Author’s Can Be SOOOO Cool (and sometimes they don’t even know it)!

So, last night my friends Hillary and Amy joined me in Bethesda for a book signing.  Now this wasn’t just any book signing.  It was the publishing day for my new/old friend Sarah Pekkanen and her novel, The Opposite of Me.  Sarah reminded me that it was twenty-one months ago when she first contacted me via e-mail, while Hubby and I were still in Okinawa.  She asked me to please check out her new website for her upcoming book and tell her what I thought and if it needed any changes.  Me!?!  Who was I to tell and author what to do with her website?!  Well, I did and I learned that Sarah lived in Chevy Chase, MD and she was writing a work of women’s fiction.  Her website was really cool with chocolate and cotton candy pink hues and witty writing that made me laugh.  I signed up for her monthly newsletter that provided updates on her writing and her life.    

We kept in touch throughout the months so when I decided to fly to DC for one of my best friend’s wedding in November of 2008 I asked her if we could get together for coffee while I was in town.  Sarah agreed to the get together but her baby had other plans.  He decided he wanted to join the world at the beginning of that week so we didn’t get that original opportunity.  Let me tell you folks something.  Better late than never!  Last night we finally had the wonderful pleasure of meeting each other for the first time at Sarah’s book signing/reading/Q&A event at her neighborhood Barnes & Noble Bookstore.  

Amy, Hillary, Sarah & Me!

After the event she invited everyone to join her at a local watering hole across the street for chocolate-tinis (not my drink so I had a chocolate milkshake).  I am so glad we did!  Hillary, Amy and I got to hang out and talk with Sarah and her charming husband Glenn for over an hour total.  We talked about why Sarah’s book, being a brand new first release, wasn’t in hardcover (her publisher proposed that with the recession in place it would be better to make the price of the book cheaper), how she felt nervous but welcomed by her family and friends at her first event, how grateful both Sarah and Glenn are to famed author Jennifer Weiner for her support throughout the publishing process (they have the same editor) and numerous other things that helped us all get to know each other. 

The evening was a special and memorable one that I will never forget.  I am so grateful to be a book blogger/reviewer because of moments like these when the huge gap the reader sometimes feels between themself and the author dissolves and a friendship is born.  I am one lucky lady and wouldn’t change a thing about any of it. 

{Thanks to Hillary aka Library Love for granting me permission to post her beautiful pics!}

Sunday Salon ~ May 3rd, 2009

Hotels, limbo and waiting.  They all suck when combined like they are for us.  We are staying in a hotel while waiting in limbo to fly back to the states in a little over a week from now.  I have been doing a lot of reading, both of review books and book blogs, watching CNN out of Hong Kong, renting The Tudors Season 2 as well as The Other Boleyn Girl and eating out for almost every meal.  (I feel very full.) 

I read/reviewed/posted an author Q&A and am hosting a giveaway (enter by Wednesday, May 6th @ Midnight EST HERE) of Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland and am now reading Belong To Me by Marisa De los Santos for review.  I enjoyed Mistress of the Sun and am finding that Belong To Me is just fabulous. 

Of course I am spending too much time browsing the Internet while in the hotel.  Rocky sometimes gets jealous that I pay so much attention to the one eyed monster and brings over a toy to play or lays in my lap to distract me.  I just searched author events in the DC area and am  excited about what I found.  If you live in the DC Metro area there are some awesome author events coming up. 

The following authors will be reading and signing their new books at the Baileys Crossroads Borders:

~ Michael Connelly on May 26th @ 7:30 pm

~ George Pelecanos on June 3rd @ 7:30 pm

~ Jeffrey Deaver on June 22nd @ 7:30 pm

~ David Sedaris on June 26th @ 7:30 pm

Emeril Lagasse will be at the Tyson’s Corner Borders on June 6th @ 2 pm for a signing event, and the event I might just be the most excited about is Annie Barrows, co-author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society, will be at the Tyson’s Corner Barnes & Noble on June 10th @ 7 pm. 

I am also looking forward to taking some cooking classes at the Sur La Table store at Pentagon Row and learning some new recipes and techniques.  We are also planning on attending a few concerts at Nissan Pavilion and Wolf Trap.   It will be a busy, fun filled and exciting summer and I am ready to dive in with both feet.  What are you looking forward to doing this summer? 

 

You Can Mail That Book To…

During the two weeks that I was in the States last month, I received ARC’s from authors and publicists at four addresses.  My FPO, AP military address, my Japanese address, my in-law’s house in Virginia and my parents house in Maryland.  The stack I accumulated from these packages was added to by the shopping I did at Borders and Barnes & Noble. 

One day I spent two and a half blissful hours all by my self, just browsing the shelves at the White Flint Borders in Rockville, MD.  I worked as a music seller and then the store’s Corporate Accounts Representative from August 1997 to August 1998 so that store holdstons of sentimental value and memories for me.  It really was one of the best jobs I have ever had and the friends that I made while working there have remained in my life ever since.  You know who you are.

One thing I noticed while looking for books on my wish list was the amount of titles that faced out on the shelves are either books I have read and loved, are on my ARC TBR shelf (I’m a little late on reading/reviewing some), or have graced the pages of this blog as well as your book blogs.   As I started to recognize more and more books I decided to write down all the titles to share with you here.  Also, at the end of the list is a pic of my stack I accumulated in two weeks.

The Painter From Shanghai

Pillars of the Earth 

Baby Proof

Water for Elephants

Matrimony

Between Here & April

My Best Friend’s Girl

Man of the House

My Husband’s Sweethearts

The Last Summer of You and Me

The Summer of Naked Swim Parties

Boomsday

One Fifth Avenue

The Gargoyle

The Red Tent

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water

The 19th Wife

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

Dewey

Bitter Sweets

Middlesex

The Historian

Free Food For Millionaires

House & Home

The Reading Group

The New Yorkers

Time of My Life

American Wife

Immortal

The Art of Racing in the Rain

Just Breathe

My New Hobby

As you may know, I have an iPod and I can’t live with out it.  I download free Podcasts on iTunes (by the way, you DO NOT have to have an iPod to utilize the free downloaded iTunes software and listen on your computer) and listen to them in the car or when I’m getting ready for bed.  Recently I discovered the box in the bottom right hand corner of the iTunes Store Podcast page titled “Topics In Focus”.  One of the topics is “Book Lovers” so of course I clicked on that immediately.  There I found Podcasts about books and authors.  There are thirty-eight different Podcasts to subscribe to (for free) so I narrowed it down and selected “Amazon Wire”, “iTunes: Meet The Author”, “Book Lust With Nancy Pearl” and “B&N Meet the Writers Audio Interviews”.  So far I have listened to interviews with James Patterson, Stephenie Meyer, Henry Winkler, Michael Connelly and Judy Bloom.  Listening to these interviews is so interesting because I am reminded that these people have goals, self-doubt, and lives just like anybody else.  Did you know that Stephenie Meyer didn’t even plan on publishing the TWILIGHT books until her sister suggested that she do it?  She had written the first book, TWILIGHT, in just three months and her husband didn’t even know she was doing it.  She wrote it to entertain herself and the idea for the story came from a dream she had had one night. 

Another great place to find interviews with authors is B&N Studio and Borders Media.  Personally I think that Barnes & Noble has a better system for this and has much more selection on their site.  These interviews are viewed through the web site.  So, if you would like to get to know some of your favorite authors a little better, I highly recommend checking out these great resources.