One day we must go,
one night we will descend into the region of mystery.
Here, we only come to know ourselves;
only in passing are we here on earth.
In peace and pleasure let us spend our lives;
come, let us enjoy ourselves.
Let not the angry do so; the earth is vast indeed!
Would that one lived forever;
Would that one were not to die
Aztec Poem

Thought that would help set the mood for Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween. I had a treat waiting for me today. I won Jane Hamilton’s latest novel, When Madeline Was Young from a drawing on Reading Group Choices.

Unfortunately I didn’t finish the R.I.P. Challenge. I only read three out of the five books. Anyway, thank you Carl V. for such a fun challenge. Not only did I discover more scary stories to add to my TBR list but I also “met” new bookworms and that’s always a good thing.

Now I’m off to finish a good mystery.

I’m back with a small bag filled with books bought at the Texas Book Festival. Yeah for Pennyworth Books.

I started off my day listening to Sidney Blumenthal’s talk about his latest book How Bush Rules: Chronicles of a Radical Regime. After that it was to a discussion of the Marie Antoinette phenomenon. Or is it coincidence?

Sena Jeter Naslund and Caroline Weber talked about everything Marie Antoinette, from dispelling the famous phrase “Let them eat cake,” to The Pouf. Do you know what Marie’s greatest flaw was? She wasn’t a reader. See what can happen to you if you don’t read folks?

I sat in on Janet Fitch’s discussion on her latest novel, Paint it Black. She got a lot of questions about the creative writing process but my favorite one was when someone asked her if her next novel would have a color in the title. Heh.

Kate Atkinson and Jacqueline Winspear were on a panel titled Solving the Case of the British Mystery but they both bristled at being categorized as mystery writers. Last, I went to a talk on The Art of Book Design. I wish I had pictures of some of the horrors that make it on the cover jackets, but well, we’ve all seen them.

I didn’t get a lot of book shopping done due to the fact that we had to leave the festival early to fix our car! Yes, we had car problems on our trip. All turned out okay but I only picked up five books: Sleep Toward Heaven, The Queen’s Fool, Ahab’s Wife, Life and Death of Harriett Frean, My Sister Disappears.

Last but not least thank you for all the get well wishes. My wrist is doing okay. I’m taking it easy on the typing, taking more breaks and such, and I’m getting used to the splint. Off to unpack the books.

Thank you again for all your comments on my recent book. I got several questions about bookbinding and how I got interested in that so here it goes.

About six years ago when I visited my husband (then boyfriend) in Germany he took me to an art exhibit as his university. I saw some amazing work by graphic designers, calligraphers and bookbinders. I admit I had never really thought of books as being works of art until then. I saw everything from traditionally bound books to simple pamphlets. The thought of making something as unique and personal as that set my creativity afire. Not to mention that as someone who’s been journaling forever I liked the idea of making my own journals.

I’ve since taken some classes at the Craft Guild of Dallas and at the Calligraphy Society of Dallas. The retreat I went on this weekend was through the Calligraphy Society. I’m not a calligrapher, my husband is the letter artist, but I tag along to the meetings as the group often has demos on paper arts. All of that has helped me tremendously as I explore book arts.

What I really wish is that I could take some classes here or here. Maybe one day. For now, I just take classes when I can and I study books on bookbinding.

In the meantime, I have to take a bit of a blog break. I’m having some wrist problems and my doctor has ordered me to wear a splint, not an easy thing to type with, and to rest. I’ll be visiting you but won’t be able to comment much. Boo-hoo.

And, I’m off to Austin on Friday for the Texas Book Festival. Yeah! So I promise to have a post on Monday with tales of treasures found. Happy Reading everyone.