The Cat's Miaow

Book Addicts Book Group announce new Richard and Judy Book Club strand for 2009!

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:52:54 GMT

As previously advised, the Richard and Judy show is relocating from Channel 4 to a new UKTV channel called Watch next month. Luckily for us, they are taking the ever popular book club with them and what's even more good news, they are expanding it!

As book addicts, we think this is great news, and so to celebrate, we have decided to incorporate the Richard and Judy Book Club books in our current Book Addicts Book Group schedule starting with the first book chosen for the new show: "Mudbound" by Hillary Jordan.

Synopsis
When Henry McAllan moves his city-bred wife, Laura, to a cotton farm in the Mississippi Delta in 1946, she finds herself in a place both foreign and frightening. Henry's love of rural life is not shared by Laura, who struggles to raise their two young children in an isolated shotgun shack under the eye of her hateful, racist father-in-law. When it rains, the waters rise up and swallow the bridge to town, stranding the family in a sea of mud. As the Second World War ends, two young men return from Europe to help work the farm. Jamie McAllan is everything his older brother Henry is not and is sensitive to Laura's plight, but also haunted by his memories of combat. Ronsel Jackson, eldest son of the black sharecroppers who live on the farm, comes home from war with the shine of a hero, only to face far more dangerous battles against the ingrained bigotry of his own countrymen. These two unlikely friends become players in a tragedy on the grandest scale.

This book is the first selection in the newly announced New Writers Book Club strand. Twelve debut writers will be featured over the coming months, including Farahad Zama - The Marriage Bureau for Rich People in November, and Nancy Horan - Loving Frank, for December. More details of all three books can be found on our book group forum by clicking this link.

Richard and Judy have also announced a special Christmas Books strand to their new show, so please stay tuned for more details about that. In January, the 2009 book club selections will be announced and again we hope that you will join us to read and discuss the ten books that make up that selection. Perhaps by the time you have worked your way through all of those, you will be ready for the Summer Reads books!

We offer fun and lively book discussions in a safe, friendly and spam-free site, with a great bunch of Book Addicts. The Richard and Judy Book Club strand is only one of many opportunities we offer in our ever-expanding, popular online Book Group. We hope you can join us to read and chat about some of the great books we have coming up next year!

February Book Discussions for Book Addicts

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:32:51 GMT

So I have been rather remiss at updating. Well I have no excuse except the same excuses that everyone has at the end of the year - CHRISTMAS! Too much to do in too little time.

And also no time to do the things I *planned* to do. Yes I did have a whole bunch of things planned to do over Christmas and New Year and somehow - pouf - and all the time has run out. I have also been very busy craftwise as well, but again I need more hours in the day to fit it all in.

I had even been collecting books I was planning to read over Christmas, can you believe that? And then, what happens? I don’t get to read ANY of them. Yup that’s right, they are all still sitting on the shelf waiting for me to remember them.

But enough about my problems with time management. Here are the books we will be reading next month (Feb) with the book group. Groups will be staggered so you won’t be required to read three books at the same time if you wanted to join in all three discussions.

LOST SOULS - Poppy Z Brite

THE SKEWED THRONE - Joshua Palmatier (Joshua will be joining us for the discussion)

WORKING FOR THE DEVIL - Lilith Saintcrow

So come one, come all and chat about these great books with us next month.

(cross-posted EOTC/LJ)

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Originally published at The Official Empire of the Cat blog. You can comment here or there.

Book Group - November Selections 2007

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:59:00 GMT

Book Addicts Book Group

Book Group News

We are now in the last two months of the year and coming to the end of our Book Group schedule. For those who have participated with us so far, thank you and I hope you have had fun. For anyone who hasnt participated or dropped out, we hope you see you soon.

We have some great books being discussed and it’s not too late to join in. If you are interested in reading and discussing these books with us, then make sure you are in the Book Group and come on down! It’s fun really, and not at all like school - we don’t even have a pop quiz!

November:
Agents of Light & Darkness - Simon R Green: Join me and Forgotten on another trip into the Nightside. This is one of my favourite Nightside books. We got good, evil, angels, unholy grails, and Shotgun Suzie!

The Choice of the Cat - EE Knight: Join me (again) and Nabs for book two in the Vampire Earth series. Yes I am alledgedly hosting two books this month, which is why I need help lol. But if I can host two, then it’s even easier for you to sign up just to read one or two, right? Not to mention we have the terrific EE Knight himself popping in between Con duties, just to answer your questions!

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen: Hosted by Becs, we have another of Jane Austen’s famous and best selling novels. All of her books have been made into films, she has written six of the top selling books of all time, and one of her books was even made into a Bollywood musical. The books are quite simply terrific and well worth the read. Unfortunately short of digging up the author and a spot of necromancy, Jane Austen will not be attending.

So what are you waiting for? Remember all members, authors included, are free to join us in any book discussions that take your fancy. Discussions are fun, informal and you get to read books at chat about them - what more could you want?

Book Group 2008

Book Buddy and My 52 Books will continue in 2008, but we also have some other great reading challenges for you. Just click on the Reading Challenges 2008 Board for more details.

Suggestions for next year’s Book Group.

The suggestion threads are waiting for your suggestions! They will remain open until Halloween, after which time we will be putting up polls for voting. So if you want a chance at getting your favourite books discussed with the Book Group in 2008, go to this board and make your suggestions before 31st October!

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Originally published at The Official Empire of the Cat blog. You can comment here or there.

NaNoWriMo is just around the corner!

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 19:58:51 GMT

Ok all you writers and budding writers and people who want to be budding writers, NanoWriMo starts in just over a month, so who is up for the challenge?

What is NaNoWriMo and what is the challenge?

National Novel Writing Month 1-30 November
The Challenge is to write 50,000 words starting on 1st November and finishing on or before 30th November.

So who wants to give it a try and join our Writing Group in the process?

Book Addicts Writing Group <—– clickie the linkie and let’s get planning. Oh yeah, no writing before 1st November, but we can plan, plan, plan and talk, talk, talk

Besides which you will be helping me and I really need the help lol I have a ton of work to do and two new courses starting today, and I need to keep motivated and squeeze NaNo in too, so come on!

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Originally published at The Official Empire of the Cat blog. You can comment here or there.

Calling all Book Addicts - Suggestions Needed!!!

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 19:49:40 GMT

Book Group 2008

We are currently seeking suggestions for books to read with the group next year, and to that end, have started some suggestion threads.

You can find them in the Online Book Group 2008 board. You will have to be a current member and logged in, to be able to see the board.

We are looking for suggestions in the following categories:

Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Horror

Contemporary & Modern Fiction

Crime, Mystery & Thriller

Romance, Paranormal Romance, Chicklit Suggestions

Non-Fiction & Biography

Classic & Historical Fiction

Within these categories you can include Children’s and Young Adult books, books to movie books, prize-winning books etc.

We are already committed to continuing some books in series, so you do not need to suggest those books as they are already scheduled.

We will consider discussing books that were discussed with the Book Group in 2006 for those who may have missed some excellent books, but not 2007, as that is too recent to be done again.

Next year’s Book Group will have a bit of an overhaul, and will be much simpler to use thanks to a nifty new feature. In addition to the monthly and weekly discussions, Book Buddy, and My 52 Books, there will be a few new challenges for you Book Addicts to get your teeth into!

Keep checking the forum for more updates and information.

* suggestions have to be made in the forum threads for them to be considered, otherwise it would be chaos.

No Tags

Originally published at The Official Empire of the Cat blog. You can comment here or there.

Where have I been - part 2

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 14:42:42 GMT

Where have I been - part 1

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 14:40:14 GMT

Widget fun

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:15:08 GMT

Family website

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 09:44:10 GMT

So after a few weeks of planning, I actually got to work on my new website at the weekend. Everything was on hold because of Uni exams etc. This one is a private family website which will basically revolve around a forum so that people can interact rather than just have a static website. I started on Friday just setting up the basics, deciding on a name, and then spent most of yesterday modifying it.

We are all so very bad at keeping in touch with each other that I thought (since I semm to spend half my life online) we should give keeping in touch online a try. So I have emailed everyone in the family that I know has an email address, and hopefully they will email their contacts in turn, and maybe I will actually get to meet some of my scattered family, even if its only online at first. I get so sick of everyone missing birthdays or not realising some big event is coming up or just not bothering to tell people they are going on holiday or moving etc. So I thought we could at least try and keep in touch this way.

I started work on a family tree a couple of years back and that was quite difficult and I came to a bit of a dead end, so I am hoping that having more immediate contact with more family members might help solve some of the mysteries in the tree too. I have many uncles, aunts and cousins that I have never met. Some of that is due to me travelling and living in other countries but also because of weird family disputes way back so far that no one can even remember what they were about in the first place. And some of it is just down to the fact that people in this country just don't travel very much! So you get a card at Christmas and maybe meet at a funeral or something! (Speaking of funerals, the last one I was at, I had to keep asking someone who was not related to tell me who everyone was as I had never met half of them before)

I have set it up under clans since all of them are Scottish originally, so when you go to register on the site, you get to select your family crest and family name group and the country you are in so you get a little flag. I had a lot of fun with that bit and creating all the crest badges. lol I am such a sad case. All extended family are included too, so for example my brother's wifes family, my cousins in-laws etc. I think it's going to be really cool and a good way to let kids safely use a site on the internet and get some great experience and meet their relations. It has a 'myspace without the idiots' feel to it with extended profiles, friends lists, wishlists, comments, and also chat, gallery, and arcade and shop like my other sites. Depending on how it goes we might open it to 'family friends' too for those really-close-they-are-almost-related friends. I am visualizing arcade battles and family secret santas, family gatherings and never missing another birthday again lol. In reality I will probably have a bunch of people who are not familiar with computers, the internet, message boards, or have the ability to type, all asking me the same questions over and over again. Some of the older generations may have some problems but there are plenty of younger people to help them out. So long as we can get past that stage and no one gives up then I think we have the makings of a real live family tree.

On Friday I got in touch with one of my Uncles on my dad's side. It was really exciting. I havent seen him for over 10 years and he lives about 2 hours away, and I don't really know him at all. I don't know any of his kids, though I found out on Friday that two of them are in the US and one of them is a teacher in California somewhere. I had no idea since I didnt even know what their names were! On my mum's side I only know one Uncle, as they all went into the armed forces when they left school and then scattered all over the world, so I have never met any of them. I even have an uncle in the Mounties! I am hoping somehow to track them all down and make it easier for us all to stay connected - assuming they want to of course lol

So today I am almost at the stage where I can direct everyone to go register. It did take me most of the day yesterday due to the amount of modifying and I found myself wishing I got paid by the hour for that kind of work. That could be quite lucratrive if anyone was willing to pay for that stuff lol. I enjoyed doing it but it can be quite tiring as you have to really concentrate and not screw anything up and no two installations ever work out the same way.

I think I may even have been dreaming about this last night hahaha

Other news is that the Empire of the Cat is coming up on its second birthday in a couple of weeks. We have started a countdown and a birthday postathon and will be having other celebrations, competitions and prizes etc as we get closer to the actual anniversary day. Doing all this work over the weekend has seriously put me behind in the postathon, so I have some major catching up to do!

Observation

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:49:34 GMT

The most interesting thing about my LJ is my friends lol

Bitchy bitchy bitchy and racist

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 11:18:15 GMT

Ok Big Brother started last week and I said I wasn't gonna watch it because it numbs my brain and it really is the most God-awful program and needs to die now.

However, one of my friends has forced me to watch it with them a few times and yes my head is numb.

This time around they filled the house with women. Yes, 11 of them, all competing with each other, all bitching about each other, all superficial and brainless.

Then they throw a MAN into the mix, the bitchiness and competitiveness goes through the roof. The poor guy doesnt know what's hit him as he stands there truly bewildered asking 'why are you all being so bitchy to each other?' Aww poor guy, he obviously has never seen a group of women like that, all locked up together and they all look like they are about to eat him alive. It also doesn't help that there aren't enough beds and he has to choose to sleep with someone. Turn up the bitchy/competition switch why don't you.

But anyway, as if that's not bad enough, as if we didnt have enough a few months ago with Celebrity (and I use the term loosely) Big Brother and all the accusations of racism, we have it again!!!

One of the vacant blondes, I don't keep up with the names, (probably some kind of perfume) called one of the others 'the n word'. The girl in question said she wasnt offended, then used the same word, as did the other girl next to her. Then the injured party declared it should be kept quiet to avoid any trouble and then promptly went around and told everyone in the house! Chaos ensued, the blonde was removed from the house in the middle of the night in her nightie while she complained that she wasn't wearing any underwear and didnt want to leave the house like that at 3am. Oh yeah and that btw she was sorry and isnt a racist and didnt mean it but everyone uses that word.

To liven things up a bit they have thrown in two other men to the ~~wolves~~, ~~lions~~, girls, but this time they're Gay.

* Yes, yes I know, not all women are bitchy, not all blondes are vacant, but these ones are!

June Update - Book Group and Writing Group

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:30:09 GMT

This month in our scheduled discussions, we are reading the following books:

The Prose Edda (Norse Mythology) - Snorri Sturluson
Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie
All Together Dead - Charlaine Harris

These groups continue all month so there is plenty of time to join in and chat about them.

We have another author joining us this month. Joshua Palmatier, has joined us to talk about his books.

Also this month, we have installed a new writing program for our Writing Group. This allows you to write or upload stories, chapters etc, categorise them, and have them reviewed and rated by other members of the group. You will then have the chance to be a featured author for the month.

Happy Holidays procrastinate, procrastinate

Mon, 28 May 2007 17:34:51 GMT

Today is the Spring Bank holiday in the UK and as I just remembered, Memorial Day in the US. I seem to be the only person stuck in front of a computer :(

I have to write/finish an essay and the more I think about it the less I am able to concentrate. Consequently as it is now 6.30pm and I have been up since 7.45am, I have not achieved much and am still pretty much looking at an empty page.

I am also very very good at procrastinating and look I'm doing it now by being here instead of in Word!

One of my cats upchucked some hairballs this morning which is why I woke up so early on a holiday, and another had some kind of toilet dysfunction so my morning was rather unpleasant. Then I took them for a walk down the garden to admire (sniff) the plants that finally arrived yesterday (more procrastinating) by that time it was time for some kind of meal, I'm not sure which, (more procrastination). Did something else for a couple of hours (I don't recall what) then since I still couldn't get my head in the right space, decided to watch the LOST finale that I taped last night. All I can say is:

WTF?

It was majorly disappointing and I say as I've said all along, the writers are making it up as they go along, episode by episode, and that's why nothing ever gets resolved, explained or otherwise makes any sense! (more procrastinating watching LOST, did you notice how I slipped that in?)

Anyway, I can only stay here for so long, actually until the egg timer goes off and reminds me that I should be writing an essay,and that is right now!

What Famous Pinup are you

Thu, 24 May 2007 18:44:03 GMT

You are Bettie Page

Girl next door with a wild streak
You're a famous beauty - with unique look
And the people like you are cultish about it

What Famous Pinup Are You?

Really? Well I do have a wild streak *wiggles eyebrows*

as seen on chats_noirs I made her some betty icons, I hope she likes them.

My LibraryThing

Thu, 24 May 2007 17:52:59 GMT

*brain like a sieve*

I forgot to mention LibraryThing!

I added a librarything widget to my lj yesterday so it displays a list of random books catalogued in My librarything collection. It's reasonably easy to do though they are still working on a GUI for it, so you basically have to string the code together from examples, but it works pretty well. It also works on myspace and Wordpress and general websites.

When I logged in today all that was on my random book list was cookbooks and Sunshine by Robin McKinley, strangely appropriate since the book is filled with cinnamon rolls and baking references, when it really should be full of vampires and stakings!

The Empire

Thu, 24 May 2007 17:44:08 GMT

The Empire has expanded! Yay!

If you havent visited recently, well there have been some changes.

There's a new theme on every part of the site, inlcuding the Book Addict's ,and it looks really purty.

We also finished testing and playing with efiction and now its really for action. All it needs now is for people to join up and join in. We will be using it for all kinds of writing, including fanfic, but not only fanfic, since most of our current members don't dabble, or drabble, or... you know what I mean.

My other blog is linked up and the gallery, so all I need to do now is find the time to add stuff to them.

And if you have never visited or havent for a long time, well we also have another Forum. The Green Room The focus is on arts and entertainment, and we even have a couple of bona fide professional artists on the forum, for all those art-related questions. We are currently working our way through BtVS from Season 1 so we can watch them as they should be, in order with Angel, eventually, one day, when we get that far, and talking about our favourite movies and music.

Oh and I am not studying, which is what I'm really supposed to be doing now, but I keep getting distracted looking at fonts on the font group, then I end up downloading more fonts, and well you can imagine.

Wow it's been a while

Mon, 21 May 2007 20:56:48 GMT

Isn't it funny how quickly time passes when you're enjoying yourself, or more accurately not really enjoying yourself but working, studying, and ok, maybe a little bit of fun squeezed in.

My last post here was, wait for it, 15 weeks ago lol. Yes I even looked at it twice. I don't really have an excuse, unless busy counts as one and maybe general meh feelings.

So I logged on, vamped up my journal and am posting after a 15 week gap. I'd like to say its been full of action-packed adventures but it really hasn't. Just all the usual stuff that people do.

That's all for now, short and sweet, and I'm off to watch Heroes! Hmmm maybe that's what I've been doing for all this time.

SITE IS DOWN

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 12:13:26 GMT

Ok, for any members of the Empire of the Cat who read this, the site is currently DOWN

If you go to the site you will get a page that says 'this account has been suspended'... and yes I *DID* pay the bill.

I got an email from the host saying there was some security problem but since he's in another time zone and I was asleep then, I only just saw it. He said if he didnt hear from me (due to all the sleep) then he would switch it off until we could solve the problem

So if you go to the site today, and you see that message DON'T PANIC

Normal service will be resumed ASAP

INSANITY BETTER NOT RUN IN THE FAMILY

Sat, 26 Aug 2006 09:55:19 GMT

MY MOTHER IS INSANE

that sums up the situation quite nicely I think. no further comment necessary. have a good day.

bedtime

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 23:12:47 GMT

I'm going to bed.

This is my opportunity to stay up late and indulge in noisy typing because mum is asleep and snoring through the wall (therefore she wouldnt hear me) but I'm too tired :(

I think its all the detoxing, and also the artificial heat that I get blasted with on a daily basis living here. It's all designed to keep me subdued - like they do in old people's homes so they don't have to keep them entertained. They just turn up the heat and the old dears nod off. My mum used to work in one of those places and I think she's trying it on me - haha! but I'm on to her!

Anyway, maybe its a lack of cheese since I still havent had any and am quite pleased at all the resisting I am doing in that regard. I am however very bored with my food choices and need to go shopping.

zzzzzzzzzzz

oh before I go to sleep theres a pressie for polar girl on its way :)

PS 27 days and counting

Revenge of the Cat!

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 18:10:01 GMT

They say revenge is sweet. I don't know about that but it is amusing sometimes. One of my cats has a fishing rod toy. It basically consists of a plastic 'rod' with a bit of cord dangling from it and a tuft of feathers on the end, or at least it used to. Now it has a chewed stump at the end but the fact is he loves it. He will not ever stop playing with it, and it gets to the point where I have to hide it from him or he will follow you around the house dragging it with him, demanding that you play - haha

He has been known to deposit it on my bed - on me - in the middle of the night when he is bored and thinks you should be up and ready to play with him.

Anyway, on to the revenge.

I was awoken this morning at 4.45am by the sounds of my mum yelling at the cat.   Guess why?

Yup, he had found the fishing rod and decided to wake her up to play, by jumping on her with the fishing rod and miaowing very loudly to wake her up. Ok so it woke me up too, but I did think it was funny after the noisy typing episode, and besides I just roll over and go back to sleep ~~(chuckling to myself).~~ My cat came into my room and went to sleep on the bed.  My mum was awake for the rest of the night. (that sounds mean but she gets up early anyway so it was really only an hour earlier than usual)

Exploding Banners!

The other night my friend Anyalad asked if I could make an exploding banner. I don't really think this is what she had in mind but this is what I came up with when I was playing today.

If you like it Dal, it's yours <grin>

Noisy Typing

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 10:51:17 GMT

It's official.

I am 12.

In addition to:

not being allowed in the living room after midnight on my own
not being trusted to unplug the kettle before going to bed
not being allowed to use the phone
having to ensure I lock myself in when I'm in the house alone
being accompanied when I leave the house
not being able to switch on the oven or the grill without it being checked that the gas isnt too high or that I've turned it on properly

It is apparently 'ridiculous' that someone should not only still be up at 1am on a Friday night but also be engaged in 'all that noisy typing' as well when 'normal' people are asleep.

So basically being told that I should really be in bed.

aarrgghhhh

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 22:44:19 GMT

I am kinda getting a reputation for changing things on my forum. I am changing things right now but even I get tired sometimes and this is one of those times.

Sometimes I think I'm doing the right thing and have all good intentions but still things go wrong or I get it wrong or I fail in some way.

I also hate internet drama and endeavour to keep it away from my forum, but sometimes over the course of the last year it is still managed to squeeze its way in. What is wrong with people? Why can't they just be nice to each other.

At those times, I feel quite low, like now.

The more things change, the more they stay the same

Book Group of the Month Award!

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 01:14:05 GMT

Book Group of the Month - August 2006!!!

Ok, it's 2am but I'm excited lol

Our Online Book Group just got selected to be Book Group of the Month on a Book Group Directory site in the UK - big deal you say, well it is a big deal to me and I'm very happy about it so shut up and be happy for me being happy

(warning: rambling may occur due to being so late at night and I'm tired)

We got selected back in June and I've had to wait all this time as they have July off and don't update the site again until August. I was really hoping we could be bgotm forJuly and then it would tie in with our Birthday celebration but August is good too.

So for anyone who is interested, here is the link to the 'interview' lol

book group of the month

*faints*

busy busy busy

Sat, 05 Aug 2006 22:33:05 GMT

I set myself a task today; four things I wanted to get out the way so I could move on and do other things...

It's 12 hours later and I haven't even looked at one of them haha

I have spent nearly a whole day in front of this computer and I really can't tell you what I have been doing - not very much my mum would say lol

Sometimes I wish I had a clone as there seems to be so many ideas that I have and just not enough hours in the day to get them all done.

And here's something funny to ponder... I'm entering nano this year so I think I will then be into negative time

The Cat's Miaow

Book Addicts Book Group announce new Richard and Judy Book Club strand for 2009!

February Book Discussions for Book Addicts

Book Group - November Selections 2007

NaNoWriMo is just around the corner!

Calling all Book Addicts - Suggestions Needed!!!

Book Group 2008

Where have I been - part 2

Where have I been - part 1

Widget fun

Family website

Observation

Bitchy bitchy bitchy and racist

June Update - Book Group and Writing Group

Happy Holidays *procrastinate, procrastinate*

What Famous Pinup are you

My LibraryThing

The Empire

Wow it's been a while

SITE IS DOWN

INSANITY BETTER NOT RUN IN THE FAMILY

bedtime

Revenge of the Cat!

Noisy Typing

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

Book Group of the Month Award!

busy busy busy

Happy Holidays procrastinate, procrastinate