Last year my husband attended a conference in San Diego, and they run a really nice spouse program. The thing that interested me most was that they had a bookstore there, run by Barbara Kennan from Books On Demand, who ran an independent bookstore in Fremont California for years, but now sells at different venues like this.
The bookstore was carefully curated, with an excellent mix of non-fiction books that appealed to the conference goers in attendance, as well as the latest in fiction, YA and children's books. I was so impressed with her selection, I ended up buying a few myself.
At the last morning's spouse's breakfast, there was a raffle of books, and the people who won were so excited when they got to choose their book. I assisted one woman, whom I saw again at this year's conference and was pleased with her choice, JoJo Moyes' Me Before You.
The conference this year was held at the Boca Raton Resort and Club, and we were all so happy to see that Barbara was back this year. Once again, she had a fantastic selection. Barbara even remembered many of us from last year, asking about children and steering us to books she thought we'd like.
She had some of my favorites, Christina Kline Baker's The Orphan Train, Jess Walters' Beautiful Ruins, Meg Wolitzer's The Interestings among them. I chose five books- Robin Roberts' Everybody's Got Something for my mom, A.S.A. Harrison's The Silent Wife, because so many of my blogger friends liked it (I did too- I read it on the plane ride home and passed it on).
I got The Boys in the Boat as a gift for someone and then I took Barbara's suggestions and bought two books I might not have except she swore I would like them and I trust her. The Little Way of Ruthie Lemming- A Southern Girl, a Small Town and the Secret of a Good Life by Rod Dreher tells the true story of his 40 year-old sister who died of cancer and the hometown filled with people who cared for her.
The River of No Return by Bee Ridgeway bills itself as a novel of of love and time travel. I normally wouldn't choose a story like this, but the cover with the collage of famous paintings and Barbara's insistence won me over. I'll keep you posted.
This year I won a book, chosen from Real Simple magazine's 50 Great Books That Will Change Your Life List. After much considered deliberation, I chose Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy In Spite of Herself because so many people I respect (Jennifer Hart and Anna Quindlen, who chose the book for this list, just to name a few) adore the Betsy-Tacy series and I have never read one.
I hope that we see Barbara again next year in West Virginia, I so enjoyed talking books with someone who reads as much as I do.
