Merry Wanderer of the Night [Search results for iowa city book festival] 

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.

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.

Last weekend I was so busy with the Iowa City Book Festival I didn't get the chance to post a Sunday Salon. This weekend has been equally busy but I've managed to find a little more time. I've been in Madison, Wisconsin with my boyfriend this weekend. It's a cool city and I'm thinking about going to library school here in a couple of years so I wanted to check out the area to see if I might like living here. I think it's safe to say that I would really enjoy living in Madison. My boyfriend and I are all about biking, walking, canoeing, and "green" living I suppose you would say. It seems like Madison does really cater towards that. Plus it's only five hours away from my hometown and three hours away from where I go to school now.

The main street downtown is State Street. Yesterday we went to some places my old roommate (who is from Wisconsin) suggested like Dobra Tea and Maharani Indian Restaurant. The Indian food was superb and I have to agree with her now. The Indian food in Iowa City just does not measure up. Of course no vacation would be complete with a stop at a bookstore. There were four bookstores I saw on State Street but we only went to two and I think the first one was the best.

Bookworks and Avol's Bookstore are actually two bookstores I guess, connected by an open door. I really only checked out the Avol's said because by the time I was done in there I had already found plenty. I got Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris because I just finished Housekeeping Vs. The Dirt by Nick Hornby and he really enjoyed it, although judging by the writing the person who originally owned this book did he didn't have as high of an opinion. I also got Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, and a children's book called Mathilda and the Orange Balloon by Randall de Seve and illustrated by Jen Corace. It's very cute.

To finish off the day we went to watch the sunset over the lake. It was so pretty and relaxing. I don't remember the last time I sat to watch a sunset.

So the Got Books Event is over now, but contest is still open until midnight tonight. If you haven't checked out my giveaway yet please do so. I'm giving away two books, one to each winner. The first book is Notes From No Man's Land by Eula Biss and the second is The Moon, Come to Earth by Philip Graham. If you're interested in winning either book please enter!

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.

I was a little late to the party with The Time Traveler's Wife

but fell in love with it. I heard Audrey Niffenegger read a section of Her Fearful Symmetry

during the Iowa City Book Festival last year and thought it sounded fantastic. I love ghost stories and I trusted Niffenegger's ability to create a complicated and original story. Right after the reading though I heard from several others who were disappointed in the book and decided to put it off. And put it off. And put it off some more. In the end I got the audio version of the book because I was afraid reading the book would be too painful.

The story was great. It's about two twins, Valentina and Julia, who move to London from Chicago after their mother's twin dies of cancer. Their mother, Edwina, and her sister, Elspeth, had a falling out sometime that no one really knows anything about. Due to the falling out Elspeth writes in her will that Valentina and Julia must live in the London apartment for one year but their parents cannot come into the apartment. While Valentina and Julia live in London they make friends with Elspeth's lover Robert and another neighbor Martin, who is obsessive compulsive. The characters were extremely well written, unique, and interesting. I particularly loved Robert because he reminded me of Henry from The Time Traveler's Wife.

Valentina and Julia are glued at the hip but throughout the story you learn more about Valentina's desire to separate from her sister and Julia's obsession with taking care of Valentina. You also learn that Edwina and Elspeth had a similar relationship which played a role in their falling out.

Valentina and Julia are not the only people living in the apartment, however; Elspeth's ghost is present and trying to communicate with them.

So I have a story that I think well sums up my feelings about Her Fearful Symmetry. As I said earlier I listened to the audio version of this, which was divided into two parts. I didn't know this when I started it though and when I reached the end of the first half I thought the story was over. I didn't understand why everyone thought the book was so horrible. I thought it was just the right length, and had a great ending. Then I discovered there was a second half to the book. Once I started to listen I understood what all of the groans were about.

The first 80 percent of the book was all good and fine, but I felt the ending dragged and ruined my enjoyment of the characters. Overall I enjoyed the audio, but the reader used different voices for different characters and I found her incredibly difficult to listen to when she was reading Valentina's character. She made her voice very high and mousy, which was fitting for the character but horrible for my ears.

I think the book is worth reading if you consider yourself a big fan of Audrey Niffenegger. Of course, if you consider yourself that you've probably already read it. I'm not sure I would have finished the book if I hadn't listened to it on audio, and I think if you skip this one you won't miss out on much.

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.

I picked up The Impostor's Daughter: A True Memoir

by Laurie Sandell on a whim during the Iowa City Book Festival. I was attracted by the bright colors and contemporary way of drawing, plus I was really pleased when I opened the book up and saw it was a graphic memoir instead of a written memoir. The story is about Sandell's father, an extremely intelligent man with a Green Beret, PhD, and thousands of unbelievable stories. When Sandell grows up she tries to live up to her dad's larger than life by traveling the world and then finally settling down as a celebrity interviewer. Through being an interviewer she discovers she is great at getting people to tell their stories, so she takes these skills to her father. Along the way though, she discovers that her father's stories were not real. And if they weren't real, then how real is she?

The Imposter's Daughter is a great story and I flipped through the pages at the speed of lightning to find out what wasn't true about her father and what was. Really, the story is unbelievable. I can't imagine going through my whole life believing one thing, and then growing up to find out my whole life had been a fraud. In some ways I think we all experience this, we grow up to find out our parents weren't always completely honest with us, but Sandell's life takes it to a new extreme. As far as good stories to tell, I think Sandell's is one worth telling.

But I didn't really think it was a great memoir. Sandell's character lacked depth, and I felt like I only knew her on the surface. She was young and loved her father, she grew older and a little wild, she settled down into a dream job, and then she fought with her family over finding out the truth about her father. The last phrase in the description is "who am I?" and I don't think I really know who Sandell is at all. And as a graphic memoir, my favorite parts of the book were the drawings she included from her childhood. Those said a lot more about her and were better vehicles than any of the drawings in the rest of the book. I often felt like the images were repeated on a page simply because she ran out of room for the text, and that's not what graphic memoirs should be. Each box should how us something new, a new emotion or feeling, and I think Sandell failed at that.

My general consensus is that it is worth reading because the story is wild, but I wouldn't go out and buy this one. I give it a C.

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.