How to begin this post? I spent the day yesterday at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., and it was pretty much one of my favorite things ever. Like, for real. There’s no way to talk about all of the awesomeness without sharing the details (and we all know I’m not very concise anyway), so settle in, friends. The geeking out is about to begin.
Hubby’s roommate from college, who is still one of our very best friends, lives just outside D.C., so I drove up Friday afternoon and crashed with him that night. We got an early start yesterday and headed into the city, where we snagged a quick lunch and scurried over to the National Mall. As we were sitting outside the Fiction & Fantasy pavilion, Jennifer from The Literate Housewife found us, and I had my first meeting-bloggers-in-real-life-and-kind-of-freaking-out moment. It was superfantastic.
This was around noon, and the first author I really wanted to see—John Irving—wasn’t scheduled until 2pm, so we figured we’d be on the safe side by getting seats in the tents a little early. We headed inside and heard Sabiha Al Khemir discuss her novel The Blue Manuscript. I didn’t know anything about her prior to the book fest, but I really enjoyed listening to her speak about her writing process and the importance of language and structure. Her talk made me very interested in reading her book, which certainly seems to be one that is much more about the writing than the story (I love that!), and I’m glad Jennifer bought it so I have a review from a trusted reviewer to anticipate.
Next up was Julia Alvarez. I’ve heard extensive and effusive praise for her novels, particularly In the Time of Butterflies and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, but I haven’t read any of them, and that is definitely going to change. Alvarez began by expressing how delighted she was that we were gathered together to “celebrate the liberating power of reading and writing,” and she presented the book festival as the exact opposite of an event like 9/11. Much of her talk focused on the ways in which reading is
a practice that promotes compassion and human understanding [because] when we read, nothing human is alien to us.
And that’s when I started wondering if it would really be that inappropriate to jump up and shout “Amen, sister. Preach on!”
I didn’t really know anything about Julia Alvarez before her talk began, and I was a little bit in love with her by the time it was over. Simply amazing and inspiring.
Then came what was, for me, the MAIN EVENT. John Irving. Isn’t he handsome?
This is what my notes say about Mr. Irving. John Irving: So awesome he doesn’t have to wear real pants.
What do I mean by that? I mean that John Irving rocked the National Book Festival wearing ADIDAS track pants. And I loved every minute of it.
While most of the authors gave talks about their writing and their upcoming books, Irving was interviewed by a writer from The Washington Post. They began by discussing his practice of writing the last sentence of a book first and working backward from there. He also discussed the ways in which his writing has become more autobiographical as he’s grown older and gained more distance from his childhood and adolescence. He also emphasized the idea that repetition of thematic material is unavoidable “when you have something worthwhile to say” and that “the things that recur are things you don’t want to write about but that you have to write about.”
Irving has been rather outspoken about his feelings about book critics and made it quite clear that he finds it laughable when reviewers are irritated by thematic repetition because it is the development of those thematic ideas over the span of a writer’s body of work that serves to define him. Having read almost all of Irving’s novels and really appreciated the development of some of his recurring themes, I had a great time hearing it straight from the man himself.
Irving also discussed the ways in which is lifelong experiences with wrestling have affected his writing, saying that sports require discipline, and the discipline he gained from wrestling enable him to do the revising and rewriting necessary for his success.
Wrestling has in common with writing one very boring thing: if you don’t like repetition and doing the same small thing over and over again, you shouldn’t do it.
Irving’s new novel Last Night in Twisted River comes out October 27th. It is a story he’s been thinking about for more than twenty years, and it’s all I can do not to pick up my ARC right now and spend the rest of the day curled up in his wonderful writing.
I had high hopes for John Irving’s talk, and he didn’t disappoint, though I would have preferred a straight author talk over the interview format that was used.
After John Irving came the unexpected highlight of the day, made awesome only by its incredible awfulness.
I’m talking about Nicholas Sparks, people.
Here’s what my notes say about him: Nicholas Sparks = self-indulgent. BUT HE LIKES DOGS!
Allow me to explain.
Every other author I saw yesterday spent a great deal of time discussing the craft of writing and the importance of language and literature and answering intelligent questions about their work with equally (and often more) intelligent and insightful thoughts. Nicholas Sparks got up there and just talked about himself. Here’s what I learned about him:
- Nicholas Sparks has 2 German Shepherds.
- Nicholas Sparks’s dogs are trained to bring him a fork. And they know how to climb trees.
- Nicholas Sparks coaches public high school track. And his team breaks all kinds of records (which he discussed in excruciating detail).
- Nicholas Sparks started a school.
- Nicholas Sparks got to meet Miley Cyrus.
- Nicholas Sparks types 70 words per minute. (I kid you not, he actually talked about that).
- Nicholas Sparks talks to his audience as if they are 10-year-olds.
- Nicholas Sparks has five kids, but he’s only written about the older ones because his younger kids “just aren’t very interesting yet.”
And since it started raining during John Irving’s talk, many of the folks in our tent were just trying to stay out of the rain (or just sit through him to get to Junot Diaz, who was up next), Nicholas Sparks actually said “For all of you John Irving fans who don’t know who I am, I really am famous. I swear.”
And that’s when I wrote OMG.
Now, Nicholas Sparks may be a very nice man. In fact, he seemedvery nice and very earnest. But he was waaaay out of his league yesterday, surrounded by writers of such a high caliber, and it was very much like a life-size game of ONE OF THESE THINGS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHERS.
Oh, before I forget:
Nicholas Sparks wears tight black t-shirts!
Jennifer had some thoughts about Mr. Sparks as well, but I’ll let her share those with you.
Next on the line-up was Junot Diaz, author of one of the quirkiest books I’ve ever read (and loved). I heard somewhere that he was a boring speaker, but that was certainly not the case yesterday. Like Julia Alvarez, Diaz was stoked that we had set aside a whole day to celebrate books.
We have holidays for every goddamned thing but not for artists…and art is so essential.
Diaz talked about growing up in Dominican culture and the impact that his culture’s focus on rhythm made on his writing. He, like John Irving, talked about what happens when you work on the idea for a book for a very long time, saying that structures and patterns become visible and available for manipulation after they’ve steeped in one’s head for six or seven years.
You sit with something long enough, you can eventually hear the drums.
Diaz also gave my favorite quote of the day: “Writing is the ultimate faith-based initiative.” He gave excellent, insightful responses to the questions posed by members of the audience, and he even dropped the f-bomb a few times, which earned him some extra points with me. I really enjoyed his book, and hearing him discuss it helped me understand more about where he was coming from. My friend who didn’t love the book so much when he read it said that Diaz’s talk made him appreciate it more, and I think that says a lot.
After Diaz, I scurried over to the Poetry & Prose pavilion, where I rounded out the day with Tim O’Brien, who made me cry. Twice.
At 62 years old, O’Brien has two sons who are just 4 and 6. He is working on a new book about being an older father, and he gave a reading from a letter he wrote to his oldest son in which he grapples with the knowledge of all he will miss and all his sons will endure without him. He knows that “a father’s chief duty is to be present,” and that he will not be able to fulfill that duty. I was already choked up, and then he read this:
When you begin to know me, you will know an old man.
And then it was all over, people. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
O’Brien ended by giving a very nice, long reading from The Things They Carried, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. O’Brien writes about writing and blends fact with fiction like no one else, and he discussed the differences between the “story truth” and the “happening truth” as he read from the book and explained where his stories came from. His talk was fascinating, and I would have happily sat there for another two hours. It was like sitting in on a master class with your favorite professor, and it made me ready to revisit his books very soon.
And that was my day at the National Book Festival.
Well, except for the part where I got together with a whole bunch of other book bloggers for dinner and spent three solid hours geeking out, giggling, and generally celebrating this awesome community of ours. I’ll discuss it in detail later, but suffice it to say that you should all be glad Trish and I don’t live in the same place because oh, the trouble we would cause….and yes, Amy really is as amazing and adorable as she looks on her blog.
Filed under: Blogging | Tagged: bookish events, books, dc tweetup, national book festival, reading, the sunday salon
So much fun!!!!!! I really, really, really wish that I had been able to go. There were so many bloggers that I would have loved to meet, including you. BUT I am thrilled to have met both Trish and Amy not once but twice. And they are as amazing in person as everybody says they are.
what a great wrap up! i’m so jealous you were there.
(found your blog your twitter, and i’m so glad i did!)
What a wonderful day! I am going next year if I have to ride my broom.
I must get to the National Book Festival before I die.
Congrats. Tweeted this great post. Adding a shameful bit about Mr. I-Really-Am-Famous-I-Swear, related to me by a friend who was among the hundreds of volunteer Event Staff at the NBF: A young girl came to her in tears, after waiting 4.5 hours in book-signing line for Nicholas Sparks, who refused to sign her book since it wasn’t his latest.
Alvarez and Diaz and Irving and O’Brien? What an amazing day you had.
Sparks is younger and better looking that I would have expected, although he sort of looks like he either spends way too much time in the gym or make indulges in the occasional steroids. I can’t believe he said his kids weren’t very interesting! Daniel’s only 3 months old and he’s endlessly interesting.
What a terrific summary of your NBF experience! I suspect you speak for many thousands who braved the rain, the Metro and the porta-potties. Thank you for your ongoing contribution to the book conversation.
This was such an interesting post to read. I wish I was there to hear John Irving!!! And Nicholas Sparks… can’t say I liked his stuff before and I can’t say I like him more now but Nicholas Sparks sure can rock a black t-shirt! : )
Wow, thanks for sharing! I wish I could have been there; jealous of all the fun had without me yesterday.
Great recap … wish I had been able to go. Maybe next year, as D.C. is a doable Amtrak ride away. There’s a Junot Diaz short story in the collection I am reading now (Pen/O.Henry Awards 2009) and your review of his talk makes me want to read it even more.
And how fun that you got to meet so many book bloggers!
Great wrap-up! I would have liked to have seen John Irving, but it was during the Marilynne Robinson signing. But at least I was spared the Sparks. Oy. And yes, O’Brien was great.
Great summary of the day. It was such a fun day and great to see so many people out celebrating books.
I wish I’d heard Tim O’Brien just hearing the summary has made me want to go and look him up.
And Nicholas Sparks certainly sounds amusing for all the wrong reasons!
I’ve honestly never read anything by John Irving, but your description of him has definitely made me interested in reading one of his books.
Too bad about Nicholas Sparks. To be honest, I’m not really a huge fan of his books, so no loss for me
Perhaps Sparks knew that he was a bit outclassed and that is why he made that comment about being famous. He is very successful though. Lots of his books have been made into movies and he always has a book out, or so it seems.
What was very interesting was that he spend A LOT of time talking about having his books made into movies, right after John Irving talked about how a book isn’t incomplete if it’s not made into a movie….and you’re right, he does always have a book out. Because it only takes him 4 months to write one. And he said this in between Irving, whose new book took 20 years to ferment, and Diaz, whose Oscar Wao took 11.
I knew y’all would have a great time. The 3 hour geek fest sounds awesome. I’ve met Jennifer, Trish and Amy and love all of them!
Franly, I don’t know how to even respond to that post. May I lay out some jealously? You get to go to an event and see cool authors, meet other bloggers, hang with an old friend. I must say that Sparks is quite THE DUDE. I always feel like I’ve been used when I read his books (or maybe it is better to say emotionally manipulated) but if he likes dogs and looks like that, he can have his way with me any time.
One day, I hope to meet all of you. I know Jennifer is coming down to Orlando in November, which will be my first book blogger meeting. Someday I’m going to get there!
I loved meeting you Rebecca you are super cool! And I’m so glad I missed Nicholas Sparks!
Sounds like such a great time! And you met authors that I would totally like to have a chance to see in person!
*sigh* I’m not sorry I missed Mr Fullofhimself, but otherwise…I’m green with jealousy. But so happy you all had a marvelous time.
This sounds like such a great time! I am so jealous. Well, not when it comes to hearing about Sparks’ dogs, but meeting a few of my favorite bloggers and hearing wonderful writers talk about what they do! Glad you had fun though and thanks for recapping. =)
I would have loved to go to an event with John Irving! Love his books.
I am so jealous. I would have loved to go. John Irving would be a lot of fun to see. I’m not a fan of Nicholas Sparks at all.
Oh boy — glad I didn’t hear Tim O’Brien speak! I was there with my dad and would surely have been crying! Considering I was already a drenched, soggy mess, all I would have needed was running mascara all over my face!
I had such a great weekend and am so glad I got to meet you, even if we didn’t get to talk as much as I would have liked! That’s true of absolutely everyone at our dinner, though
Still, a great time!
Agreed. We’ll have to get together again sometime and have a longer chat.
What a great time you must have had! I’m sorry I wasn’t able to go and get a chance to meet you and all the other fantastic bloggers who were there. Maybe next time… *sigh*
So jealous about seeing John Irving! I’ve been trying to get an ARC of his new book for ages, but no go. He’s such a fantastic writer, though; I discovered him in my senior year of high school and read everything the library had by him.
I don’t usually read Sparks, but your commentary on him had me LOL!
I don’t read him either (and don’t plan to).
Now that I know what I’m missing (you in real life!) I will always feel incomplete. *sigh*
Also, where’s the Sparks video Deborah took?
[...] slow this week, but I still got some good stuff in. If you missed it last week, here’s my wrap-up of the National Book Festival, where I saw several fantastic authors (and Nicholas Sparks) and met an amazing group of bloggers [...]
I am so sorry it took me so long to finally read your NBF post. I am finally feeling better today. I could actually laugh without coughing. I felt like a poor pathetic soul from one of Dickens’ novels for a while there.
I loved your write up and, since I was there for most of what you wrote, you speak for me. I just haven’t had the energy to write much at all this week.
Your write up about Mr. Sparks is hilarious – especially your “which one of these is not like the others” comment. Pure genius! As far as my comment is concerned… It made have to be parsed out on a need to know basis. LOL! I don’t want to get sued. He didn’t speak about his lawyers, but you know that they are in the room.
[...] The Book Lady’s Blog to read a Nicholas Sparks book after hearing how terrible he was at the National Book Festival. I meant to do a video that chronicled how I picked out the book that will be her demise Rebecca [...]
Wow, it sounds like you had a FANTASTIC day! I was at the Baltimore Book Festival and it was good, but the DC event sounds wonderful.
I heard Diaz speak earlier this year and he was great. Like the friend you mention, I didn’t like his book so much but I really did appreciated it much more after his talk.
And the comments about Nicholas Sparks? HILARIOUS!!!
I was at the National Book Festival too, but missed the Nicholas Sparks talk. Thanks for the terrific summary! I needed a laugh.
It was great to meet you, but too bad it was only for a second really. It was a shame they had to seat as at two different tables!
After what I’ve heard, I’m glad I spent much of the day with my daughter seeking out signatures for her Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and weeding through the states tent instead of seeing Nicholas Sparks. I’m interested in how your challenge thing with Trish plays out.
–Anna
I thought and I think that Irving has a HUGE ego. But I really did enjoy his talk and I totally laughed my ass off when I realized what he was wearing. It so fits his personality. Too funny.
I missed Diaz, because I really wanted to see Rick Riordan as I’m a huge fan of his books and how he promotes reading at young age. I wish I could have seen both, but I’m glad I saw Riordan.
I darted out of that tent after Irving, I wanted no part in Sparks. Such crap! Why was he even there?
I live right outside DC in Arlington, so any time bloggers want to come that way, give me a shout!
[...] Irving (a hard act to follow for anyone) and Junot Diaz and really, well, made an ass of himself (read my wrap-up here). If you don’t believe me, or if you’re just morbidly curious, you can watch the video [...]
[...] Nicholas Sparks wears tight black t-shirts! [...]