Event Recap: Felicia Day Book Signing @ Indigo Eaton Centre

Better late than never, right? In mid-August I was able to take a break from my program's Enterprise-ing for a chance to delve into downtown Toronto for my first trip to the Eaton Centre since moving to the GTA for my publishing program. I'm particularly fond of the Eaton Centre's Indigo store - mainly because of its size and the fact that this store has at least 3 manga sections :D But most importantly, this store gets to host awesome events like a live book signing with amazing innovator in geek culture, +Felicia Day! I was very lucky to get my book signed at this event, and to also spend some time with friends old and new that came out to meet Felicia.

Being a semi-ignorant small town girl, I figured that taking time to stop and eat dinner and not head out to the signing until about 6 would get me there right on time for 7 o'clock and I would have no problems. I have my friend Notes to thank for letting me know just how crazy the turn-out was, which drove me to get my butt in gear and hop on the streetcar about 5 o'clock instead. After all, it's a Felicia Day book signing in Toronto, of course there would be a whole whack of geeky individuals there ready to wait in line. Silly me!

Audio Book Review: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

There are a number of topics contained in novels that I will instinctively flock to. Having worked in a bookstore for 7 years, and generally because of how much I love to read, stories that surround the concept of working in or running a bookstore have always been naturally fascinating to me. For example, I loved The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry so much that after I finished reading the book (borrowed from my aunt's copy that I bought her for Christmas XP), I ended up downloading the audio book so I could re-live the story in a whole new way. Stories that have a bookstore as a primary fixture of the plot or setting remind me of why I love to read so much, why I enjoy being transported by these words and characters and these exciting and unique plot lines.

This is what ultimately guided me towards Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore.

I was working at Coles Bookstore when this book was originally released, and of course the inclusion of the word "bookstore" in the title originally drew me towards it. I couldn't pinpoint the exactly reason for you why I didn't pick up this book shortly after it hit the shelves, but I'm pretty sure there was something about the synopsis/jacket copy that just didn't grab me. When this title came my way on my Audible app (probably referred to me after I finished listening to The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry), there was no change in the writing of the synopsis, but I was gifted with something else that hadn't been provided to me when I originally looked at that hardcover copy; a sound sample, an excerpt from the beginning of the book. The sample offered to me was a longer one, which I appreciated, and from that I was able to learn that the main character of this book, Clay Jannon, works with technology and online marketing, having previously designed the website for a bagel shop that netted him a marketing award. Ultimately the recession is what lands Clay out of a job and applying to Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore.

Wednesday Wish Lists #22

Hey all! I know I've been out of commission for a little while - my publishing program was beyond hectic, especially in our last month which made up the Enterprise portion of the program. But I'm all done now, and I'm back to having time to notice cute and amazing products through the internet that I very much want to covet. So here are the top 5 items on my wish list right now.

#1: New Tutti Fruity Line from Zoella Beauty. When it comes to Zoella's influence on me to buy products, I'd say that it's a pretty strong force. For example, on my last errand trip in Toronto before moving out of my dorm, I made a detour to take my very first trip into a Lush store to buy a bath bomb for my mother and for myself as birthday gifts (hers was on August 11th, mine was on the 19th). But I love her line of beauty products, not just because they have her name on them, but because they're quality products and they smell incredible. I'm still working through the bottle of Soak Opera bath and shower gel I purchased last year, and love how it can be used as both a shower gel and as bubble bath. I also have the bath fizzer bar of hers and her moisturizing lotion, along with one of her makeup bags. I have also purchased Zoella products as gifts for other people. Now that she has a whole line of products, I'm sure that I will be picking these up ASAP.