Author(s) Meet Up and Books Bought/Give Away

Today I got the chance to see Catherine McKenzie author of Spin and Arranged. She was at my local Chapters signing Arranged (her newest novel) and Spin.

Its always nice to meet up with a local author and one I have worked with. I enjoy Catherine’s books and I love being able to show case her and her books.

It was great talking to Catherine. She informed me about the Harper Collins Canada March Madness contest. Every year they run this event and you are asked to vote on books in each category. I believe I am able to vote but I can’t enter the contest because you guessed it, its void here in Quebec and valid only in Canada.

Catherine told me that Spin (38%) is up against Water for Elephants (62%). Also included in that is The Day The Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan, Inside Out Girl by Tish Cohen, Alice I think by Susan Juby, Wonderous Strange by Lesley Livingston, Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill, The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill and Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Some pretty great Canadians in that first round. If you get the chance why not head over and vote and show your support to some great authors. I know I just did.

The overall previous winners were: 2008 Mystic River by Dennis Lehane, 2009 The judas Strain by James Rollins and 2010 Getting the Girl by Susan Juby.

Catherine also mentioned how some US bloggers are inquiring about getting both her books and you can order them through Amazon.ca and chapters.indigo.ca To save on shipping you could order both books.

Spin
Spin Amazon
Spin Chapters

Arranged
Arranged Amazon
Arranged Chapters

Giveaway Time!!

Of course Catherine graciously signed my ARC of Arranged and I bought a copy of Arranged (the above pic) and its signed by Catherine and I am giving it away to one lucky winner.

All you have to do is fill in the form:

Rules:
-Open to Canadian and US mailing addresses only (Sorry about that but shipping can get expensive to mail elsewhere)
-Valid mailing address no PO Boxes.
-Contest is open until March 2nd Wednesday.
-One entry per person.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

An Awesome Author Event (+ Books Bought)

If you remember a little while ago I mentioned I was going to see Mo Willems with Michael. Well today was the day. Michael was super excited and constantly kept asking if it was time to go yet and not to forget his book to get signed.

Which I did remember to put in my purse and he did get it signed.

We were shocked when we walked in to the book store because the place was packed and they were handing out numbers for what group you would be in when he signed the books. I was in group number two. Not exactly sure how many were in each group and we were only allowed to have one non bought book signed (meaning if it wasn’t bought at Babar you were allowed only one)

Going to author events like this I like to support the store (especially this great indie bookstore near me) and the author so I bought:

Some how Michael also managed to convince us to get him:

If you have read his Knuffle Bunny books you will recognize this as the Knuffle Bunny. This is his new best friend.

Sadly while I was stuck in line paying for the books and the Knuffle Bunny, Mo began his readings, which Michael was down stairs to listen (and he got a great spot in front thanks to the staff who made sure all the kids could see Mo) and I forgot to give my camera to him so I don’t have any recordings from this event. Which is really to bad because I did get to hear him and he is awesome. He is very animated and into his books.

He read:

This isn’t my video I found it on YouTube but I thought I would share this so you can see exactly what he is like when he is doing a reading.

He was amazing with the kids and after he each story he would allow a mini Q&A and he always had a funny story and/or comment. One question that was asked was something about writting and his books and he said “One word–Mortgage!” The adults laughed at this one.

This is only my second children’s author book event and it was hands down the very best. Mo was amazing with his readings and after wards with the signings. He took the time to speak with each person and allowed photographs to be taken (minus the flash photography which was his request) and Michael was great with him answering all his questions. Plus we got to see who the real Trixie was.

If you are looking for some great children books I have to suggest Mo Willems books. We love then and since meeting Mo we have decided that we will slowly build our collection up.

Here are some pics from the signing:

This is in line and Mo trying to guess what Michael’s name was.


Mo signing Michael’s books. With the signature was a little drawing he did.


Mo graciously posed with us for this picture.

Thanks to Mo (who I hope might read this) for coming to our little corner of the world (and it didn’t rain this time) and to Babar Books for organizing this fantastic event.

BTW MO told me he was going to be at BEA again so if you get the chance stop and say hi.

Here is an article (interview) about Mo that our local newspaper The Montreal Gazette did on Saturday with him.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Author(s) Meet Up and Books Bought


If you remember my post from yesterday saying that there was going to be an author event happening near me and that I was pretty sure I was going to go, well I did make it to the 2pm reading and signing.

Quite a few people turned up and I think there was more adults(6-7)then kids(3)who came to listen to Sheree read from her book Mabel Murple. I believe it originally came out in 1995. Then when Sheree was informed that the then publisher of the books would no longer be printing children books she got the rights back to her books and went shopping around for a new publisher. Thankfully Nimbus Publishing from the East Coast (Halifax) picked her up.

Mabel Murple got a new make over from the original book and I have to say that I really love this new version of the book so much better. The illustrations are perfect and suit the book to a tee. Of course I have to say that the man behind the illustrations is Sydney Smith (no relation to me) and he is a fellow East Coaster still living in Halifax.

Listening to Sheree read her book was so much fun she did it like a sing song way. The story was very catchy. I think this will be a new found favorite in our house. I know I have read it several times since I have been home.


(I found this video on Youtube and I thought I would share it with you.)Aren’t the illustrations awesome?

After the reading she signed everyone’s books. I picked up Mabel Murple and Sleeping Dragons All Around and got them signed to Michael. Michael wasn’t able to come with me because he was about two streets over at his curling lesson.

I want to thank Sheree for coming to Babar to do a reading and signing. I truly loved discovering a new author especially one from my original neck of the woods. I just wish I could have been there for here teen reading of Pluto’s Ghost at 3pm.

Thanks Sheree for graciously posing for this photo with me.

I am really looking forward to reading The Gravesavers and Pluto’s Ghost. I am currently reading them right now (yes both at the same time) and hopefully will have both of those reviews up this week. Also check back this week for my reviews of the two children books.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

(Author Meet Up) Cecil Castellucci & Books Bought

I want to thank Nikole at Scholastic Canada for sending me an ARC of Rose Sees Red to read and review (My review will be up this week.) and for telling me that Cecil was going to be in town on August 21st (Saturday).

I have to be honest and say that up until I got the book and email I have never heard of Cecil before. So when I heard that she was a local author I got pretty excited because I love to discover new (to me) and local authors.

After getting this email with the info about the when and where of the double book signing I quickly emailed the Montreal group to see who wanted to come with me. Avis said she wanted to go so we made a plan to meet up and go together.

Even though I live in Montreal I have to say I can actually count the number of times I have been down town on two hands and I have lived in Montreal for almost 13 years now. I live roughly 20 minutes from down town (and that is on a quiet day with no traffic) and where I live I am close to everything so why would I go downtown?

There are exceptions to that and this is one of them. The Friday before the event I went to goggle maps to figure out my route via public transit and which one would work the best as I was going to meet Avis at a metro (subway) station and we were going to walk Babar en Ville. One nice thing about our metro system is the underground city. This particular metro station you can access so much without going outside to brave the elements such as the rain. We came out and to the left was:

(Babar is a great indie bookstore for children, middle grade and young adult books.)

As we were waiting a bit outside, guess who I spotted going into Babar? The one and only Cecil. I didn’t say anything to her because she was talking with her parents (which I only found out when she introduced them at the signing.)

We went in shortly after and looked around. I have to say that Babar en ville is exactly like the Babar that we have here in the village. Very small and filled with great books. Thankfully I didn’t have any extra money on me because I am sure I would have bought so many great books.

Just before the reading and signing I bought these two (to get signed) plus a surprise..hmm could it be a possible goodie for the giveaway? Hmm you will have to wait and see.

I have been picking up Geektastic everytime I went into a bookstore but always ended up putting in back and seeing it here I knew this time I had to get it and Cecil was one of the people who editted it so what better reason to pick it up?

Cecil read her first children’s picture book Grandma’s Gloves. What a beautiful story and while she was reading it I couldn’t help but think of my grandma.

Then after that Cecil read a passage from her newest book Rose Sees Red. If you haven’t read it yet you should its a really great story set in NYC in the 80s. As I was reading it I thought about my trip to NYC.

There was a Q&A and it was so nice to hear more about Cecil and her books. Then it was time to get books signed and I got the two above books signed plus my ARC of Rose Sees Red. It was funny because I was in front of Cecil and she had asked if one of us (Avis and I) was Cindy and I said I was and she said she had replied to my tweet (I told her in a tweet that I was going to see her the next day). Here I thought I might have been in trouble. 🙂

Cecil was very gracious and let us take pictures. For some reason this is the only one I got of Cecil and I together and actually of the whole event.

I am sure Avis will post her picture and post because she had her picture taken as well with her camera.

After getting our books and pictures done we got to snack on some lovely yummy cupcakes (me) and tea (avis) that Babar supplied for us.

Thanks Babar En Ville for hosting this great event and thanks to Cecil for coming. I am so looking forward to reading more of your books.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

(Author Meet Up) Cecil Castellucci

I have to send out a huge thank you to Nikole at Scholastic books Canada for sending me an ARC of Rose Sees Red (my review is to come) and for letting me know that Cecil was going to be coming to town this weekend.

I actually found out that she was going to be doing a show tune singing and novel excerpt reading on Thursday August 19th right here in Montreal. I was unable to attend this event but I will get the chance to meet her Saturday August 21 at a double book signing for the following books:

ABOUT THE BOOK
A child who loses a beloved grandparent finds comfort in carrying on the activities they shared in this sweet, genuine look at a universal rite of passage.

Grandma is always on her knees in the dirt, with her gardening gloves on, talking to her roses and laughing with the birds-of-paradise. Her home brims with plants and blossoms, and on hot days, she waters her granddaughter, her “most special flower of all,” with the garden hose. But a day comes when Grandma is no longer there to care for the little girl, who feels sad and small and alone until she remembers all that her grandmother taught her – and all that she now has to teach. Full of light and life and the solace of green growing things, this moving and beautifully illustrated picture book explores a timeless bond with warmth and joy.

ABOUT THE BOOK
Rose has given up. She”s given up on friendship, on happiness, on life being anything other than black, black, black. Yrena wants out. She”s a dancer who doesn”t want to dance, a prisoner in her own home, a resident of New York who never gets to see the city. To Rose, Yrena has always been the Russian girl who lives next door, seen through the window but never spoken to. At least not until Yrena crashes into Rose”s room-and Rose”s life-and sets in motion a night in New York City that none of them will ever forget. From YA superstar Cecil Castellucci, this is the story of cold hearts and cold wars warmed by simple human connection and the liberty of being young and free in the early hours of a new day.

Check back for my review and photos and such from when I meet Cecil this weekend. I will be meeting up with Avis as she will be attending this event with me.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Author(s) Meet Up and Books Bought #38

When I got asked to review Spin earlier in January (2010) I was really excited because I found out that Catherine McKenzie was a local author. I love supporting local authors.

Shortly into January I got an email saying that Catherine was going to be doing a book signing at Chapters/Indigo down town. I was super excited and ready to go, but unfortunately I was still sick and didn’t want to chance going down in fear I would cough to death or make others around me sick so I stayed home. I was disappointed.

Then in March I got another note saying that Catherine was going to be doing another signing at the Chapters near me in April. I quickly marked it down and pre warned everyone in advance that I was going to get my copy signed.

Donna from BooksBound came with me and she took the picture of Catherine and me.

It was really nice as we got to speak to Catherine and she is working on her second book which is going to be coming out in January 2011. Can’t wait to read it. I also got to meet her mother who stopped by as well. Catherine is just as sweet and nice in person as she is via twitter @CEMcKenzie1 and emails.

Another local author, Laura Fabiani was there to show Catherine support. I read her book Daughter of Mine in January, 2009. I got to meet Laura when she delivered her book for me to read.


I knew that Laura was coming so I was on the look out for her. We finally got to meet up and talked. Laura also is working on her next book which will be a trilogy dealing with time travel I believe. Another upcoming book to look forward to.

Laura is another one of those authors that its always a pleasure to speak with via emails and she is just as nice in person. I have to thank Catherine for taking this picture of Laura and I.

BOOKS BOUGHT:
Of course no trip to Chapters can be complete without buying books. I did buy a few books, four in total but ended up returning three of them on Monday. I kept The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong. As that was the one I had intended to buy before walking into the store.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Three Great YA Authors In One Evening

Last night, Chapters (Pointe-Claire) brought in three amazing Young Adult authors: Cassandra Clare, Holly Black and Scott Westerfeld.

I have to thank Linda for letting us know about this event. Unfortunately Linda couldn’t come to the event with Donna and I because she was studying for mid terms. Avis was going to come too but she had a prior commitment. Hopefully there will be an event where we will all be able to attend.

In case you don’t know who they are here is the books they have written:
Cassandra Clare the author of The Mortal Instruments: Book 1-City of Bones, Book 2-City of Ashes and Book 3- City of Glass.
http://cassandraclare.com/cms/home

Holly Black the author of Tithe, Valiant, Ironside, 5 book series of Spiderwick Chronicles, The Poison Eaters and Other Stories, Good Neighbors Bk 1 & 2 (graphic novels), Beyond the Spiderwick (another series) plus numerous other books.
http://www.blackholly.com/

Scott Westerfeld the author of Uglies, Extras, Peeps, Specials, Pretties, The Risen Empire, The Midnighters Series, Last Days, So Yesterday, Evolution’s Darling, Fine Prey, Polymorph, and his newest book Leviathan.
http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/

Scott started out the evening talking about Leviathan. He actually begin it with the trailer for Leviathan.

Has anyone else seen this trailer? I really need to read the book now.

He showed us a slide show and this is the US cover of Uglies on the left hand side and the other is I believe Japan’s version of it. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Then Scott spoke up the illustrations in Leviathan and that they were done by Keith Thompson. A Canadian! You can check out Keith’s website http://keiththompsonart.com/ . His work is truly amazing.

Sadly I couldn’t get many more pictures of everyone because of where we were standing. Every time I had a really good shot of them the girls in front of us would move just as I snapped the picture.

Holly and Cassandra spoke about renting a villa in Mexico and writing their books. The briefly talked about their upcoming books. Which sound really good.

The next part of the evening was Question and Answer period where they answered questions from the audience. Alot of the questions were centered around their books and if they would be turned into movies.

We also discovered that Scott’s wife is author Justine Larbalestier (Liar and How to ditch your Fairy) http://justinelarbalestier.com/

Did you know that Cassandra knows some french? Yes she does and admits she only knows a little bit but what she did speak she did it very well.

They wrapped up the Q&A and began to sign their books for everyone that was there. It was a long line of people. I know when we left the store at about 9:45pm (EST) there was still a little line left. It was really nice to see that they stayed to sign every one’s books.

Cassandra was the first author I got to talk to and we spoke about twitter (I spoke to her briefly that morning) blogging and books. She signed City of Bones and City of Ashes for me and she signed Linda’s copy of City of Bones.


The next author was Scott. We spoke briefly about his books and I admitted that I have yet to read them but I am planning on it now. Especially since seeing the trailer of Leviathan. He graciously signed my copy of Leviathan and Uglies. He was curious when I handed him Linda’s book and I explained that she was unable to come because of mid terms and he wanted to me to wish you good luck on them Linda.

Finally it was my turn to speak with Holly. She was so amazingly funny. We spoke about the books I had read The Good Neighbors (1 & 2) and how I was reading Spiderwick Chonicles to Michael. She hoped that Michael would enjoy them. I told her that after seeing her that I planned on reading her other books.

So after all the books were signed Donna and I went up to Starbucks for a much needed cold drink. After we were done our drinks we briefly walked around and looked at books. I can honestly tell you that I walked out of the store without buying a single book.

This is a picture of all the signed books. Thank you Donna for getting all the Spiderwick Chronicles signed for me.

Okay I have a riddle for you all and perhaps you will know the answer to it. “What belongs to you, but others use it more than you do?” The reason I am asking is because this morning when I looked through all the books Holly had put that in my copy of Tithe.

I managed to get this card today when I went to chapters and last night I managed to snag these three buttons. I was so excited to get them because yesterday afternoon Simon Pulse tweeted about them. Don’t the buttons look cute?

I also was given these by Holly and Cassandra.

Holly Black’s White Cat is her newest upcoming novel and this is only chapter one of it. The book is scheduled to be released May 2010. I am so excited and can’t wait to read it. I also found that that Holly is working with Scott’s wife Justine Larbalestier on a book called Zombies vs Unicorns and that is coming out in September 2010.

Cassandra Clare’s The Infernal Devices is her newest upcoming novel and this is only chapter one of it. I am not sure when this is going to be released. She is also coming out with The Clockwork Angel and that will be released in September 2010.

It was another fun author meet up.

I have to thank Debbie at Chapters for taking the pictures of me with the authors. Donna for getting the Spiderwick Chronicles signed for me. Simon and Schuster & Chapters for the buttons and bringing Cassandra, Holly and Scott to Pointe Claire. Thank you Cassandra, Holly and Scott for coming to Pointe Claire and signing all our books. It was a pleasure to meet you and to get the chance to speak with you. Thank You to Linda for letting us know that they were coming to Pointe Claire.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.