Sunday I decided to hit the pool for a bit and do water aerobics since there was no way to do laps in the W pool. I carried my water buoys and my waterproof MP3 player with me from home, so I was all set. It was lovely to be outside and for the moment, not racing from event to event.
Saturday morning I walked over to the Festival and things were bustling. There was a line of cars waiting to park that streamed onto Hilgard and I saw why people had urged me to stay at the W and walk. There were crowds everywhere --- everything from organized patient queues to pick up tickets and lines to attend events.
For years I have been hearing that the L.A. Times Book Festival is the quintessential book festival event. Schedule conflicts always kept me from attending in the past, but this year I vowed I would get there. Thus in March I locked down a flight and a reservation at the W Hotel, which was easy walking distance from the UCLA campus where the event is held.
Last week's Mystery Writers of America events in New York kept me hopping on both Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday there was a full-day symposium that I finally broke away from the office to catch in the afternoon. I arrived in time to a panel called "First, Kill All the Lawyers…or They Will Write" with Catherine Crier, Lisa Scottoline, James Grippando and Paul Levine. Paul and I joked that those who named this panel must have been clairvoyant since the title of the third book in his Solomon vs Lord series coming in late August will be KILL ALL THE LAWYERS!
Tell us about the books you’ve finished reading with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars. During the contest period from December 1st to December 15th at noon ET, three lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win a copy of THE FROZEN RIVER by Ariel Lawhon and THE OTHER MOTHERS by Katherine Faulkner.
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Coming Soon
Curious about what books will be released in the months ahead so you can pre-order or reserve them? Then click on the months below.
December's Books on Screen roundup includes the season two premiere of "Reacher" on Amazon Prime Video; the films The Boys in the Boat, The Color Purple, Wonka, Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever, Eileen, Ferrari and the Netflix premiere of Leave the World Behind; the season finales of "Black Cake" on Hulu, "Slow Horses" on Apple TV+ and "Sullivan's Crossing" on The CW; the conclusion of Showtime's "Fellow Travelers"; the premieres of "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" on Disney+ and the HBO docuseries "Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage and Reckoning"; and the DVD releases ofDumb Money, Rumble Through the Dark and The Last Voyage of the Demeter.