Two years ago, I went to a few book festival events. Last year I don't think I attended any either because no one interested me, I had to work, or something else was planned. Well this year I am not sure what came over me but I actually picked several authors, read their books (or tried to), and actually went to events. Why? Good question. Probably because I actually wanted to and it was in October instead of April -- an easier month to do things like this in.
The Fox Cities Book Festival is a week long event that connects writers and readers. It has been going on for 10 years.. almost as long as I have been in the area. Over the course of the week, 50 authors appeared at 65 events at 13 different venues. This meant many events took place during the work day but they were always a couple events each night and plenty on the weekend. Many of authors had Wisconsin ties but not all of them. I only heard of one author -- Will Schwalbe who I heard a two years ago.
Right after vacation, I scoured the
website to find what authors I wanted to see and what books I wanted to read. I made a list of 11 books I wanted to read before the book festival. Some of them I had difficulties finding. I ended up reading six of them and two I thought I reserved but user error must have never saved them properly.
Once it got closer to the festival, I had to decide who I wanted to see and when. With many choices to choose from, I initially decided on 6 different authors and even rearranged my work schedule to go to one. Well, even with my planning I ended up hearing 8 different authors, 2 of which were not on my original list but Facebook events put them on my radar. Out of those 8, I actually saw 2 of them more than once.. more about that later. There were also 8 other events that piqued my interest but were either during the day or conflicted with another library event I wanted to attended. So for me it was 7 days, 8 authors, 10 events, 4 different venues.
Monday -- Wisconsin Supper Clubs by Ron Faiola
Danielle said she was interested in hearing this one and it sounded interesting enough that I decided to go. Menasha Library even provided snacks with the supper club theme -- cheese and crackers.
I was kind of hoping this was going to be more about the different supper clubs around the state but it was more of an introduction to supper club and the history of supper clubs. I suppose I have to read the book to actually learn about these supper clubs. The history part was interesting... the pictures were cool. I was kind of disappointed but I did find out that the supper club with the best pizza (and not just bar pizza) was in Almond. That is always good to know.
Tuesday and Wednesday -- City of Dreams: Dodger Stadium and the Birth of Modern Los Angeles by Jerald Podair
When I told the hubby I which author I was going to see and what his book was about, he was like buy the book. This is the book I tried to get through the Book Festival Scavenger Hunt and missed out so buying the book wasn't a problem... until they didn't take credit cards. The hubby joined me on Wednesday (with cash in hand) to hear him speak again and get an autographed copy of the book.
Being a baseball fan, initially I was intrigued by the title of this book. This is one of the books I never got to read before hand. When Jerald Podair read a section of the book about how the city of Los Angeles literally took the land away from the residents of Chevez Ravine and the political drama that ensued, I was intrigued but worried the hubby won't like the book because it wasn't all about baseball.
The hubby was truly intrigued by the history of behind getting the Dodgers to LA and the political drama. He believes the sub-title of the book isn't really what the book is going to be about. He truly thinks the book is baseball book even though the author says it's not. I doubt that the hubby will even read it but time will only tell.
Jerald Podair talked about the "So What?" factor of a non-fiction book and having a story within a story. If you tell him you are going to write about the Dodgers moving to LA, he will ask you "So What?" -- as in The Dodgers moved to LA. So What? It's been done and what's the point. That's where the story within a story comes in. The Dodgers moved to LA and people got kicked out of their homes to build the stadium, okay now you're getting somewhere. The hubby and I talked about the So What factor afterwards in regards to sports books and even his own stories. I think Jerald Podair hit the nail on the head with having a story within a story -- it gives the book or even the movie another dimension and makes it enjoyable... otherwise it's going to be like Black Hawk Down... 2 hours of pure shooting.
The hubby apologized that I had to sit through the presentation twice. Yeah, the presentation itself was the same but the questions were different. In this way, I liked going to hear the same author twice because it allowed me to learn more of the story, his story, and even other people's stories. Besides the librarian at Neenah felt bad that I didn't find the scavenger hunt book, gave me the free tote bag.. SCORE!
Thursday -- Roll by Darcy Miller (Pigeons and Publishing)
I have several guilty pleasures one of them includes reading middle grade and young adult novels. It is a nice break from the heavier adult reads and quick beach reads. Most of them are quick reads but usually have much more substantial plot line that a fun beach read. Roll is one of those books. It's a middle grade book that deals with a variety of issues -- friendship, disappointing your parents...
I didn't care that this was on the same night of book club.. I would just go to book club late. I really wanted to hear this author. She talked about her seven year journey of getting published and the pains and joys along the way. Yeah I knew the basics of getting a book published but I never knew what exactly a copy editor did or the purpose of a advance reader copy. Her message was don't give up.
Besides a lesson in book publishing, we also got a lesson in pigeon rolling. Yes pigeons do roll or somersault -- not all but certain species like the Birmingham Rollers. Since I am not one to crane my neck up at the sky while driving through Wisconsin, I never saw a pigeon roll. Thanks to a
YouTube video, I now understand how pigeons roll.
We even got to meet some roller pigeons -- ones that are more of pets than actual competitors.
I felt horrible but I ditched out early. As much as I wanted to stay, I stayed as long as I could and still get to book club for a reason amount of time. If I was able to stay, I might have purchased her book (if I remembered cash). I know I will look for more books by Darcy Miller in the future.
Friday -- Sit, Stay, Heal by Mel Miskimen
I believe this is the first of all the book festival authors I read. After reading the book, I knew I had to go see Mel speak. I rearranged my work schedule to get out early to hear her speak at 2 in the afternoon. O.M.G. I am so glad I did. H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S.
All she did was read three segments of her book that pretty much summed her, her dad, her mom, and her grief of her mom dying. She is a great orator using different voices and facial expressions that you could actually picture her dad and mom.
This session was way too short. I would have listened to her for hours. I have already put her other book on my to read and really, really hope her current book gets published because it sounds hilarious.
Sometimes being a great speaker is as important as being a good writer. Being able to tell the story on paper is great but can you convey the same message and voice when you read it aloud. Mel was able to do this and so much more.
Saturday -- The Wood by Chelsea Bobulski
This was the other book that fed by Middle Grade/Young Adult novel addiction. It was not of the usual genre that I like -- it was fantasy and besides Harry Potter and a few others I am not really into the whole fantasy genre. However, there was enough reality mixed in that I could relate to the book. It is very Harry Potteresque where teenagers have to save their world from evil but also deals with every day teenage drama -- boys, school, after school jobs.
Chelsea talked about her own journey of getting published and how this book started out as a free writing piece that evolved into a novel that could only be wrote in chunks. And how it took several books before she was able to get one published. She talked about her journey as a writer and how she evolved as a writer through the journey.
This would have been another book I would liked to have gotten a signed copy but due to some miscommunication no books were available. I do have a very cool autographed bookmark... even if it is signed by a Buckeye fan.
Saturday -- Thousand-Miler: Adventures in Hiking the Ice Age Trail
When deciding what books to read this year, this one stood out for a number of reasons -- I liked to hike, hiking the Ice Age Trail is on the bucket list, and I actually know what the Ice Age Trail is. I loved this book and it actually makes me want to go out and hike more portions of the Ice Age Trail besides the minuscule part of the trail in Devil's Lake. I don't think I will ever be able to say I sectioned hiked the whole Ice Age Trail but I'd love to hike a couple of sections of the whole trail.
This is the first and only presentation that I went to that the author went over the hour and would have kept going if she wasn't cut off. Again another great speaker, her stories of the trail and the people she met were amazing.
Sunday -- Stories From Alaska by James M. Campbell
This was another author that I really wanted to hear speak because a. I love the outdoors b. I love Alaska c. I wanted hear more about his adventures in Alaska.
Despite having to miss the (dismal) Packer game, I headed to the library for yet another author talk. Honestly if it wasn't for this particular author, I probably would have stayed home and watched the game. I was over driving to libraries just to hear an author. I wasn't sick of hearing them talk... just the fact I had to get in my car and drive, park, and drive home.
I'm glad I went. James Campbell basically summed up his three adventures in the Alaskan wilderness with his 15 old daughter in 45 minutes. I loved the book and the way he spoke of it made it so much better. Again the questions added to the whole experience. I just wished I asked if Mt. Colleen ever got named or if it died in Congress.
When he started talking he mentioned another book about the Alaska Wilderness so I went to add it to Goodreads and discovered that he also wrote a WWII book that my dad read and has been sitting in my to read pile for a few years.. okay I got as far as page 10 in it and stopped. So I went home and after I went to Menasha, I decided I would go to Neenah and have him sign the book for my dad. So that's how I ended up hearing him twice in a matter of hours.. caught the tail end of his presentation in Neenah.. and he remembered me from Appleton.
Sunday -- Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig
Last stop on my book festival adventure and the only reason I went was so I could go to Neenah to get dad's book signed. I figured if I was going out I might as well stop and listen to this author that kind of piqued my interested even though I didn't get a chance to read the book. I read Junnie's Marie and not Ginny Moon. I may have gotten the titles mixed up when I went to reserve the book or Facebook got me interested more than I thought.
Anyway I went and again I learned more about the writing process and the voice of a character. Benjamin Ludwig wanted to give a voice to someone who couldn't or didn't want to speak up through this book. He said Ginny spoke to him throughout the writing process but only her character. He still had to write the other characters from an outline.
What he read was good and it is on my to read list. I am not totally sold on the whole hearing voices thing but when you have a creative mind I guess it makes sense. If I knew it was about the writing process, I may have skipped out. I don't plan on publishing a book anytime soon, even if it's on the bucket list, and the whole writing process doesn't interest me. Maybe that's why I like those non-fiction books -- they have a story to tell and want to share that story and not bore me with the publishing details.
Now that I have had a good dose of Book Festival and authors, I am good for awhile. I am looking forward to next year and what authors can I connect with... what new books can I discover... what lessons and history can I learn. Maybe in the future I will ask questions or even volunteer... until then I'm good sitting in the back listening to the authors' stories even though publishing tales.
