The Reader...good book...glad I didn't go see the movie.

Well, I just got back from a great vacation from Tennessee. I went to visit an old BookSpan (from back when it was Doubleday Book & Music Club) friend, Sheila. I traveled with another friend, and former BookSpan (aka Doubleday Direct) employee, Erika. (All this is irrelevant to my book review, just giving context.)

Anyway, after Madame Bovary, my reading material had dried up, so first thing after getting a sandwich at the airport, I stopped in the bookstore to pick up a good read.

I was drawn to Wally Lamb's book, THE HOUR I FIRST BELIEVED, but thought it was a bit too long for a vacation book (I DO plan to read it at some point).




So, I turned to the paperback bestsellers and there was THE READER by Bernhard Schlink. Two seconds later I was at the counter, making my purchase. Erika said to me, "Don't you just want to see the movie?" and I forgot my exact answer, but I pretty much said, "no."

I finished 80% of the book on the plane. Its a story of a young boy growing up in Europe in the 40's, who encounters this woman and they develop a strange relationship and he falls in love and they become each other's world, until one day she disappears. Years later, they are reunited under the strange circumstances...and the story unfolds from there.




Lots of sex, lots of reading...and that's about it. I am not quite sure how THE READER works as a movie, though I hear it got good reviews, but I think I am pretty happy with just reading the book. I left it in Tennessee with a rating of 3 of 5 stars.



"How was Tennessee," you ask??? Great. I had the best time ever. From the Peabody Hotel, watching the ducks march up a red carpet into a fountain, to Peanut Butter and Banana sandwiches at Graceland, hanging out at Sun Studios, to Fried Chicken at Gus's to a day trip to Nashville, a side trip to Walmart, and the Rock and Roll Hall of fame....it was FANTASTIC. I had lots of laughs with Sheila and Erika. And best of all, now I can check a few more items off my 1001 places to Visit Before You Die to-do list.





And...most important of all, I picked up my latest read...CARELESS LOVE: The unmaking of Elvis Presley.



I found this treasure in Sun Studios. Erika, Sheila and I stopped here right after Graceland. Its the studio where Elvis made his first recording and the home of many other singing greats. We liked the place so much, that after a fantastic tour, we hung out in the gift shop for another 30 minutes or so, and had coffee and ice cream shakes.



I had been searching for an Elvis biography in the shops at Graceland, but couldn't find anything good... While I was waiting for my shake to be made, I found this book and bought it on the spot.




I've been reading this book since I got home from Tennessee last week. The book references many of Elvis's songs and movies, and the best part of technology today is that at a click of a button, I can experience it all. Not only can I see how much weight Elvis gained from movie to movie, but I can hear how beautiful he sang a particular song the author mentioned. The book really comes to life with this extra media support from YouTube. It just takes me a little longer than if I tried to read the book straight through.

Here is my favorite clip of all...I only wish I could see the outtakes...


Dog's Life. - Watch the best video clips here

Inspiration from the strangest of sources

I don't remember when I fell in love with the Brooklyn Bridge, but its been a while. I've been on walking tours, watched documentaries and read the most fantastic book...The Great Bridge by David McCullough.

THE GREAT BRIDGE beautifully tells the amazing story of how the bridge was built and is one of the few books that I refer to and re-read every once in a while.


Through the years, the bridge has become a great inspiration to me. I used it for my HP2 program as my focus for centering when faced with a tough challenge.

Now that I work in DUMBO, I walk over the bridge every day...and it is part of my exercises routine and my inspiration for losing weight and meeting the man of my dreams!



My reading of WATER LIKE A STONE has been a very slow read...but it is more a result of forgetting it in the office than it being a bad book (so far).

Snapfish - Customer Service Saved the day!

I wanted to create a book memorializing my grandparents and have it ready for their ash spreading ceremony in June. I planned to have one copy of the book there for people to look at their leisure. A personal copy would be sent to their homes a week after the ceremony.

Everything was going smoothly. I had come up with a final version of the book that I was proud of and had placed an order about 10 days before the ceremony. In the past I had recieved Snapfish books within 3 days of processing the order. I was sure I had ordered with enough time to spare. After 5 days...I started to get nervous.

After 7 days I called Snapfish . The Customer Service rep was very nice. He told me that the book should be there by Saturday (the day of the ceremony). I explained that it would be too late, that we needed the book for an ash spreading ceremony for my Grandparents. He assured me the book was on its way. I didn't know what else to do, so I thanked him for his help and decided to hope that the book would show up on Friday.

Friday...the book showed up, but not the one I had ordered. Rather it was a copy that the Customer Service Rep had reordered for me and sent next day mail. He saved the day. I was so touched that I actually wrote a letter thanking Snapfish for going the extra step. (The book I ordred did show up, but not in time for the ceremony.) I hope he was rewarded.

Since then, I've received several thank you letters from family for putting the book together. It was a very interesting and emotional project for me. For one, I felt like my grandfather was helping put the book together. All the photos were scanned on his computer and he had written accounts of their life that helped tie the book together. The photos he scanned even had captions that helped me organize the book. All I had to do was upload them to Snapfish ...and do some "minor formatting". Secondly, when I asked everyone in the family to send me their memories of Grandma and Grandpa to include in the book, I found that not all family members were willing to contribute. I was surprised to get emails back telling me they couldn't think of anything to write. At first I thought they were being difficult and couldn't understand why they wouldn't participate. I even thought they were against my making the book. I asked my mother whether we should even send a copy to them...maybe they wouldln't want it. She insisted that we should. She was right. It turns out the one who was the most emotional and appreciative for the book was the one who wouldn't contribute.


What I learned:
1) There are good people out there who care. That Customer Service rep really made my day.
2) Not everyone feels the same way I do...we can all experience the same event, but it touches each of us in a different way. And some people are better at expressing their feelings than others. Other people like to keep their feelings to themselves. That's okay.
3)I also learned that if you have people in your life that are important to you, you should spend time with them TODAY. I can't even tell you how many times in putting together the book I wished that I could ask my grandfather or grandmother a question about a photo or experience he had. I should have done it before. I guess I always thought they would be there.
2) I think My grandparents are still with me...they are just angels now.

My VERY Special Snapfish Book

My second book on Snapfish was one I put together for my family as a remembrance of my grandparents who passed away within days of eachother at the end of 2006.

A few months after my grandparents died, I visited my aunt, who was safekeeping all of my grandparents effects in her house. She and I spent the day going through old photographs and files. We found some touching letters from my grandfather to his parents (my great grandparents) and his future in-laws expressing his love for my grandmother, and asking for permission to marry her when he returned from WWII. My aunt said she had never seen these letters before and when I talked with my mother, she said the same. I also saw some of their wedding photos and other family photos in their collection that I wasn't familiar with. I decided that I would make a book to share these momentos with the rest of the family.

I had to make a second visit to my aunt's house (this time with my mother) we spent a few more hours scanning in the letters and photos I needed for the book. I also took my grandfather's old laptop home with me, I later discovered he had scanned most of his collection of photos (with captions).

That weekend, my mother and I did a rough layout of the content of the book. We decided that it would incorporate the letters, newspaper articles from the time leading into the wedding, the story my grandfather had documented (on his laptop) about how they first met, as well as photographs telling about the different places they lived from the time they were married, New Jersey, Upstate NY, Florida, and Delaware. I wanted to include the other family members in the project, so I sent an email to the immediate family asking them to send me their special memories of Grandma and Grandpa. I also included some family recipes that were part of many of our memories (at Christmas and other family gatherings).

As I started put together the first few pages of the book in Snapfish with my mother, I realized that this book would be very different from my China Book. It was more of a collection of scanned documents such as letters and newspaper articles, PLUS photos. The templates Snapfish offered did not allow for this. I had to come up with a creative solution to this issue. The end result needed to be perfectly bound color photo book.

Here's what I did:

Created my own templates: I used the full page graphic template for my free form layouts. I designed each page using a combination of software, such as Pagemaker, Photoshop and Snagit and created a Jpeg for each page that would take up the full page image size was 8.5 x 11.5''.

There may be an easier way to make the final jpegs, but here is what worked for me:

1) First, I used Photoshop create an image that was 8.5 x 11.5". Then I layered in any photos that I wanted to appear on the page.

2) Then I created the copy/captions on the page in Pagemaker. (I tried to use the text option in Photoshop, but the end result was very pixely. A graphic designer friend told me to use Pagemaker for text). When I was done laying out captions, I sent the Pagemaker page to print to Snagit (which took the captions and made them into graphics). From there, I would select the section that I wanted to include, copy and then toggle over to Photoshop and paste it into the image.

3) In Photoshop, I would make sure everything looked correct (especially with the cutting and pasting). Then save the document as a Jpeg and uploaded to a Snapfish Photo Album.

4) In Snapfish, I pulled these Jpegs into the full page graphic template.

The book turned out BEAUTIFUL...better than I expected. I am not going to lie, it wasn't easy. It took 4 weeks to make a 30 page book. Part of this is because I had a lot of work to do in Photoshop (Snagit and Pagemaker). Snapfish was also a bit slow, due to the size of the graphics I was working with. I had to keep reminding myself to save my work. Like with the China book, I had to restart my computer many times.

Here's how I saved money on Snapfish: I searched google for Snapfish Coupons. I found a 25% off coupon for all photo gifts (this includes Photo Books). I made 11 copies and also got a 25% off discount for duplicates. The entire project cost was about $300 (for 11 books) with S&H.



In my next posting, I'll share a little something about Snapfish's customer service with this particular book. It was INCREDIBLE. Later I'll share the lessons learned about putting together this type of book. (Then I promise to return to more mainstream publishing discussions.)

A Book of My Own - Snapfish

So another story related to Dolly. I was going to China for a trip with some friends this past January. Dolly calls me and says "Barbara, do me a favor. Take lots of pictures, but just don't take pictures. Write down what you see and feel." Oh great,I thought. That's exactly the type of writing that I hate. I'm not that deep. I see a nice temple as a nice temple. Nothing more, nothing less. Still, I promised her I would. She closed the conversation with, "I promise to give you an A." Dolly.

So in the two weeks of visiting Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai,I had a half-assed journal and about 800 photos, plus another 2000 that my friends took. The first night back I sat with my parents at the computer. After about photo #500, I lost them. They started yawning. I knew I had to make viewing my photos easier.

It was then that I decided to make a book on Snapfish. My friend Cam had introduced me to their books when she showed me a book she made for her son about a trip to the beach with Grandpa. I was amazed by the quality and the price. The base price for their hard cover color books is $20 for 20 pages. You can't beat it.


My book was 100 pages. It cost me about $100 (I'll tell you in my next post on how to get cheaper). It was PERFECT. Everyone looked at the book in their own time. They read my observations and was impressed with the quality. Dolly gave me an A.

Here's how I did it:
1) Uploaded all 800 photos to Snapfish.

2) I picked a template - Cover color (RED) and used the TRAVEL background.


3) I came up with a few themes that I thought would be interesting to others and good to remember:

* Why I went on this particular trip and the story around planning it.

* What remarkable things happened (by city)...and a little about how I felt when I was there. I focused on the funny/ironic parts. The stories helped explain the photos I chose, in addition to the small details I included in the captions.

4) I used as many of the full page images I could, I added multi photo layouts to help support my storytelling.

Tips I learned in the process:

Write everything in MS Word. There is nothing worse than finding typos after the book is in print.

If you are wordy like me, get used to editing yourself. The text only template only holds about 1,000 characters. The captions are limited to about 40 characters. You got to say it concisely or get very creative on how to trick the system (I'll talk more about this tomorrow in my next post).

A large quanity (like 800) photos can make Snapfish a little (more like really) slow. Quite a few times I had to restart my computer. See if you can break your photo albums that feed the book into managable quantities. When you are done loading the photos, remove them from the photo picker section. This will keep Snapfish running smoothly.

Don't forget to save your work...often. If your computer craps out, or you click on the wrong link, your work is lost. Snapfish will then refresh back to the Project page, and you have to reload again, but the extra few seconds is better than hours of hard work lost.

If this is a real keepsake, make more than one copy. Everyone puts their grubby hands on your book. Next thing you know it looks like the worn out copy of Cat in the Hat at the Dr's office. Make two (25% discount on Duplicate orders) and put one away for safe keeping.


I made a different book this past month as a memorial for my grandparents. That's a whole other story. I'll share tomorrow.

snapfish