Lee Child – The Book Diva's Reads

I’m sorry to say I missed both the Books by the Banks festival in Cincinnati, Ohio AND the West Virginia Book Festival in Charleston WV last weekend. Yes it was another series of migraine headaches, and yes I’m pretty bummed about missing both events. I’m especially disappointed in missing the West Virginia Book Festival after reading the following blog entry about Lee Child and his Jack Reacher novels:

http://blogs.wvgazette.com/wvbookfestival/2011/10/18/lee-child-an-appreciation-and-a-confession-that-should-be-more-embarrassing-than-it-is/.

Thanks to Ms. Maguire I’ll be adding the Jack Reacher series to my mountainous TBR list. (BTW, Ms. Maguire is one of the leaders of the CTC Mall Book Group with Ms. Blessing. Both are employees of the Kanawha County Public Library and have done a wonderful job at the last two book club meetings.) Have you read any Jack Reacher novels? If so, what are your thoughts?

Today was the second meeting of the Charleston Town Center (CTC) Mall Book Group. This group meets on the fourth Wednesday of each month from 11:30 A.M. – 12:30 P.M. in the Community Room at Panera in the mall. We just discussed Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (an excellent book; if you haven’t read it then get it, read it or at least add it to your TBR list). Although the book deals with some harrowing and distressing historical events, it is done so in a respectful manner that ends with a sense of hopefulness despite our history of cruelty and intolerance toward one another. Of course I’ve had to also add all of Ms. de Rosnay’s books (or at least those books available in English) to my TBR list . . . I think the online list is over 300 books long. I’m sad to say that not all of Ms. de Rosnay’s books are available in English. (I knew I should have worked harder at studying French in high school and college all those years ago.)

Next month’s CTC Mall Book Group meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 23rd. The book we’ll be discussing is A Parchment of Leaves by Silas House. If you’re interested and work in or near Charleston WV, please join us.

Since the migraine headaches appear to have eased a bit (diminished but not gone), I’ve got to get back to reading.

For all readers in West Virginia and surrounding areas, the West Virginia Book Festival has announced another speaker for the 2011 festival: Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher novels. This year’s festival is scheduled for October 22 – 23 and will be held in Charleston WV.

Last year’s festival featured several best-selling authors and I had the pleasure of meeting Diana Gabaldon – author of the Outlander and Lord John series, and Heidi Durrow – author of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky. Both gave wonderful talks and, for me, were the highlight of the festival; for others I know it was the Nicholas Sparks session. I can’t wait to find out the other authors scheduled to attend this year.

OMG! I just realized the WV Book Festival and the Books by the Bank festival in Cincinnati, Ohio are the same weekend. The 2010 Cincinnati festival featured sessions with Katherine Howe – author of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, Beth Hoffman – author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, Leah Stewart – author of Husband and Wife, J.T. Ellison – author of The Immortals, and Augusten Burroughs – author of Running with Scissors.

Decisions, decisions, decisions…at this point it appears as if I’ll be driving to and from Cincinnati on Saturday and possibly attend the WV Book Festival on Sunday.