Archives - Weekly Update

I am not an outdoor adventurer. I like biking on flat land and gentle hikes. Once, while hiking alone (which was incredibly stupid) on Crested Butte Mountain, I caught up with a family who was happy to have me join them. Good thing, as I was wandering off on my own at one point and was steered back to them by one of the younger sons. He told me that if I went the way I was headed, it would add eight hours to my hike; it already was 2pm!

Summer arrives on Sunday; it’s my FAVORITE day of the year as it’s the day with the most daylight. Bah, it looks like we are going to have rain here. Typically I love to sit outside reading and enjoy every lingering second of the day. Ever notice how people are so much more upbeat when it’s bright out?

I love when I pick up a book, and it takes me on a journey beyond its pages. That happened this week as I was reading THE SILVER SWAN by Elena Delbanco. It got on my radar as I heard that at Elena’s event at Politics & Prose in Washington, DC last weekend, they sold out of books! I had to see what people were excited about. It’s the story of a young woman who is coping with the passing of her father, a famous cellist, when she learns a number of secrets about his life --- and the surprising plan for his Stradivarius cello. Elena writes about this subject with authority as her own father, Bernard Greenhouse, was a famous cellist from the Beaux Arts Trio. When he died, she sold his Stradivarius cello, specifically the Countess of Stainlein ex-Paganini Stradivarius violoncello of 1707.

When we left off last week, I was racing with our staff to our Book Group Speed Dating event featuring 27 publishers presenting upcoming book group titles to more than 200 attendees at BookExpo America (BEA). It was a smashing success; what an enthusiastic audience we had!