Tag: hooray

book club

BOOK HUNGRY: making waves

abby mumford

who says you have to be crowded into the living room, kitchen, and/or dining room to hold a book club? we are ladies of the 21st century. we don’t need no stinkin’ couches. so pull up a blog and join in the conversation.

the members of the BOOK HUNGRY are (alphabetically): patty blount, kelly breakey, karla nellenbach, vanessa noble, alyson peterson, cynthia reese, elizabeth ryann, and myself. here’s the deal. we pick a book to read. we discuss via email. we post a review on our individual blogs on the same day (3rd thursday of the month). we link to each other. done. i know, genius. click on each one of their names (above) and it’ll take you to their review. browse. enjoy.

this month’s BOOK HUNGRY selection is: 

MAKING WAVES by Tawna Fenske


what it’s about from amazon: When Alex Bradshaw’s unscrupulous boss kicks him to the curb after 20 faithful years as an executive with the world’s largest shipping company, he sets out to reclaim his dignity and his pension. Assembling a team of fellow corporate castoffs, he sails to the Caribbean to intercept an illegal diamond shipment. None of them counted on quirky blonde stowaway Juli Flynn, who has a perplexing array of talents, a few big secrets, and an intoxicating romantic chemistry with Alex…

my opinion: i have an issue with expectations because of this thing i call my imagination. it tends to hype things up so much that i’m usually left disappointed. i’m happy to announce i have found a cure.

its name is tawna fenske.

after spending the last year or so stalking following her blog and interacting with her on twitter, i was prepared for her debut novel, MAKING WAVES, to be funny, charming, believable, sexy, hilarious, and silly. it was all of those things and MORE, oh so much more. in fact, the only reason i put down the book was because i was laughing so hard it was shaking so much that if i continued to read, i’d probably have gotten seasick. (juli, stop being my role model!)

in movies and books, there’s usually a certain formula that keeps the main couple apart so the tension has time to mount to agonizing levels, however, the reasons keeping them separate tend to be far fetched and unbelievable. not so for Juli and Alex in MAKING WAVES. the distractions, motivations, and circumstances that pull these two apart (and push them back together again) are valid, completely realistic (albeit outrageous) and aren’t there just to up the page count.

i don’t claim to know much about the romance genre, but i have a feeling that tawna fenske is to rom-com as katy perry is to pop music. (i feel justified in making this claim because i saw the VH1 behind the music about katy perry which therefore makes me an expert.) both katy and tawna had bumpy roads to stardom/publication, but once on the scene, we all wonder how we survived without her catchy pop songs/hilariously saucy books.

yes, this is me predicting tawna’s gonna hit it big. and this is me thanking the publishing people for finally(!) bringing us her books.

and a THANK YOU to tawna herself for making time to chat with four of us Book Hungries. on monday night, tawna, patty, elizabeth, kelly and i had a conference call where we discussed our favorite scenes, the crazy characters, her inspirations, her research, and her continued publication path, in addition to her passing along some stellar blogging advice. you better believe all of the above included her usual brand of sassy honesty. suffice it to say, tawna is as cool as juli is smart. (if you’ve read the book, you’ll totally get that analogy. if you haven’t read the book yet [why ever not? GO READ IT], you probably won’t properly appreciate my wittiness, but being misunderstood is all part of being a writer, right? or, hmm, is that just when you’re a rock star?)

anyways, the moral of this blog post: READ THIS BOOK. read it if you don’t like romance. read it if you do. read it if you’re cranky. read it if you’re happy. read it if you’re 89. read it if you’re 8, WAIT, no, ask your parents first.

okay, this gushing has taken a turn for the weird so i’m just going to say this one last thing: this book is a super fine display of comedy, plotting, characterization, and romance.

*places book on pedestal.*

//

convos with strangers

conversations with strangers #8

abby mumford

here’s why i’m talking with strangers.

i’m waiting alone at the bus stop. i’m using my handy dandy “catch the bus” app, so when i see the glowing orange light of an approaching bus i’m a bit surprised. the app says i still have 5 minutes to wait.

as the bus gets closer, i see it’s the #10. ah ha, see, i’m waiting for the #9.

the brakes screech their protest as the driver slows for me — a potential rider.

he opens the door and makes eye contact.

i shake my head.

he points up, presumably at the sign labeling the bus as a #10, making sure i’m sure this isn’t the bus i want.

i smile and motion to him to continue on.

he waves and closes the door, off to the next stop.

it appears whole conversations can be had without speaking at all.

feelings

come away with me OR life as a hollywood extra

abby mumford

my first job in boston was working for a catering company and despite the long, grueling hours, it was a great way to get to know a city you’ve just moved to. my next job after that, my first official publishing job, is where i met nancy. nancy is a doer, a planner, a let’s go explore type of gal. i like to think i’m those things — and i can be if needed — but i’d much more comfortable being the tag along kind of girl. the one who just has to say yes. and when nancy is the one doing the asking, it’s very easy to get caught up in her infectious love of the city.

this past saturday, i did something i’ve always wanted to do. i got to be an extra in a movie. a hollywood movie. ever since massachusetts passed a law giving out tax breaks to movies that shoot locally, you can barely turn a corner without running into some set. but i’ve always been the outsider. not saturday night.

the movie is TED starting mark wahlberg and mila kulnis and is directed by seth macfarlane (creator, writer, actor of FAMILY GUY). they needed 2500 extras to film a concert scene with a “grammy winning artist” and they needed the extras to be there from 7pm to 3am. despite the crazy hours, nance was game and so was i.

and, well, since it’s hollywood, i’ll just roll the camera. (uh, it was my cell phone camera, so pardon the shoddiness of the shots. i’m no movie director.)

we arrived at 6:30 (call time was 7pm), signed in, got our raffle ticket/set pass, and settled in behind the caution tape. everyone was casually spread out on blankets and chairs. the low humidity and temperatures of mid 70s put everyone in a grand, hollywood type of mood.

as night fell, the lights went up and i realized exactly why actors look so good all the time. they have lights like this following them around. *note to self, buy one of these and hire someone to carry it around.*

the grammy winning artist? miss norah jones. she’s the teeny one in the green dress with her arm out.

the movie cameras were all on these massive contraptions. (the crane starts at the bottom left of the picture and rises upwards.) roll sound, roll camera, ACTION.

and here are the stand-ins. norah jones’ stand in is right as the blue meets the brown background and dominic, mark wahlberg’s stand-in is one next (ish) to her. and the third guy is the director of photography. ever seen LOVE ACTUALLY? yup, those kind of stand-ins. wait, no, not THOSE kind of stand-ins, but yes, they have people who are of similar look, size, and shape stand on stage while the set crews adjust the lighting and camera angles and whatnot. they are up there for hours, and then the actors arrive and are there for mere minutes. i can see why stand-ins are needed. they help keep the budget semi under control.

and now, mark wahlberg has entered the building. he was HILARIOUS. in this scene, norah says her line “i’m going to rest my chops for a minute, so i’m going to invite up a friend of mine who’s here to sing a song for a special lady in the audience. (or something like that.) and then she has to introduce mark wahlberg’s character, john bennett. except, the first time she said his name, she said, “here’s mark.” and after a brief moment of embarrassed silence, we all burst out laughing. after going through the line again and saying the correct name, mark comes up and says, “thanks, alicia keys.”

after the novelty of the evening began to wear as thin as the hour on the clock, i realized something. maybe it was the surge of sugar from the mountain dew i chugged at midnight or maybe it was the bright lights setting the scene, but there i was right in the middle of the action. so much in the middle of it that i will not be visible at any part during the movie, but that’s not the point. the point is I WAS THERE. i wasn’t on the sidelines anymore.  i was living a (mini) dream because of nancy. that’s the kind of friend she is.

i can’t wait to see what our next adventure entails.

i’ve got my “yes” all prepared.

travel

offline weekend

abby mumford

this past holiday weekend included:

*two road trips (one to NJ and one to philly)

*a wedding

*a carousel, seriously!


*dancing

*family time that included way extended members of the family, some of whom might have said it was “good to see [me] in adult form” and all of whom i wish i saw on a more frequent basis.

*self portraits

*freshly squeezed lemonade

*secrets and surprises unleashed, one of which is this: brother G isn’t scared of fireworks anymore AND he has his own to set off. he was traumatized by the noise after seeing them at a young age. the fact that he’s now setting off his own has, pardon the pun, blown my mind.

*free reign at the Please Touch Museum.

*more family time

*shaky steps (by baby mac)

*bubbles (of the champagne and soapy varieties)

*a walk in the rain

*home cooked meals

*general goofiness

*starting and finishing BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY by ruta sepetys

*starting ON WRITING by steven king

*listening to THE GRACELING by kristin cashore

it’s amazing, how in a world so technologically advanced, i managed to spend the vast majority of my weekend offline. and you know what? all that time unplugged allowed me to recharge. bring it on, summer.

p.s. happy birthday, america! you’re looking fabulous!

general

sugar lips

abby mumford

when you hear the nickname “sugar lips”, you’d probably turn around and flip off the person who called you that. unless you actually HAD sugar lips, in which case, you’d probably nod your head at the truth of the statement. unless you were a zombie and if you nodded, your head fell off. then you’d have to figure out where your head rolled to. and you’d have to do so by flailing your arms around because (as you well know) you’ve now lost your sight, taste, hearing, and scent senses and are only left with touch. and then, provided you found it, you’d have to reattach your head using some sort of zombie voodoo because by this point, you’d be hungry again and brains are not that easy to come by.

“what’s this all about?” you ask, delicately refraining from adding, “sugar lips.”

they say you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but when your cover looks like this, how can you not?

my judgement? evocative.

i confess i don’t know much about zombies, nor do i know how they’d get lips like those especially since i always assumed they ate brains; brains which are more gelatinous matter than sugar crystals…but what’s my point? this cover? this book? I WANT. i want it like a football player wants a touchdown or a tackle (position depending). i want it like a zombie wants brains. i want it like kate grable wants the antidote.

(see what i did there? i made clever plot references. read here for a full book description.)

fortunately, i don’t have to wait much longer as it’s being unleashed in the wild on JULY 12, but while we wait a little bit longer, the author, carrie harris is having a contest. here’s the post where she details the rules. basically she’s asking her “readers” (i use the term loosely because we haven’t read her work yet so in reality, we’re her future readers. hey cool, i’m coming to you live from the future!) to spread the news about the book’s imminent release. so consider yourself updated and make sure to go to the bookstore on or around JULY 12 to get this book before it gets you because when dealing with zombies, it’s always better to strike first.

(also, you should click the link because her website is beyond amazing.) (and also, ALSO, you’re going down, Breakey. this contest is mine!)

and just in case a zombie apocalypse happens before TUESDAY JULY 12, i’m headed to the nearest candy shop to buy the biggest sugar crystals and coating my lips in them because if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em and if you’re too wimpy to beat ’em and too scared to join ’em, it’s best to try to blend in.

how’s my camouflage?

p.s. no, that is not me. i wish i teeth like that. all the better to eat you with.

wait, wrong story.