I’m off on vacation! I’ll miss reading everyone’s blogs but I’m so ready to be away from the heat, work, etc. You know how that is.

We are going to Lower-Saxony to visit our family and friends. I can’t wait to enjoy currywurst, long walks in some of my favorite towns, and foreign bookstores (as if I even needed to mention that one).

I’ll be back to the blogosphere August 7th. Until then I hope everyone is enjoying some amazing reads. You know I’ll want to hear all about them.

Tschüss!

My husband gets the John Neal Bookseller catalog regularly. He always shares it with me but this time I got to see it before he did. My little triumph was short lived though because after seeing so many must-have books and supplies I had to remind myself that I have too many unfinished projects and brand new supplies waiting so I can’t order anything… yet.

He gets the catalog to find items for his calligraphy needs but the catalog has been seeing more additions of the bookbinding and paper crafts kind. There are books on how to make journals, books on paper making and supplies such as nibs, inks, and even a bookbinder’s book press. I must have that one day.

So if paper arts are your sort of thing go to their web site and get on their list.

On the reading front, I did finish the Venice book and it was okay. Not a great read but it did have Venice as a setting so at least it had that. Now I’m about to start Must Love Dogs by Claire Cook. Yes, I know the movie is coming out soon and that’s why I want to read it first. Granted I’ll definitely be seeing the movie as it’s got John Cusack in it.

I’m feeling a bit better. Thanks guys for all the well wishes. I’ve no doubt it’s the healthy vibes you are sending me and the abundance of pills my doctor has me on that’s doing the trick. Maybe I’ll even feel fit to go to work tomorrow.

I should go in to the office to tie up some lose ends as I’ll be gone for two weeks on vacation, but I’ve no doubt that one of my bosses passed the illness on to me so it’s really all their fault I’ve been out.

Anyway I finally caught up on blog reading today. Things of note: Everyone is reading Harry Potter. I’ve never jumped on that bandwagon. I’ve seen the movies and thought they were fun but somehow reading the books doesn’t interest me as much. Still am very happy that a book can cause such hullabaloo.

Another noteworthy blog event is the online reading group Kimbofo is going to be starting. I’ve already seen some familiar faces joining in, and besides you can never belong to too many book clubs so check it out.

What have I been reading? First, Halo Effect by M.J. Rose. A very entertaining read. I devoured that in a couple of hours. I also finally read An Image of Death by Libby Fischer Hellmann. If you’ll recall, I met her at the Printer’s Row Book Fair. I really like the mystery, no simple thing to solve that was. Libby gave me a first chapter booklet of her upcoming mystery novel, which I also read and am really looking forward to. It comes out in a few weeks.

For my travel memoir fix I’ve been reading A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena De Blasi. It’s filled with enchanting descriptions about Venice and Italian food but am still not quite sure about this one. There’s something that’s a bit off.

So that’s the recap for now. Off to continue catching up with all of you.