Times Book Gala

Last evening, my friend Joan and I, (who bless her soul - was at the tail end of a migraine) trekked to Walnut Creek for the Times Book Gala event. There were four authors...and here's my own personal review.

If you haven't read Beth Lisick's book, Helping Me Help Myself, it's funny and a good read. And, if you have the opportunity to hear her speak, don't miss it. It's like comedy night at the Improv! She was clearly the most entertaining.

Sue Miller, who wrote several books that have been made into movies, is artist-in- residence at St. Mary's College in Moraga was very interesting and unusual. She didn't talk about her book per se, but spoke about the foundation for most of her books, which is home and hearth. I boughtThe Good Mother. Her newest one, The Senator's Wife, is supposed to be excellent. It's still in hardback.

Vendela Vida, a young (oh so young and beautiful) talented lady talked about her book Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name and was quite interesting. She took three trips to Lapland to experience what life is like there in order to write this book. And, she read us the two paragraphs gleaned from her first trip -- long trip for two paragraphs, huh? She got the idea of writing this particular book from memories of pictures she'd seen as a child!

The only man on there, Andre Aciman, who wrote Call Me By Your Name, was pretty impressive too. After listening to him speak his book would be a wonderful read.

All of this brings me to my real point: have you ever known a reader/writer to pass up an opportunity to buy more books? So, now I have an additional two books to add to the collection, rows, and overwhelming pile of books I've yet to read.

I met one women there last night who told me that her son tells everyone she owns a book store, except she never sells any of the books. I can relate!

Lynn Carey said that the venue for presenting authors is going to change -- last night was the last Gala :-( I'm disappointed but she also said that a new venue would include one-on-one with authors which sounds great. We'll see. It's fun to hear several authors together but I like the idea of the one-on-one, too--to get a more in depth conversation going. So stay tuned to Lynn's writing in the paper to see what's up next. I'm sure it will be great!