Join me and fellow first-time author Ashley Ream on Saturday, April 21st, when we’ll be entertaining passengers aboard Bus #2 en route from Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena to the LA Times Festival of Books. Rumor has it there will be bagels, cookies and goodie bags. And my mother.
I learned today that my book, Man of War, is now available for pre-order at Barnes & Noble, Indiebound, the fantastic Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, larger than life Powell’s in Portland, OR and my local SoCal fav, Vroman’s, in Pasadena. (It’s “available available” on May 24th, 2012 and can also be pre-ordered on Amazon.) I also learned that it’s being categorized under “Military-Strategy” and “Personal Memoirs.” Step aside Reminiscences by Douglas MacArthur.
Speaking of Vroman’s, last Sunday I braved all the last-minute holiday shoppers and bought a number of gifts there including Yiyun Li‘s The Vagrants. I read it a couple years ago and have since bought it for a couple friends. I can’t say I’m a big fan of the word “unflinching” as it seems to always pop up in reviews of, well, “unflinching” subject matter, but “unflinching” is exactly the type of portrait Li paints of late ’70’s China. I can’t remember the last time I read a book that made me gasp and cry, two things I don’t normally seek out in my entertainment. But this book shocked and saddened me-often-and for that and many other reasons I suggest you give it a read yourself.