R.I.P. ~ Kiki

Kiki Cat

April 20, 2000 ~ June 8, 2012


Update:  Kiki's obituary

Beginning ~ with a surprise pregnancy

The Happy Room ~ by Catherine Palmer, 2002, fiction (Missouri, Kenya)

Julia Chappell dreaded the phone call she'd been waiting for all morning.  Lately, she'd had about all the turmoil she could take.  Her older daughter — newly graduated from high school — lived on the edge of hysteria at the prospect of leaving her boyfriend when she headed for college.  The other daughter, at sixteen, acted like she'd been chosen eternal queen of the universe.  And Julia's husband, a youth minister for almost twenty years, suddenly wasn't sure he could relate to teens anymore.  He was thinking about becoming a pastor.  In a small town.  In Wyoming.  All that, on top of a surprise pregnancy, was almost more than Julia could handle.  And now her doctor had ordered an ultrasound because something didn't seem right.

Oh, yeah, this does have possibilities.  Now I want to know what happens next in this complicated family.  However, I got the book because I'd heard about it when I joined my first reading challenge, way back in 2007.  (Read what I said about that in my Sunday Salon post this week.)



Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays.
Click here for today's Mister Linky.

Beyond the blog ~ freelancing and free stuff

Today's Armchair BEA topic:

"Has blogging opened up opportunities for you beyond getting free, advance copies of new books?  Has it helped you get offers to write or review elsewhere (maybe even for pay)?  Have you gotten invites to special events or places you might not have been to otherwise?  Today, we'd like you to talk about those opportunities in you own posts, and later this morning, we'll have a guest post from one of our own Armchair BEA team members, about her freelancing experiences."

Is that what it's supposed to boil down to?  Free ARCs, offers to write or review, getting paid, invitations, and freelancing?  If so, I might as well leave the conversation.  I've already been there, done that, and retired.  I have been a writer since the mid-1960s, with my by-lined articles published locally, nationally, and internationally.  I have been editor of two in-house publications.  I am blogging now because I enjoy reading and talking about books, not as a way to get free stuff or to get jobs as a freelancer.  I'm not blogging to be discovered, but to share books.  I quit accepting ARCs after the first few because I decided it wasn't worth the trouble.  I don't limit my reading to what's being published this year, but write about what interests me, quite independently from the publishing world.  Today's topic makes all book bloggers sound mercenary, and that's just plain sad.  (And I'm not the only one who has noticed the "what's-in-it-for-me-me-me?" thinking this week.)

Meeting book buddies

Jelani visiting the Sahara

Today's Armchair BEA topic:  Share a positive "real life" experience with books, either by way of your own partnerships in your community, a book signing you went to, or possibly even a get together with fellow book bloggers.  Tell us all about it!

I've been meeting other book lovers for years (click blue links to read more about them).  While discussing Oprah's books in the 1990s, a group of us coalesced and called ourselves the Book Buddies.

Francesca

One August Sunday in 1998, several buddies came to Chattanooga — Jelani from California, Francesca and her family from Michigan, and Donna from St. Louis — so we could all meet each other.  We converged on my church, where I preached and Jelani provided the special music.  He has a beautiful voice!  And then we ate lunch around a big table and talked for a couple of hours or so.

Donna (above left) and I then drove up the east coast to visit three other buddies — Maggie (above right), Meg, and Nancy.  Maggie took in two strangers overnight, though we had all been getting acquainted online for more than two years.  All the people I've met are as wonderful in person as they are online.

Let's see, I dined with June @ Spatter when she was in Chattanooga with her friend (now my friend) Carla in 2008.  In the meantime, Carla has moved here, was at my New Year's Day party, and we ran into each other on Monday while having lunch with other friends.  Moving right along ... I met Susan @ Patchwork Reflections on an extremely hot day in 2007 at the Mudpie, a little restaurant on the North Shore.

Jenn and Bonnie

Jenn dropped by my house on the last day of 2010, with her husband and youngest child.  They were on their way to St. Louis from Atlanta, and Chattanooga just happens to be on that route.

Stephanie

Stephanie @ Confessions of a Bookaholic had her husband and all three of their kids with her, when they stopped in Chattanooga for a visit.  They were on their way home from a vacation.

Marylyn

This is Marylyn, who is a Marine as well as a book lover.  She had this pink scooter while stationed in South Korea.  When she's home on leave, she sometimes drives up from Georgia to visit family — and me! — in Chattanooga.  She's part of my online Book Buddies group.

Margreet

If phone calls count as "meeting," I have talked to Margreet in the Netherlands several times.  I also talked to the famous Dewey of Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon.  I've met more bloggers, but that's all I can think of, at the moment.

Annette

UPDATES
(as my memory brings others to mind):

A few years ago, I drove to Atlanta with Donna (above) to meet Annette.  We had a good visit that day, before Annette flew home to California.  She and most of these I've pictured in this post are now Facebook friends, so we have gotten to know each other well over the years.  (That includes lots of book friends I have never met face to face.)  Sorry, Annette, but it took our FB exchange to remind me! 

Margie

And now I need to add Margie from Southern California and Hawaii.  I've talked to her by phone as well.

Even after Madge left the first comment on this post, I forgot to add her to this list.  We have also been in touch by phone and, as you can see by her picture below, Madge has a great sense of humor.  The English part of the sign says, "No Turning over, Please."  So it looks like Madge is "climbing" over, instead.

Madge in Japan

My crème de la crème ~ so far ~ in 2012

When I saw "Crem Della Crem" in the title of today's Armchair BEA topic post, I wanted to ask, "Della who?"  What a hoot!  The sound-alike crème de la crème is from the French and means "the best of the best."

Today’s suggested posting topic is Best of 2012:  Share some of your favorite books so far this year, and/or the books being promoted at BEA that you hope will end up among your favorites for the year!

These two are the most memorable books I've read this year:

Zeitoun ~ by Dave Eggers, 2009, history (Louisiana), 10/10

The Breath of God ~ by Jeffrey Small, 2011, fiction (Bhutan, India, Georgia, Connecticut), 9.5/10

As for books being promoted, I listened to Barbara Kingsolver's talk streamed from the BEA breakfast this morning.  She talked about the changes in book production from papyrus to paper to digital.

"Durable things still endure. ... The nature of story has not changed in thousands of years. ... Nothing else out there puts you on the inside of another human mind ... That's our domain, we writers and readers and sellers of fiction.  This is the magical thing we do that cannot be replaced. ... What endures is the book."

Barbara Kingsolver's new book, to be published later this year, is Flight Behavior.

In the opening scene in the rural community of Feathertown, Tennessee, 29-year-old Dellarobia Turnbow is headed for a secluded mountain cabin to meet a man and initiate what she expects will be a self-destructive affair.  But the tryst never happens.  Instead, she walks into something on the mountainside she cannot explain or understand:  a forested valley filled with silent red fire that appears to her a miracle.  After years lived entirely in the confines of one small house, Dellarobia finds her path suddenly opening out, chapter by chapter, into blunt and confrontational engagement with her family, her church, her town, her continent, and finally the world at large.

I love Kingsolver's books, which include The Poisonwood Bible, High Tide in Tucson, and Prodigal Summer.

Big Summer Book Challenge

The Big Book Summer Challenge is hosted by Sue @ Book by Book.  It's an easy one -- read at least one book over 400 pages.  That means we can read as many big books as we have time and inclination for.  I knew immediately which book I've always seemed too busy to read.  Its 973 pages have proved a barrier, which I hope to conquer before Labor Day weekend.  Here's my one and only choice:

The Pillars of the Earth ~ by Ken Follett, 1989, fiction (England)

The building of a mighty Gothic cathedral in England in the twelfth century sets the stage for a story of intrigue and power, revenge and betrayal, faith, ambition, and bloodshed.  It's about ...

✓  Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known.

✓  Tom, the mason who becomes his architect, a man divided in his soul.

✓  Lady Aliena, beautiful, elusive, and haunted by a secret shame.

It's about a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state and brother against brother.

Armchair BEA ~ introductions first

Armchair BEA takes place June 4-8, 2012.  I posted the schedule of daily events earlier, and you can sign up here to participate.  Today is the day for Introductions First, where we read interviews about each other.  Here are my answers to five of the ten questions (shown below).  Only five, because we are expected to read as many interviews of other bloggers as possible.

1.  Please tell us a little bit about yourself:  Who are you?  How long have you been blogging?  Why did you get into blogging?

Bonnie and Cady

I'm Bonnie Jacobs from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and I've been blogging about books and life since January 2007.  I write about books for all ages, both fiction and nonfiction, having gotten into blogging to keep track of books I've read.  As I say in my profile, "I read to explore ideas."  Here I am with my granddaughter Cady.

2.  What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2012?

I'm reading and discussing books with two different online groups:

(1)  Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor, a memoir, with several friends at Book Buddies.

(2)  Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thích Nhất Hạnh with two other friends at Notes, Quotes, and Questions.

You are welcome to check out our discussions and comment there (or here) about them.

3.  If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?

Bonnie and Jeffrey Small

I'll choose someone I could discuss ideas with, like Jeffrey Small.  This photo was taken in April, when he signed my new copy of his thriller, The Breath of God.

4.  What literary location would you most like to visit?  Why?

Shakespeare and Company

The manager of my apartment complex has just returned from Paris.  Knowing I'm a booklover, she told me about visiting Shakespeare and Company, an eccentric bookstore.  Young writers are allowed to live and work in the shop.  Wikipedia says of it, "The bookstore includes sleeping facilities, with 13 beds, and Whitman claims as many as 40,000 people have slept in the shop over the years."  Doesn't that sound intriguing?

5.  What is your favorite part about the book blogging community?  Is there anything that you would like to see change in the coming years?

Dewey was my favorite creator of community among her readers.  She had us doing things like Weekly Geeks, Bookworm Carnival, and her 24-Hour Read-a-Thon, which continues to this day in her memory.  Her book blog, The Hidden Side of a Leaf, was taken down after she died in 2008, but her blog Snippets remains up, with "snippets" of Dewey's writing and some of her photographs.  Dewey influenced a lot of us.  And did you know Dewey's cat was a reader?

Dewey's cat

Armchair BEA has a Mr. Linky for Day 1 interviews, so go find other bloggers you want to know better and read their interview answers.  Here are the questions we were to choose from:

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself:  Who are you?  How long have you been blogging?  Why did you get into blogging?
2. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2012?
3. Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone reading your blog may not know about you.
4. What is your favorite feature on your blog (i.e. author interviews, memes, something specific to your blog)?
5. Where do you see your blog in five years?
6. Which is your favorite post that you have written that you want everyone to read?
7. If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?
8. What literary location would you most like to visit?  Why?
9. What is your favorite part about the book blogging community?  Is there anything that you would like to see change in the coming years?
10. Have your reading tastes changed since you started blogging?  How?