Monday, August 2, 2010

Cool things happening in Mind Games Land!

Okay, first, if you HAVEN'T yet read Mind Games, fabu blogger Ali of Simply Ali (she also reviews for Joyfully Reviewed) is giving one away one copy in a quickie contest that ends Thursday! Go say hi and enter!

Online book clubs that are reading Mind Games 
If you have read it, and have some rants, raves, anti-beret tirades or unwholesome thoughts about Simon to share, there are some really fabulous book clubs going.

1. A section by section discussion of Mind Games, on now: Melissa from My World in Words and Pages and Robyn from The Bookaholic Zone are reading section by section - the first section discussion kicked off at Melissa's Thursday, and anybody is welcome to join in! 

 by Amber Scott,  inventor of the pay-it-forward read
2. A discussion at the end of August, with Literary Escapism's book club, on Goodreads: This is a group anybody can join, moderated by fun & savvy UF readers Jackie, Jennifer and Tricia. Check it out here!

Amber Scott's "Project Pay it Forward"
This is one of the coolest ideas I've come across for a while - writer Amber Scott (her latest, Play Fling, is available in print and ebook at the usual stores, as well as Smashwords) started it with Gini Koch's Touched by an Alien, where she was so impressed, she bought three copies for three friends, sending them out with instructions for them to "pay the book forward" to another friend. And in each book, she sticks a note, and the friends record their experiences, and also report back to her blog. At the end, the book travels back to the author.

Anyway, she's starting it again, with two new books - Shadow Bound by Erin Kellison and Mind Games! I think it's an absolutely lovely and wonderful thing for one author to do for another. Gah! So psyched. So, I'll check in and keep tabs on the travels of these copies! (read about the inception of the project here).

Wicked
This is such a wild travel month! Mr. Crane and I are back from a visit to Wisconsin to visit my mom and sisters and their families. It was a super fun weekend, and the group of us (minus Mr. Crane) went to see Wicked, which was wickedly awesome. The first act had me on the edge of tears - oh, I am such a sucker for the hope and despair of the underdog! My only thing with it was that, the places where it intersected with Wizard of Oz seemed to bring it down, and sort of burden the storyline. But overall, I thought it was wonderful.

This coming weekend, we are visiting Mr. Crane's parents in California (the Monterey area). His sister will be there, too, and I understand there will be UFC fights watched. Popcorn will be eaten. Much catching up and visiting. And NO HUMIDITY!

11 comments:

Lori said...

OMG - we'll be in the San Jose area this weekend! Any chance of seeing you?

Sullivan McPig said...

I'm really glad Mind Games made it into Amber's P.I.F.F.
It's a really cool project.

Chris said...

*waves at CJ as she briefly visits Minneapolis*

Carolyn Crane said...

Lori: I'm looking for your email addy here. It would be super fun to rendezvous! Logistics may be tricky... I'm going to your blog.

Sully: I am so into it.

Chris: LOL

writtenwyrdd said...

I know the Monterey area well. The weather should be great this time of year. If you ever want to go on a whale watch tour, leave from teh Monterey pier. The trench is just off shore there and you are practically guaranteed to have a great viewing of whales without having to be on the water all day.

orannia said...

So much going on!

And afe travelling!

Dr J said...

Don:t know why I haven:t posted a review for Mind Games on my blog but will correct that oversight very soon. Glad your visit to WI was really good. We saw Wicked when it was in Los Angeles when we took the granddaughters for a birthday gift for one of them. It was indeed awesome and such fun. Keep cool and safe as you continue to sashay around the country

Christine said...

Hey Carolyn!
I haven't been by in a while and just wanted to poke in and see how you are and say hello. So... hello! :D

Have a wonderful trip to CA! We just got home from a week in the pacific northwest where the weather was PERFECT! Now I'm home in the sticky humidity. Ugh. It's yucky. So you enjoy that CA weather when you can! Have fun!

Renee said...

Have a great time on the central coast! Hope you and Lori get a chance to connect. :-)

Mardel said...

Congratulations on being a part of so many book clubs, and well - you're getting your name out there.

Did you know that you're also mentioned in Tor's newsletter?

take a look here - look about halway down, titled "what's My Line" if you haven't already seen the mention.

Carolyn Crane said...

WW: Hey, thanks for the tips!

Orannia: Thanks!

Dr. J: Such a great show for kids!

Christine: The woman at the rental car counter was laughing at how people from the east coast were so relieved to be in the cool air.

Mardel: Hey! Thanks, I didn't know about that.