The Blue Moon Weekly Link Round-Up

I hope you all got to enjoy the blue moon this week; I know I did. Denis and I motored on over to The Poisoned Pen Thursday evening to see Carol O'Connell, author of the excellent series featuring Kathy Mallory. (Ack... I should've said just Mallory. I can feel that woman's mental death glare now!)

Barbara Peters and Carol O'Connell

Even though there was a slight problem with the microphones, everything settled down quickly for an enjoyable evening. Denis came home to download the first book in O'Connell's series, and I read about Mallory this afternoon out in the pool.

Speaking of the pool, that still occupies a place in my afternoons. In the evenings when Denis is at work, I've been stitching beads onto pieces of needlepoint so I can then line the needlepoint and complete the projects. While I've been doing this, "Campion" has been keeping me company. I've been savoring the stories, the houses, and those marvelous old cars.

Next week looks to be slightly busier. Outside of the usual errands and appointments, it looks as though we'll be heading to the Water Ranch, so I'd better get my camera batteries charged up. There will also be two visits to The Poisoned Pen: one for Margaret Coel and William Kent Krueger, and the other for Rhys Bowen. (And the week after that? Louise Penny and Kathy Reichs!)

Hang on a second while I put out an APB on those links!

Bookish News & Other Interesting Stuff

•  Elmore Leonard, another crime fiction great, has died. His novels were known for their great opening lines.
• Crime fiction author Ian Rankin is taking a year off due to his health.
• How many books have you read from a 1907 high school reading list? (Of the books listed in the graphic at the top of the article, I'd not read one.)
• The trailer of the movie they're making of The Book Thief looks promising.
• 38% of readers will finish a book no matter what. (I'm not among them. I just don't review the ones I couldn't finish.)
• I understand where she's coming from, but the librarian who wants to ban a 5-time reading champ from competing is a tad misguided.
• I know some pickers who would've loved to have found this Pierce, Nebraska car dealership.
• On Jungle Red Writers, author Deborah Crombie asked fellow authors (and blog readers) if they considered themselves more modern, and more liberated, than their mothers.
• A Shanghai bookstore opens a metro line library scheme.
• Barbara Vey doesn't quite understand the hype surrounding cover reveals. (Neither do I.)
• Maj Sjöwall, architect of modern Scandinavian crime thrillers, believes that Sweden's crime writers are too interested in love.

I  ♥  Lists

• 17 problems only book lovers will understand. 
• 10 of literature's most unreliable narrators.
• The writing tools of 20 famous authors.
• 24 photos of famous authors when they were coming of age.
• 10 bookstores in 10 literary cities that you don't want to miss.

Book Candy

• Take a look at this Book House that overlooks Lake Washington!
• It's a bar, it's a bookstore: the BookBar has opened in Berkeley.
• Some impressive bookcase designs with glass doors.

That's all for this week. Have a great weekend, everyone, and don't forget to stop by next weekend. I'll have a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure!