Stop with the emails! Of course the Happy Booker will share her mystery guest. I would never dream of keeping him all to myself! My gentleman caller is coming over to the blog for dinner and promises to stick around and share a few thoughts about the books that have been piling up on his nightstand. For those who have asked, our visitor is a pretty recognizable “voice” in review land, and will have plenty to say here about the state of contemporary fiction: Watch this space.
In the meantime, I can share with you my experience tonight at Politics & Prose where I had the pleasure of hearing Porter Shreve read from his anticipated new novel, Drives Like a Dream. Reading to an appreciative and packed hometown crowd, Shreve delivered a compelling chapter from what The Washington Post recently described as a “beautiful novel.”
The reading was well-attended by DC’s literati, including Howard Norman, Matt Klam, Joyce Hackett, Liam Callanan, Jim Lehrer and rest of the usual suspects.
The Happy Booker was able to corner Susan Richards Shreve, the chairperson of PEN/Faulkner, to try and score comp tickets to the $100 a plate gala awards dinner this spring. But no dice, folks. Ms. Shreve may be diminutive in size, but don’t let that fool you—she’s one scrappy writer! She wouldn’t succumb to the Happy Booker’s “journalistic” angle, the full court press on why it would be a good idea to cover the awards gala from the blogger’s point of view—“Come on, Susan, think about the immediacy and varied readership blogs offer!” Apparently, Ms. Shreve was already hip to Happy Booker’s plan, having read about it right here.
By evening’s end, The Happy Booker made her way home without P/F tickets, but not empty-handed, as Drives Like a Dream now idles on the nightstand waiting to be taken out for a spin.
Love the new blog -- and especially this latest entry on "PPP" (Porter's Publication Party, also being bandied about as "The Five S's," (Susan Shreve's Super Supper Shindig)).
Was gonna email you directly but can't find the place on your page that says "Email me!"
Can't wait for future updates and to find out who your mystery guest is going to be.
Tuning in Thursday.....
AT
Posted by: Art Taylor | March 22, 2005 at 08:45 PM
Oooh. You are a tease.
Posted by: Book Coolie | March 23, 2005 at 10:21 AM
This is a total aside, but there was an interesting article about Politics & Prose in last week's Wall Street Journal, of all places.
Posted by: LadyLitBlitzin | March 23, 2005 at 11:51 PM
Hello Happy Booker,
Wonderful to see you and to catch up the other night at my reading/shindig. Thanks for picking up a copy of Drives Like a Dream. I'll see if I still have any pull with my mom to score you those free tickets to the P/F awards. I'd love to see the blog's eye view of PEN/Faulkner -- to my mind the best literary outfit in the land.
Great site!
--Porter
Posted by: Porter Shreve | March 25, 2005 at 10:12 AM