Book Acitivities - October 2009

Nothing for me in my mailbox last week which I’m thinking is a good thing. I need to catch up on a few book reviews - not to mention books! But I did attend a few book-related activities.

First was a talk and Q & A at the Pointe-Claire Public Library. Claire Holden Rothman, author of The Heart Specialist, spoke about her book and the writing craft. I haven’t read the book yet, but I know I’ll be in for a treat. From the synopsis on the publisher’s website:

Inspired by the life of Doctor Maude Elizabeth Seymour Abbott, The Heart Specialist is the story of a woman pursuing her dream at the dawn of the twentieth century. Stripped of a regular childhood when her father is accused of a horrific crime and abandons the family, Agnes was never considered ladylike. She is drawn to the wrong things, such as anatomy and dissection, which lead to her calling as a doctor. Yet despite a rapid rise to stardom in the medical community, she finds herself up against the same glass ceiling faced by women in her field.

Set against the backdrop of conflict and upheaval permeating the early 1900s, The Heart Specialist is the story of one woman’s triumph in the face of adversity.

The second activity I attended was the monthly book blogger meet-up (otherwise known as BBAM - Book Bloggers Association of Montreal, Verdun Division, sometimes attended by the Junior Chapter) meeting at our usual hangout – the Chai Teashop. The five of us – Linda, Cindy, Tina, Avis and I talked about all sorts of things at the last meeting, including the huge annual McGill book sale. Linda, Tina and Avis were able to attend the sale this year and went home with tons of goodies. I didn't go to the sale but I did come home from our meet-up with two books from Cindy: Viola in Reel Life and Thanksgiving at the Inn by Adriana Trigiani. Thanks, Cindy!

The last activity was another talk and book signing at the Pointe-Claire Public Library. This time the author was a news anchorman, Bill Haugland, author of Mobile 9, and now retired, who read the news for years on our local station TV station. Mr. Haugland wrote a mystery called Mobile 9 and gave a highly entertaining talk. He's a great storyteller. There were apparently lots of hi-jinks and shenanigans going on in our local newsrooms! I guess that’s no surprise but I only used to hear about the old ‘anchor wearing no pants behind the news desk’ story. Mr. Haugland signed books and posed for pictures. I took one of Cindy and Mr. Haugland.

The evening would’ve ended there except that when my husband and I got in the car to go home it wouldn’t start. The car that is, not my husband. He started (swearing that is). It’s a new car and has some sort of automatic ignition locking system which for some reason kicked in that night. So there we were sitting in the library’s parking lot, waving bye to everyone as they left. Cindy wished us well as she got in her car, laughing, I might add. Ok, I admit it was hard not to laugh with my husband’s seeming to invent a whole new language on the spot. The car eventually started and we made our way home.