If I Stay Meet and Greet

So, I'm late on posting today, and it's a busy week anyway, so I'm posting a picture of what I did today!!

That is Gayle Foreman, author of If I Stay (which we reviewed almost two years ago, because we're hipsters like that.), and the lead actress of the movie, Chloe Grace Moretz.  I got stuff signed by both of them!!

Sooooo, stick around for the movie coming out on August 22.  We just MIGHT be giving something special away. ;)

Celebrities Who Love Reading

You may have seen those READ posters in the library, or maybe not. But the ALA (American Library Association) has a huge selection of READ posters featuring celebrities, art, quotes, and other themes. I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the celebrities who have lent their visages to these posters.

You'll find that a lot of actors from movies based on popular books
do these posters to promote the book(s) as well as the film(s)
and the cast of Harry Potter is no exception.

I very badly wanted to own the Orlando Bloom LotR READ poster
when those films were being released. Let's face it... I still kind want this poster.

Musicians get in on the fun, too:

Britney Spears, LL Cool J, and Yo Yo Ma, pictured.

I think some of my favorites are the "cool guy" posters.

It's like they're saying, "Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Hugh Jackman,

and Colin Farrell make the ladies swoon. They also read.

Coincidence? I think not. READ."

Sports celebrities join the action as well. (Though I'm sad to say,

I didn't see any sports celebrities in the currently available

collection from ALA.) Here we have the mascot at DePaul, Yao Ming, and Drew Brees.

And of course, you have to appeal to the nerdy kids already in the library (don't be offended, I'm referring to myself too): Bill Gates, Nathan Fillion, and Yoda have all graced official ALA READ posters.

What celebrity would you most want to see on a READ poster? (Chances are pretty good they're already on one.) (Note: Not every poster featured in this post is an official ALA Read poster; some of them were inspired by the recognizable format, and I feel like that counts for something.)

Favorite Books by TV Stars

I love Penn Jillette. I think he's funny, he's smart, he's intent on informing people about issues he thinks are important... and if I ever had a daughter, I would want to name her Moxie, too. (Maybe not Moxie Crimefighter, but to each their own.) I love HBO's Showtime's (thank you, Paul, for catching that!) Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, I remember him being on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (no, seriously... he was the head of the witches' council), and I can even forgive him for being on "Dancing with the Stars" and "Celebrity Apprentice."

Religion is a touchy subject, so I try not to talk about it with strangers very much, and I extend that personal policy to my blogging. The internet is a dangerous place for religious discussion. So I'll leave it at this: If you're an atheist, this is a great book for agreeing with. If you aren't, it's a good book for looking at other perspectives (if you aren't too sensitive about your own religion, because otherwise you might get offended; let's put it this way... it was written for atheists, so if you aren't one, just keep that in mind and put it down if you don't like it... There's a reason I don't go around reading books by Joel Osteen and Billy Graham).

Really, given the chance, who wouldn't pick World War Z?  Even though I named Unwind as my favorite book last year, World War Z was the first runner up, and for good reason.  It was well-written and engaging and gave you such a great sense of... bonding together to defeat a common enemy.

Telling it from the perspectives of individuals makes it even better.

He's mostly done voice-overs in his acting career, probably most notably was Howard in Batman Beyond back in the early 2000s.  He writes more than he acts, but he has done a lot of appearances on shows like Roseanne and 7th Heaven.

Favorite Humor Book

In honor of this week's humorous book, we're picking our favorite humorous books this week!

Mine is, awkwardly, an upcoming review book, so I'll say very little about it. Years ago, our friend Christopher told me I needed to read this book: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling, probably best known for her role on The Office. She's also a comedy writer, and her style translates well to bookhood.

But you'll hear more about it in a few weeks... (Oh the suspense!)

I was going to put Paper Towns here, but decided that it's not technically a humor book, it just happens to be hysterically funny.  So I chose a different book by our author this week!

Our book this week is an actual story that Dave Barry wrote.  I'll Mature When I'm Dead is more like his columns, and in fact, some of the stories in there are directly from his column.  He had a Twilight parody (which is pretty much the funniest one that I've read ever), he talks about his dog and his kids and all this real life stuff that's so excruciatingly funny, it could only true.