Sunday Salon: "After-(Armchair)BEA" Edition

Thank goodness it's a three-day weekend in the USA, because I suspect there's a lot of BEA recovery to be done - both from the real thing in New York City and from Armchair BEA!

If you joined in the virtual book-blogger convention this week, you probably didn't have much time to suffer from "BEA envy" - I know I didn't! Over 170 people officially signed up to participate, but as things got going, I suspect even more just jumped in and never made it on to the official list - and they were more than welcome! Tweets with the #ArmchairBEA hashtag kept coming all day long, there were frequent giveaways, and there was lots of inspired blogging. Participants were invited to link up their posts on the Armchair BEA Central blog; if you missed any of this great reading, maybe you can make some time to catch up this weekend!

Tuesday: Opening Day/Topical Posts
Wednesday: Round-Robin Blogger Interviews (this was even more fun than an exchange - check out how it worked!)
Thursday: More Topical Posts* (and giveaways, and the Twitter Party!)
Friday: Book Blogger Convention Roundtable*

*My own Thursday post concerning publisher/book blogger relations generated a fantastic discussion in comments - if you didn't get the chance to join in, I'd love to know your thoughts now! Developing your blogging voice was my Friday topic, and it was a pretty popular one - several other participants took it on as well. It's not too late to add your voice to the conversation!

There's a Post-Event Survey up on Armchair BEA Central - please share your thoughts and input for next year's event!

I'm so glad I was able to be part of building this event, and it seems that a fine time was had by all! One more time, a huge THANK YOU to the rest of the team that made this happen - if you're not following these ladies on their blogs and Twitter, you need to fix that ASAP!

Danielle (The1stDaughter) of There's a Book (@the1stdaughter)
Emily of Emily's Reading Room (@emsreadingroom)
Michelle of Michelle's Masterful Musings (@jmchshannon)
Tif of Tif Talks Books (@tiftalksbooks)

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Reading Progress and Plans

Next reviews/reading in progress:
The Heart is Not a Size, by Beth Kephart (review to post 6/1/10)
The Irresistible Henry House, by Lisa Grunwald (with luck, review to post before I leave for vacation!)

New to the TBR:
for review:
31 Bond Street, by Ellen Horan (for upcoming TLC Book Tour)
Fly Away Home, by Jennifer Weiner (ARC from the publisher, via Artemis Azima at Engelman & Co.)

I'm debating what reading will accompany me on our vacation - we leave in two weeks! There may not be a lot of time to read while we're in Washington DC and New York City, but there will be two long flights and a train trip. I will be bringing my perfect travel companion, my Kindle, which mostly contains fiction right now, but I want to pack a few "real" books too. I'm considering bringing some short nonfiction that I can dip into and out of - most likely some essays, or possibly a memoir. I may bring an ARC, but I'm trying to avoid any "obligatory" reading since it IS my vacation! I'll post my list in this space before I go - I've still got two more Sundays!

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BOOKMARKS: Reading-related Reading

DIY publishing - one author's road from self-publishing to Sourcebooks. Then again, an author shouldn't have to do everything herself. That's one reason authors need book bloggers - and here are a couple more.

Five things a beginning blogger should know, courtesy of The Book Lady

Have you ever discovered that your pre-conceived notions about a genre were pretty much all wrong?


Molly at The Bumbles Blog would like to put together a series of posts about author interviews, but she needs some book-blogger input. Since I don't really do author interviews, I'm tossing this out to y'all in hopes that you'll help her out!

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I hope you have a great reading week!