Authors at BEA

Some of these pictures aren't great because of lighting in the halls. I want to thank Talia Sherer at Macmillan for ensuring that I had good seats at both banquets. Even before the banquets though, I attended the Library Day of Dialog at McGraw-Hill.

Along with the panels, there were two authors as speakers that day. Both were excellent. Actor/author John Lithgow was there to talk about his forthcoming book, Drama: An Actor's Education (Sept./Harper/Collins). As you would expect, he was an entertaining and moving speaker as he talked about reading to his father.

John Lithgow

The author, though, that truly inspired all of us was Karin Slaughter who wasn't there to publicize her forthcoming book, Fallen, but to promote her Save The Libraries campaign, stressing the need to support libraries, and the loss of libraries in so many communities. She wasn't the only one to remind us over the course of two days that dictators close libraries first when they take power, and that governments who are closing or curtailing libraries are shutting down opportunities for young people. She inspired all of us with her story of her own youth, saying she wouldn't be a writer if it wasn't for libraries. And, she has said before that the closing of libraries is a matter of national security. Slaughter is putting her time and efforts into a passionate support of libraries.

Monday night was the AAP Librarians Banquet at the Yale Club, hosted by Nancy Pearl. The lighting, unfortunately, wasn't conducive to good photos, even though I was at the table by the podium.

Tuesday morning before my panel, I went to Mystery Writers of America's booth, hoping to find Hilary Davidson. Not only did I run into Hilary, but I also found fellow bloggers Jen Forbus and Erin Faye there.
And, Hilary and Jen were kind enough to come over to The Great Readalike Panel after Hilary's signing was over.

Hilary Davidson and Jen Forbus

Jen Forbus, Hilary Davidson, Me, and Erin Faye

Following the panel, I went to the The Fifth Annual BookExpo Amercia Librarians Lunch, sponsored by The Assocaiton of American Publishers and EarlyWord. I finally met Nora Rawlinson! Nora is the co-founder of EarlyWord, a wonderful site for librarians. Nora was the host for the lunch, introducing the authors.

Nora Rawlinson

 And, what a slate of authors. The men, in particular, were really funny. It was an enjoyable way to end BEA.

Tom Perrotta, author of The Leftovers (Sept.)

Spencer Quinn, author of To Fetch a Thief

Chuck Palahniuk, author of Damned, Oct.

Julie Kagawa, author of The Iron Queen

Diana Abu-Jaber, author of Birds of Paradise

David Baldacci, author One Summer, June

I owe Talia Sherer, Library Marketing Director at Macmillan, a big thanks for giving me the opportunity to attend and participate in this year's BEA. Thank you, Talia.

The Heroine's Bookshelf by Erin Blakemore

Lizzy Bennet, Anne Shirley, Scarlett O'Hara, Scout Finch.  Those are just four of the twelve literary heroines Erin Blakemore discusses in her book, The Heroine's Bookshelf:  Life Lessons from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder.  But, Blakemore's premise is that these heroines are not the only ones who can inspire us to be heroines in our own lives.  She suggests the authors of these books have interesting, often inspiring, lives themselves.

If you love to read, somewhere in these pages is probably one of those characters that meant a great deal to you.  Raise your hand if you yearned to be Jo March in Little Women.  Jo, who exemplifies "Ambition" in Blakemore's book, certainly reveals a great deal about her creator, Louise May Alcott.  But, Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables stands for a happiness that her author, Lucy Maud Montgomery never found in her own life.  The lives of these authors were very significant in creating the characters we love, and Blakemore highlights the aspects of the authors' lives that were significant to the books.

I won't spoil Blakemore's thunder by summarizing each chapter.  But, you'll want to know if your favorite  heroine and book is covered.  Along with the two in the previous paragraph, Blakemore discusses Lizzy Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, Janie Crawford in Their Eyes Were Watching God, Celie in The Color Purple, Francie Nolan in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Claudine in Colette's Claudine novels, Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind, Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, Laura Ingalls in The Long Winter, Jane Eyre, and Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden.  Do you see a favorite?

I liked the way Blakemore ended each chapter.  She said, "Read This Book:"  with suggestions when.  For instance, read Little Women, "On days when you'd rather sell your hair than get out of bed."  And, she gave each heroine three "Literary Sisters."  Scout's Literary Sisters included one of my favorites, "Meg Murry in A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L'Engle."

It's hard not to quote the entire introduction of The Heroine's Bookshelf.  It was actually one of my favorite sections of the book.  So, I'm going to tempt you with a bit of Erin Blakemore's opening.  "In times of struggle, there are as many reasons not to read as there are to breathe....At life's ugliest junctures, the very act of opening a book can smack of cowardly escapism.  Who chooses to read when there's work to be done?"

"Call me a coward if you will, but when the line between duty and sanity blurs, you can usually find me curled up with a battered book, reading as if my mental health depended on it.  And it does, for inside the books I love I find food, respite, escape, and perspective."  There's so much more I'd like to quote, but readers need to pick up this book, and find yourself in it.  Then, after,  to steal a page from Erin Blakemore's The Heroine's Bookshelf, you might want to pick up a book by one of Blakemore's "Literary Sisters."  Try Hallie Ephron's  1001 Books for Every Mood.

Erin Blakemore's website is http://www.theheroinesbookshelf.com/

The Heroine's Bookshelf by Erin Blakemore.  HarperCollins, ©2010. ISBN 9780061958762 (hardcover), 224p.

*****
FTC Full Disclosure - I requested my copy from the publisher, so I could read and review it.