as a book I didn’t read in high school.
  6. The Orphan Master’s Son.  Also known as the book that John Green says beats The Fault In Our Stars.  I don’t know if it’s better or if people just vote for it more or who knows what.
  7. Every You, Every Me.  A novel by David Levithan that I did not enjoy.  As I recall I purchased the eBook and was hoping that seeing the pictures on paper would be an improvement.
  8. You Killed Wesley Payne.  I just met Sean Beaudoin and sadly he went back home to Seattle so it’s not going to be easy to get him to sign this copy but I remember looking at it in bookstores before.
  9. Divergent.
  10. In-N-Out Burger.  I own this in hardcover but it’s in boxes.
  11. The Lightning Thief.  Maybe I’ll even get around to Sea of Monsters in time for the movie!
  12. Scarlet.  I forget if I got this in ARC at ALA.  But if not, here it is!
  13. Distrust That Particular Flavor.
  14. Immortal City.  Because you know, unrealistically beautiful angels need to be objectified in text.
  15. and a signed copy of Reached!

A Horrible Host: Beware of Shiny Aliens Who Want You to Live like Canadians

Last night I went to the Arclight Pasadena with Alethea to see a midnight screening of the Host.  I believe we both went in knowing that Rotten Tomatoes was currently listing it as 10% (update: now 12%) but we both have higher than average tolerance for bad content.  (My opinion. I also like to complain about inferior content so that could have increased my desire to go.)

After waiting in line for hours to see Stephenie Meyers and the cast of the Host at the Grove, how could I not see the movie?  And it took me several days to finish the book which I did.  I was somehow dedicated to the idea that I was going to endure this … movie.  And so with the help of Frank, the best Arclight Pasadena greeter and a manhattan made with jack, I tried to sit through the invasion of shiny aliens who want you to live like Canadians. Continue reading “A Horrible Host: Beware of Shiny Aliens Who Want You to Live like Canadians”

Bookswaps are Awesome! But I went overboard.

IMG_5480A little while back my book club the ya book council held a book swap at the Glendale Public Library  Montrose Branch and I was super excited because I wanted to get rid of some titles I had accumulated over the years that I didn’t really want to hold on to.  I live amongst stacks of books… which is scary because I am consuming most of my books in electronic mediums. Continue reading “Bookswaps are Awesome! But I went overboard.”