Well, after all my posting about the Los Angeles Festival of Books, my family and I didn't make it there this weekend. It's a long, boring story, but my husband both had to work and was ill, so there was no way it was going to happen. It was a nice idea, though.
So my good friend J said why don't we go to the L.A. Central Library ALOUD reading series and hear Michael Ondaatje to make up for missing the Festival? I said, "Great, where do I sign up?" Well, the tickets are free, but you do have to reserve ahead. This is an amazing reading series with lectures, readings, and performances by writers that are like rock stars to me--check out the calendar. I would go to hear Michael Chabon on May 9th, but it's already sold out.
But as I investigated the site, I found that if I can't go in person, our local public TV station, KCET, has a podcast you can subscribe to!
And further investigating the podcast archives, I saw that I can listen to past lectures or readings that sound great, like Michael Pollan talking about The Omnivore's Dilemma, the late, great science fiction writer Octavia Butler, or Jane Smiley and Marianne Wiggins talking about Smiley's Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel...
I'm feeling a little better about missing out on all the fun this weekend...
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10 comments:
Thanks for the interesting link.It's great to be able to take part in an event without being able to make it.
BlueRectangle Books
heather--exactly! It's nice to have a means to experience some of the events I can only dream of getting to in person...
Wow...thanks for the links. I love author events like those and there are way too few of them in Houston to suit me, so this is really great.
I totally understand the concept of "authors as rock stars." :-)
Oh that's a bummer that you couldn't make it to the festival. I went to a festival last fall and ended up missing half of it due to car problems. Well, there's always next year :) Glad you at least found out about this reading series. Sounds very cool.
sam--I realized that I'm much more excited by authors coming to town than I am about celebrity sightings or rock concerts...my husband, reading over my shoulder, just said, "yeah, celebrities are too skinny and rock concerts are too loud." True! :)
iliana--I was annoyed at first, but you're right, there's always next year. I hope I can get to some of the readings in the series, but at least I have the podcasts as backup!
Sorry that things didn't work out! It is nice, however, that you discovered the podcast archives and shared the link. Thanks!
Although loud, I enjoy a good rock concert. I could care less about seeing a movie or tv star. I think the draw for seeing an author is that they are going to speak, and it's their voice, their words, that we've been drawn to in the first place through their books. I should check out the podcasts.
jenclair--well, these things happen! But I did hear from friends who went that the book festival was great. I'm trying to go to author events when I can, but again, with three young kids it isn't easy, so the podcasts may be the way to go :)
matt--my husband was teasing me about my old fogey ways when he said rock concerts are too loud--we actually do get to a concert occasionally, but not nearly as often as we used to back in the day :)
call me when you're going! i actually had tickets to the one with elaine pagels but it fell on some temple event and had to cancel. will check out the calendar. maybe we should read ondaatje (sp?) for book club?
jen--check the calendar--I'm trying to get tickets to the Ondaatje, though it says it's already full. But I may know someone who has extra. I'll let you know...and if there is anything else you want to go to, let me know and we'll sign up!
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