It was a small gathering at Books & Books last night, despite the fact that no rain fell until well after my reading. When writing a book, one never considers the role histrionic weather people are going to play in its reception.
Sunday’s New York Times Book Review listed the best books of the year in various categories, including Thrillers, Romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Horror, and Crime. It mixed genres I have very little interest in with genres I have absolutely no interest in.
I’m back from a little book tour – D.C., Philadelphia, New Jersey – hence the long silence. The nice thing about reading in places that appear in your memoir is that old friends sometimes turn up to hear you. The problem, if you wait too long to write the memoir (or it takes too long to get it published), is that a few of them can’t make it due to physical disabilities.
Yesterday the memoir appeared in Michael Dirda’s roundup of books for the holidays in the Washington Post.
One nice thing about having your book published in the middle of November is that you don’t expect to see it on “Best Books of the Year” lists.
My book is being published tomorrow, which means that for the last time this year I read Sunday’s New York Times Book Review without a feeling of disappointment.
The closer I get to the publication of my book, the more emails I receive from publicists promoting other people's books.