Flawless: The actress, who is serving as a jury member this year, was attending the screening of Midnight in Paris by director Woody Allen on the festival's opening ceremony
With that she did a twirl and much leg and thigh was revealed.
'I had to have it made because you know how it is for us tall girls. It's impossible to find anything in a store,' she said with a giggle.
The sheer whiteness of the dress was off-set by a pair of dangling emerald earrings from Chopard.
Flashbulb frenzy: Uma told MailOnline that she she felt sexy in the dress and was hoping to get a chance to dance in it later

Dressed to impress: The actress joins jury members (left to right) Martina Gusman, Robert De Niro, Olivier Assayas, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Jude Law, Linn Ullmann and Nansun Shi
White theme: Uma started the day in Dolce & Gabbana, right, before switching into Versace for the evening
The hem of the dress was decorated with fine white feathers.
Asked about the provenance of the plumage, Uma joked,' I don't know. Maybe somebody lost their feathers', before proffering, 'maybe chicken'
She added: 'I feel so good wearing the dress, I hope I get a chance to dance.
Glamorous: Rachel McAdams, who stars in Midnight in Paris, wore a flesh-coloured gown with red embroidery, pictured right, Indian actress Aishwarya Rai
'It's a dress that moves well when you dance. I was doing a quiet little dance all by myself on the carpet just now,' she explained.
Uma was in Cannes as a member of the festival's main jury.
She arrived with the panel's chairman, Robert De Niro and other jurors who included Jude Law and Linn Ullmann, daughter of Liv Ullmann.
Stunning: Salma Hayek slipped into an off-white pleated dress as she lit up the red carpet this evening
Distinguished: Jury Members Nansun Shi (left), Law and Linn Ullmann chat at the opening ceremony
The stars were attending the festival's gala ceremony and opening film, Woody Allen's Midnight In Paris starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen and Carl Bruni, although Bruni did not attend.
Others at the red carpet event included Salma Hayek ,wearing a shimmering Gucci gown and Antonio Banderas with wife Melanie Griffith.
Bandares was in Cannes to launch the animated film Puss 'n' Boots.

Posing for the cameras: Melanie Griffith and husband Antonio Banderas and, right, actress Lea Seydoux and Midnight In Paris director Woody Allen
Happy couple Rachel McAdams and Michael Sheen kept their romance off the red carpet but shared a romantic moment once they were way from the cameras.
The actors, who star invAllen's Midnight In Paris, which is a sublime love letter to the city, stole a kiss as they walked into the opening night party overlooking the Cannes beach.
They met last year while filming Allen's film in Paris.
Rachel looked divine in an embroidered red silk organza dress with a tulle ruffle skirt with a long train.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan at the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival - 2011

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan - Cannes Day 1 - 2011

Tapete vermelho de Cannes

Cannes (11/05/11) : Envers du décors de la montée des marches de Wody Allen

Hollywood Goes Cannes Crazy as Rachel, Jude, Angelina, and More Get the Festival Underway!

Lady Gaga à Cannes quitte la plage du Martinez après les répétitions

#114 - Cannes Tag 1 - Midnight in Paris

source: dailymail

VIA 'It's sexy isn't it?': Uma Thurman is in fine feather as she sweeps down the red carpet at Cannes in Versace gown

Terrence Malick: The Tree of Life

Everyone loves a recluse, especially when they pop out of the woodwork with masterpieces such asBadlandsandThe New Worldevery seven-years or so. Terrence Malick's latest, starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, sets to be just as beautiful, poetic and complex as his previous films and early buzz has Malick tipped to take home the top prize, 32-years after his first Palme d'Or nomination forDays Of Heaven.
Julia Leigh: Sleeping Beauty

Oscar-winning director Jane Campion presents this erotic retelling of the classic fairytale. Australian beauty Emily Browning swaps the samurai sword and school girl outfit ofSucker Punchto play a college student drawn into a mysterious, hidden world of prostitution. Written and directed by Australian novelist Julia Leigh, this is a triumph of female filmmaking and the poignant, beautifully crafted story should appeal to the A-List jury.
Nicolas Winding Refn: Drive

The black sheep, or black Cadillac rather, of the finalists isDrive; an action movie with art house sensibilities. It stars international film festival favourite Ryan Gosling as a Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman and discovers a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong. It doesn't sound like the usual Palme d'Or fare, which is exactly why it might work. It also stars Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Bryan Cranston and Oscar Isaac.
Lars Von Trier: Melancholia

Von Trier blew everyone away with his sexually graphic and emotionally horrific filmAntichristat last year's Cannes, which divided critics and audiences alike. His latest and eighth Palme d'Or nominated filmMelancholialooks to be a safer bet with Kristen Dunst and renowned French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg starring as sisters who find their relationship challenged as a nearby planet threatens to collide into the Earth.

Pedro Almodóvar: La Piel que Habito (The Skin that I Inhabit)

Bizarre. That's the first word that springs to mind when watching excerpts from acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar's latest about a plastic surgeon (Antonio Banderas) on the hunt for the men who raped his daughter. Part horror, part thriller, all parts dramatic, this is one of the more left-field, artistic offerings amongst the 20 finalists.

Takashi Miike: Ichemei (Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai)

The prolific and controversial Japanese filmmaker's newbie will be the first 3D feature to compete in Cannes and is a re-imagining of Masaki Kobayashi's 1962 filmHarakiri. With over 70 titles to his name, Miike's films range from violent and bizarre to dramatic and family-friendly, with this being his first to screen at the famous festival. It's an outside chance to take home any of the major prizes since its biggest coup was getting selected for competition in the first place.
Out of competition films to keep an eye on throughout the course of the festival are Australian serial-killer dramaSnowtown, the controversial Princess Diana documentaryUnlawful Killingand Oscar-winner Gus Van Sant's latestRestless, starring talented Aussie actress Mia Wasikowka. The Cannes film festival wraps on May 22. In the meantime, I suggest you check out theRestlesstrailer below because, put simply, it looks amazing.

VIA That Cannes-do spirit

The Iowa City Book Festival just wrapped up yesterday and I was exhausted last night from the festivities. I couldn't take in as many events as I wanted to because I had to come home fairly early on Sunday and wanted to catch up with some friends Saturday evening. Overall though I hit some events and can't wait for next year's festival to come around! For those of you who aren't from around here, the Iowa City Book Festival is a three day event where readers, authors, librarians, booksellers, and others come to celebrate a love of books and reading. There are readings, presentations, films, book sales, and activities for children all going on with food and music for everyone to enjoy. This year I was also invited to participate in the event and I gave a talk about five of my favorite books from the past year and I also talked about blogging for a little while. I had a fairly good crowd, about 20-25 people were there.

This is me preparing to speak on Saturday, a little nervous.

Here I am in Gibson Square, where all of the music and book sales were. I'm standing next to the portion of the schedule that has my name listed on it.

I met some cool people as well. Chelle from The Prairie Library came to listen to me during her 15 minute break. It was awesome to put a face to a name and she is the first blogger I've met in real life, well that I didn't know before I started blogging. I also met Andrew Shaffer of the Huffington Post who asked a ton of great questions and is a truly funny guy. In addition to meeting people, I also saw some great writers. Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife, was the headlining speaker. I never realized just how dark TTW is until I heard her talking about it. She definitely has an interest in the darker side of life and is actually trained as visual artist, not a writer, which I never knew. Clearly she is a woman of many talents, and she is hilarious to listen to. Right after her Q&A I ran off to hear Hope Edelman and Carl Klaus talk about memoir and memory. Klaus interviewed Edelman and since the two already knew each other they had great chemistry. I haven't read anything by either writer but if their writing is as good as their insights on the memoir genre then I know I am in for a treat!

Sunday was A Day in the City of Literature and there were several readings scheduled. I, unfortunately, could only go to one before I had to leave town so I really had to think about who I wanted to see. I decided to see Stephen Bloom whose most recent book, Tears of Mermaids, has received kind words from many places and Michael Kindness from Books on the Nightstand was especially excited about it so I felt I had to go. The reading was held in the jewelry store M.C. Ginsberg, which was a nice fit because Tears of Mermaids is a micro-history of pearls. Bloom read a short, funny selection from the book and I was glad I recently purchased it (and I got my copy signed!). After the reading he shared a wealth of knowledge of pearls, passing around polished oyster shells and describing the several kinds of pearls and the places in the world they come from. He also spent some time talking about research and writing as well as what he enjoys about it and what he doesn't. It was a great way to spend an hour and I'm confident that I chose a good reading to attend.

Overall my experience at the Iowa City Book Festival was incredible, and to top everything off my name is even on the event's t-shirt because I was a speaker at it, how amazing is that?!? If you couldn't make it but are interested in what books I talked about I posted my picks on Saturday. I'm already looking forward to next year's festival and since I won't be living an hour and a half away hopefully I'll be able to take even more in.

Yesterday was the long awaited Twin Cities Book Festival. I got to Minneapolis on Friday night and was excited to see a Borders right across the street from my hotel. I went there right away of course, but didn't end up buying anything. That, of course, doesn't mean I didn't buy anything on Saturday.

This is the nice stack I came away with. To be fair four of these books are literary magazines (which were only $2 each, it's amazing I didn't just buy the entire table) and one of the magazines is for a friend. I got two issues of Creative Nonfiction, a magazine I love for obvious reasons but rarely get. I talk about Number 31 yesterday in my Awesome Essays post because the subject is publishing and writing in 2025, which seemed to be a huge theme in the panel discussions I went to. Check out that post to share your ideas! I also got Number 23, which is about Mexican-American writers, something I've recently become interested in. I got a little poetry magazine called Bateau and the Alaska Quarterly Review for my friend Michael.

As far as actual books, I got the first comic book in the Fables series, A Blue So Dark by Holly Schindler (the publicist, Courtney, did a great job selling the book to me), and If You Lived Here You'd Already Be Home by John Jodzio from Replacement Press. I'm super excited to read all of these!

Yesterday was a very long and exciting day. Right away in the morning I met Reagan from Miss Remmers Review, Sheila from Book Journey, Kim from Sophisticated Dorkiness, and Alea from Pop Culture Junkie. We all had a great chat about books and life before heading over to Sheila's panel discussion about the future of publishing. Her panel was awesome-- and Kim and I said that she answered all the blogger questions just how we would have answered them. After the panel we browsed some of the tables where publishers and authors were promoting their books.

It was a huge crowd! I was excited to see so many people interested in books all in one room. We all went to get lunch with Liz from Consumed By Books and Joanne from Jo Jo Loves to Read. We talked about books (more) and life (more) and then headed back to the festival because Kim, Alea, and I wanted to go to a panel about comic books and comics that Bill Willingham was speaking at. I never realized there was such a great comics scene in Minneapolis and I'll definitely be checking into the other speakers' work as well.

Later at night Sheila, Reagan, Kim, and I went to Borders for awhile and I found a bunch of books I wanted but didn't buy any, which I think deserves a round of applause. Then my boyfriend met up with us and we went to a Chinese place for dinner.

Take One: Reagan, Sheila, me, and Kim.

Take 423: Reagan, Sheila, me, and Kim.

So that was my fun exciting time at the Twin Cities Book Festival. Hopefully I'll get to go again next year and we can do another Midwest Book Blogger meet-up again soon!

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

VIA Cannes Film Festival 2011: Salma Hayek in a wacky Gucci dress

I attended the National Book Festival last Saturday. It was amazing to see all of the people that showed up! I was excited to see so many children there as well.

I didn't end up getting any of my books signed. However, I did manage to get pictures of Salman Rushdie as he was hurriedly rushed away after he spoke at the Fiction Pavilion; Katharine Paterson, author of Bridge to Terabithia, among many others, as the staff attempted to pull her away from a flock of young children, begging for authographs; and finally, Dionne Warwick, who spoke to at the Children's pavillion about her book, Say a Little Prayer (Running Press, September 2008), a picture book that encourages kids to find their best talent in life and embrace it. I just missed seeing Geraldine Brooks and Philippa Gregory.

Want to know why I didn't get my books signed? Well, I thought ahead and brought copies of the books with me. However, the book signing lines were forever and a day long! Each author signed for an hour, and I don't think many of them even made a dent in the lines of people waiting. And let's not even talk about the lines in the book sale pavilion. I don't know why people stood in line so long to buy books that they can get at their local book store. Perhaps they wanted to get them signed...but after standing line to buy the book, and then stand in another line to (maybe) get the book signed by the author is just not worth it to me. Granted, I'm cheap, almost never buy books at full price and have no problem writing my favorite authors for their autographs.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience. We got copies of official 2008 National Book Festival posters. I may (hint hint) be giving one away. My friend Jackie and I decided to make it an annual tradition to to to the National Book Festival together.

So, have you ever met one of your favorite authors? Share the details!

Side note: I'll be posting the pictures I took as soon as I figure out what I did with my camera!

I have talked about the Iowa City Book Festival quite a bit over the past few weeks and I'm sure those of you who aren't in Iowa are getting annoyed by me. But today is the actual festival! So after tomorrow I will shut-up about it, I promise. But for those of you who can't be here or those of you who are here who can't see me or for those of you who listened to me but forget what I said, I'm going to post my list of books I talked about during my talk today. These are my top five books I've read in the past year (basically, there are some I just didn't feel needed to be advertised as much, like Middlemarch, which I also advise you to read).

1. Notes from No Man's Land: American Essays

by Eula Biss. Yes, I'm recommending this book even though I've never reviewed it on this blog. It is a fabulous essay collection that deals with race, gender, age, and just growing up. You must read it. I read this book in two days a little over a year ago and I am still talking about it, so that should be a pretty good indication of how much I enjoyed it. And for fellow Iowans, there are many references to Iowa and Iowa City, as well as Chicago and New York. I haven't reviewed this book, but I did talk about on of Eula Biss's earlier essays.
2. The Creation of Eve

by Lynn Cullen. There have been several books about artists recently but this is by far the best, in my opinion. It is a historical fiction novel about Sofonisba Anguisolla, a female Renaissance painter who works in the court of Queen Elisabeth of Spain. I learned so much about gender restrictions in Spain through this novel, which is something I don't think I was ever interested in until I read this. I couldn't put this down. There is also sexual scandal that deals with Michelangelo, and some beautiful scenes about painting when Sofonisba is his student. Follow the link for my review of The Creation of Eve.
3. This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All

by Marilyn Johnson. It's really no secret that I want to go into library science after I graduate, but that isn't the only reason I enjoyed this book. Johnson goes on several interviews across the East coast with librarians and those who love them. She meets librarians who network using the online game Second Life, librarians who teach people from underdeveloped countries so they can help their own countries, and librarians who love to blog. I learned a lot from this book and Johnson is incredibly witty which made a book that could have been a total snore become a joy to read. Follow the link for my review of This Book is Overdue!
4. The Imperfectionists

by Tom Rachman is a series of character sketches. It takes place in Rome and most of the characters work at an English language international newspaper or are somehow related to a person who does work there. Rachman does an amazing job of making every character unique, believable, and sympathetic. All of the characters connect somehow throughout the novel and somehow all have similar themes going through their lives. Like relationships, failed relationships, lost love, and death. By the end of this book you'll feel like you you just got to know a bunch of people at party, except you'll know them better than anyone you've met at a party. Follow the link for my review of The Imperfectionists.
5. The Luxe

by Anna Godbersen. I had to put some junk food on the list and out of all the junk food I've read in the past year The Luxe series is my favorite. I'm reading the third book, Envy, right now and I think I can safely say the series gets better as you go on. It's about a group of teenage girls in the early 1900's New Amsterdam, today Manhattan. They are rich, snobby brats and I love every minute of it. Penelope is new money and out to get everything she wants, no matter who she has to step on along the way. Elizabeth and Diana are sisters and from old money, but totally different. Elizabeth is in love with her chauffeur and is really looking for a more down-to-earth life than the one she lives, and she's a bit of a goody-two-shoes. Diana is much more interesting, she is dark and a bit moody, loves to sit and read, and thinks all the social airs her family puts on are stupid, she's just more vocal about it than her sister. Very dramatic. Follow the link for my review of The Luxe.

I actually haven't talked about my picks at the festival at this point, so if you're reading this and in Iowa City come see me at 1 PM today!

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

This week Suey asked Geekers to share their plans for this weekend's 24 Hour Read-A-Thon...and a few of you took on the challenge.

Molly (The Restless Reader) will be experiencing her first Read-A-Thon. She writes: "Instead of worrying about the number of pages read, my overall goal is to just enjoy the experience."

You might want to amble over to Charlie's house (Life Happens) if you are looking for something good to eat. She plans on: "Food? Snacks? ALWAYS. I prefer lots of these things. I may get a cheese/grape/strawberry plate I spied at the store the other day. It's light and good for you...or I may get Easy Cheese and Chicken in a Biscuits...we'll see how it turns out. The less crumbs on the books the better."

Melydia isn't planning on participating in the Read-A-Thon this year, but she has a strategy anyway. Check out her post on Utter Randomonium for some good advice.

Melanie from Cynical Optimism is mixing a book festival and shopping at the farmer's market into her day of reading. She writes: "The Southern Festival of Books runs Friday-Sunday. Saturday specifically i intend to see Harold Ford at 10, the authors of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us at 12, Brian Yansky and Paolo Bacigalupi at 2:30, then at 3 Dr Bill Bass and author Jon Jefferson are talking about their book!" Check out her blog for some live posts about the festival on Saturday.

There were nine other responses to this week's Weekly Geek's post - and they are all great...so check out the links on this post.

Whatever you're planning for this autumn weekend, I hope it is wonderful...and that you find some great books along the way!

The 32-year-old Notebook star looked stunning in a sheer dress with bright red embellishment and embroidered train as she walked the carpet at the lavish event.
Hot date: Rachel was accompanied by her boyfriend actor Michael Sheen to the screening of her new film Midnight In Paris
She paired the intricate Marchesa dress with Bulgari jewellery and gold Casadei pumps while her hair looked old Hollywood with voluminous waves and a side parting.
Rachel was joined at the event by boyfriend and co-star Michael Sheen, who could not take his eyes off his ravishing date.
At one point her accidentally stood on the train of her dress as they walked.
Get off: Sheen, stood on her dress by accident as they entered the event
The happy couple kept their romance off the red carpet but shared a private moment once they were way from the cameras.
The actors, who star in Woody Allen's Midnight In Paris, described as a sublime love letter to the city, stole a kiss as they walked into the opening night party overlooking the Cannes beach.
They met last year while filming Allen's film in Paris.
French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand, Rachel McAdams, and Michael Sheen
While it's still early days for the Rachel and Michael's relationship, Rachel said she is hoping they will be able to follow in the footsteps of her parents, who are her romantic inspiration.
She said: 'They are still together and still in love. I'm very blessed that way.
'I had a great example of love in front of me, and that's probably what makes me such a romantic, because I've seen it first-hand.'
Talking about her expectations for relationships, Rachel said: 'You grow up and you assume that everyone is like that, and you quickly realize that they're not, and then you have those days when you wonder if you're going to find it for yourself.
It's such a hard thing to find.
'I think it was more that realisation that rocked me.'
Cannes Tag 1 - Midnight in Paris

Midnight in Paris Trailer 2011

source: dailymail

VIA Rachel McAdams wows the Cannes Film Festival crowd in a daring sheer red dress

The National Book Festival is being held September 26, 2009 at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. There is an amazing line-up of authors scheduled to appear, including some of my favorites:

Shannon Hale
Mo Willems
David Baldacci
Lee Child
James Patterson
George Pelecanos
Judy Blume
Patrick Carman
Rick Riordan
John Grisham
John Irving
Katherine Neville
Jodi Picoult
Nicholas Sparks
Jeannette Walls

(for a full list, visit the Library of Congress Web site).

Several local bloggers are working together to plan a DC TweetUp, which is basically a get together for anyone that will be in town to attend the National Book Festival. If you will be in DC that weekend, and are interested in joining up with us, please sign up for the DC Tweetup group. We're also planning a tour of the Library of Congress Building, so sign up for the group to receive updates as they become available!

After spending a lot of time listening to panels about the future of books today I thought it was only fitting to talk about an essay I read (in an issue of Creative Nonfiction I got at the Twin Cities Book Festival) about what publishing will look like in 2025. In number 31 of the literary magazine Creative Nonfiction essayists wrote on the topic Writing and Publishing in 2015 and Beyond. Phillip Lopate, the man who edited the anthology The Art of the Personal Essay titled his predictions The Best of Times, Worst of Times. One of his most interesting ideas is bringing old authors back from the dead, and in doing this he predicts they'll produce nothing more than boring biographies full of their regrets. You can read a portion of this short essay on Creative Nonfiction's website.

Lopate also predicts that the physical book will continue to exist, but that the industry will be full of experimentation. One example is the book-lozenge, "which dissolved novella-sized works on the tongue, not to mention the book-shot, devised for cultivated diabetics who requested a literary does with their daily injections." Can you imagine being given an entire book through candy? I think it might be fun to try every once in awhile, but I wouldn't want it to replace books. What does that say about our culture? That we'd rather be fed culture than experience it?

I'm really interested to hear what other people think about Lopate's predictions and what all of you think might happen in the book industry by 2025. A more serious suggestion made by Jeff Kamin at the Twin Cities Book Festival today was offering paperback books with the hardcovers simply because people will probably buy the book sooner. I think this is a really good idea and a lot of us agreed on that today.

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

Fire festival

VIA «Promo-pavilion for the city of Żory»

I'm headed to the National Book Festival tomorrow. It's sponsored by the Library of Congress. I've lived in the DC area for almost 10 years, and this is the first opportunity I've been able to attend. My husband has graciously offered to watch our boys while a friend and I attend.

Some of my favorite authors will be there. Here's a list of the fiction authors who will be making an appearance.

Louis Bayard
Geraldine Brooks
Sandra Brown
Marisa de los Santos
Philippa Gregory
Andrew Klavan
James McBride
Brad Meltzer
Richard Price
Francine Prose
Peter Robinson
Salman Rushdie
Alexander McCall Smith

Since I don't have the strength to lug all the books I want signed, a friend of mine (thanks Toni!) suggested that I just take book jackets/sleeves. Awesome idea!

Anyway, I can't wait! I'll try to get a few pictures of me with my favorite authors.

October reminds people of goblins, witches, and things that go bump in the night. Last weekend I enjoyed the 20th anniversary of the Keene Pumpkin Festival - a magical event filled with Jack-o-Lanterns and autumn festivities. It made me wonder what kind of Oktoberfest and Halloween traditions other bloggers celebrate. And it made me think of scary books.

So for this week's Geeks I thought we could all get in the spirit of October by sharing:

• October traditions you look forward to
• Links to Halloween or Oktoberfest activities in your area
• Book recommendations that are guaranteed to put you in the "spirit" of October

As always, provide DIRECT permalinks to your post using Mr. Linky below. And don't forget to visit other Geeks this week!

First off, Happy 4th of July to all of my American friends! I watched some fireworks in my hometown last night so I kind of feel like the holiday is over for me already. This is actually the first 4th of July I haven't had to work in six years! And I'm not doing a very good job of celebrating, but I do plan on doing a lot of reading today. I had an awesome reading month in June, check out all these books I read:

Books Read in June
1. The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell (C)
2. Talking Up: Young Women's Take on Feminism edited by Rosamund Else-Mitchell (C)
3. Ariel by Sylvia Plath (A)
4. Shadowland (Mediator Series 1) by Meg Cabot (C)
5. Admit One: My Life in Film by Emmett James (C)
6. The Best American Essays 2009 edited by Mary Oliver (B)
7. What the Librarian Did by Karina Bliss (C)
8. The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan (C)
9. Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper by Diablo Cody (B)
10. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding (A)
11. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman (A)
12. Orlando by Virginia Woolf (B)
13. The Passage by Justin Cronin (B)

13 books! That's more than twice of what I read in May. Being home for the summer has really increased my reading pace and I've enjoyed watching my list of books read this year grow. I'm at 57 now, in case you were wondering. The month of July is going to be a little bit different for me. I'm participating in several read alongs and the one I'm most excited about is Capricious Reader's To Kill a Mockingbird Challenge. I'm going to join her in posting my thoughts on a section of book every Monday, starting tomorrow. You might be wondering why we're doing a To Kill a Mockingbird challenge right now. This month is the fiftieth anniversary of the book. I remember reading the book five years ago and absolutely falling in love with it so I'm really looking forward to finishing it for the second time around. I'm about a third of the way through it right now and it's just as good as I remember it being.

I also wanted to mention that in the month of July I will be participating in the Iowa City Book Festival as a speaker on July 17 at 1:00 pm. If you're in the Iowa City area or just in Iowa and are looking for something fun to do that weekend please come out and see me! I'm going to be sharing five books that I love. For those of you who can't join us I will post my list on my blog and will also do a post about the awesome things I see at the festival.

VIA Rachel McAdams joins 2010 best

I'm taking a little advice from Reagan at Miss Remmers' Review today and announcing my trip to New York. BookExpo America and the Book Blogger Convention are less than two weeks away, which is so hard to believe. I booked my hostel, ordered my plane tickets, and bought my entrance to the expo back in February but I haven't thought about it too much because I have been so busy with school and work. Now it's right around the corner and I'm running around trying to figure out what I need to take!

For those of you who don't know, BookExpo America is the largest publishing trade show in the United States. It takes place once a year and lately it's been in New York City. At the end of the week there is a Book Blogger Convention where bloggers from all across the country come to meet and talk about what we love: blogging. There will be authors, publishers, booksellers and the like there to talk about what they do and what they have coming up in the next year.

This is my first time going to BEA but I'll have the lovely ladies I met at the Twin Cities Book Festival there. Kim from Sophisticated Dorkiness, Sheila from Book Journey, and Reagan have all been super helpful with tips on what to expect. I'm a little nervous because this is the first trip I've ever planned and taken on my own, but I'm also really excited!

Are you going to BEA this year? If you are we should meet! Email me at englishmajorjunkfood (AT) yahoo (DOT) com if you want to exchange phone numbers or contact information. Or if you're going and just want to say hey leave a comment. What I'm most looking forward to at BEA is meeting other bloggers in real life--and that includes you! This is what I look like if you're trying to find me:

Keep in mind I am six feet tall, so I will probably stick out a bit. I usually do. My name is Ash. I bold this because some people out there will ask me if my name is Ashley. You are reading this right now and so you will not have to ask me if I go by Ash or Ashley. You will know already that I go by Ash and that it's really best to leave it at that. And yes, I've heard the Pokemon joke already. Okay, moving on...

I arrive in New York on Tuesday and leave on Saturday. Especially let me know if you come in on Tuesday as well!

Please let me know if you'll be at BEA as well so I can get excited about meeting you!

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

Winner of an ARC of "Living Dead Girl": Julie P.!
Winner of the National Book Festival Poster: Violet Crush!

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Nearly 100,000 people have signed an online petition attacking the idea. Authorities insist the project poses no risk to the monument, said Joaquin Paredes, the creator of the petition. “How can it be that the transfer and installation of courts and bleachers as well as allowing access to thousands of people won’t have any effect on a monument that’s more than 2,000 years old?”

Local groups have also taken aim. Cavex, the umbrella group of neighbours associations in Extremadura, conveyed its “absolute rejection” of the idea in a statement. “It’s a total lack of respect for one of our most emblematic monuments,” the group said. “Mérida has much more appropriate spaces for padel tennis.”

Others have backed the idea, arguing that Mérida is far from pioneering the use of ruins to host large events. As Damián Beneyto, a politician representing regional political parties, pointed out on Twitter: “The bullring in Nimes is a roman coliseum and its conservation hasn’t been compromised.”

Despite the outcry, the People’s party politician who heads Extremadura has held firm to the idea. On Monday, José Antonio Monago told journalists that if there had been any concerns about risk to the monument, city officials would have never allowed the proposal to go forward.

He pointed to Verona, home to one of the world’s largest Roman amphitheatres – which has at times been converted into an ice rink. Mérida itself stages a large theatre festival each year in the amphitheatre, he added. “At one time they put cranes and vehicles in the Roman theatre. Nobody gathered signatures or spoke out.”

Author: Ashifa Kassam | Source: The Guardian [March 27, 2015]

As part of my Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay readalong I'm posting reviews of comic books all week. Today's comic book is Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile

, which I purchased at the Twin Cities Book Festival. I've heard a lot of great things about this comic book on podcasts, blogs, and from friends. I honestly don't know why I waited so long to read it because the idea attracted me immediately. All of the characters from fairy tales and fables have been chased out of their homelands and now live in various parts of New York State. They fit in with humankind, but they also have their own governance and rules. Snow White is the Director of Operations. She divorced Prince Charming after she found him in bed with her sister (yeah these aren't PG) and she has got an attitude in this book. Love it.

There are five parts to Volume 1 but the story is linear. From the very beginning we know something happened to Snow White's sister, Rose Red, because Jack (like Jack in the Beanstalk), comes rushing to the cop, Bigby Wolf, to try and get him to investigate the case. Jack is Rose Red's sister, but Bigby questions their relationship. At the apartment Bigby sees nothing but blood all over the apartment, and speculates that Rose Red is dead. She doesn't tell Snow White right away though, and Snow White wants to murder him because of it. While all of this is going on all of the members of Fabletown are preparing for a huge Remembrance Day celebration to remember their homelands.

When I initially heard about a comic book based off of fairy tales I figured it would probably be cute. Fables is not cute, it's incredibly dark and sarcastic-- which I love. Bill Willingham manages to push these characters further than I've ever seen in a parody. Others have wondered if characters are really happy when the story ends, but Willingham looks at them like real people. And he looks at their immortality-- sure Beauty and the Beast get married and live happily ever after, but can you really live happily ever after for eternity? If you've never read a comic book before I think this is a great one to start with. The stories will be familiar to you and you can get used to the style of comic books easily with this one.

I give volume one of Fables a B.

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