I am in Phoenix at ThrillerFest, the International Thriller Writers Convention, where I am having a wonderful time meeting up with some of my favorite thriller writers. Last night there was a reception hosted by Steve Berry and a signing of THRILLER by many of its authors. As you may know, this anthology was written by more than 30 of the International Thriller Writers. Many of the stories feature the authors' characters from their previous work, or plots or settings that readers have come to know from their writing. It's a nice way to sample these authors' work. I know that many of the stories that I read made me add more by those writers to my future reading list. You can read more about THRILLER here.

Last month when I was at Book Expo in Washington, D.C. I heard a speech given by Laurie Halse Anderson, the YA author of SPEAK, PROM and CATALYST. She said this about the classics that typically dominate high school summer reading lists: "Classics were written for middle-aged people a century ago." She went on to talk about how books like this do not foster a lifelong love of reading. I am in agreement with her.

We have the last week of school coming up. I cannot wait for Thursday. I think I am more excited than my boys about this. I look forward to no conversations about homework, lunch, lunch money and things to be signed in backpacks. I am trying not to think about their summer reading lists for the moment!

I am writing from Toronto where I am speaking at the Book Expo Canada conference today. It's a very quick trip where I am not seeing much more than the CN Tower out the window of my hotel and the swimming pool at the health club (which is one of my favorites). At this conference I look forward to hearing more about what is happening with books and readers in Canada.