I am in Miami for the Miami Book Fair, one of my favorite events of the year. This is my fifth year attending this wonderfully jam-packed weekend of author talks and book conversation. My schedule started with a dinner last night with panelists for the Day of Comics and Graphic Novels Education program, and I am jotting this note before I head over to that since I know this day will be hectic. I actually hopped into town on Wednesday to score some much-needed reading time by the pool yesterday. The way I see it, reading is wonderful, but reading by the pool is just over the top. And I had a HUGE stack of reading to do, thus I needed a big pool to sit by --- and my hotel has a 110’ one. And yes, this does make sense to a reader who is a swimmer.

I got off the plane and picked up a steel blue Mustang, which went quite well with my turquoise luggage. Seriously, how many girls can coordinate their car with their clothes? No, it’s not a convertible. I learned in California last year that the trunks on the convertibles are minuscule as I propped my luggage in the back seat. I drove…not to the beach, but to a yarn shop. Thanks to one of our readers, Barbara, I was referred to a terrific yarn shop, Anneke’s Needleworks. So with my GPS chirping directions in my ear, I found the shop and spent a nice hour with Megan Befri there indulging my yarn habit. See, there was a reason I have TWO suitcases. One is for clothes; the second is for books, yarn and swim equipment. If you are ever in the area, definitely check this store out. It’s a bit off the beaten track, but so worth the trip. And now I have two more projects I look forward to working on and some yarn to finish another up.

Speaking of books, just before takeoff on my flight, when I heard a flight attendant tell people to turn off all electronic devices, she added, “That includes book readers.” "Hah!" I said as I pulled out my printed book! I counted 24 minutes where we were unplugged, and at a page a minute, I was glad I was holding a book in my hand.

Lots of snowbirds were on my flight reminding me….here come the holidays! For us at Bookreporter.com, that means our Holiday Basket of Cheer Contest. I spent a couple of days last week shopping around for baskets and items for them. Each year I tick down my list like I am doing a Santa impersonation. Hot chocolate: check; vanilla handcut marshmallows: check; Chewy Peps from Route 29: Out of Stock. What? Yes, ticking around their website every version of Chewy Peps was out of stock.

Unwilling to give up this Bookreporter.com tradition, I called their office. A very nice woman there told me that the machine that makes the Chewy Peps had a problem last spring and it seems that the only place to get a part for it was in Europe. That took a while, and when they got it, the machine still has not been running up to speed to produce in quantity, so they decided to remove them from their menu of offerings for the holidays. They offered me Peppermint Bark. Convinced someone somewhere had a stock on Chewy Peps, like there was an Overstock.com listing for this product, I searched for a few hours before I logged back on to the Route 29 site and ordered Peppermint Bark, which is very tasty. I know, it’s not the same, but we forge on. Why not King Leo or another peppermint candy? Well, it’s because Chewy Peps cannot be beat. They are hard as rocks when you start eating them and then smoosh down into a really sticky wonderful delight. They also can remove fillings and temporary caps if you chomp on them too hard…they must be savored.

And then there were the candles. In the past, each year I placed an order with Illuminations. As I noted in an earlier newsletter, they went out of business last spring. I have not found any other candle that I like enough to substitute, so I'm skipping candles in the baskets this year. If anyone has suggestions of great candles, let me know. I confess that I am not enamored with Yankee Candle, but I am sure among our readers someone has a great suggestion for me.

THAT said…we again have terrific prize baskets this year that surely will bring you great cheer! Our first contest is for LAKESHORE CHRISTMAS by Susan Wiggs, a whimsical holiday tale about a prim-and-proper librarian scrambling to produce the town's annual Christmas pageant, but not everyone is quite in the spirit. We are including TWO copies of the book --- one to give and one to get. Although LAKESHORE CHRISTMAS is the first title we are celebrating, be sure to peruse the entire feature to get a peek at upcoming titles. Oh, and the last week of the contest….well, that’s a surprise well worth staying tuned for.

This week, we also launch our What to Give/What to Get feature --- 13 categories of terrific book selections that will make great gifts. Besides shopping for others, I am big on the “to me/from me” kinds of presents, and I accomplish this quite well as I am doing altruistic holiday shopping for others. I was making a list as I paged through our feature. We purposely are launching this BEFORE Thanksgiving since so many readers have told us they shop early. Yes, we listen to you.

I picked a new "Bets On" book this week. It released last week, and it’s a book we’ve been talking about a lot here: RAINWATER by Sandra Brown. Yes, I know this is a departure for me from my original intent with the "Bets On" feature, which was to spotlight titles that you might miss. I know RAINWATER is getting a lot of attention, but no matter. It’s the kind of book I want to hand someone and say “read this now.” Since that is the spirit of “Bets On,” I am adding this one to the shelf. Plus, I think Sandra deserves kudos for pointing her writing in a genre tackling historical fiction. And most of all, I keep thinking about this book since I closed it this summer. You can read more about why I picked RAINWATER below.

Speaking of great new titles, please don't miss MANIA by Craig Larsen, which we've been spotlighting in our Debut Suspense/Thriller feature. We received some great feedback from our advance readers, which you can read here.

Here are some highlights on what has been happening on the Bookreporter.com Facebook page this week: book news, book-to-movie updates, and book trailers. Become a fan here.

As promised, I am happy to introduce you to Stephen Bedford, who slipped into Alex's big shoes and desk chair at Bookreporter.com this week. Stephen previously worked as the marketing manager of Bookworm of Edwards, a bookstore in Edwards, Colorado, that I visited on one of my trips out west in the summer of 2006, though we did not meet at the time. What made me interested in Stephen when I saw his resume is that he used our websites as references as he worked with customers at Bookworm of Edwards. That and his hands-on bookselling expertise will help us to enhance the advice and ideas we bring to you on the site each month. So, here's to a very warm welcome to Stephen.

Next Thursday, I head to the NCTE Conference (National Council of Teachers of English) in Philadelphia for what I think is my last business trip of the year. I am reading Junot Diaz’s THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO in anticipation of that as he is the opening speaker. But for the moment, onward to Miami Book Fair events…next week…much more on this. Have a great week...read on…

Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)