A group of us went to hear Anna Quindlen last night. She was here on a book tour, reading from her new book
RISE AND SHINE. I had read it the day it came out--That is what I do with books by Anna Quindlen. Loved the book--a must read! Her talk was amazing and she was so genuine. (And thanks to our good friend Meredith, we had GREAT seats!)
I am a huge fan. Have read all of her books. Read every
NEWSWEEK column . Have extra copies of a few of her books.
I love her novels. I really love her essays. And, I am a HUGE fan of her little books. I purchased another copy of
BEING PERFECT last night.
HOW READING CHANGED MY LIFE is one of her more brilliant pieces of writing. It speaks to me and I use it with my students a lot. Last night, she talked a lot about her life as a reader. How she couldn't imagine life without reading. She talked about kids needing to find books that they care about. She talked about the fact that, for her, books never seemed like books--they seemed like places that she visited again and again. She was passionate about all she said about her life as a reader. I could very much relate!
She is on tour for the new book. If she is coming anywhere near you, I would highly recommend going to hear her. Even if she isn't really close, hearing her is worth traveling a bit.
It was a great evening with friends. We even got to take a picture with Anna Quindlen! (As you may have already noticed..)
She is on tour for the new book. If she is coming anywhere near you, I would highly recommend going to hear her. Even if she isn't really close, hearing her is worth traveling a bit.
It was a great evening with friends. We even got to take a picture with Anna Quindlen! (As you may have already noticed..)
I'm SOOOOOOooooooo jealous!
ReplyDeleteOh, cool. Which one is you, Franki? I know that's Anna Q. the second from the right.
ReplyDeleteI need to pick up a copy of "How Reading Changed My life." thanks for the rec.
I got to see her too and I was so impressed. I loved how she said that before she is a writer, she is a reader. She was so down to earth and like you said, a genuine person. I got a lot of ideas to talk about with my class. I went with my book club and we are planning on reading the book she recommended by Laura Lippman.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I spoke to you at Chris Tovani's conference about how much my students loved Poetry Friday (and how much I spend on Amazon.com when I read your blog). As I'm doing end of the year assessments, I am seeing huge improvements in my kids' fluency. I know that part of it is due to Poetry Friday. I am looking forward to incoporating it at the beginning of next year.
Julie
I am green with envy. She is my ablolute favorite and I always thought she would be just cool to have dinner or coffee with. It sounded like a wonderful evening.
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