Archives - Weekly Update

Today I attended and moderated a panel at the Random House Open House, the second in a series of events that I have lined up for the next few months where I get to meet up with readers and professionals in the publishing community. As I love both talking to authors and meeting readers, this day afforded me the perfect combo. It was nice to say hi to the readers I know, and to put faces to the names of some of our readers who I have not met, including one who truly is a doppelganger of Ina Garten!

The traffic driving home a couple of nights this week was a nightmare; one night it took two hours, which is a lot of time behind the wheel. The annoyance of it was overcome as I listened to THE RAINBOW COMES AND GOES, narrated by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt. The “conversation” between them originated in a yearlong set of emails, and they covered many pivotal and inconsequential moments that have happened in their lives, which I found fascinating. From start to finish, they unraveled so much that had been hidden in their lives, as well as encouraging one another. They are so different and yet so alike. I highly recommend it.

Last Friday/Saturday, my body battery ran down, and I kicked it back a few notches, vowing to give in to being tired and just take it easy. I reached for a book that I have been hearing a lot about, I LET YOU GO by Clare Mackintosh, which will be in stores on May 3rd. I see why it’s getting buzz; it has one of the most perfect twists that I have read. Here’s the plot: A young boy is killed by a hit-and-run driver as he is walking home from school with his mother. Who was behind the wheel? The action moves from page one and does not stop --- really fine plotting. When one is not moving like I was for those 48 hours, it’s wonderful when the storyline gallops away.

I'm back from an all-too-quick trip to Denver, where I thoroughly enjoyed presenting our Book Group Survey to an engaged crowd of librarians at the Public Library Association Conference, along with suggestions on how libraries and book groups can work better together. After sharing the stats, I interviewed Ariel Lawhon about her book, FLIGHT OF DREAMS, which was a perfect book to chat about as historical fiction is trending so strongly with book groups. Confession: Until I read this book, I did not know that anyone survived the Hindenburg disaster, which is the subject of Ariel’s book. Where was I in history class? Clearly I would have flunked Trivial Pursuit on this topic. The book is written from five points of view, which enhanced the reading experience. You can see a picture of the two of us above.

I finally finished ALL of the black jellybeans. Last Saturday, I treated myself to a bag of “black only” ones. I placed them in bowls on the table for Easter. Mom brought multi-colored ones, and I am now making my way through those. I'm betting I can find the “black only” ones on sale this week. WILL I be able to resist? I think that I have the same willpower for this as I do for peppermint Oreos. Cue the word NONE!