The New York Times 20 Best Sellers for the week ending Sept 21st, 2014! Plus, Blog Updates!

Welcome! To another week of GREAT books! This post is always up by NOON every Sunday and sometimes earlier! 
I hope you had a GREAT week of reading! I did! The weather here is starting to cool off very quickly now, to the point where we have been getting 'freeze' warnings at night, and the furnace has been turning on at night. The days have been in the upper 50's and lower 60's, which is very early. This gave me the push to get some things ordered to have a more comfortable Fall and Winter!
This week I spent a LOT of time ordering some new things for our living room, replacing items that had wore out and/or broke. I also bought a new set of thermal draperies, along with a new quilt throw, too! I am also getting ready for the cold weather such as ordering that plastic film that insulates the windows, new blinds, some new furniture pieces such as lamps and end tables, and other weather related items such as insulating items for the doors. Can you tell I am tired of freezing through the winter?! The items were needed, and it was a LOT of fun, too! 
I shopped at some of the stores HGTV uses and advertises, too, such as Joss and Main, Wayfair, and you can see a lot of what I found on my personal Facebook page and on Pinterest! (On Pinterest under Shabby Chic) They are not a lot, but some nice pieces. I was afraid they would be so expensive, but if you watch carefully, you'll find some very affordable pieces, and beautiful at that! Our living room is not all shabby chic, but more contemporary. I couldn't help but to love some of the shabby chic items, though!
I also shopped at Destination Lighting as both of our lamps are broken, and the the lampshades have seen much better days! The switches do not work and are broken. One doesn't even turn on anymore unless you plug and unplug it! I think it's time! We've never bought some of these items ourselves anyway as these have all been hand-me-downs, so it feels great to see these beautiful items that are OURS! The BEST part is my new lamps will now MATCH! I bought a trio, two table lamps and one floor lamp, and a twin set for our bedroom. So I really shopped! It was kind of nice shopping for everything online and from home because all I had to do was sit here with the measuring tape so I could get an idea of what sizes things would be! I LOVED it! I also shopped at Amazon, too, and I have a nice, large metal scrollwork plaque with a large "C" in the middle of it for our last name coming, too! That will go on the wall in the living room!  
Here is an energy saving and lighting tip for you. You know those CFL (compact florescent light bulbs)? I have been using them for a few years now, and I LOVE the money saving aspect on our electric bills! Yes, there is a huge difference in savings and it SHOWS the savings when you compare each month to the previous year, so my wallet FEELS the savings! The less than desirable effect is the kind of light we can get. With that being said, I happened to do some research to learn more about these light bulbs so I could understand them better and get the brightest bulbs I could. I found an excellent website, and I want to share it with you! The article is HERE and it explains everything you could want to know about these bulbs and more. It shows a nice visual chart for the 'type' of light we want, too.
We want the brightest, whitest light possible, and I didn't know how to get it. I kept getting stuck with low lighting, and I googled this article which explains HOW to choose the right lighting for you prefer! It talks about 'lumens'. Check it out! I did what they said, and hubby and I are ecstatic! We like the bright white/daylight color! I got the bulbs already, put them in the old lamps until the new ones come, and we LOVE the lighting! Also, when you choose the Bright White or Daylight happens to be the best, it helps to fight SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder! It's scientifically proven to work! I'm excited about that! Our living room faces the north, so we don't get the sunlight here in the living room, but with these bulbs, they CAN help us feel better in the fall/winter/spring days until we get longer days. 
One more tip - ALWAYS purchase items with the ENERGY STAR EMBLEM ON IT! It makes a HUGE difference! My computer has that sticker on it! You will also find REBATES at the website I gave you up above, too! Another way to save money! Most products are eligible for savings until December 2015!
One tip I did not see there: make sure you know what bulbs your lamps take, in particular, if it is a 3-way switch or not, and also make sure the bulb you purchase not a dimmer as there are special bulbs for those. I purchased an equivalent of 60 watts for our lamps, and I wish I had bought 100 watts. Oh, well. I'll just have to pick up another package!
(These bulbs have improved so much over the years, even since the last time I bought them. They are now Instant On, but I still think they need time to warm up even though it says they do not, and there is no hum to the bulbs, either.)
After saving so much money over time, you'll have more money to buy more books with! See! There IS a method to my madness of saving money! LOL! Good luck! 

Remember last week when the Bestseller list was ONLY 20 books? I have searched and searched on Google and other search engines for an answer as to why they changed the listed bestsellers from 25 down to 20, and I cannot find an answer. Frustrating! I think this is wrong. We've had the Top 25 for so long, and now only 20? I'm sure the authors are not happy with this, either. So I apologize, but every type of search I have tried to do ends up nowhere. Sorry about that. I really tried hard. The +The New York Times is just NOT giving us an answer no matter what type of search I do. Grrrrr! All we can do is go with it.
If any of YOU might know the answer to this, please let me know!
Thanks!

Events here at the blog this upcoming week! (Giveaways are always listed in the LEFT side column!)

*Stuck in Books Giveaway Hop! NOW to 9-25! Click HERE to enter!

*Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop starts MONDAY, the 22nd! Make sure to come back!

*September KINDLE FIRE GIVEAWAY! To 9-30! Click HERE to enter!

*REVIEW - The Secret Place by Tana French HERE!

*Upcoming Reviews:  (always subject to change)
Bones Never Lie by Kathy Reichs on Release Day, Tuesday, Sept 23rd (reading)
The Art of Arranging Flowers by Lynne Branard on Wednesday, Sept 24th (read)

Okay! Le's get to the bestsellers!

FICTION - COMBINED PRINT AND EBOOKS
All titles and photos of the books are linked directly TO Amazon for the ebook - just click on either one. If you are interested in a different type of book, while you are there such as the paperback or hardcover, just click on it and it will take you there. Enjoy!
     
1. Festive in Death by J D Robb
ebook: $11.99
print:   $ 7.99



2.  Personal by Lee Child
ebook: $10.99
print:   $16.45




3. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
ebook: $7.99
print:   $8.97



4. The Witch With No Name by Kim Harrison
ebook: $12.99
print:   $20.52




5. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
ebook: $5.99
print:   $8.98



6. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
ebook: $5.99
print:   $6.63



7. Mean Streak by Sandra Brown
ebook: $12.99
print:   $23.40



8. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
ebook: $10.99
print:   $16.16



9. Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good by Jan Karon
ebook: $11.99
print:   $16.77



10. The King's Curse by Philippa Gregory
ebook: $12.74
print:   $20.71



11. The Children Act by Ian McEwan
ebook: $10.99
print:   $15.00



12. Robert B Parker's Blind Spot by Reed Farrel Coleman
ebook: $10.99
print:   $18.84



13. Sycamore Row by John Grisham
ebook: $6.80
print:   $7.23



14. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
ebook: $6.99
print:   $8.99



15. Private Down Under by James Patterson and Michael White
ebook: $  6.49
print:   $11.84


And the 5 out of 20 remaining books are: 

DRAGONFLY IN AMBER, by Diana Gabaldon (Dell)
THE EYE OF HEAVEN, by Clive Cussler and Russell Blake (Putnam)
IGNITED, by J. Kenner (Bantam)
THE BEST OF ME, by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central)
THE GOLDFINCH, by Donna Tartt (Little, Brown)

Thanks for stopping by today! Don't forget to scroll back up and enter into the Hop that is going on NOW and the one that starts tomorrow!
There is also the Kindle Fire HDX to enter into as well!
Come back this week to read reviews, and if you would LOVE TO COMMENT, please do so!
Have a GREAT week till I see you next time!
Laurie