I'm standing at the bar at the Mac Store at 5th Ave. and 59th St., waiting for Melissa to post to Leaky about tonight's AMAZING J. K. Rowling/Stephen King/John Irving reading. All three of them were fantastic. J. K. Rowling confirmed that the character who died in Book 6 really died (because some people didn't really believe it, believe that or not). She also said he will not "pull a Gandalf," FYI, sadly, but as was said in our podcasts, she doesn't play those kind of games. John Irving was hilarious, reading a scene from "A Prayer for Owen Meany" about the casting of the local Christmas pageant; Stephen King gleefully read a story about a pie-eating contest that turned into a vomitfest. JKR read from the chapter where we (or Albus Dumbledore) first meets the young Riddle. Salman Rushdie was one of the people who asked questions! But he asked whether Snape was good or evil -- kind of a dumb question for a Booker Prize winner to ask, frankly, because obviously she couldn't tell. Ah well. I was sitting on the very first row -- Scholastic privilege, baby -- and Jo's shoes were as fabulous as reported. Wow. I couldn't have asked for a better cap to my two weeks of Harrymania.
Other news: My laptop is being fixed -- getting its hard drive replaced -- hence the lack of posts recently. I have a new shiny red cell phone on Verizon! I am home. It is hot. Today I went to the LeakyMug at the Barnes & Noble Union Square and it was HUGE fun -- everyone should go to www.leakymug.com and listen to it. My sister read MILLICENT MIN on her honeymoon and loved it! I am reading LONESOME DOVE, intermittently. If I were a magician I would conjure an air conditioner for myself, or at least some Freon to make mine work. Can I have a "Genius" shirt without owning a Mac? My brain is in nine million different places at the moment. I need to go collect all the pieces now. Bye!
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Harry, Home, Hot, and Happy
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Wasn't it fabulous? I gasped when Salman Rushdie stood up to ask JKR a question :). (And it was a question from his son, so it's not such a dumb question when coming from a child.) I wish someone asked when her Book 7 might be out. And yes, those SHOES!
ReplyDeleteHelp! For those of us who weren't there, please, describe the shoes.
ReplyDeleteYou were there! That is so utterly outstanding! Is there a transcript available? Podcast? Did Irving and King razz Rowling about killing off Harry? (As if King hasn't killed off more characters than any writer I know. :-)
ReplyDeleteAs for the Snape question...The boy's bedtime story tonight was the chapter where Snape explains his actions to Bellatrix and Narsissa. Snape makes a pretty good case for being a baddy. (Although I am holding out for a change of heart or a twist or SOMETHING!) The "Snape was in love with Lily" theory works for me. Rowling definitely done a careful job of making Snape see that Harry didn’t have an easy time growing up and taken a lot of trouble to show Snape’s miserable childhood in an equally sympathetic light. Another thing I’ve kicked around in my heard was an interview with Mike Newell where he said that he kept checking with Rowlings to see if was getting the characters right. Snape's detention scene in GOF was very light hearted... ah, never mind, grasping at straws.
BTW… Snape explains that he can't tell them where Grimwald Place is because he's not the secret keeper. He can however go there. So, logically, lots of people could have visited James and Lily, taking them food and whatever, they just couldn’t have told Voldermort where Godfrey Hollow was. Someone must have eventually checked in on the Potters and found the bodies.
Next year you have to come out for the SCBWI conference! It's going to be Homeric! (Well, it will be if I can get my portfolio put back together. It's in pieces all over my desk. What was I thinking? Screams into pillow!)
Best thoughts for cooler weather and a fully repaired fast and happy computer.
Marilyn.
Yes, you can have a "Genius" shirt. Someone once gave me a "I may be short, but I am a genius" t-shirt. My desk chair wears it.
ReplyDeleteI know it was sort of awkward but I really want to thank you for signing my book at the Leaky Mug. It means so much to me because I really want to be an editor when I am older! I know I sound really stupid right now...sorry. But seeing Jo on August 2nd was amazing. You're so lucky you got to sit so close! (I caught a glimpse of you from my seat.) Again, thank you for signing my book. In my friend's, John added a HOTTTTT to your name.
ReplyDeleteMeghan
Great summary. You did in one paragraph what I took about 10 pages to do!
ReplyDeleteThe show was better than I could have imagined. Irving was the most fantastic surprise for me, for reading from my favorite book, and for doing it so damn well.
I also liked what Rowling said about Aunt Petunia. I would love to see her kick a little "you killed my sister" revenge butt in book 7. Dunno why, as she was pretty awful for most of the books, but I've had my suspicions about her for a while.
ReplyDeleteThe shoes were golden high-heeled sandals with a thin strap across the toe, another across the instep, and one around the ankle. The straps were linked by a golden snake that snaked up her foot and ended in a golden head with a huge crystal set into it. They immediately became the envy of every woman in Radio City Music Hall.
ReplyDeleteOoooh, those shoes sound wonderful! The entire experience must have been heavenly.
ReplyDeleteSorry you're AC isn't working. What's up with things breaking? First your laptop and now your AC?! Glad your laptop is being repaired and hopefully your AC will get some freon and keep you from heat stroke.
And how's the collection of your brain pieces coming along? ;)
Word verification is dcpoowf . . . now if you changed the "d" to an "a" . . . :D
You can (almost) see the shoes here, if you enlarge the picture:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/02/AR2006080201770.html
Cheryl's description helps!
(Were you so close that any of the readers accidently spit on you, like Timothy Dalton did, CK?)
Wow! Those shoes! Thank you for your excellent description, which took me and others out of the misery of our curiosity.
ReplyDeleteCCB (Channeling Carrie Bradshaw)
Is Crookshanks named after Cary Grant's character, Mr. Chrookshanks, in the movie Charade? He also is chasing a (presumably dead) bad guy pretending to be a good guy.
ReplyDelete