Hey, I got a little homecoming prezzie from you guys:
Being at number 2 is totally awesome! (But, I have to say, seeing who’s at number 1 kind of makes me wonder if all the sales were counted, or whether a certain Supreme Court stepped in. I’m just saying . . . )
And wait, look at the paperback list, where Uglies bursts forth after a long absence. Can you feel the power of the series! And the dump bins! And the word of mouthiness!
Thanks to all of you who’ve been talking it up to your friends.
Finally home.
Before I pass out, I’d like to thank everyone who made the trip so awesome: all the librarians, booksellers, sales reps, and teachers who we met along the way. And also the folks who drove us around, kept us fed, and got me to every single event on time.
But most of all thanks to all of you who showed up full of enthusiasm, comments, and unexpected questions. Plus fan art.
Finally, thanks to my publicist Lila who organized the whole trip, made key improvisations along the way, and put up with a steady stream of emails from me. Not to mention putting me in this hotel in Seattle that had these really cool bathtubs . . .
You see, the bath fills up from the ceiling! Now maybe that’s not so different from a bathrub with a shower, but this isn’t a shower: It’s a bathtub that fills up from the ceiling!
For some reason it made me very happy.
And if bathtub-filling footage isn’t exciting enough, here’s a mother/daughter dialog about the Uglies series from a North Carolina magazine called Relish. Check it out.
Update: As promised, I’ll be doing a few events around NYC. The first is next Thursday:
Fairfield Public Library
Thursday, October 25
4PM-6PM
1080 Old Post Road
Fairfield, CT
203-255-7394
Books will be sold there by the local Borders.
Okay, I’m going to bed now for, like, a year.
One more day of the tour tomorrow. Yay, my bed!
A few random notes . . .
On the way down to Seattle we saw a bunch of amazing mountains. They seemed to be too close to Seattle to be the Rockies, which we also saw. I’m too sleepy to look up what they were, but this is what they looked like from the plane:
Back in CA, we met this awesome trio of girls who’ve started a YA review site called 3evilcousins.blogspot.com!
And finally, the Joseph Beth Bookstore has a great big sign up for my appearance tomorrow. I mean, it’s really big. Too bad I can’t get it into my luggage, because I bet they would totally let me take it home.
I’m looking forward to seeing everyone who can make it!
Monday, Oct 15
7:00pm
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
161 Lexington Green Circle
Lexington, KY 40503
Reminder: There will be more appearances after these, mostly in the NYC area (as far away as Fairfield, CT). Watch this space for details!
Had a great time in Edmunds last night. We got up at 4:55AM to catch our plane to Lexington and I AM SO TIRED.
But before I pass out, check out Cyndy (and friend!) in her Special Circumstances tats:
Picture by me.
And the cool shoelaces from So Yesterday actually walked in! I never got this to work, myself. And I’m so sorry I can’t remember your name, Shugrrl, but my brain is totally Swiss cheese.
Picture by Justine Signature by moi.
And Laura sent me a picture of her shirt from the Shoreline appearance:
The quote isn’t from the books, but from a dream she had. That’s so kewl.
Thanks to all you guys for making my signings full of surprises and vast ego boosts.
One more before we head back to NYC:
Monday, Oct 15
7:00pm
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
161 Lexington Green Circle
Lexington, KY 40503
Reading/Signing
Had a great appearance last night in Shoreline, WA, just outside of Seattle. While signing, I was visited by STAB (the Shoreline Teen Advisory Board), Lizzy-wa, Captain Cockatiel, and many other frequent commenters, enthusiastic librarians, and old pals.
Thanks to everyone for coming!
Lizzy-wa was wearing this cool T-Shirt:
photo by Justine
There were lots of other words on the shirt. The entire pretty-talk vocabulary, plus a bunch of other catch phrases from the books.
(A quick message to Laura: Your “I am not a surge-monkey” shirt was cool too! Please send me a photo for posting, if you want. And sorry I messed up your name. It happens at least once at every signing.)
So, it’s onto one more appearance this afternoon. . .
Friday, Oct 12
4:00pm
Edmonds Branch Library
650 Main St.
Edmonds, WA 98020
Books will be sold onsite by Barnes & Noble
. . . then off to Lexington on Monday:
Monday, Oct 15
7:00pm
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
161 Lexington Green Circle
Lexington, KY 40503
Reading/Signing
See you Kentuckians soon!
So for the last month or so this blog has been all me, me, me! That’s the way things go when you have a new book out.
But yesterday the nominees for the National Book Awards were announced. As you may remember, I’ve been on the jury this summer, furiously reading about 250 books in a mere four months.
Argh. I now know the true meaning of the word “reluctant reader.”
I’ll have some reflections on the 250-books-in-one-summer experience later, when I have some time to, you know, reflect on it. But today let us honor the five awesome books chosen for the young people’s shortlist:
Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
The story of a Spokane Indian kid who leaves the reservation to attend a relatively wealthy white school. Funny and full of charm.
Kathleen Duey, Skin Hunger: A Resurrection of Magic, Book One
Two stories, set decades apart, intertwine to show how magic reenters the world. Dark and fascinating.
M. Sindy Felin, Touching Snow
A teenage girl in a Hatian family in the US tells how she killed her abusive step father. A surprisingly funny glimpse into a brutal immigrant experience. A first novel!
Brian Selznick, The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Told half in pictures and half in text, a young boy discovers mechanical secrets inside the walls of the Paris train station. Magical storytelling.
Sara Zarr, Story of a Girl
A seventeen-year-old girl in a small town has lived with a bad reputation for years. Pitch perfect realism. Another first novel! (Damn, us jurors were good.)
We haven’t chosen the winner yet, so I can’t say too much more publicly about the books, but click here for a collection of reviews of the five nominees in Horn Book Review.
Thanks to my fellow judges, Elizabeth Partridge, Pete Hautman, James Howe, and Patricia McCormick, who were awesome and smart and a blast to read WAY too many books with. See you all at the ceremony.
Going briefly back to ME, I’m in Seattle tonight and tomorrow:
Thursday, Oct 11
7:00pm
Shorecrest Performing Arts Center
15343 25th Avenue NE
Shoreline, WA 98155
Books will be sold by Third Place Books
Public presentation and signing.
Friday, Oct 12
4:00pm
Edmonds Branch Library
650 Main St.
Edmonds, WA 98020
Books will be sold onsite by Barnes & Noble
Can’t wait to see all you Seattlites!
At our reading at Books Inc. tonight, we ran into more awesome fan art. Long-time commenter Liset came in with this retro Team David shirt:
And note the Midnighters-y line on the botttom: “With love for Flyboy too!”
On top of which, I scored this awesome piece of So Yesterday-themed art:
Thanks for all these little touches of sweetness to offset the rigors of touring.
Tomorrow is insane, between a school visit, a signing, and flying to Seattle, so there may well be no blogging. But don’t forget the last few dates of la tour:
Wednesday, Oct 10
3:00pm-4:30pm
Hicklebees
1378 Lincoln Ave
San Jose, CA 95125
School event followed by in-store reading/signing
Thursday, Oct 11
7:00pm
Shorecrest Performing Arts Center
15343 25th Avenue NE
Shoreline, WA 98155
Books will be sold by Third Place Books
Public presentation and signing.
Friday, Oct 12
4:00pm
Edmonds Branch Library
650 Main St.
Edmonds, WA 98020
Books will be sold onsite by Barnes & Noble
Monday, Oct 15
7:00pm
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
161 Lexington Green Circle
Lexington, KY 40503
Reading/Signing
Ciao for now.
Quick Note: If you’re commenting about the book Extras, please be kind to your fellow readers and use the Extras Spoiler Page.
Just got back from a signing at Copperfield’s Books that was unbelievably awesome. After our 7AM wake up call and three school appearances this morning, I thought I would be zombified by tonight. But the lovely, energetic crowd carried me through a really fun appearance.
Actually, all the signings have been so energy-making. Thanks for that.
And on the way out to Petaluma . . . the fog!
Another lovely thing: at one of my school visits, these four students had made a giant, hand-drawn Uglies cover.
It reminds me of the days before cheap oversized printers, when record stores would hire artists to paint giant album covers for their windows.
Thanks to the artists: Emily, Olivia, Victoria, and Namitha!
Tomorrow (Tuesday) night’s appearance is a very special one. For the only time on this tour, Justine is making a special command appearance alongside me:
Books Inc.
Opera Plaza
601 Van Ness Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94102
Hope to see you there.
And for more amusing reflections on the Extras tour, check out Justine’s blog.
Spent the morning at breakfast with Alice Walker! (Littlies: she wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Color Purple back in 1982.) Me, her, and the exceedingly charming Michael Hoeye were featured at a children’s author breakfast for the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association.
Alice Walker, despite her vastly higher face rank, graciously spent much of her speech responding to what Michael and I had said. Regarding Uglies, she talked about being in South Korea recently, and being disturbed by how many women there were getting cosmetic surgery to make their eyes more western-looking.
Then she read from her new picture book, which was eloquent and beautifully illustrated. At the signing afterward, we swapped signed books!
I have proof:
Then Justine and I headed across the . . .
to San Francisco!
For a couple of earlier tour photos, check out this post on Justine’s blog, from one of our first events (in which I look like a dorky school teacher), and this one from a walk around Jack London Square (in which I look like a crazy person).
Here we are in sunny Oakland, CA, ready for another round of appearances! The times and locations are listed below.
But first, here’s an unexpected interview with me from Borders. I’ve been so busy and insane lately that I can’t remember answering these questions. The answers do sound like me, though.
And here’s a picture of these shipping cranes we saw in Oakland, which are shaped oddly like horses:
As promised, here are my appearances this week in San Francisco:
Monday, Oct 8
7:00pm
Copperfield’s Books Petaluma
140 Kentucky Street
Petaluma, CA 94952
In-store reading & signing
Tuesday, Oct 9
7:00pm
Books Inc.
Opera Plaza
601 Van Ness Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94102
In-store reading & signing with Justine.
The “Not Your Mother’s Book Club†will be attending!
Wednesday, Oct 10
3:00pm-4:30pm
Hicklebees
1378 Lincoln Ave
San Jose, CA 95125
School event followed by in-store reading/signing
In Seattle:
Thursday, Oct 11
7:00pm
Shorecrest Performing Arts Center
15343 25th Avenue NE
Shoreline, WA 98155
Books will be sold by Third Place Books
Public presentation and signing.
Friday, Oct 12
4:00pm
Edmonds Branch Library
650 Main St.
Edmonds, WA 98020
Books will be sold onsite by Barnes & Noble
And next week in Lexington:
Monday, Oct 15
7:00pm
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
161 Lexington Green Circle
Lexington, KY 40503
Reading/Signing
Note: I’ll be doing a few more than these, including one in NYC and one in Connecticut.
Update: By popular demand, Justine will be attending all events, pen in hand!