Kristin Hannah at Barnes & Noble

Kristin Hannah at Barnes & Noble

The first book I have read written by Kristin Hannah is Home Front, a brilliant novel about two women pilots in the National Guard dealing with deployments and the families they leave behind. It was so well-written, emotional and a real tribute to the men and women who serve their country.

I met Hannah on tour for that book and my blog post about that is here. Hannah's breakout novel was Firefly Lane, a novel that she said in a talk at the Barnes & Noble store on the Upper East Side last month that "changed my career and where I found my voice."

It was the first book she wrote in an all-female point-of-view. She said she wanted to try something different and she "fell in love with the book's characters and the journey of the novel." The book was a success, striking a chord with many readers who wanted to see a sequel.

But Hannah said that after spending the 14 months that it takes to research and write a novel, she is done with the characters. But Firefly Lane was different. She knew "there was more to the story." She ended up writing 1200 pages that she just threw in the trash, trying to find a voice for the sequel.

It was tough going; after 20 years, Hannah felt she had lost her confidence. Writing it "became an act of will" and in the end, it was "exactly what it was supposed to be." She said that "writing this book reminded me that it's hard."

She was most interested in Dorothy's story, but felt that she should write the story of Fly Away from three characters' perspectives- Dorothy, her daughter Tully, and Kate's daughter Marah.  My review of Fly Away  is here. My review of the first book, Firefly Lane is here.

When asked who Hannah likes to read, she said she likes genre fiction, and feels that she has "an epic fantasy novel" in her. She likes to read Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Harlan Coben, Michael Connelly, Tami Hoag and Chevy Stevens. She also reads YA and women's fiction; she's an eclectic reader for sure.

Kristin Hannah's website is here.
My review of Fly Away is here.
My review of Firefly Lane is here.

Introducing the Comedy Team of Jack Gray & Anderson Cooper

Jack Gray & Anderson Cooper at Barnes & Noble

Last night I attended a book talk and signing for Jack Gray's collection of humorous essays Pigeon in a Crosswalk: Tales of Anxiety and Accidental Glamour at the Barnes & Noble on the Upper West Side.

Gray is a producer of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 and he was lucky enough to have his boss, Anderson Cooper, interview him about his book. These two men are hilarious together as they joked about Gray's huge Twitter following (over one million!); he claims that he is "huge in Malaysia. Most of my followers are spammers."

Cooper joked that he was glad Gray wrote a book because "I didn't know who you were. Now I know your last name", and Gray retorted by stating that while working for Cooper one rule is that "eye contact is a privilege, not a right." Much of the interview was that back-and-forth joking, and had the standing-room-only audience laughing at many points.

Gray said that one of the rejected titles of the book was "Openly Gray", a word play on the fact that Gray is gay, but he thought it sounded like the memoir of "Evelyn Gray, a 6'5" lesbian basketball coach."

Cooper stated that he learned that Gray was a good writer when Gray started writing on CNN's 360 blog, and the book deal came from there. Cooper sarcastically noted that his own book was "A New York Times bestseller for several weeks, but this is not about me", which drew guffaws.

There was a lot of name dropping- Gray told a hilarious story about giving Cher a Twitter lesson over the phone (complete with a Cher accent), spending the weekend at Cooper's summer home with Kathy Griffin (they expected a Downton Abbey estate, it is more of a cottage), a Twitter feud with Star Jones (she is not a popular person), and he told of a party at Larry King's Beverly Hills mansion where the Kings' forgot to get a caterer (what Gray referred to as a "first world" problem).

Speaking of parties, Gray talked about what it's like to go a party at Nervous Nellie Anderson Cooper's home. Cooper spends the entire party in monitor mode, fearing that "someone will fall and I'll get sued." He even has his assistant videotape the entire party in case there is an incident.  Cooper says two hours later after a work party, he'll "find the makeup department in an upstairs bedroom applying makeup to each other."

I read about half of Gray's book while waiting and it so funny and sweet; it reminds me of Andy Cohen's memoir Most Talkative: they both came up in news organizations, love pop culture and are so entertaining. Gray's personality pops off the page and I honestly laughed out loud many times while sitting there; this is a book I will give to many people. I'll post a full review soon.

Jack Gray talks about  Pigeon in a Crosswalk CBS This Morning's Gayle King (his new best friend)


You can buy it here
My review of Andy Cohen's Most Talkative is here

Norbert Leo Butz Sings at Barnes & Noble

Two time Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels  & Catch Me If You Can) released his first CD, Memories & Mayhem, a live recording of his cabaret show at the new Live at 54 Below venue, and he had a performance and signing at Barnes & Noble on 86th St. in NYC yesterday.

He performed four songs from the CD, The Way Young Lovers Do, Killing the Blues, I Could Be In Live With Someone Like You  and If These Walls Could Speak. He played guitar on the first two songs and he sounded so fantastic, even though he shared that he had been ill this week with what he called "the crud" and a 102 degree fever.

Below are the last two songs he sang, hope you enjoy them as much as we did.




Live at 54 Below is hosting several Broadway performers doing cabaret shows, and I hope they have all of their CD releases from Broadway Records at Barnes & Noble.

Maggie Shipstead & J. Courtney Sullivan in Conversation

Maggie Shipstead & J. Courtney Sullivan

Shipstead poses with her novel

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending a fascinating conversation between J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Maine and Maggie Shipstead, author of Seating Arrangements at Barnes & Noble on the Upper East Side in Manhattan.

Sullivan began, reading from her novel about four women from one family who meet up at the family summer home in Maine. She read the scene where young, unmarried and pregnant Maggie arrives with her friend instead of her boyfriend, much to the consternation of her grandmother.

Shipstead read from chapter two of her book, where her protagonist, middle-aged Winn, remembers how his daughter Daphne, who is pregnant and getting married this weekend, wanted him to tell her she was  "his princess" when she was a young child. He was truly unable to understand his daughter.

I read the first two chapters of Seating Arrangements while waiting, and I was struck by how well-crafted her sentences were. I asked her if she did extensive rewrites to get that, but they just come to her that way.

There are some fantastic WASP-y names in her novel (Biddy, Greyson, Sterling) set on an island off Cape Cod, and Shipstead said she got them from a trophy room in a Rhode Island resort. They were on lawn bowling trophies from the 1950s.

There was discussion about a topic that has come up recently- unlikable characters. Maine has Alice, the matriarch of the family who has no qualms about saying whatever she is thinking, no matter whom it hurts. Sullivan was slightly taken aback by the many comments from reviewers and readers who didn't like Alice. I did wonder though if older women identified with Alice or if they disliked her as well.

She has great affection for Ann Marie, the dutiful daughter-in-law in the novel. I have to agree, I liked Ann Marie best, her journey in the novel was moving, and I think many people would identify with her.

Winn in Seating Arrangements is also a somewhat unlikeable character. Sullivan mentioned that Washington Post book reviewer Ron Charles wrote that he loved Winn, which brought a chuckle from the crowd. Shipstead said that Winn "obeys a set or rules that he came up with and follows them."

I don't dislike it when there are unlikable characters in a novel; to me, it is better to be unlikable than boring. If I'm reading a book and the characters are just plain uninteresting, I lose interest in the book. But give me a complicated, flawed character who is interesting, and I'm buying into the novel.   I mean, Walter White from TV's Breaking Bad and Don Draper from Mad Men are not nice guys, but you can't take your eyes off them when they are on screen.

Sullivan also gave a shout-out to author Maile Meloy, who wrote two brilliant books I read a few years ago, Liars & Saints and A Family Daughter, and I almost jumped out of my seat when she mentioned her, thereby making my geekiness official. I loved those books and I was so excited to hear Sullivan give Meloy props.

Maine is now in paperback, and my review of Seating Arrangements will be in the Citizen and online at auburnpub.com on August 12th. I'll post the link when it is live.

Jennifer Weiner Goes Hollywood

Jennifer Weiner at Barnes & Noble

I've been to three book signings for Jennifer Weiner over the past few years, including this one for Best Friends Forever, and I enjoyed her keynote speech very much at this year's Book Blogger Conference during the BEA. This week, I attended a book signing for her novel The Next Best Thing, where she wore very hip hair extensions and gorgeous metallic espadrilles with a cute bow.

After writing nine best-selling novels, Jennifer was given a development deal with ABC to produce a TV series for their ABC Family channel. She was excited to work with Jeff Greenstein who wrote for Desperate Housewives, and they wrote a pilot called The Great State of Georgia, about a bigger girl who moves to New York with her science-geek best friend to live with her sassy aunt and conquer the world.

That was the plan. First, the network had a deal with actress Raven-Symone, and wanted her to star in the pilot, now called The State of Georgia. That meant that now, as Weiner put it, "I guess she's not Jewish anymore", to which the audience chuckled. That was just the first of many compromises Weiner  had to make in order to get her series made.

But Weiner was excited about Symone, whom she described as a good actress and a curvy girl. She tried unsuccessfully to arrange a meeting with her new star to talk over the show, but was rebuffed with "she's on vacation". Weiner wondered from what Symone was vacationing, but when she was finally allowed to see her star just a few days before shooting started, it wasn't good.

She waited at a restaurant, and in swept Symone "swaddled in a pashmina sleeping bag". Weiner, being a producing novice said she didn't know that she could ask Symone to take off her wrap to see what she looked like.

The next day at 'chemistry reads', where the actors are put together to see how they fit, Weiner said that Symone was "a teeny thing". She had lost a significant amount of weight, and Weiner said that "no one said anything. It was like the Emperor's New Clothes."

When Weiner brought this to the attention of the network, that their star who needed to be a big girl in order for the whole premise of the show to work, they replied that she was "Philadelphia-thin, not Hollywood-thin" and that everything would be alright.

Weiner also told a funny story about casting a goat for one episode. The casting people brought her head shots for the goats and told her that they even have "reels and resumes", which Weiner found preposterous. She said she told them she was "looking for goatishness" and finally after spending too much time on this nonsense, she just said "F-it, let's go Hollywood and cast the thinnest goat".

The show ran for eleven episodes and Weiner found out that the show was cancelled by seeing it on the website Deadline. After all this, she decided that she had to "write about it- it's too funny", and so her experiences went into her tenth novel, The Next Best Thing.


All of the above incidents are in the book, along with lots of other great stuff. The talk covered a few more topics, including Weiner's recent public comments about discrimination against female fiction writers by such austere book review publications as The New York Times Book Review. 


Weiner is angry that the The New York Times Book Review regularly runs a Crime Fiction Wrap-up, but never a Romance Round-up, even though romance novels are the largest selling genre of books by far. She says "they are ignoring my readers, and saying that you don't matter to us." I'm glad that Weiner and Jodi Picoult have started this discussion and I think the attention they have brought has created some changes.

Other topics covered included the movie adaptation of her book "In Her Shoes", in which she told a hilarious story about being an extra in a scene with her agent,  and her mother coming out to her grandmother during a family Thanksgiving celebration.

She described her grandmother's Florida retirement home, Century Village, as a "place where ambulances just drive around waiting for someone to call them", and where there are "20,000 Jews waiting for death or their grandkids to visit, whichever comes first." Another funny line- "J-Date- you know, for the unchosen chosen people."

After mentioning that she finds it difficult to know whether someone is a lesbian or from New England, "they both have short hair and wear lots of LL Bean", it was time to end the evening.

Weiner has been very supportive of new writers, and at the table display of her books near the event were not only her books, but books she has been talking up, such as Sarah Pekkanen's The Opposite of Me, and Between You and Me by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Strauss, and I think that is a great thing to do, to help promote other writers.

She also is a big tweeter and she said on Twitter that anyone who wore a vest to the signing as part of her brilliant marketing promotion (poking fun at Jonathan Franzen's Times Square billboard for his last book) would get a prize and I got a very cool tote bag that I have been using all week.

My cool Jennifer Weiner tote

My review of The Next Best Thing from the Citizen newspaper website, auburnpub.com.

Jean Zimmerman Brings a Slide Show

I've been to many book talks and signings, but a recent one by Jean Zimmerman for her debut novel, The Orphanmaster, added a unique dimension that enhanced the evening- she had a slide show featuring some of the things that inspired her historical novel.

Jean Zimmerman at Barnes & Noble on Broadway and 82nd St.

Zimmerman has written non-fiction books, including Love Fiercely: A Gilded Age Romance and The Women of the House: How a Colonial She-Merchant Build a Mansion, A Fortune and a Dynasty, so research has been a big part of writing life. It was fascinating to see some of her own research up on the screen and her enthusiasm was contagious to those of us in the audience.

She describes her novel as a "thriller horror romance, a love story wrapped around a mystery set in a small town of New Amsterdam in Lower Manhattan in 1663." The Orphanmaster follows Blandine van Couverling, a young female trying to make it as a trader and Edward Drummond, a British spy who fall in love while trying to discover who is killing young orphans in New Amsterdam.

Zimmerman showed us some maps from 1660 of Lower Manhattan that look eerily familiar to today's maps.

We could even pick out Broadway and Wall Street!

We also saw slides of some of the paintings of people who inspired Blandine's look, and objects that she may have traded, and it was utterly fascinating. Margaret Hardenbrook was the richest woman in New York, and she was one of the real women on whom Zimmeman based Blandine.

Zimmerman though that this photo of a female and male trader bartering was a good representation of how Blandine and Edward may have dressed.

I always enjoyed history class and Zimmerman gave us a quick lesson in her short talk about the Dutch who settled the colony. Women were educated in Holland and allowed to be merchants, so it was not unusual to see that the women who moved to New Amsterdam were intelligent and able to support themselves and their families as merchants and traders.

She also told us that eighteen languages were spoken in New Amsterdam,  about which I had no idea; I guess it's not to different from the Manhattan of today in that respect.  We saw lots of representations of beavers, the main source of fur and a huge basis of the economy.  (Beaver hats were the hot trend then.) The fur trade was centered in Albany, which was a more dangerous place than New Amsterdam.

Zimmerman liked writing this novel, "creating a real world grounded in details" that are historically accurate. I'm looking forward to reading The Orphanmaster, a historical novel written by someone who loves history and the role of women in society at this time. I'll post a review soon.

Zimmerman is also participating in Bryant Park's Word for Word Author Series on August 1st at 12:30pm in their Reading Room along with other debut novelists including Cristina Alger (The Darlings) Karen Walker Thompson (The Age of Miracles) and Karl Taro Greenfield (Triburbia), and I can't wait to hear more about this intriguing novel.

You can read more about Jean Zimmerman and The Orphanmaster on her blog.

Algonquin Book Club: When Judy (Blume) Met Tayari (Jones)

Tayari Jones & Judy Blume at Barnes & Noble

I was thrilled to discover that the Algonquin Book Club would be at my neighborhood Barnes & Noble webcasting a discussion between Judy Blume, (Are You There God, It's Me Margaret?) and Tayari Jones, whose newest book is the luminous Silver Sparrow.


The room was filled with quite a diverse crowd; young and older, women and men, publishers, editors and readers. But the one question that everyone seemed to have was "How do Judy Blume and Tayari Jones know each other?" Judy has sold over 80 million copies of her books, many of them young adult classics, and Tayari is a relatively new writer, whose latest book is her best known.

The answer is that in the recent past, Tayari was speaking at the Key West Literary Seminar, pondering a change in publishers for her next book. A woman she didn't know came up to her and said she heard that Tayari was looking for a new publisher.

Tayari thought "Why are people talking about my publishing situation?" The woman took her over to Elisabeth Scharlatt, the publisher at Algonquin Books, and then left. Elisabeth asked Tayari "How do you know Judy?", to which Tayari replied "I don't know anyone named Judy." Elisabeth informed Tayari that the woman who just introduced them was none other than Judy Blume!

Judy and her husband invited some of the new authors to dinner that night and Elisabeth was there too. Judy joked that she was a matchmaker, mating a "wonderful young writer to a wonderful publisher." And that is how Judy met Tayari and Tayari became an Algonquin author.

Tayari said that the trajectory of her career changed when this happened, but she was ready. "You have to be ready, and I had something worth sending, Silver Sparrow."  This came at the right time in her life, when preparation met opportunity.

Silver Sparrow tells the story of James, a man married to two women who each have a daughter by him, born just four months apart. The second wife and daughter know about the first wife and daughter, but the first wife and daughter are in the dark regarding wife and daughter number two.

Judy asked why Tayari gave away the secret in the first sentence, "My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist." Tayari believes that it is more interesting that one woman married a man, knowing he was already married. She says that all stories are about secrets, like Romeo and Juliet, and that's what keeps us turning pages. She says that there are two important things, what is the secret and what happens when the secret comes out.

We learned that Tayri uses a manual typewriter to write her stories; actually, she uses six of them, and they each have names. The pink one is 'Tuscadero', named after Fonzie's girlfriend from Happy Days, who always wore pink. The deep purple one is named 'Jeannie' and 'Andre' is a 1919 one she bought on Ebay.

The subject of categories, or classification, like women's fiction, chick-lit and YA, came up. Judy says "I hate them!" Tayari brought up a good point, that it is not necessarily that the classifications themselves, but the way people perceive or react to the classifications that matter. If people reject a book out of hand because it is "chick-lit" or YA, it is not the classification that is wrong, but their perception that that category is a lesser one that is wrong.

The discussion was delightful and informative, and I hope that my neighborhood Barnes & Noble can host another one soon. You can get more information on future webcasts at Algonquin Books Blog here. And you can watch the entire discussion here.
http://www.algonquinbooksblog.com/bookclub/silver-sparrow-by-tayari-jones/#webcast

NY Met Bud Harrelson at Barnes & Noble 86th St.

Bud Harrelson at Barnes & Noble

Growing up, one of my brothers was a big NY Met fan, and as he was a shortstop, Bud Harrelson was one of his favorite players.

Harrelson is the only Met to have championships from both the 1969 team (as a player) and the 1986 team (as a coach). He appeared at Barnes & Noble 86th Street promoting his book, Turn Two: My Journey To The Top Of The World And Back With The New York Mets, which was co-written by Phil Pepe.

He is now the co-owner and senior vice-president of the Long Island Ducks, a baseball team in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, and he said that it is "the best thing he has done in baseball", and he sounds very sincere about it. He loves where he lives in Suffolk County, and this team impacts where he lives. They are lucky to have him.

Harrelson talked for a long time, over an hour, and answered many questions from the audience. He recounted how he got his start in baseball, as a walk-on for San Francisco State.  He joked about getting a $13,500 signing bonus from the Mets, which his brother "borrowed and never repaid."

One thing Harrelson is remembered for is an on-field fight with Pete Rose. Harrelson was (and still is) a small guy, and after a Mets/Reds game NLCS game in 1973 where Mets pitcher Jon Matlack shut down the might Reds hitting, Harrelson told a reporter that the Reds "hit like me" today. (Harrelson was a career .236 hitter, with 7 HRs.)

The next day, Joe Morgan from the Reds grabbed Harrelson by the shirt during warmups and told him "if you say that again, I'll punch you." Then he warned Harrelson that Rose was coming at him to fire up the team. In the 5th inning, Rose came at Harrelson and as Harrelson says "I hit him on the fist with my jaw."

It became known as the "Duel in the Sun", and there were lots of questions last night about Pete Rose. Harrelson said that Rose signs autographs for $65 a pop, signature only. If you want it personalized, it's another $65.

Harrelson signs for free, and he told a story about seeing Rose at Cooperstown, where he was on the main street signing for $65. Harrelson, who was relegated to signing on a side street, but when he saw Rose, he pulled up a chair next to him, and when people asked Rose to sign a photo of the "Duel in the Sun" for $65, Harrelson signed it for free.

He also said that Rose's son, Pete Jr., played for his Long Island Ducks for three years, and he refused to sign autographs too. (OK, that is something I do not understand. Rose Jr, is not even a big leaguer.)

Someone asked Harrelson if he would vote for Rose to get into the Hall of Fame, and Harrelson got a little prickly, saying "I'm not in the Hall, so I don't get a vote, but Seaver, Morgan and Bench won't vote for him". The man kept at him, saying there was more to the Rose story, but Harrelson reminded the guy that Rose was offered a lifetime ban in exchange for MLB sealing the record of the investigation into gambling allegations against him, and Rose took it.

Harrelson is a stand-up guy with a dry sense of humor, and I couldn't believe it when he said he was 68 years old; he does not look it. He loves baseball and he has a lot to teach young players. He even let us all try on his 86 World Series ring; how cool is that? He said this book is not a tell-all, but his story of his life in baseball, which is an interesting one. Think of this as a great gift for the NY Met in your life.

Adriana Trigiani at Barnes & Noble

Last night was one of my favorite nights of the year- Adriana Trigiani's annual book signing event at Barnes & Noble 86th St. store in New York City.

The atmosphere is always like a party, and the only thing missing is alcohol and hors d'oeurves. Adriana sweeps into the room, hugging and blowing kisses to her friends in the room, which is pretty much anyone who has ever met her once.

At the podium she scans the room, calling out "her peeps", including Jonathan Burnham, her publisher, whom she says "is handsome and British- two of my favorite food groups." And the laughter began.

She asked "Who's Italian here?" and 3/4 of the people in the room raised their hands. I sometimes feel left out, as I am Irish/English/Scottish, but the Italian people are very welcoming. She asked people "where they are from" and the Italians started spouting off villages and regions in Italy. A mixed marriage in Italy "is one between two people from different villages."

Adriana is married to a man of Scottish descent, and she said that "an American is a person who doesn't know where he is from." She said that when people say "we're Scottish", she says "what does that mean?" She doesn't understand people who don't know from where their ancestors came. (Guilty: I have no idea.)

To get ready to write her epic novel, The Shoemaker's Wife, she said that she had to "reconnect with her Italianess" and that meant watching a Rocky movie marathon. She recalled thinking how hot Sylvester Stallone was in those movies, and joked that the movie was memorable for the bad hat that Adrian wore, because "all Italian girls have a key moment in their life where they are wearing a bad hat."

The book is based on her grandparents love story. They lived five miles from each other in Italy, but didn't meet until they came to America, living in Hoboken. I loved this lush, gorgeous book (my review is here), and was fascinated by the little tidbits of inside information we got last night.

The book is dedicated to her great-uncle Monsignor Don Andrea Spada, brother to her grandmother Lucia. He was the editor of L'Eco di Bergamo, a Catholic newspaper, for 51 years, and Adriana credits her "gift of words", as one audience member said, as coming from him. The character of Eduardo is based in part on the monsignor.

The book itself is gorgeous because Adriana says that her readers "love beautiful things." The outer cover feels so rich, and has raised lettering on it. It feels like a book you would have bought back in the day. The cover is a photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, who took portrait photos for Harper's Bazaar in the 1940s and 1950s. The model for the photo is the same model on the cover of Adriana's book Lucia, Lucia (also by Dahl-Wolfe).

Adriana told a story of the model, an older woman by now, seeing herself on the book cover of Lucia, Lucia in Target and telling her daughter "that's me!" Her daughter contacted Adriana and the women met. Can you imagine seeing yourself on the cover of a book?

A lot of research went into this book, and one fascinating fact Adriana mentioned was that the United States sent 10,000 men a week to fight in World War I. To get that many men, they were offered citizenship if they fought, and most of the men who did this were Puerto Rican. (There is a Puerto Rican soldier in the book who befriends Ciro.) She mentioned a great book on WWI by Peter Englund, The Beauty and the Sorrow.

In the Q&A session, the inevitable question of when the movie of Big Stone Gap will be made came up. Adriana likes Ashley Judd for the role of Ave Maria, and told a funny story about meeting with actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Denny from TV's Gray's Anatomy) in an L.A. hotel room to discuss him playing Jack Mac. (Her makeup started to melt.)

I want to thank Adriana for the lovely words she said about me and my blog, and bloggers in general. It's nice that authors appreciate the role that bloggers have in discussing books and why we love them.

At every book signing, we take a photo together, and although I really hardly ever like any photos of me, I always like the photos of Adriana and me.

Adriana and me at Barnes & Noble 

If you have the opportunity to see Adriana at an event, do it! (Her tour stops are here). And if you are looking for a big, lush, epic book about star-crossed love, family, the building of America in beautiful settings, get a copy of The Shoemaker's Wife.  (Mother's Day is around the corner- ask your kids to buy it for you!)

Death Takes a Holiday CD signing

I'm really sorry that I didn't get to see the Roundabout Theatre Company's Off-Broadway production of Death Takes a Holiday, particularly after being treated to a performance of seven (!) songs from the cast recording, now out on CD.

Barnes & Noble 86th St. store in NYC has become the place to see and hear Broadway's best, and that makes me very happy, as I live just a few blocks away.

Maury Weston, who wrote the music and lyrics and is a Broadway vet (Nine, Titanic- both of which won the Tony for best score and best musical) and Thomas Meehan, who wrote the book for Annie, The Producers and  co-wrote Hairspray,  were in attendance as well. Weston introduced the songs and the cast, giving the story behind each of the songs. This was very helpful for those few of us in the audience who did not see the now-closed show.

Kevin Earley & Jill Paice

Kevin Earley played Death, disguised as Prince Sirki, and he has such a powerful voice, on fine display as he sang "Centuries". His lovely co-star Jill Paice played his love interest Grazia, and she showed off her gorgeous voice on "How Will I Know".











Earley returned with Mara Davi as they sang a saucy "Shimmy Like They Do In Paree", which brought a little levity to the performance.

Mara Davi & Kevin Earley

Matt Cavenaugh performed "Roberto's Eyes", which told the story of his friend dying in battle in WWI. Rebecca Luker, one of Broadway' best singers played Roberto's mother, and her tender rendition of "Losing Roberto" was very moving, especially for any mother in attendance.

Matt Cavenaugh

Rebecca Luker

Earley returned for "I Thought That I Could Live" and the final song was an amazing duet from Earley and Pace on "More and More".

This was one of the best cast performances I have seen, not only did they sing seven songs, but every single performer was wonderful. They really gave the audience a true representation of the entire show, one I wish I hadn't missed. The CD itself is beautifully packaged, too with stunning photos.

Meehan, Weston, Greg Jarret (Accompanist), Cavenaugh, Davi, Luker, Paice, Earley

Jackie Collins at Barnes & Noble

Jackie Collins writes the perfect beach read book, and fans of her Lucky Santangelo series will be so happy that her latest book, Goddess of Vengeance, is about Lucky once again.

Collins made a signing appearance at Barnes & Noble 86th St. store in NYC on September 13th. There was quite a diverse crowd there- young and old, gay and straight, men and women- Ms. Collins has some very faithful fans. And those fans know their Lucky; I overheard more than a few conversations with people referencing many characters and plotlines from previous Lucky books.

I was surprised to see that Ms. Collins didn't have an entourage with her; she has written over two dozen bestsellers, but all she had was an assistant and her editor. She lives in Hollywood, yet she was very down-to-earth (although her jewelry looked stunning and expensive). I liked how she related so easily to her fans.

When she announced that she was working on a YA (young adult) book about Lucky, the crowd roared their approval. She will have to leave out her trademark steamy sex scenes in the YA book, though.

Collins read from her new book, a married sex scene between Lucky and husband Lennie. (I have always said that if only husbands would give their wives Jackie Collins books, everyone would be happy.) She wanted to read the elevator scene, but said "it would be too much, it would get you too turned on!", to which everyone laughed. She also mentioned the elevator scene to Matt Lauer on the Today Show, so I'm going to have to look for that in the book.

After the reading, she turned to Q&A, asking "who will ask the first question, will it be provocative?" She answered questions about writing to soul music, she likes Usher and Drake, and likes to use Itunes to find new music.

She spoke about her writing process; she writes in longhand, and it takes her nine months to write a book. She says that she never knows what her characters are going to do, that they take her over. Her latest book features a despicable man, born of an American showgirl mother and Middle Eastern king. She read a New York Times story about a woman who was buried up to her neck and stoned for adultery, and that is where this is where the character came from.

She says that "every woman she meets wants to marry Bobby", Lucky's handsome son, and they all  "want to be Lucky", whom she sees as Angelina Jolie.

One woman asked when Ms. Collins' next book was coming out, because she likes to stretch out reading each book until the next one comes out so she always has a Jackie Collins book to read. Collins responded "I'm writing as fast as I can!"

The next book is titled Power Trip, about a Russian millionaire and his supermodel girlfriend. They invite five couples onto their yacht, and of course the characters are all familiar to pop culture fans. A couple like the Beckhams, a Latin gay pop singer (Ricky Martin), a sex-crazed politician (Anthony Weiner), a maverick journalist who travels the world (Anderson Cooper) and a 50-something male movie star who dates waitresses (George Clooney). Half the fun in reading Collins' books is figuring out who each character is based on.

She spoke about possibly bringing back some of her favorite characters from previous books, like Chris  Phoenix and Nick Angel, which set the crowd into peals of joy. She mentioned that in the first Lucky Santangelo  miniseries, Sandra Bullock played Lucky's doomed mother and Elisabeth Moss of TV's Mad Men, played Lucky as a young child.

Collins says that she gets lots of information for her books from drivers, stylists and hair and makeup people to the stars. She laughingly said that she lives next door to Al Pacino in Hollywood, "but he tells me nothing!"

I asked what authors she reads, and she responded "Mario Puzo- I loved The Godfather!" and even said that she sees Bobby becoming a little like Michael Corleone; something will turn him to violence because she "loves vengeance!" She also likes Robert B. Parker (author of the Spencer series) and finds Chelsea Handler very funny.

Collins is also working on a play called Hollywood Lies, and a cookbook based on Lucky. Each recipe will feature a short scene from Lucky's life with it. All the recipes will be "good, fun and easy".

When I got my book signed, I told Ms. Collins that I enjoy her on Twitter, and many of her tweeps were in the audience. She seems like the kind of woman you could go to lunch and gossip with, and I can't wait to read Goddess of Vengeance. I'll post a review when I finish.

Jo Nesbo at Barnes & Noble Upper East Side

A full house of very enthusiastic readers showed up to hear Norwegian author Jo Nesbo talk about his newest book, The Snowman.  I'm not a big crime fiction fan, and I have not read any of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series of books (I know, I'm the only one), but I read his book The Devil's Star, and found it a crackling good story.

The events coordinator for the store introduced Nesbo by saying that "I promised I wouldn't butcher his name, but I wanted to give my Norwegian a try- ladies and gentlemen, Jo Nesbo", which elicited laughter from the audience. Then he actually did try his Norwegian, calling him "Hu Nesba".

Nesbo took the stage, and he is strikingly handsome, sort of a cross between Viggo Mortenson and Ed Harris. He has a quiet intensity, and spoke of his father, who spent time in New York City.

The Snowman is the only novel he has written that began with the title. He has a friend who needed a title for his movie, and Nesbo came up with The Snowman. Unfortunately, there was no snowman in the movie, so Nesbo kept the title for his book. He liked the idea of a cozy, childlike image of a snowman and using it in a different context, as something sinister.

In an early scene in the book, a mom sees a snowman in the yard and senses something is wrong; the snowman is facing the house, not the street. He knew it was a good scene, and it became the basis of the book.

He talked about the hero of this series of books, Harry Hole, a good policeman and a bad alcoholic. The character is many-faceted, and well drawn. When someone asked "who does Harry look like?", Nesbo pointed to himself and said "me." He sees Hole being played in the movies by Nick Nolte, someone he called "ugly/pretty", but Nolte is too old. (I say Viggo would be great.)

Nesbo answered questions, many of which concerned the sequence of the books released in the United States, which differs from the sequence they were written and released in Norway. I have to admit to being a little lost during this discussion, as there were some definite major-league fans in attendance.

He spoke of the difficulties in having the books translated into English; he laughingly says it is difficult to trust the translators. He doesn't read his books in English, he says that it is "inevitable that it will get lost in translation" and it leads to frustration for him. He did say that when the books are translated into Korean, they are translated from Nowegian to English to Korean, because it is too hard to go directly from Norwegian to Korean. Not too many people speak both of those languages.

Someone asked why so many Scandinavian protagonists have alcohol problems, and Nesbo said that it is a tradition, the "hard-boiled detective". Harry is a alcoholic who sometimes can't function, it is his Achilles heel, and he uses it to make Harry more interesting. I like that Harry is not a "pretty alcoholic"; he vomits into the sink at work, drags himself home from a bender- realistic, ugly things.

His favorite author is Knut Hamsun, who although he was controversial for his support of the Nazis during the war, Nesbo said that "we're all (writers) standing on his shoulders in Norway".

A question was asked about the corruption theme that seems common in Scandinavian crime fiction, but Nesbo said that Noway is one of the least corrupt countries. It is a literary device, not representative of Norway.

Nesbo plays in rock bands, and he started writing poems and lyrics at age 14. His first novel was written at age 37. His dad was an inspiration for him; his dad always wanted to write a book about his WWII adventures, but he died before he could do it. Nesbo quit his job as a stockbroker and started writing.

I think Nesbo will be a big deal in crime fiction; his characters, even the minor ones, are all well drawn, and his plots are well thought-out and interesting. The ardor of the crowd was impressive; he already has an enthusiastic base of fans, many who had all of his series of books ready for his signature.

Molly Jong-Fast Live at Barnes & Noble UES

Molly Jong-Fast drew a standing only crowd at her book signing for The Social Climber's Handbook at the Upper East Side Barnes & Noble on April 27th.

Jong-Fast is the daughter of author Erica Jong, who sat beaming in the front row like the proud mama she is. The crowd was made up of many family and friends of Jong-Fast, as evidenced during the Q&A session, where she called on all the questioners by name. At one point, she called on someone and said "Hi- a person I don't know!" Then dejectedly, "Oh, I do know you."

Not only was Erica Jong in attendance, but author (and also a daughter of a literary lion) Susan Cheever asked the first question. Then singer Judy Collins walked in the door. I felt like I was a guest at a very chic Park Ave. party; how I got an invitation, I'm not quite sure.

The novel tells the story of Daisy Greenbaum, an Upper East Side socialite who turns to murder when her financial wizard husband is on the verge of losing his job, and therefore their comfortable lifestyle, following the beginnings of the financial meltdown.

It is a satire, and from what I have read so far, a wickedly funny one. Jong-Fast has a quick, cutting sense of humor, one I was introduced to when I began to follow her on Twitter. She is funny in person too, not just on the page.

When someone's cell phone rang in the front row, she asked if it was her stepfather's, and then warned all of us that if a cell phone rings, "I WILL say your name and talk about you."

The idea for the book came when she and her husband were at a school application meeting for their child that went on for over six hours. It was 2008, an when they went in the Dow was at 8000. When they left six hours later, it was at 7200. This gave Jong-Fast the seed of an idea for her book.

She read a scene from the book inspired by The Bonfire of the Vanities, one of her favorite books. The scene featured Daisy's husband walking their 8 year-old daughter to school and trying to explain to her exactly what it was he did for a living. The audience howled with laughter  of recognition at the description of his friend, a 60 year-old man walking his child from his third marriage to school down Park Ave.

Then she read a scene where Daisy kills someone because, "since she's actually a murderer, so I'll read a part where she murders. Because deep in her core, Daisy was a murderer in the best possible way."

When someone said that she'd done such a convincing job writing Daisy as a murderer, Jong-Fast said that she wrote it "cover up her own crimes." She also said that we'd be surprised at how much crime occurs in the Upper East Side, adding, "but not by me."

Erica Jong asked if Jong-Fast thought that satire could improve the world. She replied "I'd be really shocked if my book brought down the banking system, but if that helped sell books, then yes."

Jong-Fast says that she doesn't think of herself as of the upper class, as her protagonist Daisy is, but more as "the servant class, a journalist. Not a part of the society I satirize, but as an accessory."

It was delight to meet Jong-Fast, she's very down-to-earth, and someone you could enjoying dishing with over a long lunch. I can't wait to finish her book.

Caroline Kennedy at Barnes & Noble

April is National Poetry Month, and to celebrate, Barnes & Noble Union Square hosted Caroline Kennedy, who discussed her book, She Walks in Beauty- A Woman's Journey Through Poems. Poet Sharon Olds, whose two poems Socks and High School Senior are in the anthology, discussed poetry with Ms. Kennedy.

The inspiration for the book came when, for her 50th birthday, three friends gave her poems. Kennedy was clearly touched by the gift, and thought that a collection of poems celebrating all of the different aspects of being a woman would make a great book.

Kennedy spoke of a renewed relevance for poetry. Poems are short and intense, and in today's communication of Twitter (140 characters) and text messages, people have become used to getting information in bite-sized pieces. She said that "poetry can be a way of creating community", and spoke of her work with an after-school poetry club in the New York City Public Schools.

She wanted "a book of poems for middle-aged women, a book that speaks of women's experiences through poems." She said there are many poems about love and solitude, not so many about friendship. Kennedy looked for "poems that turn ordinary moments into extraordinary ones."

Sections of the books include "Falling in Love", "Making Love" (which her children were not thrilled with), "Marriage", "Work" "Beauty, Clothes and Things of the World""Friendship" and "How to Live". Each section has poems that illustrate the chapter title, and features both poets familiar- Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, William Blake- and those new to the casual poetry reader, like Ellen Hagan, Rita Dove and Lucille Clifton.

Kennedy read W.H. Auden's Leap Before You Look, joking that it had special meaning for her following her ill-fated attempt at senatorial politics a few years ago.

Poet Sharon Olds also spoke of Auden's poem, saying that you could "feel the joy of music in his poem", and how much she liked that the repetition creates expectation and suspense.  She also read her own poem, High School Senior, written from the perspective of a mother whose daughter will soon be leaving the nest for college. It is readily identifiable for those of us moms who have experienced those same feelings.

I enjoyed the evening, although I think it may have been better to have an experienced moderator asking the questions of the women; at times, the program seemed to lack a little focus. It was nice to meet Kennedy, who signed copies of her book. I got to finally tell her that we have something in common- we both gave birth to our first-born children on the same day.

She Walks in Beauty- A Woman's Journey Through Poems is a lovely book, one that would make a wonderful gift for Mother's Day or a birthday. Kennedy's introduction to each chapter is insightful, and I liked the way the chapter headings follow a woman's actual journey through life.

Deborah Harkness at Barnes & Noble

Deborah Harkness speaking at Barnes & Noble

You would have to live under a rock not to have heard of the Harry Potter and Twilight books. Although written for teens and tweens, those books also found a big adult audience. That fact was not lost on history professor Deborah Harkness, who, while stuck in Puerto Vallarta on vacation during torrential rain, went to a bookstore and noticed all of the vampire and witch books lining the shelves.

This led her to write  A Discovery of Witches,  a novel about witches, vampires, and daemons interacting with humans. She spoke at Barnes & Noble 86th St. in NYC on February 16th to an enthusiastic crowd.

She said she is frequently asked why she wrote a novel, since she is a history professor. She said that is was not a decision to write, it was an accident. While looking at the those books in the bookstore, she began to wonder why vampires, witches and daemons exist, and where do they work? They can't all be private investigators.

She asked us to imagine that they exist in our world, and she laughingly said that many people have come to her saying that they believe their bosses may be witches or vampires. She described the four groups in her novel.
1. Humans- who have the unique power to ignore what's going on around them.
2. Vampires- whom she says are not immortal. They are physically strong, lead lonely lives and she believes they work mostly as scientists or investment bankers. (The audience laughed at that.)
3. Witches- are guardians of tradition. They have supernatural powers, and are keen observers of human nature. They gravitate toward such professions as anthropologists, sociologists and librarians.
4. Daemons- are guiding spirits in Greek mythology, geniuses in Roman mythology. The Christian tradition dropped the "a", and they became associated with devils and evil. Daemons are creative, and walk a true line between madness and genius.  They are usually "rock stars or serial killers". (More laughter from the audience.)

In the novel, Diana Bishop is a witch who tries to live a 'normal' life as a history professor studying at Oxford University in England. While researching in the Bodleian Library (where Harkness herself studied so much she claimed that "if a speck of dust moved, I would know it"), Diana comes across a missing manuscript with magical powers. When the underground world of witches, daemons and vampires hear about her discovery, they surface to get this magical book.

Diana falls in love with Matthew Hopkins, a vampire with an extensive wine collection. Apparently, vampires have super taste buds, so they collect and taste wine. Harness herself writes a wine blog, Good Wine Under $20, so she adds her love and knowledge of wine to the story. She read a scene from the book, one where Diana and Matthew have their first dinner date.

Harness says "hopefully, I've written a fairy tale for adults", and describes the moral of the story as "the importance of accepting who you are uniquely meant to be in this world." Her talk was very interesting, and I liked that she had a prepared presentation in addition to a short reading, yet she appeared to speak off the cuff. Her experience as a professor came through here.

I have not read any Harry Potter or Twilight or seen any of the movies, so I am surprised that I am looking forward to reading this book. I have heard nothing but positive things about it, and it debuted at #2 on the NY Times Bestseller List. My review will be up soon.

Erin Kelly, an author to watch

One of the great joys of reading is discovering new authors. Last week while on Twitter, I had the opportunity to receive a copy of a new book from Pamela Dorman Books author Erin Kelly. Her first novel, The Poison Tree, was publishing the following week, and Erin was going to be doing a reading and signing at the Barnes & Noble store a few blocks from my apartment.

Erin's enthusiasm for books, and mysteries in particular, was apparent from the moment she stepped up to the podium and started talking about her book. She said "my favorite books have a body count", and she recounted her love of Agatha Christie, whose book The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, is the one Kelly holds dearest. She humorously called it "a gateway drug" to other mystery books. She also names Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca and Donna Tartt's A Secret History as inspirations.

She spoke of her fascination for the possibilities that the genre of mystery holds, and for her first novel, she wanted a protagonist for whom death would be shocking- no police officer, no pathologist. Her main characters are college students. They are on "the cusp of adulthood", celebrating their "last hurrah" before responsibilities take over.

She calls The Poison Tree a coming of age novel and a murder mystery in reverse. In her novel, we know from the beginning who committed the murder, and must read on to find out who the victim(s?) were.  I like that unique concept.

Kelly read from the book, and if there is an audio version, she should be the reader. She reads with gusto, and it is apparent from the way that her face lit up and she became most animated that Biba is a favorite character. Her lilting British accent is charming, and it called to mind a scene from the movie Love, Actually, when the British Colin is in a bar in Milwaukee and he holds three lovely ladies in thrall with his accent. (Anyone get this reference? Anyone?)

During the Q&A, she expanded upon the themes of her book. She believes that everyone has secrets that they are afraid others will find out, something in their past that they fear will come back to haunt them. She also thinks that everyone's dirty little secret is that they both despise and love their own parents. Hmmm, that sounds intriguing to me.

I like to ask authors who they are reading, and she likes Tana French (I loved her novel Into the Woods), Nicci French (no relation to Tana), and Ruth Rendell, especially her early novels written under the name Barbara Vine. She also said that she loves TV procedurals, like CSI,  but doesn't like graphic gore on the written page. I agree with her on that point.

Kelly said that she daydreamed the novel for six years, and she finished it after she had her baby. She has written for the UK versions of Elle, Marie Claire, and Glamour, and she has gotten rave reviews for this, her first novel, called an "atmospheric psychological thriller", and it has moved to the top of my TBR list. Ms. Kelly is definitely an author to watch for a long time to come. I'll post a review soon.

Patti LuPone at Barnes & Noble

Broadway legend Patti LuPone appeared at Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle store in NYC on September 16th to promote Patti LuPone- A Memoir, written with Digby Diehl.

The overflow audience was treated to not only a frank discussion of the book with Tom Santopietro, but Ms. LuPone also sang four songs for the delighted group. She started at the beginning, as a four-year-old child performing on stage and realizing that is where she belonged.

She moved through her Juliard years, then her first Broadway show, The Robber Bridegroom, which although it ran for only 14 performances, LuPone received her first Tony nomination.  She sang a lovely rendition of Sleepy Man from the show.

LuPone described the difficulty of singing in Evita, losing her voice frequently and missing several performances. She said "every night, I was scared out of my mind" before her performance, and mentioned that the actress who portrayed Evita in the Australian production gave up music altogether after her run.

She spotted the incomparable Zoe Caldwell in the back of the room, and Ms. Caldwell received a well deserved standing ovation from all.

The discussion of LuPone's run in Anything Goes led to her singing Cole Porter's I Get a Kick (Out of You).  Anything Goes is such a happy, fun show, LuPone said "it should be on Broadway always".

Calling her concert performance with the New York Philharmonic in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd a "great experience from start to finish" she moved into a discussion of her most recent Broadway show, Gypsy.


But everyone perked their ears up when Sunset Boulevard was mentioned. LuPone laughingly said "I didn't tell half the story!" Saying "I'm gonna say stuff, f*#k, I don't care", she went on to say about the creator Andrew Lloyd Webber, "everyone knows Andrew is a screw loose, a strange dude".

She said that the London production was a "juggernaut of bad energy" and "everyone recognized all the signs, but went forward anyway." She decried "the underhanded method they used to get me to crumble so they wouldn't have to pay my New York salary."

(LuPone found out that she would not be the lead in the Broadway production as she was contracted to when she read it in a gossip column. She successfully sued the producers.)

The next song was Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered from Pal Joey, a strong yet sweet version. After an audience member asked why she no longer sang I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables in her concerts, LuPone offered to sing it, but her accompanist did not have the sheet music. As if on cue, another audience member pulled the music out of her bag and it was in the right key for LuPone. She left everyone with tears in their eyes and I got goosebumps as she sang this moving song, now forever linked with Susan Boyle. Susan Boyle is good, but she's no Patti LuPone.

The evening was amazing, the chance to hear LuPone sing such iconic songs in such an intimate setting was worth waiting for three hours on the floor of Barnes & Noble. She was also very kind to each person who got a book signed, and I can't wait to read it.

Friday Five- Volume 4

This week's Friday Five are five things that made me go WOW.

1. Broadway Boys-  Broadway Boys are six Broadway singers, all tenors, who sang  the most beautiful rendition of "Defying Gravity" from Wicked that it gave me goosebumps. I saw them at the Sirius XM Radio's Live on Broadway taping on Wednesday, and I just saw that they are going to be at Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle on July 6th at 5pm. I will be there!

2. Million Dollar Quartet- the performers from Broadway's Million Dollar Quartet performed three songs at the CD signing at Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle, and they had the audience almost out of their seats as they sang Jerry Lee Lewis' "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On". I can't wait to see that show.

3. Skinny Cow's Chocolate Fudge Truffle Bar- I can't believe anything this rich and tasty is only 100 calories.  And it's Best Life Approved by Oprah's diet guru Bob Greene.

4. Emma Donoghue's upcoming novel Room- I got an advanced reader copy of Emma Donoghue's Room at BEA, and it took but a few hours to read this incredible, heartbreaking novel. Told from the point of  view of a five-year-old boy who is being held hostage in a room with his mother (who was kidnapped at the age of 19), it has drawn comparisons to The Lovely Bones, but I think it is even better.
The book comes out in September, and I will definitely be reviewing it before then. It is the best book I have read this year.

5. The lobster roll from Luke's Lobster- A new restaurant opened up a few blocks from my apartment, on 81st between 2nd & 3rd Ave., and Luke's Lobster has the most amazing lobster roll. Just a touch of mayonnaise, a little butter and seasoned just right, this is a special lunch treat. It's a little pricey at $14, but worth it.

Happening This Week in NYC- Vol. 3

This week is filled with lots of music, and I hope to get to most of them.

Tuesday, June, 22 Pop star Cyndi Lauper signs her new CD, Memphis Blues at J&R Music on Park Row at 12:30pm.

Tuesday, June 22 The cast of the Broadway show Million Dollar Quartet sing and sign copies of the cast recording at Lincoln Triangle's Barnes & Noble at 4pm.

Wednesday, June 23 Author Colson Whitehead discusses his latest book, Sag Harbor: A Novel at Bryant Park's Word for Word Series at 12:30pm.

Thursday, June 24 The cast of Broadway's Promises, Promises, including Sean Hayes, Kristin Chenoweth and Tony winner Katie Finneran sing and sign copies ofthe cast recording at Lincoln Triangle's Barnes & Noble at 5pm.

Friday, June 25 Singer Alicia Keys tapes her CBS Early Show concert at the 59th St. location near the Apple Store at 11am.

Friday, June 25 The cast and creators of Broadway's Next Fall speak at Lincoln Triangle's Barnes & Noble at 5pm.

Happening This Week in NYC- Vol. 2

This week's events in NYC include the following:

Monday, June 14th- 80s rock icon Pat Benatar signs copies of her autobiography at Barnes & Noble Fifth Ave. store at 12:30pm.

Tuesday, June 15th- Deadspin's Will Leitch signs copies of his book, Are We Winning? Fathers and Sons in the New Golden Age of Baseball, a humorous look at baseball that would make a good Father's Day gift, at Barnes & Noble 86th St. store at 7pm.

Wednesday, June 16th- Star if Bravo TV's Kell on Earth Kelly Cutrone talks about and signs copies of her book If You Have to Cry, Go Outside at Bryant Park's Word for Word Series at 12:30pm.

Wednesday, June 16th- Author Carolyn Parkhurst reads from and signs copies of her book Nobodies Album at Barnes & Noble 86th St. stores at 7pm. I really liked her books Dogs of Babel and Lost and Found.

Thursday, June 17th- The cast of the Tony nominated Lend Me a Tenor, including Tony Shahloub (TV's Monk), Justin Bartha (The Hangover) and the fabulous Jan Maxwell discuss and sign copies of the script at Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle store at 5pm. I saw the show last week and it is hilarious.

Thursday, June 17th- Author Sara Waters discusses and signs copies of her Gothic mystery Little Stranger at Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle at 7:30pm.

Friday, June 18th- The cast of the Tony winning musical Fela! perform from and sign copies of the CD cast recording at Borders Columbus Circle store at 5pm.