It is only a bit after 7 a.m. and I have already checked my email and finished my first Diet Coke for the day. My body has settled back into the comfort of my own bed and I am sleeping again! I love to travel but my body does not. Takes me days to get back in synch. By Saturday I will be feeling hunky dory and it will be time to get on a plane again headed for Florida. I am meeting Steve in Miami and we are spending a couple of days in Key West, which we both love, before flying to Kansas City for Thanksgiving. So I have to pack shorts and flip flops as well as winter clothes so we can wander through the outdoor Christmas lights displays in downtown Kansas City. We are staying near the plaza so I can get my Christmas decoration "fix". I have the battery charging for my digital camera so I can take lots of pictures. Ran to CVS yesterday to get wrapping paper for Ally's birthday gift and left with a 3 foot lighted Christmas tree too. Mary called me Sunday to say there were putting up their tree. She has certainly inherited her Mother's love of Christmas. Steve is bringing a golf bag full of my Christmas "stuff" that is still in the islands. I will be able to really decorate the condo this year. :-)

I was reading through Nancy Werlin's blog http://www.nancywerlin.com/nba.htm#Sched about the National Book Awards this a.m. I am so excited that her The Rules of Survival is on the list for young people's literature. Below is the full list in this category. Nancy is in good company, but I was blown away by Rules of Survival and really really really want it to win. Nancy deserves this recognition as she is one of today's best YA authors and her books just keep getting better. They are so suspenseful. And, Nancy has a wicked sense of humor - just go to her blog and check out the 4 inch killer black heels she bought for the ceremony. My ankles hurt just looking at them! The blog is a hoot!

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. One: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson
Sold by Patricia McCormick
Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt
The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

One of my latest reads takes me into the tween territory, rather than upper level YA like Nancy writes. I fell in love with Debi Gliori's Pure Dead Batty. I had a wonderful fantastical romp through the moldy and often creature occupied hallways and rooms of the Scottish "castle" StregaSchloss with the Strega Borgia family. This 5th book about an Italian family reminds me a bit of the Addams family in relation to the absurd humor, the talking creatures (love the lipstick wearing spiders) and the decidedly "weird" kids. Titus is the only one who tastes his mom's tainted dinner and ends up with a massive dose of testosterone and sprouts hair and muscles. Nanny McLachlan has disappeared and Dad Luciano has been charged with her murder. Mom Baci is pregnant again and under the "spell" of the dastardly lawyer whose intent is to keep Dad in prison. Pandora, the logical middle sister with the camera, develops photographs that she didn't take that prove to be leads as to what really happened to their Nanny. And baby Damp, whose magical powers are already greater than her wanna-be-a-witch Mom, is the one who literally holds the string that can bring her beloved Nanny back. You gotta love this toddler along with her accident prone familiar, a batty bat! After reading this delightful fantasy I plan on buying the other 4 titles to curl up with during the Holidays. Offer these to the tweens who love Lemony Snicket, Roald Dahl and any other fantasy with a quirky edge. Or buy them for your adult friends who want a fun read in front the fire or at the beach this Holiday season.

That's it for this chilly Tuesday morning. The sun is shining and the some of the trees are still holding their glorious Fall colors. NC is beautiful in the Autumn. :-)