The BlogHer14 Highlight Reel, Part 1

I was at a big convention-type gathering this past weekend...and it wasn't San Diego Comic-Con. I attended my third BlogHer Conference, after a three-year absence.

I'm doing a Storified recap of the experience, in the tradition of my BEA Highlight Reel, but I'm breaking it into two blog posts so it won't take up quite as much space in your eyeballs, or in your feed readers.

BlogHer14, The Personal Highlight Reel

Recapping my third (and probably last) BlogHer Conference in tweets and photos

I couldn't sleep past 2 AM the night before BlogHer'14. I finally got up a little past 4, and discovered an email from Virgin America telling me that the flight I was scheduled to take to San Francisco at 11;25 AM had been bumped back nearly two hours. (My travel plans apparently overlapped those of President Obama, and Air Force One trumps Virgin America.) It left even later than that, and landed just in time for the Bay Area rush hour. I was already a little stressed when I got to the convention center that evening, which was a less-than-ideal condition for my solo arrival at the Evening at the Expo opening-night party.
1. 

   Proof I found my way to the #selfiebration (and it's all a little overwhelming when you walk in alone!) #BlogHer14pic.twitter.com/f29cNAExEA

   FLORINDA PVASQUEZ@FLORINDA_3RS

   ·

   4 DAYS AGO
   
2. 
   

   Florinda PVasquez@florinda_3rs

   First people I saw at #BlogHer14 were @ChloeJeffreys@babybabylemon & @barbarafeldman--nice flashbacks to CA'12!

   4 DAYS AGO
   
I actually wasn't supposed to arrive alone at the Expo, but my delays caused me to miss an earlier event where Amy and I were supposed to meet up, and I didn't actually find her until we were both leaving. But thanks to my encounters with her, Chloe, and Barbara, the weekend kicked off with a nice taste of the so-very-different Creative Alliance experience.
3. 

   Breakfast, and the heavens sing: "Yay, coffee!" #blogher14#selfiebration pic.twitter.com/vIxSvoxwJD

   FLORINDA PVASQUEZ@FLORINDA_3RS

   ·

   3 DAYS AGO
   
4. 

   My breakfast table had lots of room! And it's near the door, so I can escape before Speed Dating. #BlogHer14pic.twitter.com/DY3boWwl2x

   FLORINDA PVASQUEZ@FLORINDA_3RS

   ·

   3 DAYS AGO
   
I did get some company at my table eventually: a team of mompreneurs, two blogging bartending sisters, a writing mom, and, believe it or not, a book (and movie) blogger!
5. 
   

   Florinda PVasquez@florinda_3rs

   Meeting @yesnofilms and catching up w/ @FromLeft2Write at breakfast--I found some #bookbloggers at #BlogHer14 :-)

   3 DAYS AGO
   
6. 
   

   Florinda PVasquez@florinda_3rs

   What @RebeccaSchinsky said after #BEA: "The book people are the best part." Wish more of you were here to hang with me at#BlogHer14 !

   3 DAYS AGO
   
7. I Am BlogHer.

   
   

   BLOGHER

   ·

   2 DAYS AGO
   
Breakfast was followed by the Opening Keynote, featuring a "Why I Blog" video and an interview with Jenny Lawson, The Bloggess. I reviewed Jenny's (mostly true) memoir, Let's Pretend This Never Happened, two years ago, but I bought a copy on-site so I could get it signed. (I no longer have the ARC I reviewed, so this one's my keeper.)
8. 
   

   Julie Ross Godar@Honeybeast

   You may think you don't have a story but maybe you haven't seen it from the eyes of someone else. You have a story. @TheBloggess#BlogHer14

   @florinda_3rs
   

   ·

   3 DAYS AGO
   
9. 

   I reviewed @thebloggess' book for Shelf Awareness years ago, but bought another copy just to get her to sign it at #blogher14#selfiebration

   

   FLORINDA VASQUEZ

   ·

   3 DAYS AGO
   
10. 
    

    Florinda PVasquez@florinda_3rs

    Watching #DoctorWho is part of @TheBloggess' writing process? LOVE. (Also, the streams cross. #BlogHer14 #SDCC)

    3 DAYS AGO
Over coffee in the Expo Hall on Friday afternoon, Donna (the first blogger I ever met in person) told me she hasn't expected to see me San Jose at BlogHer14, because she'd thought I'd be in San Diego for Comic-Con that weekend...and I had to tell her that we haven't managed to get SDCC tickets since 2011.

But since I wasn't in SoCal, I got some NorCal face time with one of my oldest LA-based blogging friends, which included meeting her co-blogger and sister Linda and joining her and her MOMocrats podcast partner Cynematic at BlogHer14 sponsor California Women Lead's kickoff event for the get-out-the-vote initiative The Plus 1 Project.
11. 
    

    Florinda PVasquez@florinda_3rs

    It's the one-on-one time in the midst of crowds. Thanks @babybabylemon & @brigittaLA for chats this morning at#BlogHer14

    3 DAYS AGO
    
For many, the highlight and heart of a BlogHer Conference is the Friday-evening Voices of the Year keynote.
12. 
    

    Florinda PVasquez@florinda_3rs

    The trains aren't running on time here, so to speak, but no one seems to mind. The parties will just end later. #VOTY #BlogHer14

    3 DAYS AGO
    
13. 

    Nearly wrapping up #VOTY w/ a powerful read from @firemom#blogher14

    

    FLORINDA VASQUEZ

    ·

    3 DAYS AGO
    
14. 
    

    Florinda PVasquez@florinda_3rs

    "@BlogHer taught me that just because I haven't done something doesn't mean I can't." @GDRPempress 10x10 #BlogHer14

    3 DAYS AGO
    
15. 

    And the #voty wraps with what @smacksy believes #blogher14#selfiebration

    

    FLORINDA VASQUEZ

    ·

    3 DAYS AGO
    
I'm glad I was there for the presentations, but didn't linger for much of the post-keynote partying, which should be no surprise to anyone. It all started again on Saturday morning, though...

Part 2 will post tomorrow.

Read More

Book Talk: THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY, by Gabrielle Zevin

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: A Novel
Gabrielle Zevin (Twitter) (Facebook)
Algonquin Books (April 2014), Hardcover (ISBN 1616203218 / 9781616203214)
Fiction, 272 pages
Source: Purchased e-book (iBooks)

Gabrielle Zevin is better known as a YA author, but her novel for adults, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, has been getting a lot of attention from the Book People since its publication in the spring. It’s understandable. Book People are often drawn to stories about Book People, and a novel about the owner of a small independent bookstore, a publisher’s sales rep, and what’s found in the wake of the loss of a rare and valuable book of poems wasn’t likely to escape their notice. It didn’t escape mine, although it was the attention more than the story itself that spurred me to read it.

I know many readers who have been thoroughly charmed by this novel. It’s understandable. But I have to confess that although I found The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry pleasant enough reading, its charms didn’t seem to work on me.

That said, there are passages in the novel that, as a Book Person, I quite appreciated, including this one that could sum up my overall response to it:

“Who are these people who think a book comes with a guarantee that they will like it?”

Others reminded me of conversations and correspondence with other Book People:

“They had only ever discussed books but what, in this life, is more personal than books?” 

“You know everything you need to know about a person from the answer to the question, What is your favorite book?” 

“(T)he only thing worse than a world with big chain bookstores was a world with NO big chain bookstores.” 

“A place is not really a place without a bookstore.”

My point is that I get the Book People appeal. My regret is that I didn’t find enough other appealing elements in The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry. Perhaps I misinterpreted the title, which had me expecting more direct, deeper connections to be made between familiar literature and the lives of Zevin’s characters. I’m pretty sure I expected more depth and insight, period.

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry could be a fine choice for a Book Person’s summer-reading list. It’s quick, it’s light, and offers many enjoyable tidbits for those who love the reading life, but I don’t feel that it adds up to much more than the tidbits, and I was hoping for a little more substance.

Rating: 3 of 5

Other opinions, via the Book Blogs Search Engine

Book description, from the publisher’s website:

A.J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died; his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history; and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island—from Chief Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who’s always felt kindly toward him; from Ismay, his sister-in-law, who is hell-bent on saving A.J. from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who persists in taking the ferry to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.’s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, he can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly. 

And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It’s a small package, though large in weight—an unexpected arrival that gives A.J. the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew. It doesn’t take long for the locals to notice the change overcoming A.J., for the determined sales rep Amelia to see her curmudgeonly client in a new light, for the wisdom of all those books to become again the lifeblood of A.J.’s world. Or for everything to twist again into a version of his life that he didn’t see coming.

Opening lines:

“On the ferry from Hyannis to Alice Island, Amelia Loman paints her nails yellow and, while waiting for them to dry, skims her predecessor’s notes. ‘Island Books, approximately $350,000.00 per annum in sales, the better portion of that in the summer months to folks on holiday,’ Harvey Rhodes reports. ‘Six hundred square feet of selling space. No full-time employees other than owner. Very small children’s section. Fledgling online presence. Poor community outreach. Inventory emphasizes the literary, which is good for us, but Fikry’s tastes are very specific, and without Nic, he can’t be counted on to hand-sell. Luckily for him, Island’s the only game in town.’”

Read More

"I should be folding laundry..."

...on this Wordless Wednesday, but I'd rather watch people enjoying the beach, like they were this past weekend along the Pacific Coast Highway just south of Point Mugu.

An InLinkz Link-up

Read More

Book Talk: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENTS, by Christopher Beha (Shelf Awareness)

Arts & Entertainments: A Novel
Christopher Beha (Facebook) (Twitter)
Ecco Press (July 1, 2014), trade paper (ISBN 006232246X / 9780062322463)
Fiction, 288 pages

A version of the following was previously published as a Starred Review in Shelf Awareness for Readers (July 15, 2014). Shelf Awareness provided me with a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review, and compensated me for the review they received and posted.

In his second novel, Arts and Entertainments, Christopher Beha (What Happened to Sophie Wilder) shifts his setting from the world of writers to that of unscripted reality television, but those worlds aren't really as different as they might seem. They're both about crafting stories; they just use different tools to do it.

When he left St. Albert's School, "Handsome Eddie" Hartley thought that he and his girlfriend Martha Martin both had long careers of acting out other people's stories ahead of them, but he was wrong. Fifteen years later, Martha is a household name with a hit TV drama, while Eddie is back at St. Albert's, halfheartedly teaching drama and struggling nearly as hard to start a family with his wife, Susan, as he once did with his acting career. And a struggling schoolteacher who happens to possess a sex tape he made with his ex-girlfriend, who has since become a huge TV star, just might have a way to pay for his wife's infertility treatments.

When Eddie sells his old video of Martha to an internet entrepreneur, he's not thinking about any consequences other than funding his and Susan's efforts to have a baby. He certainly never imagines that they'll lead to a high-risk pregnancy played out on social media and reality TV, or that his role of a lifetime will be an edited-for-broadcast version of himself.

Beha's sharp observations of crafted, carefully produced versions of private lives becoming public property resonate in an time when it sometimes feels like a life unexamined by other people isn't a life properly lived...or worth living, for that matter. Arts and Entertainments is indeed entertaining, but it's also a thoughtful examination of how we shape our own stories.

Book description, from the publisher's website

"Handsome Eddie" Hartley was once a golden boy poised for the kind of success promised by good looks and a modicum of talent. Now thirty-three, he has abandoned his dream of an acting career and accepted the reality of life as a drama teacher at the boys' prep school he once attended. But when Eddie and his wife, Susan, discover they cannot have children, it's one disappointment too many. 

Weighted down with debt, Susan's mounting unhappiness, and his own deepening sense of failure, Eddie is confronted with an alluring solution when an old friend-turned-Web-impresario suggests Eddie sell a sex tape he made with an ex-girlfriend, now a wildly popular television star. In an era when any publicity is good publicity, Eddie imagines that the tape won't cause any harm—a mistake that will have disastrous consequences and propel him straight into the glaring spotlight he once thought he craved. 

A hilariously biting and incisive takedown of our culture's monstrous obsession with fame, Arts & Entertainments is also a poignant and humane portrait of a young man's belated coming-of-age, the complications of love, and the surprising ways in which the most meaningful lives often turn out to be the ones we least expected to lead.

Opening lines:

"'You know who I saw on TV last night?' John Wilkins asked the small group of old friends surrounding him. 'Dr. Drake.'

"They'd been drinking in the St. Albert's library for less than half an hour. Eddie was surprised it had taken even that long for the name to come up.

"'The show's in syndication,' he said. 'It's on every day.'

"'Not Dr. Drake,' Wilkins clarified, as though the distinction should have been obvious. 'Martha. She was on Entertainment Daily talking about her new boyfriend, Rex Gilbert.'"

Read More

What's What in the Sunday Salon, July 20, 2014

What I’m reading

• in print / on screen

I haven’t quite finished The Leftovers yet, but I’m trying to do so before I go out of town on Thursday–I hate traveling with a physical book that’s more than half-finished. It’s less of an issue with ebooks or audiobooks, since they don’t take up space in the same way, but I’m not sure I’ll have even reached that point in The Interestings by then, given that I’m triple-booking it at the moment. I have one more August release to review for Shelf Awareness, and I’m wavering over whether to bring it with me. On the one hand, I’d rather not travel with obligatory-review books either, but on the other, it’s a short essay collection and those usually do make for good travel reading.

• on audio

I feel like I did the audiobook equivalent of binge-reading with The SIlkworm, which I finished on Friday morning and plan to write up either today or tomorrow. There were some ways in which I didn’t like it quite as well as The Cuckoo’s Calling, but those have nothing to do with the series’ central premise and characters, which are the main reasons I plan to stick with this series.

For years now, I’ve preferred to consume my genre entertainment in TV shows and movies rather than books, but audiobooks seem to be changing that a little, and I’m not sorry that they are.


What I’m watching

Speaking of genre TV, we’ve been on a steady diet of three episodes a night of Supernatural on Netflix this past week, and not getting the least bit tired of it. That said, a few days away from the TV might not be a bad thing…


What I’m writing

I paid tribute to some of my “blogcestors” in a Throwback Thursday post that I updated and repurposed for BlogHer’s Selfiebration question about blogging “family trees,” and I’ve loved the conversations it’s prompted here, on Twitter, and in the Book Bloggers Google+ group. All I have planned for the week ahead here is book reviews, which we all know rarely foster that kind of conversation.


What caught my eye this week

The combination of a busy few days at work and trying to read two to three books at the same time means that my blog-reading has been off-pace this week, so I really don’t have links to share today. I’m also not participating in this weekend’s Mini-Bloggiesta, but I think some of the Mini-Challenges look good and I may tackle them at some point later on. I have a feeling I may be more inspired after next weekend.

• Coral from Book Bunny PR will help us to write five blog post ideas. 
• Bette Lee from Bette Lee Crosby will help us to update SEO on old posts. 
• Wesley from Library Educated brings us a how to on social media etiquette. 
• Katie from Doing Dewey has a challenge about requesting ARCs. 
• Shannon from River City Reading talks about affordable blog design. 
• Alysia from My Little Pocketbooks teaches us all about Thinglink.com. 
• Stormy from Book. Blog. Bake. shares her time management hints . 
• Amanda from Amanda Shofner tells us all about Storify and how it can help us. 
• Stacy from A Novel Life has a tutorial on how to work with blog designers.

What Else is New?

I will be in San Jose for BlogHer’14 this Thursday through Saturday. It’s the tenth-anniversary conference, and my first time attending since 2010 in New York City. I remember a few years when the annual flagship conference sold out months in advance, but this year’s event, even with an attendance cap of 2500, still has some openings if you can make it to the Bay Area with just a few days’ notice. Please let me know if you’re going to be there, because I’d love to see you!

Read More