All is well! Just taking a bit of a break from blogging.

**scroll down for new posts**

I am working on a Jennifer Crusie project, and spending this winter break reading and reviewing many of her books. Visit Crusie’s website for a linked list with excerpts and buying info.

The order of reviews:

Continue Reading »

Er, I did.

I compare Hanukkah to reading popular fiction at The Book Smugglers. We are all Maccabees now…

Do you have a PhD in philosophy? Would you be even slightly, possibly, the teeniest bit interested in contributing to an edited collection on philosophy and romance?

There is no commitment. I just need a head count. Am crossing my fingers it is higher than 1.

Can you email me at jessica@readreactreview.com?

Thanks!

My family and I have spent our winter vacations at Walt Disney World every year for the past 8 years. We have stayed at most of the hotels on site, including the Swan/Dolphin, and we usually spend a few days at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Orlando as well. We have eaten in, I think, 90% of the restaurants on site, and have spent probably a cumulative 500 hours touring the parks.

If you are attending RWA and plan to venture to the parks or other areas of WDW, I hope these tips help. Summer is an extremely busy time of year for WDW, rivaled only by the Christmas holiday. You can expect heavy crowds everywhere, but especially at the parks.

1. The following are the best resources on the web for planning a trip to WDW:

For easy to access information about each restaurant (including menus), hotel, theme park, and everything else, http://allears.net/index.html.

If you have a last minute question you need answered, visit www.disboards.com (you have to register. But it’s a community of half a million — which may or may not include yours truly — and you will get your answer within seconds)

For touring plans for the parks. http://touringplans.com (you have to pay $10.95 for access for a year). Or you can use the rip out touring plans in the back of their book, The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, by Bob Selinger and Len Testa. They work, trust me.

A FAQ for the Dolphin hotel.

2. Advance Dining Reservations

Try if at all possible to make dining reservations in advance, even if it is just earlier on the same day, You can do it online, via phone (407-WDW-DINE (407-939-3463) or talk to your hotel’s concierge. This includes all  hotel restaurants. It’s totally ok if you can’t make it — there is no penalty for no shows  (although obviously you should try to call and cancel). It is better to have the reservation in hand.

3. Recommended restaurants:

A. At the Swan/Dolphin:

You can’t miss the karaoke at excellent sushi restaurant Kimonos in the Swan

I have had excellent meals at Blue Zoo and Shula’s, but they are very expensive.

B. At the nearby (walk to) Boardwalk area:

Flying Fish

C. In Epcot (you can walk here from the S/D, but you need a park ticket to enter Epcot):

For excellent food:

Chefs de France

Le Cellier (Canada)

For fun and ambiance:

Tutto Italia

San Angel Inn (Mexican)

Restaurant Marrakesh (Moroccan, with belly dancers)

D. Downtown Disney (Free area, but you will need to drive or take a WDW bus):

At Pleasure Island: Raglan Road (Irish pub with live entertainment)

At Disney’s West Side: House of Blues (amazing gospel brunch, but great atmo and music any time)

E. Animal Kingdom Lodge (you will have to drive or take the free WDW bus over): Two fantastic restaurants, well worth going in terms of seeing the hotel, the semi-exotic food, the animals wandering around — Boma  (buffet) or Jiko (more expensive)

*Boma is my number one recommended restaurant for singles or families. The food is terrific, but it’s the ambiance that makes it. AKL is our fave Disney hotel.

F. At Magic Kingdom (you will need a park ticket), your best bet is the lovely and cool Crystal Palace. Pooh and friends hang out here. We also enjoy meals at the Liberty Tree Tavern (only dinner is a character meal).

G. At Disney Studios (you will need a park ticket) all of the food is the same — mediocre. But for atmo, nothing beats eating inside a restaurant made to look like a drive-in, complete with old time sci fi movies and dining in old fashioned cars. Great milkshakes, too. It’s the Sci Fi Dine In theatre.

H. At Animal Kingdom park, we usually eat in the Rainforest Cafe because the kids like it. You can actually enter it from the parking lot, so you don’t need a park ticket. Tusker House has great atmo(you need a ticket)

I. At other resorts, California Grill is highly rated (contemporary resort), but we prefer Citricos at the Grand Floridian Resort.

4. Park touring.

If you are serious about touring the parks, especially with kids, then you should arrive 20 minutes prior to opening, with your park ticket, a touring plan and advance dining reservation for a sit down lunch in hand. Leave the parks after lunch for sun and swim and nap, then return around 4:00 pm.

Avoid any park that has an Extra Magic Hour for onsite guests, as these are always the most crowded.

Get a copy of the Unofficial Guide, and follow their touring plans, or subscribe to touringplans.com. The online site has hundreds of touring plans, including many that start in the late morning or afternoon, that focus on little girls or boys, that focus on seniors, etc. A great investment.

USE FASTPASS. It is free!

Your Fastpass will give you a time window in which to visit the attraction later in the day with a minimal wait. Ignore the “end” time. Except for the absolute most popular rides (Soarin at Epcot, for example) at the height of popular times of the day, Cast Members will not turn you away if you arrive with an expired fastpass.

If you would rather spend more of your park time waiting in long lines than actually going on rides and attractions, then ignore everything I just wrote.

5. Parades and fireworks

Each parks has an afternoon and/or evening parade or show. We love the underrated afternoon parade at the Animal Kingdom park.

Try to catch at least one of of the night time spectaculars.  They are Disney magic at its best. Especially the fireworks that close each night at the Magic Kingdom, or the moving illuminations each night at Epcot. Fantasmic at the Studios is also excellent.

If you have any other questions, even something as miniscule as where to stand for the parades, or where you can get funnel cakes, I can probably answer it. Yes, I am that bad.

Hope this helps. Have a great trip!

Sonomalass was tweeting recently about buying and reading a brand new book –  despite having several books in her TBR pile.

I got to thinking about this phenomenon. I have PLENTY of books on my Kindle and in my closet to read. Some of them, I just grabbed absentmindedly. But others, I chose with great care and excitement and I am really looking forward to reading them.

So … why do I start reading some random new book first? Shouldn’t the newest books go to the back of the line?

I confess that some books get a “Special Pass”. Off the top of my head, here are some kinds of books that receive special treatment:

• A new release by a very favorite author
• The next book in a series (Charlaine Harris, or J.R. Ward, or J.D. Robb, for example)
• A long awaited book by an author who publishes rarely or who has taken a long break (Laura Kinsale or Lisa Valdez, for example)
• A debut book that everyone is raving about (Courtney Milan or Tessa Dare, for example)

But sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to it. For example, what explains why I started to read Autumn in Bangkok, a 1980 Harlequin Premiere Edition by Jacqueline Gilbert?

Am I being unfair to the long suffering books in my TBR pile?

What determines whether a book gets put at the front or back of your reading queue?