New
York Book Expo: Duchess Sarah & 40 Pounds Of Free Books!
29 May 2010By Jane Stillwater
The 2010 New York Book Expo moved into full swing
today. Last night Barbra Streisand gave the keynote
speech and I positively hung on (and wrote down) every
single word. But it will take me forever to transcribe
all that, so you will just have to wait to find out
what "La Streisand" actually said. However, here's a
sneak preview factoid: She is 67 years old -- that's
my age -- but looks like she's around age 40 at most.
This morning I heard Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York,
give a talk. She was wonderful. Her books are geared
toward children. "As some of you already know," she
added, "I don't get along very well with adults." Poor
Sarah is in the news right now for allegedly taking
bribes from people who wanted to meet her husband. If
I had a famous and hottie husband, I'd be taking
bribes too!
At the event, news photographers swamped all over the
hall while frantically looking for photo ops of Sarah,
but I scooped them to the best shot. Ha. But Sarah
then offered up a great one-liner regarding her recent
experiences with the American press. She simply
referred to the title of one of her earlier books,
"Ashley Learns about Strangers". And I also got a
great photo of Sarah signing copies of her new book.
She had a smile and something nice to say for everyone
who wanted a copy of her book, "Emily's First Day of
School".
I also got an autographed copy of Oscar Hijuelos' new
book, "Beautiful Maria of My Soul." Hijuelo also
smiled a lot. Joyce Carol Oates was supposed to
autograph books too but she didn't show up. But I
still got a copy of her new book, "Sourland".
Sometimes Oates books are a bit too sad to read, but
you gotta admit that her command of the English
language is superb.
Then I went off to hear a panel discussion regarding
young adult paranormal and vampire books. "They take
metaphors and actualize them. They also heal the split
between magical and real worlds. Paranormal books have
the strength to cross over between the two -- and they
also define what the reall world COULD be like.
Paranormals also stand in for the difficulties that
teens face -- like that you don't have any power over
what is happening to your bodies. It also supplies
strong female role models." That's definitely true. It
doesn't get much stronger than becoming a vampire. I
myself always thought that vampires were an analogy
for Big Corporations sucking America dry, but
apparently not.
Also Cory Doctorow gave a talk about his new book,
"For the Win". It's about virtual sweatshops in Asia
where poor nerds play video games night and day and
then sell their wins to exploiters who then sell them
for big bucks to American kids who want to appear to
be gamer geniuses. Who would have thought?
And Mitali Perkins talked about her new book, "Bamboo
People". It's about child soldiers in Burma. She said
most books are either "mirror" books or "window"
books. They can either mirror your own life and help
you understand it better, or they can take you away to
someplace else. Or they can do both.
I wonder why I always like to read murder mysteries?
Are they window books or mirror books for me?
Then I met Gary Trudeau, who signed a lithograph to my
son Joe. "Hey, Joe! It's for you!" And got a book
autographed by Ridley Pearson, and one by Chris Hedges
and another one by someone named Lemony Snicket. But
all the librarians standing in line for his autograph
assured me he was really a real person.
Keith Richards has a book coming out in October. And I
got a book called, "The Zen of Social Media
Marketing". I could use that. I need to market my
book! And I also got a book by James Howard Kunstler
about a post-oil world. "With the oil spill and all
this book could be rather timely," I said but he just
laughed and commented that nothing he had ever written
was timely -- but who knows.
PS: Even while I'm running around and doing all this
stuff in New York City, I still keep totally tuned in
to my wi-fi, trying to find out what is happening to
my friends who are sailing to Gaza with an eight-ship
international flotilla filled with 10,000 tons of
humanitarian aid. "We finally just left Athens!" they
e-mailed me this morning. Yaay! "We expect to arrive
in Gaza by Saturday." That is, if the flotilla doesn't
get stopped by the very formidable Israeli Navy.
Can't the Israeli government come up with some better
way to act than stopping this flotilla? Perhaps
instead they could say something like, "Chocolate? The
flotilla is carrying chocolate? We want all children
to have chocolate, and even the children of Gaza.
We're neither unfeeling nor inhuman. And therefore,
out of the goodness of our hearts and our belief in
the Talmud, we are going to let this relief through."
I know that the Old Testament mentions something about
an eye for an eye, but where does anyone anywhere say
anything about banning CHOCOLATE?
In the Christian Science Monitor, that's where.
According to the CSM, "The Israeli rights group Gisha
successfully took the government to court on May 6
over its Gaza policies. Why is chocolate a security
risk?" Apparently, Gisha has "compelled Israel’s
ministry of defense to reveal information about how it
formally manages the blockade for the first time.
After nearly three years of secrecy, government
attorneys conceded the existence of an official
defense ministry list of items approved for transfer
into the enclave.... Gisha had requested the
government reveal on what basis it approves or rejects
goods destined for the Gaza Strip, after items like
chocolate, notebooks and jam were consistently barred
without explanation." http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0526/Large-aid-flotilla-to-test-Israeli-blockade-of-Gaza
I am hoping that my friends' "cruise" to Gaza goes
well. But just in case that it doesn't, maybe they had
better take Sarah Ferguson's advice and "Learn About
Strangers" too.
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