Meeting Favorite Authors...
So, it's been raining a ton in LA lately and that makes me miss the warm Arizona sunshine...This past weekend my Aunt was in town. She used to live in LA for years so she knows the area well so mainly it was a catch-up visit, and I had a chance to meet her old crew of publishing friends for dinner who were hilarious. One guy keeps a gun at his store and had to shoot some criminals who attempted to steal from him. I also managed to keep conversation going with the older men by talking about basketball. It's ironic that UCLA is now in the Final Four, it's first good season in years. I was depressed when Arizona lost but it's been a rocky year for them. So I guess that I had better root for UCLA this weekend. This weekend will be visitor-free but still pretty busy. I am going to yet another Wellesley alumni brunch and also to a supposedly great Asian dumpling place for brunch with my labmates. I also need to do my taxes although I know that I will owe alot of money to the IRS, the fact that my salary is raised to a second year postdoc is not comforting nor is the fact that I have to file in both Arizona and California. Next week, the students will be back, and I will have a bunch of work commitments, like a speaker dinner to go to although there has also been a rotating hosting of "Sex and the City" watching at a bunch of gal pals houses. Last time, it was at my friend Kate's. She made salmon and salad and we watched a few episodes-of course, most of us have seen the whole series, but we still love to watch it again.
Allright, so now on to a literary discussion. I sent my old book group and some friends an email on this -here it is: Over the past year and a half, my favorite female writer has become Jodi Picoult, author of My Sister's Keeper, Mercy, Vanishing Acts, Keeping Faith, Second Glance, Plain Truth, The Pact, etc and most recently The Tenth Circle. She gave a reading tonight at Barnes and Nobles at a place called The Grove. I made certain to leave work early enough to drive through LA traffic to get there-this bookstore is located in an outdoor shopping mall between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. I had never been there before-it's the biggest Barnes and Nobles that I have ever been in. It was 3 floors and just huge! I would also add that I saw the largest Gap store ever. There was even a big fountain outside that sprayed water in time to music tunes (much like the fountain in Las Vegas in front of the Bellagio Hotel). Anyways, I got to the reading location and it wasn't too crowded-maybe 50 people were there. The cutest thing was that there was a 9 member book group of ladies there who had their photo taken with Jodi afterwards. It made me think about my Arizona book group! Anyways, Jodi is totally down to earth and has a wonderful personality and sense of humor. She read an excerpt from the Tenth Circle (which yes, I bought it when it came out a few weeks ago and had to read it in one sitting) then she played a trivia game. People had to answer Jodi trivia and if they answered the question correctly, they would win a t-shirt. Typical questions were-how long does it take her to write one book? (answer-9 months). Her cartoonist from her recent book was also there and was drawing a picture for a lucky winner (given to the person who had travelled the farthest to come to the reading-70 miles) while she was talking. Anyways, people asked her a number of questions and she was personable and eloquent. She said that her son who is 14 read My Sister's Keeper and sobbed at the end (for those of you who remember the surprising ending) and didn't want to talk to her because he was mad at how she ended the story. So she sat down and explained why she ended it that way. She actually sobbed while writing the book-she said that the characters are with her for nine months so she really feels an attachment for them. In "Keeper", she ended it that particular way because she felt that the character that started the "war" should bring peace at the end, also that characters need to show an arc throughout her book-ie change- and that if she had ended it differently, it wouldn't have reflected this and the reader would have just been like the family-stagnant. By the way, My Sister's Keeper is going to be turned into a movie! She also said her favorite research was for one of her novels in which there are ghosts! She said that she followed these "ghost hunters" who now have a show on the sci-fi channel into a bunch of places and in one case, she felt something behind her and the guy wth her took a photo of it and it's this creepy image (see her website-http://www.jodipicoult.com, she also found pennies between the years 1968-1972 by some children's bedsides right after she had left them in this "haunted house" -you can read about her ghost adventures on her website if you go to-the book "Second Glance" and the conversation about it...creepy.
Anyways, she said that the low point of her book tour was in Holland, Michigan for a few reasons. She said it's a very conservative place and when she finished her reading (her latest book has scenes of teenage sex and resulting conflicts), a bunch of ladies came up to her and said "that doesn't happen in our town" then this lady came up after them and said "I'm a nurse and I have treated all of their kids for STDs." Pretty funny!
She also said that someone at that signing, like tonight, asked her for her views on the controversy surrounding James Frey's memoir A Million Little Pieces book. She thought Oprah went overboard (but he's not suffering for it money-wise) but she also said that she didn't like his manipulation of the truth about other people in his book. Embarrasingly for her, she says this stuff and then her agent introduces her to James Frey's parents at this same reading in Michigan! His dad was pissed, but his mom told her that she liked her books and that her husband was thinking about teaching one in his course-in his ethics course! So yeah, James Frey's dad is an ethics professor!
She is currently writing a book around some school shootings and for another book, researching inmates on death row. She said that when she first started writing, she got hundreds of rejection letters from publishers before she found an agent. She was also a teacher and editor before she started publishing. She has received many letters from teenagers who after reading one book about a teenage suicide, were disuaded to do it themselves, or other teenagers who now want to have careers like the characters in her books, so it feels good to know that she has an positive impact.
She has 3 kids and is the main caretaker for them so she writes during the day while they are at school-she said that she doesn't have the luxury of writer's block! She said that some of the themes running through her book include the close friendships between the characters and how they confront the truth about themselves, as well as Native American culture which fascinates her.
Well, so of course I stood in line to get my book signed (as well as another book of hers that I bought called Songs of the Humpback Whale). I was nervous but eager to talk to her. I told her that she is my favorite female writer and she asked-"who are your favorite male authors?" and I responded "John Irving and Richard Russo." She was joking and was like "I'm okay with that" and then said that she was told that "her office resembles Richard Russo's-i.e. a mess!" Then, I said that "as a scientist, I appreciate how much investigative research that she does for her books. "So she asked me what I did and I told her. It was a brief conversation but I was thrilled to chat with her. I would also add that if you email her on her website, she will respond back. One morning after a long night of reading one of her books, I just had to write her an email of admiration. She actually wrote me back to thank me, a very personable email.
Julie
Allright, so now on to a literary discussion. I sent my old book group and some friends an email on this -here it is: Over the past year and a half, my favorite female writer has become Jodi Picoult, author of My Sister's Keeper, Mercy, Vanishing Acts, Keeping Faith, Second Glance, Plain Truth, The Pact, etc and most recently The Tenth Circle. She gave a reading tonight at Barnes and Nobles at a place called The Grove. I made certain to leave work early enough to drive through LA traffic to get there-this bookstore is located in an outdoor shopping mall between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. I had never been there before-it's the biggest Barnes and Nobles that I have ever been in. It was 3 floors and just huge! I would also add that I saw the largest Gap store ever. There was even a big fountain outside that sprayed water in time to music tunes (much like the fountain in Las Vegas in front of the Bellagio Hotel). Anyways, I got to the reading location and it wasn't too crowded-maybe 50 people were there. The cutest thing was that there was a 9 member book group of ladies there who had their photo taken with Jodi afterwards. It made me think about my Arizona book group! Anyways, Jodi is totally down to earth and has a wonderful personality and sense of humor. She read an excerpt from the Tenth Circle (which yes, I bought it when it came out a few weeks ago and had to read it in one sitting) then she played a trivia game. People had to answer Jodi trivia and if they answered the question correctly, they would win a t-shirt. Typical questions were-how long does it take her to write one book? (answer-9 months). Her cartoonist from her recent book was also there and was drawing a picture for a lucky winner (given to the person who had travelled the farthest to come to the reading-70 miles) while she was talking. Anyways, people asked her a number of questions and she was personable and eloquent. She said that her son who is 14 read My Sister's Keeper and sobbed at the end (for those of you who remember the surprising ending) and didn't want to talk to her because he was mad at how she ended the story. So she sat down and explained why she ended it that way. She actually sobbed while writing the book-she said that the characters are with her for nine months so she really feels an attachment for them. In "Keeper", she ended it that particular way because she felt that the character that started the "war" should bring peace at the end, also that characters need to show an arc throughout her book-ie change- and that if she had ended it differently, it wouldn't have reflected this and the reader would have just been like the family-stagnant. By the way, My Sister's Keeper is going to be turned into a movie! She also said her favorite research was for one of her novels in which there are ghosts! She said that she followed these "ghost hunters" who now have a show on the sci-fi channel into a bunch of places and in one case, she felt something behind her and the guy wth her took a photo of it and it's this creepy image (see her website-http://www.jodipicoult.com, she also found pennies between the years 1968-1972 by some children's bedsides right after she had left them in this "haunted house" -you can read about her ghost adventures on her website if you go to-the book "Second Glance" and the conversation about it...creepy.
Anyways, she said that the low point of her book tour was in Holland, Michigan for a few reasons. She said it's a very conservative place and when she finished her reading (her latest book has scenes of teenage sex and resulting conflicts), a bunch of ladies came up to her and said "that doesn't happen in our town" then this lady came up after them and said "I'm a nurse and I have treated all of their kids for STDs." Pretty funny!
She also said that someone at that signing, like tonight, asked her for her views on the controversy surrounding James Frey's memoir A Million Little Pieces book. She thought Oprah went overboard (but he's not suffering for it money-wise) but she also said that she didn't like his manipulation of the truth about other people in his book. Embarrasingly for her, she says this stuff and then her agent introduces her to James Frey's parents at this same reading in Michigan! His dad was pissed, but his mom told her that she liked her books and that her husband was thinking about teaching one in his course-in his ethics course! So yeah, James Frey's dad is an ethics professor!
She is currently writing a book around some school shootings and for another book, researching inmates on death row. She said that when she first started writing, she got hundreds of rejection letters from publishers before she found an agent. She was also a teacher and editor before she started publishing. She has received many letters from teenagers who after reading one book about a teenage suicide, were disuaded to do it themselves, or other teenagers who now want to have careers like the characters in her books, so it feels good to know that she has an positive impact.
She has 3 kids and is the main caretaker for them so she writes during the day while they are at school-she said that she doesn't have the luxury of writer's block! She said that some of the themes running through her book include the close friendships between the characters and how they confront the truth about themselves, as well as Native American culture which fascinates her.
Well, so of course I stood in line to get my book signed (as well as another book of hers that I bought called Songs of the Humpback Whale). I was nervous but eager to talk to her. I told her that she is my favorite female writer and she asked-"who are your favorite male authors?" and I responded "John Irving and Richard Russo." She was joking and was like "I'm okay with that" and then said that she was told that "her office resembles Richard Russo's-i.e. a mess!" Then, I said that "as a scientist, I appreciate how much investigative research that she does for her books. "So she asked me what I did and I told her. It was a brief conversation but I was thrilled to chat with her. I would also add that if you email her on her website, she will respond back. One morning after a long night of reading one of her books, I just had to write her an email of admiration. She actually wrote me back to thank me, a very personable email.
Julie
posted by Julie Miller at 11:01 PM
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