Armchair Book Expo America - Last Day

The home page at Armchair BEA Central has some terrific last day posts, most especially pertinent, I think, for book bloggers who want to make their blogs more effective and maybe reach a wider audience. We all want to be better bloggers - right? I know I certainly do - I have so much to learn! Interesting thoughts, ideas, tips and links. Thanks to the Armchair BEA bloggers for doing such a great job this week. (I wish I could have been more attentive, but reality kept intruding.)

To check it all out, simply use this link.

Armchair Book Expo America - Day Two

Today's topic: Best of 2011, so far AND New books I'm looking forward to reading this year. (Books must be published in 2011.) Link here to ARMCHAIR BEA where all things BEA are being coordinated - you can read what other ARMCHAIR bloggers are talking and posting about


2011 has been a great year for reading but it seems that most of the books I've read were published in previous years. As some of you know I read a lot of vintage and I've been caught up in The Vintage Reading Challenge hosted by Bev over at MY READER'S BLOCK, so that's been one of my main reading concentrations this year. Another thing is I rarely check to see what year a book I'm reading was published in (unless I have a specific reason), if I'm enjoying the book, that's all I care about. So when I do my end of year Best Of 2011 list, it will, necessarily, include books published in other years.


But I think I can put a little list together of five books actually published in 2011 that I've enjoyed so far this year:

ONE OF OUR THURSDAYS IS MISSING by Jasper Fforde - The latest Thursday Next, literary detective, unclassifiable adventure in an alternate universe where books have a strange life of their own.

FADEAWAY GIRL by Martha Grimes - The latest Emma Graham mystery. Emma is still 12 years old and still poking about in long ago mysteries best left alone.

ONE WAS A SOLDIER by Julia Spencer Fleming - The latest in the Russ Alstyne and Clare Ferguson mysteries set in upstate New York where it always seems to be winter.

TREASON AT LISSON GROVE by Anne Perry - The latest in the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt historical mysteries set in Victorian England. Pitt is a member of Special Branch and Charlotte is his wife who occasionally helps in his investigations.

A RED HERRING WITHOUT MUSTARD by Alan Bradley - The latest in the Flavia de Luce mysteries set in the 1950's English countryside. The books feature Flavia, an 11 year old solver of mysteries and budding chemist whose primary interest is in poisons.

The titles above link to my own reviews of these particular books.
                                                
Now for a list of some of the books published either recently or later this year that I am especially looking forward to reading:

PIRATE KING by Laurie R. King (The absolute latest in the Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell series set before or during WWI)

EMBASSYTOWN by China Mieville

THE READING PROMISE: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma - non-fiction

IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS: Love, Terror and An American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson - non-fiction

AMONG PENGUINS: A Bird Man in Antartica by Noah Stryker - non-fiction

BLEEDING HEART SQUARE by Andrew Taylor

EXIT THE ACTRESS by Priya Parmar

THE RANGER by Ace Atkins

A MORTAL TERROR by James R. Benn

SMOKIN' SEVENTEEN by Janet Evanovich (Another Stephanie Plum mystery.)

MISERY BAY by Steve Hamilton (An Alex McKnight mystery.)

ESCAPE ARTIST - An Edna Ferber Prequel by Ed Ifkovic

ACCEPTABLE LOSS by Anne Perry (A William Monk mystery.)

THE END OF EVERYTHING by Megan Abbott

WICKED AUTUMN by G.M. Malliet

THE AFFAIR by Lee Child (A Jack Reacher thriller.)

THE DOG WHO KNEW TOO MUCH by Spencer Quinn (A Chet and Ernie mystery.)

CHELSEA MANSION by Barry Maitland

GHOST HERO by S.J. Rozan ( A Bill Smith and Lydia Chin mystery)

COLD VENGEANCE by Lincoln Child and Robert Preston (A Pendergast mystery)

A TRICK OF THE LIGHT by Louise Penny (An Inspector Gamache mystery)

THE GREATER JOURNEY Americans in Paris by David McCullough - non-fiction

The above titles were culled from lists of 2011 books. Of course, I'll still be reading and re-reading vintage, assorted recommendations from friends, books published in other years, etc. That's the reading life. Thank goodness.

Book Expo America Week! Day One.

But for those of us - bookbloggers extraordinaire - who can't attend the ACTUAL Book Expo America at the Javits Center in NYC this week, we have the next best thing: Armchair Book Expo! This week BEA is the place for book people to meet and greet, but if you can't attend in actual person, then thanks to the gals at Armchair BEA, we can hang out at a virtual convention - from the comfort of our own armchairs. Check out the website link to see what cool things the gals at Armchair BEA have in store for us this week. Books rule!

Each day this week there will be different fun things going on. Book discussions. Questions to ponder. News to absorb. Giveaways. Etc, etc, etc.

Today's exercise is to introduce ourselves (as if you didn't already know enough about me already) by responding to the following question:

Who are you and how do you Armchair?

My name is Yvette and I am a woman of a certain age. (Better than saying I'm an old biddy.) I am a proud mother and grandmother. (My beautiful granddaughter has her first birthday today!) I am an illustrator currently taking a break from the working life for various and sundry reasons. But I am gearing up towards possibly opening an etsy shop sometime next year. I am bilingual - English and Spanish, but I only read and write in English and I admit my Spanish is getting more and more rickety with age. I was lucky enough to grow up in NYC in the 50's when Manhattan was nothing but a huge playground. 

I love to read, primarily mysteries, but I'll read anything that's well-written and engages my imagination. I admit I am very opinionated about what I read, but that's who I am. I love to laugh and if we disagree on a book, I'm hoping we can agree to disagree and laugh about it at the same time. Sometimes I feel as if I've read just about everything, especially when it comes to mysteries, but then I find myself being surprised by something new - that's life.

I've been blogging since last July (no matter what google-blogger says) and being, in general, a hapless techno-phobe, I am the most surprised person in the world to find myself with a blog. Who knew the internet could be this much fun?

BLOGGING HABIT: 
As much as is humanly possible, I try to post something every day. I blog about books, movies (mostly vintage), art (and design) and really, just about anything else that catches my peripatetic eye. Eclectic is my middle name. (Or so I like to think.)

GENRES I READ:  
I love mysteries, thrillers, suspense and once in a while a good spy drama. Occasionally I read romance, science-fiction, fantasy and even so-called 'serious literature'. I've been known to read  steampunk, cyber-punk and the category-defying books of Christopher Moore and Jasper Fforde.  I also read non-fiction, especially history, biography and travel. I am very fond of books set before and/or during WWII. I'm also fond of childrens' picture books and I have a nice little collection.

GENRES I'M NOT FOND OF: 
In general (unless I have a very good reason) I don't read YA (Young Adult) novels, although lately I've read a few I've liked so that may be changing. In general, I avoid books filled with teenage angst. I don't read horror, I don't read 'happy hitman' books. I don't read blood thirsty serial killer books. I dislike over-the-top violence unless the author convinces me that it's necessary and writes it in a way that doesn't make me cringe. I also have little if any interest in vampires, zombies or other variety/combos of  the undead. I'm not crazy about books written from a hundred (I exagerate) multiple viewpoints unless it is very, VERY well done. I don't read e- books unless ABSOLUTELY necessary.

And another thing: I rarely read books written in the present tense.. Don't like it at all. Don't understand why it's suddenly all the rage. Exception to the rule: I've just read THE HUNGER GAMES which is, more or less, written in the first person. (Review coming up later.) But only because a good friend insisted I do so. Sometimes, as you know, you just have to please your friends.

FAVORITE BOOKS:
If you check out my blog's left hand sidebar, you'll see a listing of some of my favorite books beginning with my numero uno of all time: Jane Austen's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. After that, it's an eclectic mix.

I am a big fan of the Golden Age of Mysteries - authors like: Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh and Rex Stout -  and you'll generally find a review of one or two of them mixed in with all the regular stuff I like to post about. Saturday morning, I post A Favorite Painting but I'm always ready to talk artwork and artists and I take any opportunity I can to post vintage mystery book covers simply because I love the graphic look of them. I'm also always ready to dish old movies, especially those from the 40's, 50's and 60's.

Okay, enough about me. What about you? I'm off to get acquainted with the other Armchair BEA bloggers and see what they're up to this week.

Thanks again to the gals at Armchair Book Expo for making all this come together in such a friendly and useful way.

illustration by Edward Gorey. To read about and see more Gorey work, please go here.