Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Really cool things about the 2005 baseball season thus far:

1. The Boyfriend's Toronto Blue Jays are currently #2 in the AL East at 13-11; ahead of both Boston and NY.
2. My Detroit Tigers are above .500 at 11-10.
3. The New York Skankees are 9-14.
4. The same Skankees with the astronomical payroll.
5. The same Skankees that are 4th in the AL East and only 1 game up on the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

It's a great day to be alive!

And before any of you can rain on my parade - yes, I know full well the whole season isn't going to be like this. But in the meantime, The Boyfriend and I are soaking it up!

Welcome To My Nightmare

Shit like this scares the hell out of me. I mean, seriously. Librarians have nightmares about this stuff. Many thanks to Kate and Paperback Writer for the link. I need more caffeine. Or alcohol. I can't decide which....

More Conversion Tales

I've finally gotten The Older Sister to read some Tess Gerritsen novels. Way back in July, I got her a signed copy of The Surgeon and the big wimp refused to read it. My sister, the same woman who used to read Stephen King books in the family basement - after dark I might add. She gave me some poor excuse about being 8 months pregnant and how she couldn't handle violence in her books just then.

Bah.

So I concentrated on The Younger Sister - who devoured all four of Gerritsen's Rizzoli/Isles books. She gushed. I gushed. The Older Sister finally cracked when my nephew was six months old - although I had to reassure her last weekend.

Older Sister: So I've started Body Double. I'm not sure I can read this Wendy.
Me: Why? Oh, you mean that poor pregnant woman who gets buried alive?
Older Sister: Yeah, I skimmed that chapter.
Me: Would it help if I told you everything works out OK for her?
Older Sister: Yeah, actually it would. I'll go back and reread that chapter....

I'm assuming she's finished the book by now, and plan on getting a full report this weekend.

Also, my Adult Services Librarian is now listening the Meg Cabot's Princess Diaries on audio. She must have gotten curious after she saw me checking out the latest from work (Princess In Training). She's enjoying them immensely, and told me she's never had so much fun on her drive into work.

And speaking of Princess In Training - The Younger Sister was right, it is really good. Besides being very funny (two words: Baby Licker), I liked the fact that Mia was obsessing about an issue that many high school girls face. That is, she has a college boyfriend, does he now expect her to "Do It?" This is one YA series that I have yet to get tired of. I can't beleive I now have to wait a whole blessed year for book VII - Party Princess doesn't hit until March 2006.

Postscript: Talked to the sister after I got home from work. She loved Body Double! Was there ever any doubt?

Wallowing In Midlist

Maili's post got me thinking about midlist authors and the "types" of authors I read.

I wallow in midlist and debut authors.

Seriously.

You know the "biggest" name author I read in romance? Susan Wiggs. And even then I tend to gravitate more towards her historicals than her (most likely bigger selling) women's fiction-type stories. But I'm not sure I'd put Wiggs in the same sphere as Nora, Linda Howard, and Jayne Ann Krentz. Yet anyway. I think she's working her way up there....

Of the Big 3 listed above - I've read 3 books by Nora and 2 by Krentz. And Linda Howard? I don't get Linda Howard. There, I said it. Go ahead and pull out your Little Wendy Voodoo Doll. I certainly wouldn't be opposed to reading more books by Nora and Krentz - I just don't actively gravitate towards "big name" romance authors.

I'm not exactly sure why. I think it may be because I started reviewing romance shortly after rediscovering the genre. So when I probably should have been working through "big name" authors, I was reading midlist and debut authors for review.

To this day I still haven't read Judith McNaught, Julie Garwood or LaVyrle Spencer. You can pick yourself up off the floor now. Really. It will be OK. Of those three, I'd be more likely to give Spencer a whirl - but I just sort of prefer off-beaten-path. I'm also a big fan of sub genres that are currently not in vogue - there aren't exactly a ton of "big names" churning out westerns these days.

I'm not sure if this lack of "big name" reading makes me fundamentally ignorant of the genre - but I'd like to think not. It's easy to get all goopy over "big name" books and gush endlessly. However, I find it more satisfying to steer people towards good books, by midlist or debut authors, that they might not have considered otherwise.

Besides, I figure all those "big names" have healthy savings accounts to fall back on. And I doubt me not actively seeking out there books is hurting their feelings any. There are millions of other readers out there that doing the exact opposite of what I am.

Motherlode

It's NFL Draft weekend, which means I've become a football widow. The boyfriend is a draft junkie and was literally glued to the TV all day yesterday.

So I used this as a convenient excuse to hit my favorite new & used bookstore - which recently moved to a new location. The clerks there are really fantastic, and the store is extremely romance friendly. While chatting, one of the clerks mentioned how the local public library has been really snotty about taking their overstock. I told her that since they had money, they had the luxury of being bitchy. Then, she offered to give them to me for my library. I said, "Hell yes! Gimme, gimme, gimme!"

I am currently the sole supplier for my library's romance collection. Seriously. And regardless of what I add to the collection (whether it be new books or titles a couple of years old) they go flying out the door. They even regularly show up on request lists for other branches. So I'm desperate for more.

Most of what I got were category books - which I do not catalog thanks to my very limited space. However, I am always able to sell Harlequins on our Friends Of The Library used book cart. In fact, I have women who buy them by the bag. Given that many of my patrons have learned English later in life, category books are really ideal. They're easy to read, and are shorter books - averaging around 200 pages. So I know they'll get snapped up quick once I put them out to sell.

I walked away with 4 boxes. Most will be sold, but there were a few titles that I'll add to the circulating collection. These books will be money makers for us, and I'm so glad I found another source of income for our Friends Of The Library - very nice folks who help us out a lot!

Adventures In Library Land

The next person who says to me, "Oh your job must be so lovely and stress-free" is getting a smack upside the head.

Last night, right at closing, one of my library pages discovered that someone had been smoking in the men's room. Only cigarettes - thank god. Now, I walked past this guy in the stacks some minutes earlier and did take note that he was one rank little dude. I'm used to cigarette smoke (I have relatives who are slaves to nicotine), so it's not a scent that normally bothers me. But this guy reeked. Turns out he reeked because he was lighting up in our small, confined, and certainly not up to code, men's bathroom.

I actually find this whole thing really amusing. I live in Southern California for cripes sake! The weather is never bad enough where people need to resort to catching their nicotine fix in public restrooms. Really, why he couldn't smoke outside is anyone's guess.

Today I sat through the World's Most Boring Meeting, and arrived at my library at 1PM to be informed by my Children's Librarian that some good samaritan dumped a hypodermic needle behind the building where staff park. Nice. This area continues to be a serious problem for me, as it is secluded and not well lit. I shudder to think about what goes on back there after hours.

Now, call me wacky, but hypodermic needles left on public library property make me a little cranky. Not only is it a serious health hazard - but I have children running in and out of this building all day long! So I called the local police (for the 3rd time on this issue - but who's counting?) and asked the dispatch lady (nicely) if she could please ask the beat cops to patrol behind our building after hours. I'm not asking for the moon here - I just want them to drive their cruiser around back every once and a while.

In more pleasant news, since this is National Volunteer Week, I decided to do something nice to recognize our 2 regular volunteers. I ordered a cake. Nothing says thank you quite like copious amounts of sugar.

In exciting news - I'm thisclose to signing up to attend RWA in Reno. My immediate supervisor is going to try to convince the Big Boss to allow me to attend on library time. This would mean I wouldn't have to use any of my vacation time! The catch is that I'd have to share what I learned with the others when I returned home - but that wouldn't be a hardship. Give me 5 minutes and I can talk anyone's ear off about romance novels....

Murder In The Hamptons

I've been looking forward to Amy Garvey's debut novel ever since I read her short story in the Wicked Women Whodunit anthology back in March. Murder In The Hamptons doesn't disappoint - it's a fast, fun read. Just the ticket after finishing the dreadful Windwalker.

As a favor to her publicist best friend, Maggie Harding is attending a house party in posh East Hampton. While Lucy is easing her former heartthrob Hollywood client back into the social scene after a rehab stint, Maggie plans to drool all over his fiancee's swank estate. An interior designer, she wants to soak up the antiques, art work and carefully placed furnishings.

However when she arrives at the house, it all goes to Hell. Tyler Brody is standing in the ballroom. The same Tyler Brody she had a one-night stand with five years ago while she was vacationing in the Florida Keys. Oh alright - so it was more like three nights and they spent the whole time sweaty and naked in a cheap motel room. How come my vacations never turn out like that? But that's neither here nor there. Carefully organized, never impulsive Maggie ended up panicking and sneaking out. Since they didn't share last names, Tyler was never able to track her down.

Maggie's first instinct is to run away - again. But she's nothing but loyal to Lucy, and even she can't deny that Tyler is a stone cold hottie. Tyler has plans to woo Maggie into bed once again - because not only is she fine, he'd like to soothe his bruised male ego a bit. Then a dead body turns up, and the whole thing gets really complicated.

Half the fun here is that readers don't know who the victim is until the dead body is discovered. I wouldn't classify the mystery as a brain-bender, as Garvey keeps it all really light and laces her tale with plenty of hot sex. Dang if this isn't the perfect vacation book. It's not high art - but who wants to ponder deep philosphical themes all the time? Murder In The Hamptons certainly didn't change my life, and it's not the sort of book I'll think about endlessly - but I had a great time reading it, and sometimes that's all a girl really needs.