10 Tips for Attending a Book Festival

I'm adapting these tips from a post I wrote last year for the Tucson Festival of Books website. TFOB 2016 starts tomorrow, and I'm excited to get to attend for the 6th year in a row! I hope you can make it to the Tucson Festival of Books one of these years, because it's really wonderful. But in the meantime, find a festival near you!

10 Tips for Attending a Book Festival

1. Review the schedule ahead of time so that you can maximize your time and catch as many events as possible! There's nothing more frustrating that realizing just too late that you missed an author you really wanted to see. 
2. Check the weather forecast thoroughly. Even though it's March, Tucson gets sunny and if you're waiting in line for an author or event, you may get quite hot. Sunscreen and water are usually a plus. But three years ago there was a freakish cold day - and umbrellas and sweaters were needed.
3. Arrive early at big-name events, especially if you don't have tickets. For safety reasons, volunteers are generally strict about seating limits and people at the end of the line often don’t make it in to see the biggest names. If your festival offers tickets to the bigger events, try your best to check the website ahead of time to get them. If not, plan to wait in line for a while. [Last year I waited in line for an hour for Noam Chomsky, and it was totally worth it!]
4. Take your kids! There are tons of great story and music times, character meet and greets, and activities. Even if you don’t have kids, stroll around and see some of the amazing things happening. And c'mon, who doesn't want their picture taken with Curious George?
5. Listen to an author you've never read before. Sure, I try and attend panels and seminars from my favorite authors. But it's also really great to meet a new author, and then get to read their books for the first time after having met them. Somehow knowing their mannerisms and voice makes the book even more fun! 
6. Bring quite a bit of money. There are lots of great local vendors providing fantastic food ranging from pizza to tamales to salads in the main food court area. You can also buy kettle-corn, lemonade, coffee, and other treats.
7. Bring books by your favorite authors. Last year I managed to get books signed by 5 or 6 of my favorite authors, and it’s so fun to have signed copies on my shelves. Here's where hard copies win - you can't get your Kindle signed! 
8. Wear comfortable shoes and have a sturdy tote or backpack. No one wants a day at a book festival to be cut short by a blister, or because you bought so many books you can't hold them all! Plan ahead for contingencies.  
9. Don’t bring a stroller/wagon. Or pets. The main mall area gets really congested. If you have children too small to handle the walking, plan to carry or wear them. It’s not worth trying to maneuver a stroller through those crowds. And I'm pretty sure most pets would be terrified by the sheer volume of people. (This might be different if your festival is smaller, but TFOB attracts 150,000 people over the weekend!) 
10. Have fun! You’re surrounded by thousands of fellow book-lovers, books, and authors. What’s not to love? Seriously, I've had the best conversations about books in the bathroom, in line for food, in line for events. It's so great to be surrounded by people who love the same things you do!

Do you have a book festival near you?

Currently: What I'm Reading/Watching/Wishing

Time: 2:26 pm
Reading // I read the entirety of Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff yesterday. I wouldn't say I liked it. In fact, I might have even disliked it. But the characters were strangely haunting, and I could not put the book down. I also listened to about an hour of Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard on audiobook. It's ok, seems like pretty typical YA fare so far; but I'm hoping it gets better, since a lot of people raved about it. And I'm in the middle of The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey -- so far I'm enjoying it, and I'm intrigued to see where it's going.
Watching // At the moment Ratatouille. I'm typing this up on my laptop while we have a family movie afternoon. In general, Noel and I are working through Season 6 of Justified, slightly delayed by the fact that I have a cold, and have gone to bed pretty early the last few nights. And I'm excited that The Biggest Loser is back. I love that silly show so much.
Wishing // For healthiness! The girls also have colds. But we decided to take advantage of Noel's day off work and Eleanor's day off school for MLK Jr., and go up Mt. Lemmon anyway. We only lasted about 30 minutes in the snow, because the girls got tired and cold quickly. I'm so glad we went though - there was at least a foot of snow on the ground still, and it was so beautiful. And then we drove the hour home, back to the 65 degree weather at our house! It's nice to have such awesome wintery weather so close.
Stressing // I am a little behind on book reviews, in part because of reading Fates and Furies. And I just feel like I'm not all caught up on filing and paperwork and housecleaning and assorted other housey tasks since the holidays. Possibly also because I haven't been feeling 100%, it all seems a bit overwhelming. So I'm going to try and buckle down and focus and get a bunch of stuff done these next few days. Thus... time to wrap up this little update!
Time: 2:38 pm

What are YOU up to?

Currently:: What I'm Reading/ Wishing/ Anticipating/ Drinking

Time: 9:21am

Listening // To today's Sorta Awesome episode. I love Friday mornings lately! A new ep of Sorta Awesome, looking forward to the weekend, and it's usually a pretty quiet day for Juliet and me. 
Eating // Homefries and an egg. Because I felt like salty potatoes this morning.
Drinking // Diet coke. I know, I know. But I just like a little something bubbly in the morning! And since I don't like coffee or tea I've gotta get my caffeine somehow...
Reading // I blazed through Paper Towns this week. I'm also working on the new Elizabeth George (for review, it comes out next month). It was getting all Liane Moriarty-ish - I didn't even find out who died till page 160! I'm liking it a lot, it's just that George's books are super long, so it's always quite a commitment. I started listening to Ruby Red on audio too. I meant to wait till next month, since it's the October pick for the YABMC, but I didn't have anything else to listen to, so I started early.
Enjoying // I took a "reading lunch" the other day. There's a home-schooled teenager from our church that my girls love. So I paid her to come hang out with Juliet for an hour, and meet Eleanor at the school bus stop, and feed them lunch. I went and enjoyed some solo errand-running, and then a reading lunch at Five Guys. It was amazing, and I felt so mentally refreshed afterward. It's honestly the first time I've done that - I feel a little weird about eating alone in public, so usually I'd hit a drive-thru, and take food home. But I had so much fun that I might have to make a habit of it!
Wishing // I had a better method to get eye-drops in the baby. The girls both have pink eye. Eleanor's been a champ about lying down for drops. She fought the first day, and then I convinced her that they aren't that bad, and she'll get better faster if more of the drops get in her eye, so she's been awesome. But Juliet? Not so much. I basically have to pin her down with my legs, holding her head between my knees, and then attempt to pry open her eyelids as she squirms and screams. It's not fun. And I have to do it 4 times a day, boo.
Scheming // We're going to Disneyland in December. Normally I wouldn't start planning/scheming this early, but I have a friend taking her kids to Disneyland for the first time in 3 weeks, and she asked me to give her my "best tips". So naturally I had to send her the world's longest email full of links and ideas. And it got my wheels spinning. I'm getting so excited about our trip now! We went when Juliet was 4 or 5 months old, so I'm excited that this time she'll be 2, and old enough to enjoy the experience. 
Missing // Some of Juliet's baby talk. She'll be 2 next month, and all of the sudden a lot of her cute little words are going away - this week she started saying the letter H, so now we get hugs instead of 'ugs' and we go home instead of 'ome'. And I'm a tiny bit sad to see another evidence of how quickly she's growing up! But she's started reading herself to sleep for naps most days, which is adorable. And a step in the right direction sleep-wise.
Anticipating // Tomorrow we had had some plans, but they fell through, so now we have a free day. We went geocaching for the first time a couple weekends ago, and Eleanor loved it. I think that tomorrow we may go up Mt. Lemmon and do a little more geocaching, to take advantage of the cooler weather up there. Since boooo on you this week Tucson. So tired of 95-97 degree days. I want fall!!

Time: 9:47am

What are YOU currently doing?

Currently: What I'm Reading // Bemoaning // Chasing

Time: 2:49pm
Reading // Nothing. That's the problem. (And that's why I've been blogging less frequently the last week or two.) I just cannot break myself out of my book rut! 
Watching // Noel and I have watched the first few episodes of Turn - a show about spies during the Revolutionary War. I'm really enjoying it so far.
Eating // Toasted Cheerios. I've never been a milk & cereal girl (I HATE soggy food). But I've discovered that if you toast a cup or so of Cheerios in a small pan, with about a tablespoon of butter, it makes for a crunchy, salty, sweet snack that's deliciously addicting.
Bemoaning // Juliet managed to stay healthy for an entire five weeks in a row this summer! But Eleanor's been in school for 3 weeks, and Juliet is already sick for the second time. She's got a fever of 102 today, and is just pitiful. BOO. It's gonna be a looooong school year.
Wishing // It would rain. The sky is all gloomy and threatening, but so far, nary a drop.
Listening // To podcasts. (Perhaps also part of my book rut problem!) I'm still loving Sorta Awesome, and I've been bingeing on The Popcast. It's a super fun show all about pop culture and movies and tv and music, and it makes me laugh so hard. There's an episode called "Is Taylor Swift the Antichrist?" where they analyze Taylor Swift, using Bible passages from Daniel and Revelation. I laughed till I cried!
Stepping // I upped my step goal to 9000 steps a day, which has been making me walk more. Since it's usually too hot to walk outside in the day time, I pace inside a lot, or go for after-sunset walks.
Chasing // Although the few minutes I do walk outside in the middle of the day are the five minutes Juliet and I spend chasing rabbits in the desert before Eleanor's bus arrives. It usually gets to the bus stop between 11:16 and 11:20, so we leave our house at 11:10, and take a little wascally wabbit detour on our way there. We see bunnies every day, and Juliet loves it so much that it's worth the 10 minutes of being super hot and sweaty.

Working // Well, I OUGHT to be working on some reviews today. I'm overdue, I was supposed to submit one to Shelf Awareness yesterday. But I feel like I've been neglecting you guys too, so I decided to pop over here for 10 minutes.

Time: 2:58. Woohoo! Now I have one minute to proofread and hit publish.

What are YOU currently up to?

What I'm Into (June 2015): With a Little Gift for You!

Reading

I was going to say I've barely read anything this month. Then I just went and counted on Goodreads, and I've read 12 books, haha! I think what it is, is that I read several books I didn't really love (Slice Harvester, How To Be a Grown-Up, The Life Intended, The Last Letter From Your Lover) so they didn't really stick in my brain. 

The books I DO remember reading? Fool's Fate (the final AMAZING installment in the Tawny Man trilogy), The Winner's Curse, Death in the Clouds, and The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (see my full review of that one here).

Watching

Now here I can truthfully say I've barely watched anything. That's partly because I was obsessed with Fool's Fate (which is 32 hours on audio, and I finished it in less than a week). So any time that normally would be spent with the tv on in the background was spent with my audiobook playing. And it's partly because it's summer, and there aren't a lot of new shows, and we're pretty much caught up on all of our usual Netflix/Amazon Prime choices. We did watch a handful of episodes of How I Met Your Mother season 1, and I got the "joy" of watching Tinkerbell and the Legend of the Never Beast with Eleanor... but otherwise, pretty much nothing.

Researching

I have, however, continued to obsessively research my family tree. My Great-Great Grandpa Charles left his family when my Great-Grandma Helen was 7 or 8, and was never heard from again. (So he left their Ohio home around 1910/11.) I found his WWI draft card though, which was dated 1918, and puts him in Pennsylvania. I have decided that MISSION: FIND GG-GPA CHARLES is my challenge for this summer. My aunt told me that years ago my great-grandpa (the one married to Helen), did some research and found out Charles may have started another family, but Great-Grandpa never told Helen because it would have made her so sad.

But Helen passed away in 2000, so I can safely dig around a little now. I feel so bad for my Great-Great Grandma Clara. When she died, she had a double headstone put up with her info, and then next to it her husband's birthdate, and "Death Unknown". Ugh. I want closure on Clara's behalf!

Eating

My newest obsession is balsamic roasted strawberries. They are incredibly easy and incredibly delicious. Sprouts had strawberries on sale for .98 a lb, and I went twice last week and bought 6 lb each time! Here's the super simple recipe: Take about 3lb of strawberries, wash 'em, chop the green tops off them, and throw them in a baking dish. I use a 9x9... it's fine if they're piled up at first, because they cook down. Turn your oven on to 375, drizzle your strawberries with balsamic vinegar, and then sprinkle with a fair amount of sugar. If you do 3/4 of a cup they come out sweet, but still tangy. Or you can go all the way up to 1 cup if you want them super sweet. 

Roast the sugared strawberries at 375 for about 40 minutes, stirring a couple of times, till the strawberries are all soft and shapeless, and you have a pan full of syrup. Let it cool off, pour the strawberries & syrup into an airtight container, and they'll keep about a week in the fridge. We've been eating them on plain yogurt, on shortcakes, on pancakes, smeared on toast, and maybe (ahem), by the spoonful. SO GOOD.

Raining

Monsoon season started early! On Thursday the temp suddenly dropped from 105 to 85, and we got our first glorious raindrops. It rained really hard for about 10 minutes, and then sprinkled a few minutes more, hurrah! And we've gotten rain 3 more times since then... never more than 20 minutes, but still, I'll take it! It's been so nice to be able to let the girls play out back a little in the daytime, and to smell that wonderful desert rain smell.

Designing

I was having a bad day on Monday (due to lots of little things just piling up on me), and I made myself a phone wallpaper that said, "BEST DAY EVER", so that every time I looked at my phone it cheered me up. Also I ate like 14 Oreos, but that's another story. Anyway, making that wallpaper was so easy, and then my phone was cute, and I was like, "Um, why have I never done this before?" 

So I made another one, with a Louisa May Alcott quote about books. I'm putting the photo at the bottom of this post - in the hopes that some of you might want to save the pic and use it too. Guaranteed to make your phone about 42% more bookish and happy, ha! It's specifically designed for my iPhone 5, but I left white space around the edges so hopefully it's adaptable to other phone shapes too.

What are YOU into?

Planning to link up with Leigh Kramer's What I'm Into link-up tomorrow!

The Gloriousness and Frustrations of the Tucson Festival of Books

As always, we had a great time at the Tucson Festival of Books. On Saturday we went all as a family and enjoyed face-painting, bongo-playing, book-listening, and character-greeting.

This shot makes me laugh, because Noel took it. Apparently crowds are much less crowded when you're 6'4'' and can see over people's heads.

On Sunday I attended a panel with Katherine Paterson and met up with my friend Meghan to go see a Jacqueline Winspear interview. I got there too late for the Luis Alberto Urrea and William Kent Krueger panel I'd hoped to attend first thing, and then of course three women near me in the Paterson panel were raving about how great Urrea and Krueger had been. Sigh. Hopefully next year!

I also had really wanted to go to the Longmire panel - because Craig Johnson was there with Lou Diamond Phillips, but I chose to spend my 11:30 hour waiting in this ridiculously long line for Noam Chomsky tickets instead.

And goodness, was he brilliant. I overheard, right as we were lining up for the 4:00 entry, that there were overflow rooms, where the interview was projected, and you didn't need tickets for those. And I was like "ARGH, I could've gone to the Longmire panel after all!" But oh well, I did read for 45 minutes while I was in line, and now I can say I was in the same room as Noam Chomsky!

I do think the lines are one of the downfalls of the TFOB the last two years. They tried out a new ticketing system this year, so it was a little better, but they either need to spread out the big names a little more, or open some bigger venues. Because with 120,000 book lovers attending... it's a big and crowded event! I love how much it's grown - this was my fifth year attending, but a part of me selfishly wishes that it was still a little smaller!

Have you ever attended a book festival?

Readin' in the Rain

This is usually dirt. But it's a temporary pond!

What is it about rainy days that make you just want to put on some fuzzy socks, curl up in a chair, and read a good book? (Well, that's how I respond to rain anyway. Eleanor reacts by ecstatically jumping in puddles.)

Tucson has gotten an almost unprecedented amount of rain in the last couple of days. It actually rained for 24 hours straight. Our average annual rainfall is 11.5 inches a year, and we got a whole inch yesterday!

I've gotten an equally large amount of reading done. In fact, my January total is up to 17 books; and it may end up at 18, depending on if I finish Crossed tonight or not.

I'll do a full reading roundup in the next few days, but in the meantime I'm going to go back to my book while the few last raindrops linger!

Do YOU read more in the rain?

Currently // What I'm Enjoying, Reading, Worrying About, and Looking Forward To

Time: 7:25am

Wishing // there had been more sleep last night. Juliet has been doing better, even sleeping through the night 3-4 nights a week, but last night was an aberration. Instead of giving you the long boring play-by-play which I'm so tempted to share (so that you know the true extent of my suffering, haha!), let's just say that she was AWFUL last night, and I don't function on 4.5-5 hours of sleep. So this should be an interesting day.

Looking forward to // our trip to San Francisco in April! I'm getting so excited and so nervous. Eleanor is ecstatic, because "she's wanted to fly on an airplane for her WHOLE life". Airplane with kids! Eeks. Noel and I went to SF for our honeymoon almost nine years ago, so it'll be awesome to see the city again, through a very different lens this time.

Reading // While I was up in the night I read about 40% of a book called Bon Appetempt, but I might bail. First of all, it's weird to read the memoir of someone only a year old than me. Secondly, she's kind of smug, and who wants to read a memoir like that? But yesterday I also started Too Bad to Die, a novel about Ian Fleming's spying activities during World War Two, and it's really good so far. I read a Mrs. Pollifax book from the library too, and I forgot how fun that series is. I may have to reread more of them.

Worrying about // kindergarten next year. Just when I get myself mentally resolved on something, "Eleanor will be going to such-and-such school", I end up talking to some other mom who has heard amazing things about this school, or terrible things about that school, etc, and I get all wishy-washy again. Plus; I really wanted her to do half day, but then I found out that half day kinder is pretty much all academics, it's only the all day kids who get PE and art and stuff. And I don't want her to think school is dull, but I don't know if I want her away six hours a day, ack! (And before anyone mentions it, homeschool is a no-go. I don't think I have the patience, and Eleanor has expressed in no uncertain terms how much she does not want to be homeschooled.) Decisions, decisions. This parenting thing certainly doesn't get easier as they get older.

Enjoying // the weather. Part of me is feeling panicky that "winter" lasted for about 6 days, which probably means we're going to be in for another awful summer. But instead of dreading the 7 months of weather I hate, I decided to enjoy the 5 months that I like! So since January temps in Tucson are basically like late spring for the rest of you, we've been outside so much. Park time, walks, picnics, you name it. I've been averaging 9500 steps a day all month, which is awesome.
Scheming about // living room artwork. I bought a picture at Goodwill just for the frame, and hacked it apart. Now I'm weathering a map on my front porch (hoping tea + sunshine will fade it appropriately) and then some mod-podging is in order! If it turns out well, I'll post pics. If it doesn't, you'll probably never hear of it again.

Eating // Nothing at the moment. Although this might be a cookies-for-breakfast kind of day. But last night we made bacon and tomato pasta for dinner, and it was delicious. The tomatoes cut the grease, so it's much lighter than a carbonara, and the garlicky, slightly spicy flavor was great.
Time: 7:42am. Time to go get Eleanor ready for school!
Time: 7:48am. Whew, I found six typos! I'm sleepy, hope I didn't miss any more. Also forgot to say I'm planning to link up with Leigh Kramer's What I'm Into link-up. Now it's REALLY time to get ready.

The Books and Things I'm Looking Forward to This Summer (An Armchair BEA Introduction)

Happy Memorial Day! It's officially summer now, right? (Even for those of you who don't live in such hot places as Tucson!) 

Here are a few of the things I'm looking forward to this summer...

First: Armchair BEA! 

Which starts today! Armchair BEA hosts shared a list of 10 questions, and asked all participants to answer five of them. So here we go:

Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging? Where in the world are you blogging from?

I'm Jessica, I've been blogging off and on for about 5 years, although Quirky Bookworm has been in existence for almost 3 years. As I mentioned above, I'm in Tucson, Arizona. I started blogging so that my husband Noel wouldn't have to listen to me talk quite so much (although you'll have to ask him if he's noticed a difference, ha!). We have two girls: Eleanor just turned 4, and Juliet is 7 months. 

When I'm not reading, I can usually be found in the kitchen. My best recent creations were Frenchees (which are breaded, fried grilled cheese sandwiches!); and Lemon Icebox Pie.

Describe your blog in just one sentence. Then, list your social details -- Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. -- so we can connect more online. 

The literary adventures (and bookwormy ramblings) of a sorta blonde mom. I'm @quirkybookworm on Twitter, @jessquirkybookworm on Instagram, Quirky Bookworm on Facebook, and (wait for it) quirkybookworm on Pinterest. (Yes, I am annoyed with the person who beat me to quirkybookworm on Instagram.)

What genre do you read the most? I love to read because ___________________ . 

Mystery is my favorite genre. 

I'm not sure about the second half of this question. Is it asking why I love mysteries? Or why I love reading??! Because that's impossible to narrow down. I guess I'd just say I can't imagine how sad/dull/uninteresting my life would be without books. 

As for mysteries - I don't love the potboiler/ thriller type ones. I like thoughtful, noir-ish, character-driven ones: the kind that let you delve into people's motivations.

What is your favorite blogging resource? 

I use Fantastic Fiction all the time. It's great for looking up series, or seeing how many books an author has written.

What book would you love to see as a movie?

The Raven Boys! Or maybe Cinder? I might love The Raven Boys too much to be able to handle it being mangled into a movie.

Second: lots of swimming. 

 

If it's over 100 degrees I only venture outside for more than a couple of minutes unless a swimming pool is promised. Last summer we had a run of almost 40 days in a row with temps of 100+... if this year is similar, there'd better be a lot of pool time.

Third: a couple of books I'm dying to get from the library.

 

Delancey by Molly Wizenberg. I'm #13 out of 21 on 4 copies of this one. I loved A Homemade Life, and I really enjoyed eating at Delancey in 2009. I can't wait to read the book that shares how Molly & Brandon opened the restaurant.

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo. Gah, I'm so excited to read the end of this trilogy. I devoured books 1 and 2 last fall, and have been waiting and waiting and waiting for this. I'm #5 out of 7 on 0 copies. But hopefully the library orders tons of copies!

Dead Water by Ann Cleeves. I'm #18 of 25 on 5 copies. After reading book 4 in the Shetland books, I swore I was done with Ann Cleeves. She is a heartless, heartless author, who clearly doesn't mind killing beloved characters. (Sob) But, she's also a good author who creates very real people. And the Shetland setting* completely captured my imagination. So, I'm back for book 5. I hope I don't regret it.

What are YOU looking forward to this summer?

*They routinely have storms with 70mph winds! The islands have zero trees, except for a few groves planted in recent years. Even though they're part of Scotland now, they were part of Norway for centuries, so they have an amazing Scots-Norse culture and dialect. And it never gets completely dark from May - August. Even at midnight there's light!

This post contains some of my affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Quirky Bookworm!

In Which I Drive Deborah Crombie Around in Circles (TFOB 2014)

Deborah Crombie was kind enough to agree to meet me for dinner and an informal interview last Saturday night, after the TFOB ended for the day. (Don't worry, a whole separate post about that will be coming! I had such a good time talking about Duncan and Gemma like they were real.) But first of all, I got lost* on the way to dinner and on the way back to drop her at her hotel, and I managed to get a parking ticket** while we were eating. Luckily she's very nice, and didn't mind the delays.***

I didn't get to any sessions on Saturday, because I was busy cleaning and laundering and prepping for our Disneyland trip!

But on Sunday, I got to attend a panel featuring Jacqueline Winspear. She was being interviewed by Jennifer Lee Carrell, who was rather awkward. Perhaps nervous? But Jacqueline was poised and charming and surprisingly funny. And a story from her childhood about her mother and an air-raid siren totally made me cry.

I'd decided that I'd not be a chicken like last year, and would ask her to pose for a pic with me, but then they announced she had to leave straight to catch her flight, and she might not be able to sign books for everyone in line. I didn't want to cost anyone a book-signing, so I just snapped her picture while she signed my book.

I told her I'd brought The Mapping of Love and Death because it was my favorite, and she said it was her favorite too!

Then I stopped for a quick selfie with Nikki from BookPairing, and headed off to a panel with Timothy Hallinan, Terry Shames, and Cara Black.

Hahah we had to have our annual run-in and selfie! Have a great day @quirkybookworm! pic.twitter.com/BuJdknLhCy
— Nikki Steele (@bookpairing) March 16, 2014

On my way I spied Little Critter! (Shh, don't tell Eleanor, she'd be sad she missed out.)

Then I just strolled around and enjoyed the crowds and the festive atmosphere while I waited for Cara Black to finish signing books.

After that, we sat on the curb and chatted for about 20 minutes. It's the first time I ever actually recorded an interview, but it was fun. (Although, I forget how much I hate my voice till I hear it recorded.)

That interview was for Shelf Awareness, so stay tuned to see it soon.

It was a pretty perfect couple of days! My only regret (well, other than the driving nonsense), is that I couldn't go to even more panels, because I was having so much fun!

Do YOU get lost easily?

*I usually pride myself on my sense of direction. But I very rarely go downtown; and almost never am on the NW side, since it's an hour from me. Apparently unfamiliar parts of town + a dark evening = disaster.
**Ugh. I'm super mad about the $65, but also mad that now I can't tease Noel anymore. I had never had a parking or speeding ticket in my life, and he's had several!
***So embarrassing. Seriously. Embarrassing.

The Tucson Festival of Books

Meeting Curious George at the 2011 TFOB.

 This weekend is the Tucson Festival of Books again! I'm so excited to be attending for the fourth year in a row. Last year 120,000 people attended, and it sounds like it'll be even bigger this year.

I'll be doing some in-person author interviews this time, which I'm mostly excited about (but partly terrified). But right now I have Cara Black and Deborah Crombie's numbers in my phone, which makes me feel a tiny bit famous by association!

While you're waiting for my gushing wrap-up of TFOB 2014, here are some posts I've written about TFOB in the past!

• This one (from my mommy blog) tells about the fun Eleanor and I had there in 2012.
• Two years ago was a very sci-fi/ fantasy heavy year for me - I was excited to get books signed by Robin Hobb and Naomi Novik.
• Last year I got all fan-girly about Maggie Stiefvater, and I really enjoyed Mary Doria Russell too.

Obviously this is the year of the mystery for me, since in addition to the Black and Crombie interviews I'm also planning to attend a Jacqueline Winspear panel. We'll see what else I can swing, maybe Terry Shames too.

Do you have a book festival where you live?

Currently: What I'm Loving / Avoiding / Needing / Reading

Our "water park"!

Time // 3:31 pm

Listening // To an episode of Fringe I have playing in the background. Noel and I finished watching the whole series a few months ago, and now I'm enjoying repeating some episodes from season 1.

Loving // Roasted gorgonzola crackers from Trader Joe's. Seriously. I probably need to go put the box back in the pantry while I work on this post, or I'll eat them all. Also, reading other people's Literary Bucket Lists. Have you made your list? Link it up!

Thinking // About what to do for the 4th of July. It's been at least 5 years since we've seen fireworks, but Eleanor's easily frightened by loud noises. Debating the relative merits of risking a meltdown, or getting a sitter.

Wanting // More of those silly crackers. And a cute, bigger maternity swimsuit to magically appear at my doorstep. I'm cramming myself in the one I have. Don't think it'll last more than another week or two, but oh how I hate swimsuit shopping.

Needing // To start reading some books for review. But, feeling procrastinatory (procrastinatorish?); hence this post.

Reading // Continuing with The Mysterious Howling. And I read an Entertainment Weekly magazine last night, does that count?

Anticipating // Noel and I are taking Eleanor to Monsters University on Friday, for her first theater movie experience! I hope it will be as fun as I'm imagining.

Avoiding // The heat. Per usual.

Making // Due to the aforementioned heat avoidance, the mornings with Eleanor get looooong. We miss our park time! So I made an "At Home Schedule" chart, for the days we don't go anywhere, just to give us a bit of rhythm, and hopefully keep us both in better moods.

Enjoying // Playing games with Eleanor. She actually gets most of them now (except for Chutes and Ladders, because she insists on turning the spinner to 3 every time "because I'm 3"). But we've been playing lots of Go Fish, Candyland, and dominoes.

Time // 3:45 pm

What are YOU currently into?

What I'm Into: Early June Edition

 

Books

I got completely sucked into Caragh M. O'Brien's Birthmarked trilogy this month. I really liked Birthmarked, and so I eagerly followed it up with Prized and Promised. They're fairly typical of YA dystopics - fun, a little romantic, but also surprisingly thought provoking. (The main character is a 16 year old midwife named Gaia, and in this future world the human population is worryingly small, so the books are full of childbirth / reproductive issues / surrogacy / genetics / etc.)

I also listened to the first Flavia De Luce mystery on audio book (while assembling a beastly complicated bed for Eleanor) and I LOVED it. I've already requested the next couple books in the series from the library - Flavia is such an awesome, clever, slightly bratty detective.

House Updates

Speaking of assembling the bed, we're finally almost done with Eleanor's "big girl room". We decided we'd better hurry up and finish that, and a few other little house projects before we start the nursery. Because I feel like if we don't have them done pre baby-arrival, it'll be years before we get around to it.

Magazines

In other long-avoided project news, I finally sorted through some piles of old magazines. This is partly because Noel has been frequently co-opting my phone for Star Wars Angry Birds, so instead of playing phone games I've been reading magazines while we watch tv. Somehow it makes me feel more productive to look at a stack of completed magazines than some random game stats, so I'm feeling quite virtuous!

TV

We've been watching a lot lately because we got Netflix again for the first time in about 18 months. So! Many! Shows! We're already all caught up on How I Met Your Mother though, sniffle.

Hair

I cut a foot off my hair. And it's now too short to put up in a bun 24/7 the way I normally do. So I had to drag my blow dryer out from the depths of my cupboard, and I've been actually styling it and stuff. I'm still not used to how strangely light my head feels.

Heat Avoidance

The last two days were 108. And it isn't supposed to drop below 104 for at least a week. So the ceiling fans are a-spinning, the wading pool is blown up on the back porch, and I bought a big glass beverage dispenser so that we can have a pitcher of cold drinks available at all times. And I'm thinking I may take Eleanor to her first ever theater movie, mostly just for the air conditioning, ha!

What are YOU into? 

Hot where you live?

Linking up with Leigh. This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Tucson Festival of Books 2013: The Wrap-Up

The Authors

I was not brave enough to actually pose for a picture with either of the authors I was excited to meet. But I made my sister-in-law take pictures from in line behind me, because I wanted some photographic evidence!

She made fun of me a little for the Maggie Stiefvater one, saying she felt like my mom. (Admittedly most of the line was made up of tweens with their moms with them, or groups of teenage girls). But she was equally excited to meet Mary Doria Russell. And I still staunchly defend The Scorpio Races; it's a great book. After hearing Maggie talk about The Raven Boys I'm excited to read that one too - because she started the quartet largely in homage to her childhood obsession with Susan Cooper, and I love Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising Sequence!

In addition to meeting a couple of authors (and accidentally elbowing Larry Watson as he was trying to get to his author signing spot, oops); I also got to meet Nikki from BookPairing in real life, which is fun since we've collaborated online (you may remember her Love of Reading week).