A Week of Books and Author Visits

The Fox Cities book festival is probably one of my favorite times of year. Author talks all week long. Some years there are interesting authors that I want to hear. Other years I struggle to find authors I want to hear. This year there were many authors I wanted to hear. Several of them actually had books on my to read list. A few I never heard of but their description made me add their book to my book festival reading list and go list to them. The only problem with the book festival is that some of authors I want to hear are during the day and that's a bit difficult when I work.

This year I went to 6 different events at 3 different libraries. It helped that the events during the week were all at one specific library each day I didn't have to drive all over town if I wanted to hit multiple authors in one day. There were a couple others I wanted to go to but just didn't have the time.

The authors I listened to covered a wide variety of topics. It was a even a split of fiction and non-fiction for this year. I did read an additional fiction book for an event that I couldn't quite make it to.

Joe Niese -- I actually took PTO to hear him talk and dragged the hubby with me. He wrote a book about a football player/coach named Gus Dorais who was from Chippewa Falls. Dorais utilized the forward pass as a player more than any one in his time. He played in the early 1900s. He coached several winning college teams. This was before there were powerhouse conferences. Detroit University might play Marquette or Wisconsin. The book was fascinating and the speaker was really good. The hubby liked it because the author was from Eau Claire and was a baseball guy. He wrote several baseball books too. I like hearing/reading about obscure athletes that were quite the player/coach but never got the recognition they deserved.

Richard Ratay -- He wrote Don't Make Me Pullover... An Informal History of the Family Road Trip which was on my to read list. The book was hilarious at times. Even though Richard pretty much recapped the book during his presentation, it was hilarious. It made me remember our family vacations in the station wagon and even the hubby and my baseball road trips currently. Unlike most of the events I went to, there was a fairly decent size crowd.


Avi -- This is the only one I didn't get hear speak. He spent a few days visiting area schools. Heather was lucky enough to hear him talk at SMC. I just got my only Avi book signed at Menasha library since he was doing a book signing at the library. He commented that it was an old one. Well, yeah I got it when I was in college and the only reason I hung on to it was because it was a Newbery Honor Book.

Kelly Harms -- She wrote The Overdue Life of Amy Byler and a couple other novels. Menasha library hosted a girls night and she was the speaker. I will be honest I was not a fan of the book.. initially. I just seemed a bit snobbish -- the poor single mom has to have a make-over and a vacation because she spent the last how many years raising her kids and not really doing anything for herself. However hearing her speak, the concept of a "momcation" doesn't seem all that out there. Kelly focused more on self-care than an actual momcation. I learned a few good self-care tips like walking outside is way better for your mentality that laps in the apartment.. saying "no" is totally okay.. and have different friends for different reasons. It was actually an enjoyable evening. I just wish more people showed up. I get it was a Friday night and most people probably had better things to do than sit in a library after hours.

Christine Keleny -- She intrigued me. She wrote Will the Real Carolyn Keene Please Stand Up. I knew Carolyn Keene wrote the Nancy Drew mysteries and I have several in the garage but I actually never read a Nancy Drew mystery (gasp). I was fascinated to find out that Carolyn Keene was a pseudonym for several different authors. This was a very interesting event. There was even trivia which I totally bombed since I never even read a Nancy Drew book. I was meaning too but never quite got around to it before the event. I did not read this book before the event either but it is definitely on my to read list.

Steve Betchkal -- This one I went to on a whim. He wrote a book about the National Parks and being interested in National Parks I decided to check him out. I had nothing better to do anyways. He was an amazing speaker and photographer. His stories about his trips in the various National Parks were enlightening. He only focused on a few national parks but it was still enough to see the joy he gets from visiting them. I still don't think I can convince the hubby to visit many of the natural National Parks instead of the more historic ones but one day I will get to Yellowstone, Glacier, and Yosemite.

Over all it was a great week. I am slightly disappointed that I didn't get to hear Elizabeth Lett speak about Finding Dorothy but with the hubby having no games grocery shopping and errands took priority.

I can't wait until next year to enjoy another week of great authors, interesting talks, and new books.