Red Dress Ink Jackpot!

I went to the Book Expo in DC last weekend and stumbled upon a Red Dress Ink book signing. I was so excited! You can tell I don't get out much. There were a bunch of my favorite authors from that publisher signing their books. Some of the books I got signed were:

Girls Night Out, a short story collection I had signed by Marian Keyes (one of my favorites!), Meg Cabot and Laura Caldwell. I read this already and really enjoyed it. The stories were really good for the most part, and I wanted to read more.

Me vs. Me, by Sarah Mlynowski. I read this as well and really enjoyed it. I was happy with the "Me" that she chose in the end and (spoiler ahead) was happy that she and Cam ended up together. I was also pleased that Cam was not the same guy who refused to elope at the end of the AZ part of the story, but seemed to have changed as well.

I also had books signed by Carole Matthews, Mindy Klasky and one or two others whose names escape me right now. All in all, a great surprise for me!

I also had a book called My Father the Dog signed by the author. It's a very cute children's book I"m going to give Mark for Father's Day. He'll really like it. I had it signed for Ryan.

Otherwise, I'm still reading the Queen biography which is really interesting. Their lives at the time sound like all they did was record and tour. It's hard to imagine how they had a personal life outside of that. I need to start reading Chang & Eng, but I still have 2 weeks until book club.

In the Company of the Courtesan, Sarah Dunant

At book club this past Monday, we discussed In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant. It was pretty good. The story is told from the perspective of the courtesan's dwarf. I learned a lot about the profession of courtesan in the 16th century, the life of a dwarf in the 16th century and about Venice in general. We spent some time discussing how the profession of courtesan/prostitute has changed from then until now. Pretty funny. After we finished the discussion we got in the hot tub and set a new record with 7 people!

Since it was at my house I had to suggest books to read for next time. I suggested The Bingo Queens of Paradise by June Park, Big City Eyes by Delia Ephron and Chang and Eng by Darin Strauss. We chose Chang and Eng, which is a novel based on the lives of the Siamese twins. It looks really interesting.

Outside of book club I just finished Charmed Thirds by Megan McCafferty. This is the third in a young adult series. The first two are Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings. It took me a long time to get into this third one. I didn't like it as much as the first two. It's set over her entire time at college. I did get into it more the farther I read and found myself caring what happened to her. I was happy that Marcus reappeared, since I find myself liking him better than Jessica, but thought she was quick to take him back. Jessica did seem to mature over time and come to some realizations that made her more likeable.

This morning I just started reading Queen: the Definitive Biography by Laura Jackson. I'm only a few pages in, but so far so good!