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.