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It's July 22, friend. Can you believe this?

So, what does this mean? Well, for starters, it means that Booklikes-opoly only has another 19 days of gameplay left!

And, even more importantly, it means that I need to start thinking about that other hallowed autumnal tradition (see what I did there) here on BL. You know what I'm talking about . . .

Halloween Bingo . . . 

You will all be happy to hear that I have been working away on the quilt for the winner of last year's Halloween Bingo game and it is almost done - and it will be finished in time to mail out in the first few weeks of August, for arrival before we begin to play. You may also remember that I lamed out and never held the drawing for the prizes that you were promised. I had a bit of a slump in there, and then it got later and later and I ignored it and now here we are!

Well, I am here to rectify this oversight. Fortunately for me, Obsidian Blue kept amazing records (you can find the post here), so all I have to do is conduct the drawing. And what better time would there be to award presents for last year's bingo game than RIGHT BEFORE THIS YEAR'S BINGO GAME?

No better time. Right?

So, here's what we are going to do:

On August 1, I am going to draw for the following prizes:

Grand Prize: One handmade, Halloween-themed quilt to snuggle under while playing Halloween bingo.

Second Prize: there will be one winner of a handmade, Halloween themed book bag with some bookish supplies which might include such things as sticky notes, pens/pencils, Halloween shaped erasers, mini-notebooks, chocolate, bookmarks and other swag inside, so you can carry your Halloween bingo books around in style.

Third Prize: there will be one winners of handmade, Halloween themed zipper pouch with some bookish supplies inside.

I am also going to ask OB to weigh in here and remind me of anything that I am forgetting, because there may have been additional swag that we identified!

Ok, full disclosure: I love Jamie Ford's writing. I think that Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was the first book I read on a kindle, which was a difficult transition for me, because I have always been a book buyer. Despite the number of books I read on "devices", I still love the weight and feel of one in my hands. At some point, though, I understood the financial downside to needing to own every book I read, not to mention the rapidly decreasing amount of space to store them in my home. So, reading that first book was truly bittersweet, but thankfully, the quality of the story far outweighed my reluctance to read it on a kindle.

And though I read this book on my kindle too, I do have a couple Jamie Ford novels (and even a comic book) which he autographed when he was our guest speaker at our annual author lunch. All of that is to say again, I'm a fan, and Love and Other Consolation Prizes  did nothing to change that.

Ford demonstrates his ability to create a rich, quirky, entirely engaging cast of characters, as well as his knack for finding a "truth is stranger than fiction" topic. His story begins at the 1909 Seattle World's Fair, where a 12-year-old boy is being raffled off. Seriously. If that doesn't capture your imagination, I really don't know what will.

Yey!  I wasn't totally enamored with The Buried Giant and Nocturnes (and I've yet to read The Unconsoled and An Artist of the Floating World), but I'm a fan of his on the basis of Never Let Me Go, The Remains of the Day, and When We Were Orphans alone.

Congratulations, Mr. Ishiguro!