I felt bold in those crazy, hazy days.

Sunset on River Street

I went to three fantastic parties this week. I'm pretty cynical about Having A Great Time! but I seriously enjoyed myself in a really extreme way at every event. I'll tell you quickly about one event: the book party for Junot Diaz. We share the same publisher and my amazing editor Megan brought me as her date. It was in a really gorgeous apartment where there were lots of books, like floor to ceiling: books books books, and there were lots of writers there and everyone was really happy for Mr. Diaz because he had just read in front of 600 (!) people at Barnes and Noble and it was just an exciting night all around. I go to my fair share of book parties, but it really felt like something special was going on there. I think people were just so thrilled for the author, whether they knew him personally or not. He has a lot of fans out there in the universe.

I leave for Chicago on Tuesday. I will be attending the Bookslut reading on Wednesday night to see the lovely and brilliant Ms. Kate Christensen read. Her new novel The Great Man is one of my favorite books of the year, and I say that not just because Kate generously blurbed my book. I even wrote my very first Amazon review of The Great Man, that's how much I loved it. I have more to say about it - there are some strong connections between her story and my forthcoming book - but I shall save it for a later date. But please do yourself a favor and buy The Great Man. You won't regret it.

(09/09/07)