Isn’t the Book Blogging community great? I know you already know that but in the last few days some of my bookish friends have been sweet enough to pass on some awards to me and as usual I’m behind. So a big thank you to Melody, Wisteria, Anna, Serena and Fern – you ladies rock!

Now I’m going to break all kinds of blogging awards protocol and just pass these out to 10 bloggers. If you’ve already received it, just blame my poor memory. The awards go to some very cool, creative and original bloggers – they are:

• Jenclair from A Garden Carried in the Pocket
• Heather from A High and Hidden Place
• Lesley from A Life in Books
• Bethany from B&b ex libris
• Care from Care’s Online Book Club
• Christine from Between Concrete & Sky
• Lesley from Lesley’s Book Nook
• Stephanie from Stephanie’s Confessions of a Book-a-holic
• Gentle Reader from Shelf Life
• Naida from The Bookworm

And, virtual cupcakes for all my blog friends and readers!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. This weekend we are off to an art exhibit, regular date night at the bookstore and maybe even a movie. I’m also hoping to have some reviews for you soon as I’ve finished one of my challenges – wahoo! Stay tuned.

Thank you Eva and Alessandra for encouraging us to visit the library. You know, I love libraries but I’m trying to stay away a bit as my unread books are threatening to take over the whole place, but I had put a book on hold and you know how that goes. One stop in a library and you are powerless to resist the lure of the new books shelf and before you know it you are roaming around in the different sections.

So, today I stopped in and came away with these books. Let me know if you’ve read any of these and what you thought:

• The Portable Sixties Reader, edited by Ann Charters. I had seen this book at a B&N a while back and was intrigued, okay, I liked the cover. But the copy they had was kind of beat up so I left it behind. I wanted to read a bit into this and see what I thought. The book has writings from Bob Dylan, Malcolm X, Susan Sontag, William S. Burroughs, and many others. I get the feeling this is a book that I will have to order and add to my personal library.
• The Best American Short Stories 2008, edited by Salman Rushdie. What can I say, I’m suddenly on a “must read short stories” kick. I’m particularly looking forward to the stories by Nicole Krauss, Alice Munro and A.M. Homes. Thank you to Lexi for reminding me to look for this book!
• The Water’s Lovely by Ruth Rendell. It’s been a while since I’ve read anything by Rendell and I do love her suspenseful novels.
• What It Is by Lynda Barry. I was so moved by her book One Hundred Demons that when I saw this one on the shelf I had to snatch it up. I’ve already taken a few quick peeks and it’s so vivid and eye-catching. In this book Barry charts her own beginnings as an artist and encourages the reader to make art. It has an activity book! Ok, I get the feeling this is another book I must have.

I’m off to enjoy my library loot.