s you may have noticed, I don’t do a whole lot of giveaways around here, partly due to my severe allergy to the post office. But I wanted to give you a heads up on some upcoming giveaways. Next week I’ll be giving away two literary bios: James Joyce: A Life by Edna O’Brien and Charles Dickens: A Life by Jane Smiley, both of which are due out November 29. This giveaway is sponsored by Penguin and will be sent directly from their offices.

In December, I’ll be doing a major Holiday Extravaganza Giveaway, in which I’ll be giving away at least 30 books if not more. I haven’t quite decided yet if I want to give them all away to one person, or more likely, divide the books into “bundles” and give them away that way so that more people have a chance to experience some holiday cheer. Books will include ARCs received from BEA, books I’ve read but don’t want anymore (and which are still in good condition of course), books I realize I’m not as interested in as I thought, duplicates, etc. Such books include Skippy Dies, The Last Brother, Nom de Plume, In Zanesville, 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel, Everything Is Illuminated, The History of Love, Boys and Girls Like You and Me, The Art of Fielding, Hooked, Lightning Rods, Lamb, American Psycho, etc.

Anyway, so that’s that! Something to look forward to I hope :)

s I may have mentioned (actually I think I only mentioned it in the comments of a post), this Saturday my best friend is getting married, and I’ll be in New Orleans for four days as a result. I’m returning on Sunday night, and then from Tuesday through Thursday, I’m attending BEA and other bookish events (the BEA Bookrageous Bash and either Literary Death Match to see Hilary Thayer Hamann or Granta’s Launch Party for their latest issue, the F Word). So it’s definitely going to be a hectic couple of weeks. I’ll definitely be blogging about BEA and any other events I attend, so I’m not going on hiatus. Beginning in June, however, I’d like to make a few changes to this blog:

1) I miss talking about non-bookish things. I have a film review scheduled for this week, but it’s about True Grit, which is based off a book, so it doesn’t count. Much as I miss the non-bookish things, I don’t miss not having much direction. So what I think I’m going to do is start something called “Freestyle Fridays” where I talk about non-book related things: film, music, art, Disney, television, whatever. I might do it in the form of Friday Fives (i.e. always a list of five) or I might not. Either way, it will be limited to once a week, and the main focus of this blog will remain literary.

2) I’d like to get more involved in the book blogging community as a whole. My decision to go to BEA made me realize that I don’t participate in enough things that would foster community — I don’t host any challenges or giveaways nor do I really take part in them and I definitely don’t comment enough on other people’s blogs. Definitely want to change that going forward.

3) With Memorial Day just a couple of weeks away, i.e. the unofficial start of the summer, a Summer Reading List is coming soon. The list is still a Work in Progress, but I would like to kick off the summer with The Summer Book by Tove Jansson. Just seems appropriate don’t you think?

4) Not exactly related to this blog, but I’d like to start writing again. I’m going to start with essays (why essays? because those are easier for me than fiction and I have to start somewhere). By the end of the summer, I want to have 10 essays in submittable condition.

o the truth is, I really miss blogging about books in general (I also miss using Miss Hische’s drop caps). I don’t want to just blog about NYC literary events and books and bookstores. I want to do that in addition to blogging about books, and so I’ve decided to 1) open up the posts from last year that are relevant to reading and literature, 2) turn this into a (more general) literary blog, 3) change the name of this blog to Book Lush. I’ve also bought the domain, so update your bookmarks! I still own the waverlyandwaverly.com domain, however, so for now you should be redirected to booklush.com if you type that into the address field.

What I will be posting: book reviews, indie bookstore spotlights, recaps of literary events attended, general book discussions and reading habits. What I will not be discussing: my life, my writing (or lack thereof), music, feminism (actually, I’ll probably bring up feminism if I read a feminist book, but that’s contextual). But you can still expect the posts that follow to have relevant subjects/titles (at least from now on, I’m not going to go back and change the old ones)

Upcoming Posts: recap of Literary Death Match, 4 Book Reviews that I have stored up. OK, I’ve actually imported 3 of the Book Reviews from where I’ve been stashing them, so um, yeah! One more is coming though :)

Right now, however, I’m going to see what options this layout affords and I’m going to add the appropriate Pages.

ou may be wondering (if you happened to notice) where all my posts went. To which I say, who cares! (but if you’re really curious, they’re all private so they’re still there, you just can’t see them anymore I’m afraid — meaning you totally can’t call me out on my 11:11 goals mwahahaha).

Anyway, this blog has found its new calling, and I’m very excited for it. At least I am right now. Talk to me in a month and I bet I’ll feel quite differently.

But from now on this blog will house my Adventures Through Literary New York City! The name and domain will remain the same since it came from a street in New York City anyway. But the content will definitely change. I’ll be reviewing books (mostly fiction) about / that take place in New York City, discussing literary events/readings I attend around the city, talking about various independent book stores around the city (there are at least 20 that I am interested in talking about), etc. If done right, this should be a lot of fun. I’ll probably be starting that around the end of January / beginning of February. So stay tuned!

(Oh and isn’t it exciting? you can finally expect blog post titles that MAKE SENSE! Oh happy day!)

EDIT 1/21: My first post will be about either the first NYC Literary Death Match of the year, taking place on my birthday or a literary/music themed event taking place at Word Brooklyn on Tuesday. Please don’t come and stalk me, ok? :)

EDIT 1/26: This post is largely irrelevant. For an update on what I’m doing with this blog, please see this post.

source: Daria

appy 2011 everyone!

I am currently in the midst of a Twilight Zone marathon, which is how I spend every New Year’s Eve/Day. Yes, I am that exciting. Tomorrow is the last day my B&N is open to the public. I can barely contain my squee.

Alright, so here’s the deal — for the one of you who was asking :)

I did create another blog. I have not decided what to do with it yet, and I have not paid for a domain name though the one I want is available. I won’t be spending money until I decide what to do with the other blog. I’m not sure if I want to:

1) keep this blog and use that blog for something different (what exactly I don’t know) … it would probably help if this blog were more focused, then I could figure out how to focus that one.
2) pack up my bags and move
3) sit on it like an egg and wait for it to hatch

I’m also trying to decide on my first book of the new year. I kind of want to make an inventory of all the books and literary magazines I own that I still haven’t read yet…you know, to remind me to stop buying so many fucking books?

Will keep you posted.