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Mar. 11th, 2004 02:51 pm
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Mar. 11th, 2004
Name dropping
Mar. 11th, 2004 11:33 pmBooksignings can be deadly, if the book is boring, or worse, if the book is delightful and the author is a terrible speaker. I am happy to say that tonight I found that Chris Bohjalian is not one of those kinds of authors. Not only are his books well done, but he is an absolutely fabulous speaker. I exercised one of the perks of this job and was able to sell books at this event, at the Wendell Town Hall, 10 minutes from where I grew up. Chris came down from Vermont and was being treated to some Wendell/New Salem hospitality. They'd picked his book as a Book Connect book, one of these town-wide reading group type things. Apparently, the whole format worked well for them, and it culminated with Chris coming down and giving a talk. He spoke and answered questions for nigh on two hours, and was extraordinarily funny, honest about writing, and gracious. What a guy! Wingtips and all. The 75 or so people who were there gave him a standing ovation at the end, and I drove back to the store afterwards absolutely bursting with enthusiasm. And I got paid for doing this. Granted, not very much, but hey, there are reasons why I chose to work for nearly negative numbers. This would be one.
It was by far the best author appearance I've been to. He rocks. I've heard Archer Mayor is also a good speaker, but I've not been to the events we've had here for him, so I can't compare the two. I'm sure Fran will post an opinion on this. And Fran----you should be very jealous. Maybe it's not worth leaving seminary for, but you could wish that seminary was a lot closer to here than it actually is. :)
Found out tonight that somebody's come up with a little motto for Wendell, apparently. My recollection of it is: "Wendell: Only a stone's throw from reality." Those who know about Wendell will know why this is so funny. Wendell is a very very special place. For example, I believe it is the only place in Franklin County where Dennis Kucinich won the primary, and by a huge margin, too.
It was by far the best author appearance I've been to. He rocks. I've heard Archer Mayor is also a good speaker, but I've not been to the events we've had here for him, so I can't compare the two. I'm sure Fran will post an opinion on this. And Fran----you should be very jealous. Maybe it's not worth leaving seminary for, but you could wish that seminary was a lot closer to here than it actually is. :)
Found out tonight that somebody's come up with a little motto for Wendell, apparently. My recollection of it is: "Wendell: Only a stone's throw from reality." Those who know about Wendell will know why this is so funny. Wendell is a very very special place. For example, I believe it is the only place in Franklin County where Dennis Kucinich won the primary, and by a huge margin, too.