Book Business Tuesday

There is some serious book business this week! This coming Sunday is the annual Kerrytown BookFest — hooray! Rolling out a sparkly new logo designed by Ann Arbor artist and designer Susan Skarsgard, this year's event is packed with an amazing roster of signings, workshops, demonstrations, readings and artists. I hope you'll come down and take a twirl around.

I have been extremely fortunate and thrilled by the positive response my calendars get each year — thank you, thank you, thank you all for being so supportive. I am doubly excited to announce that I will be releasing my illustrated 2013 calendar at the BookFest this year. I thought I'd show you a little taste of it here … I do so hope you'll love it!

Book Business Tuesday

I am a fiction junkie. I read all kinds of books, but a good novel is always my favorite reading material. It has also been my number one procrastination method this summer. I've lost many a daytime hour these past few weeks to "one more chapter." With just a few fleeting days of summer before Labor Day, I hope you're finding a little reading time, too. From my recent bedstand (hammock stand?!) favorites, there are two books — very different in nature and style — I'd highly recommend:

The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin

A quiet, yet grand family epic that fills you with images of Washington state and rich, compelling characters you wholeheartedly root for. Earnest and wonderful. 

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson

An entirely different kind of family story: Contemporary, quirky and filled with equal parts desperation, oddity and humor. Clever and funny.

But I've cut myself off from daytime reading at this point and am eking out the final touches of my 2013 calendar. I'll have them available at this year's Kerrytown Bookfest, Sunday September 9.

In other book business, if you've been taking part in the amazing Ann Arbor library's summer game, this Friday is the final secret shop and it will be stocked with a few Sloe Gin Fizz items … so gather up your points and get ready to solve those clues!