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May 5, 2006
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books - Part 2 - Saturday's Panels and The Rockbottom Remainders
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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.
May 5, 2006
The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books - Part 1 - Getting There, The Mystery Bookstore and the Book Prizes
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!
I love annual events that get better and better each year. That's what's been happening with the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville, VA. I did some quick math on the drive down and realized I have been going for five years now. I used to zip down on a Friday night and stay til Sunday morning, but my trip has been getting longer and longer each year. This year I started my weekend on Thursday and drove home Sunday afternoon.
Here's my travelogue on what I did there -- my version of "What I Did on My Bookish Vacation."
Yesterday I drove from my home in New Jersey to Charlottesville, Virginia for the Virginia Festival of the Book. I love road trips. Always have. If a trip is less than 6.5 hours, I drive. I loathe waiting in airports, packing a suitcase to fly and living life on an airline or train schedule. All are real stress inducers.
I love warm weather. Not hot sticky weather, but warm weather. This week I took an extended weekend trip to Florida and got just that! I had an opportunity to attend Sleuthfest in Ft. Lauderdale or the London Book Fair. I rolled the dice on sun or rain and picked Florida. As I wrote in last week's newsletter, the last time I was in Lauderdale in March was back in my college days.
Around our house we've been following the Olympics with enthusiasm. Every two years this is a two-week ritual that we embrace --- no, actually, we completely succumb to the pomp and commentary. I like it because the Olympics give us a time to pause and watch. We do a lot of talking about where we all were four years ago --- and even 18 months ago when the summer games happened. The boys are now 11 and 16 and a lot has changed since Salt Lake City in 2002. Most of all, they are staying up to watch more events at midnight!
I know there has been just a "wee bit" of media about James Frey and A MILLION LITTLE PIECES this week hence I lace the title of this blog with its own tone of hyperbole as I feel like I am spending the week with James Frey. I am starting to feel like I know James Frey. Full disclosure here: I once passed James Frey in a hallway at Penguin Putnam when I was there for a meeting. I hope he does not remember it and write about me.
I am not going to rehash the news, but here are my thoughts:
Over the holidays I did some reading outside my comfort zone --- and enjoyed it. Like many of you there are certain genres that I read that are "typical." For me, these include suspense/thriller, mystery, women's fiction and biography.
Last Friday night the time came to get really serious about shopping for the holidays. My sons and I headed for the local mall ready to shop. My husband, who has participated in these kinds of adventures in the past, opted to stay home. He is not enamored with the way we race from store to store and make this an adventure.
