In case you're in the area, please don't forget the Los Angeles Times Fesitval of Books this weekend, held over Saturday and Sunday at the UCLA campus. It is a blast. There are book authors of various types and genres being celebrated as the celebrities they should be, with young girls and boys gasping and fainting as their idols go by. Well, not quite, but I like to imagine this. Here is the website with the schedule. As they say there, you'll have:
131,000+ Passionate Readers 370+ Famous Authors 300+ Popular Exhibitors 900+ Loyal Volunteers 6 Exciting Stages 2 Interactive Children's Areas
I went last year and can verify that it is a lot of fun. Actually, this year I won't be able to see much because I promised to go with a big group to the top of Mount Wilson the fun way, which will take up most of Saturday. On Sunday, I'm doing the church sermon thing I mentioned earlier and then they are taking me to lunch and doing more Q&A, so I don't know when I'll make it over to UCLA that day. I do get to go to one event for sure. My first LA Awards ceremony!! On Friday night I go to the LA Times Book Awards. I won't be live blogging from it, as was done last year at The Elegant Variation. I'll be too busy being embarrassed. You see, I looked at the list of nominees just now, and while several of the books are on my "must get around to reading this gem" list, such as (from the Science and Technology category) Chris Mooney's "The Republican War on Science", and Sean B. Carroll's "Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo and the Making of the Animal Kingdom", I have not read anything that has been nominated. I've just been too busy the last several months. So it's going to be so embarrassing - I'll be exposed as a fraud! On the plus side, I've been promised that I'll be introduced to lots of interesting authors, such as Mariana Gosnell, the author of "Ice: The Nature, the History, and the Uses of an Astonishing Substance", which I suspect is a truly excellent book. I'm going to get in touch with my inner groupie, for all the right reasons (but remaining slightly aloof on the outside of course). Hmmmm... I wonder if I can speed-read a few of these overnight? And whatever shall I wear...do I finally get to wear that Tuxedo I bought a while back? Is it too late to rent some expensive jewelry, or get a jeweller who wants the red carpet publicity to lend me some? -cvj
