1. Favorite title for upcoming book: The Good, the Bad and the Barbie

2. Title I am shamelessly looking forward to reading the most in the coming weeks: Blameless by Gail Carriger. (Killer cliffhanger from Changeless - I must see those issues resolved!)

3. Title I wish was here but has been missing in space for so long that I'm beginning to doubt it will ever exist: Summit of the Gods Vol 2 by Jiro Taniguchi. (Everest! Mallory! The search for truth behind the greatest mountaineering mystery of all time told in manga form! Why is it taking so long for this complete series to be translated???)

4. Books Quill & Quire magazine has made me excited about (I bought Q&Q in Whitehorse): Bedtime Story by Robert Wiersema - "about a novelist whose son slips into a mysterious coma and awakes within in the story he has been reading."..The Painted Boy (YA) by Charles de LInt - "the story of a teenager battling gangs and otherworldly beings in the Arizona desert".....Tower of Treasure (MG) by Scott Chandler - "a circus-themed historical graphic novel full of jugglers, strong men, high-stakes thievery and lost siblings"... Splinters by Kevin Sylvester, a picture book retelling of Cinderella where "the young protagonist must overcome the Blister Sisters with the help of the Fairy Goaltender to realize her goal of playing hockey"....and, The Sherlockian by Graham Moore wherein "a literary detective searches for Sir Arthur Conan Doyles missing diary" (one of my dream jobs is totally "literary detective")...

5. Book that sounds like a lot of fun and I forgot to mention before today: The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde, due out in the UK in November. Any word on when it will appear stateside?

6. What I'm reading right now and heartily recommend: Curse of the Wolf Girl by Martin Millar. Thus far (about 1/3 through) it is as funny and thrilling and unique as Lonely Werewolf Girl; look for my full review in the October column.

7. And in case you missed it, the competition Leila has entered sounds absolutely fantastic and I hope, really really really hope, she wins as she would be awesome for this!!! Is anyone up for joining a twitter campaign touting why she needs to be the selection?

[Hat tip to Big Bang Theory for the subtitle today!]