Just a few things to tell you about.
A. I recently reviewed The Outside Boy by Jeanine Cummings. Danielle wanted to know if the travellers still exist and I sent her a list of recent books.
I must now report that some about to be evicted from their home in England. Check it out here!
B. Paula Morris, author of Ruined (my review here, with pictures of some locations), gave a lecture and reading as part of the Save Our Cemeteries Educational Programs. Her talk just a few feet from where her characters drink coffee.
She revealed that it is a tradition of having ghostwriters for some serial novels, such as Nancy Drew! I didn't know that and neither did the audience. Also, YA novels must have a plot that moves along quickly; if there are too many flashbacks, the audience will revolt.
The audience was mostly past age 35 with about 7 teens. (There was a very bored 6 year old boy with his grandmother.) The teens related well to the characters and agreed that teen girls can be mean. The girls also said that they would jump a fence and go inside the Lafayette cemetery at NIGHT!. The author said that she wouldn't have done that at that age.
Morris will continue to write YA books, but they will be set in other ghostly cities, like Rome and York, England. She disappointed a teen by telling her that Rebecca from Ruins will probably not appear again in print.
3. One Book, One New Orleans has selected Louis Armstrong's memoir (Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans) as the 2010 selection.
I haven't participated too much this year, but I am hoping to attend the kick-off party.
I looked at some of the pictures, and the streets don't exist anymore! City Hall or a parking lot might occupy his home. I need to check my cholera map of 1800s New Orleans to find the street.
4. Louis Armstrong spent some time in the Milne Home for Boys. It got swamped in the Katrina. Our new mayor has announced that it will be renovated. Click here for some pictures taken in 2009. It still looks like that, and sometimes the grass is so high, because it's not mowed for a long time.
5. The International Fiction Book Club of New Orleans had 11 people last night. Patricia Livingston had a great piece in her weekly column of Uptown events, which encouraged people to brave the heat and have a great discussion.
This is the largest turnout ever, and for being in August, I was really surprised!
6. I am still in Arctic (Anthony Brandt, author), with the British trying to find the Northwest Passage. Franklin is still "alive" although he has eaten his boots.
2 comments:
#6. What book are you reading about the arctic. I remember reading and rather enjoying (with some reservations as I recollect) Barrett's Teh voyage of the Narwhal which also deal with Franklin.
I finished The Man Who Ate His Boots! It's not just about Franklin, but all the mostly English explorers trying to find the Northwest Passage.
I will blog about it soon.
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