A Walk Through Conegliano, Italy
My husband and I often go exploring neighboring towns and villages. Any town, it doesn't matter, because it's all going to be new to us. A few weeks ago, days before Christmas, we took a drive with our boys and ended up in Conegliano.I love Italy at Christmas. There is no rush. There is no bustling from big box store to electronics store in search of that "perfect gift". Christmas in Italy is a time to rejoice, to spend time with family and friends. This time of "feste" is celebrated and exemplified in each city. Pretty much every commune has some sort of holiday decorations on display; usually in the form of lights. Depending on the size, some are more extravagant, and others quaint. Some cities will also host Christmas markets, where things like baked goods and sweets, mulled wine, artesian hand crafted products, and art are sold. The size of the market, is usually small unless you head closer to the mountain areas near Austria. Conegliano is such a town with a small area where local artisans and businesses gather under tents to sell their wares. Conegliano is a lovely place to go for a walk any time of year, but it is especially lovely at the holidays.
After our walk through Conegliano, we went for dinner.
It was a good day.
Emma Michaels' Eyrie:Society of Feathers #2
AMAZON gift card 
The truth is being unveiled and Iris’ past is unlike anything she ever could have guessed. For Stryx, finding your missing half doesn’t always mean finding your mate. Iris has been missing a part of herself for so long that no one is sure she will be able to put the pieces back together and her ever reliable dreams may be forcing her astray. Coping with the death of someone she loved, she is forced to face the truth and break free from the lies that have caged her.
Scoop up Emma's latest work here: Kindle * Nook * iBookstore *Smashwords * Google * PDFYou can learn more about Emma on her website or follow her on these social media sites: Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads
Add Book 3 to your Goodreads list!coming October 13, 2014Follow this link to enter to win an Amazon gift card for $10 Rafflecopter giveawayEmma Michaels' Eyrie:Society of Feathers #2
AMAZON gift card The truth is being unveiled and Iris’ past is unlike anything she ever could have guessed. For Stryx, finding your missing half doesn’t always mean finding your mate. Iris has been missing a part of herself for so long that no one is sure she will be able to put the pieces back together and her ever reliable dreams may be forcing her astray. Coping with the death of someone she loved, she is forced to face the truth and break free from the lies that have caged her.
Scoop up Emma's latest work here: Kindle * Nook * iBookstore *Smashwords * Google * PDFYou can learn more about Emma on her website or follow her on these social media sites: Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads
Add Book 3 to your Goodreads list!coming October 13, 2014Follow this link to enter to win an Amazon gift card for $10 Rafflecopter giveawayWhat's On My Desk? 1.0
One's desk, much like their purse is a very personal thing (or at least it should be.) I think it says a lot about the person who spends their time at it.I love to see where other writers write. Kami Garcia often shares what's on her desk and purse on her blog. Maggie Stiefvater has also shared her office space or the chaos that can become her desk when she gets to drawing.I've shared my work-spaces in the past too, but it's been some time since I've done so and I thought I'd share with you a few things that are sitting on my desk today.Research books on Spain gotten from my base Library. I really must visit some of the places I'm writing about. I'll call them research trips!At any given time there is a notebook or three on my desk (or in my purse, or beside my bed).I found an old hair ribbon I used to wear back in College during sorority events (Go Phi Mu!).I have a box of colored pens I purchased at a local market. I got them for my son who likes to journal and draw, but he left them here last week and so I've been using them too. I like colored pens, because sometimes black or blue ink, just isn't enough!
I found some neat pencils while visiting Belluno, Italy this weekend. Belluno was so charming, much like these pencils I picked up in a little boutique, they have Swarovski crystals on their tops. Charming, sparkling writing utensils. Oh what joy!If you're wondering why I have toys on my desk, that's totally my youngest son's fault. He likes to bring me little treasures.I found some Swarovski crystal pencils on amazon I think these would be lovely presents, don't you?
Bloggy Book Tour for Author L.M. Preston, The Pack: Retribution
I think it's no secret that I adore books and reading, which is why I'm so happy to share with you some great authors who are participating in a mini blog tour that culminates in a Facebook launch party to celebrate the release of author, L.M. Preston's latest novel The Pack: Retribution. I will be guest hosting the Facebook release party for The Pack: Retribution, this Saturday, September 28, from 1-2 p.m. EST. There will be lots of bookish things going on and prizes, among which I will be offering up three bookmarks I made.Other authors participating in the blog tour include:KaSonndra LeighEmma Michaels (I'll be sharing my review of her latest novel Owlet: Society of Feathers #1, as well as a guest post from Emma on October 5)Christina Leigh PritchardBryna Butler Nicole LanganNadege Richards
Top 100 Books
By now most of us have heard about BBC Top 100 Books
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee6 The Bible7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller14 Complete Works of Shakespeare15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger*20 Middlemarch - George Eliot21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens*24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy*25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh*27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis34 Emma - Jane Austen35 Persuasion - Jane Austen36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini*38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne41 Animal Farm - George Orwell42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy.48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding50 Atonement - Ian McEwan51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel52 Dune - Frank Herbert53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth.56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold*65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens72 Dracula - Bram Stoker73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson75 Ulysses - James Joyce76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome78 Germinal - Emile Zola79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray80 Possession - AS Byatt.81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks94 Watership Down - Richard Adams95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Book Barn Miami - Project 365 Day 82
I paid a visit to a used bookstore that has been a staple bookstore for me since I was a kid. The Book Barn Book Exchange, in Miami Florida is a little store that is literally bursting at the seems with books. Today I made an awesome score. I've already run out of room for all my books here in Miami. I may have to start lugging some of them off to our storage unit, but I loath to do that, because all of my books are already in storage! I just started reading The Vampire Diaries series and I must admit, they are turning into a little guilty pleasure of mine!
