2/17/2014

weekly update 2/17/2014

After last week's update about travels to Alabama, this week is going to be pretty boring. Boring is what I like to do, and also what I do best.

There was a lecture at the Jepson on Wednesday evening. There were dire storm warning all day, but not for this area - it was moving to to the north of us and was expected to dump on North & South Carolina, which it did. I was still nervous about driving, but I had planned to go to listen to this talk, so I screwed up my courage and went. I didn't stay for the reception and wine following the lecture, though, as I have enough terror without adding darkness and even the smallest amount of alcohol into the mix. The presentation was in conjunction with the release of a new book, Slavery and Freedom In Savannah. The two researchers spoke about the history of slavery in an urban environment, specifically Savannah. It was very interesting, and I bought the book.

The event I wait for all year happened on Saturday - The Savannah Book Fest. Authors - some well-known, others not so much - come to Savannah and spend all day Saturday talking about their books and the mechanics of their writings, and what it is that makes them write. Several speakers give their talks at the same time at different venues around Telfair Square, and it's often difficult for me to decide who to listen to. I was disappointed not to hear Dave DiBenedetto, author of The Southerner's Handbook: A Guide to the good Life (actually, rather than author, he is the editor of this collection of essays from some of the South’s finest writers, chefs and craftsmen) or Daniel James Brown, who wrote Boys is the Boat, a wonderful account of nine Americans and their epic quest for gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. I'd read both of these books and enjoyed them very much. This year I heard: Wiley Cash (I haven't read is book This Dark Road To Mercy, but was impressed by his lecture and am intrigued to read it soon), Wally Lamb (who has written a few books that have been on Oprah's Book Club list including She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True), Melanie Benjamin (who wrote The Aviator's Wife, which I did read), and Anita Shreve (another author I haven't read, but is highly praised by my library book). Sales of books are also available at a tent during the Fest, and I spent way too much there. I was surprised when I got an email from Marcia Lloyd in Rochester wanting to know if I was at the same Savannah Book Fest that she was watching on Book TV. I checked when I got back to the condo, and sure enough, a few of the tapes of speakers were going to be broadcast between midnight and 8 am. I set my recorder in case I slept through them, but I did have a chance to watch some in the night, and I watched others on Sunday. I didn't pay to go to the featured speakers ( Eben Alexander who wrote Proof of Heaven, Scott Turow, prolific writer of legal thrillers including Presumed Innocent, and Mitch Albom, popular best selling author of Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven.) I prefer to listen to the free addresses on Saturday, and to hear about what the unknown have to say about writing. Not that the more seasoned authors are not interesting, I just go to the free talks and enjoy them so much. 

 

There's a little pastry shop / lunch place that I love - Goose Feathers - which is located only a block from the Book Fest . In fact, their raspberry cream cheese croissants are so good, I have to limit myself to special occasions to go there. But I try to get there for lunch on this special Saturday. When I got there, the line was out the door and around the block, so I didn't wait. Missing it made me hungry for quiche, so I stopped at the Publix on the way back to the condo and bought ingredients I needed. Then I called Donna, and she came over on Sunday to have lunch with me and to watch an old movie on tv. TCM is having their “31 days of Oscar” viewings now, and I'm watching many of the old classics. We watched Mrs. Miniver.

There's not much is on my calendar for the coming week, so next week's update won't be much better than this. I hope all those who read this are dug out from all the snow and recovering from high heating bills.