Archives - Weekly Update

Last weekend, my husband Tom was reading WE BEGIN AT THE END by Chris Whitaker, this month's Barnes & Noble Book Club pick, and I was shadowing him as he read. I did not want to give anything away, but I was so eager to see his reaction to it. I kept asking, "What's happening now?" I was so happy that he enjoyed it as much as I did! He agrees with me that it was so well done and different. We spent a lot of time talking about it. It was fun to be able to do that!

Ah, Daylight Saving Time. It once again brought me the chance to feel jet lagged without leaving the house. Yes, in a year when going to the grocery store’s international aisle was  the closest that I came to travel, my dragginess (yes, I coined that word) reminded me what it felt like to fly to Chicago without packing a bag or going through security. How can just one hour wreak so much havoc on my life?

The weather warmed up this week, so the snow on the front walk melted. Yes, I guess Tom was right, we did not have to shovel. There was no need to use the front walk for the last few weeks, right?

Last weekend, I had a wonderful time (virtually) at the Tucson Festival of Books, where I moderated two events. The first featured Lisa See, who talked about her latest bestseller, THE ISLAND OF SEA WOMEN, and her prolific writing career. I then chatted with Susie Yang and Francesca Serritella about their debut novels, WHITE IVY and GHOSTS OF HARVARD. If you missed these events and would like to check them out, you’re in luck! All of Tucson’s sessions were recorded and are available to view on their website. Click here for step-by-step instructions on how to watch these replays. For your convenience, the Crowdcast links for my events are here for Lisa and here for Susie and Francesca. Also, Lisa was the recipient of the Festival’s Founder’s Award, and there was a lovely ceremony honoring her last Friday night. You can see that here.

On Monday night, I moderated a really fun event to kick off Women's History Month. We were celebrating the release of Lauren Willig's new novel, BAND OF SISTERS, which is about a group of young women from Smith College who risk their lives in France at the height of World War I. Joining us were author guests Marie Benedict, Kristin Harmel and Vanessa Riley. Along with a lively interview, we played a women's history trivia game. Tom Donadio, our Editorial Director, is a huge tennis fan, but this question stumped even him: What female tennis player was a serious advocate for equal pay at Wimbledon and successfully went on to become the first women’s champion to get equal prize money? We both guessed Billie Jean King, but the correct answer was Venus Williams. We will share a video/podcast of this event next week.