Book Adventures in the City

One of the most fun aspects of blogging about children's books is meeting up with other kid-lit bloggers. On Saturday I met Adrienne of What Adrienne Thinks About That at the South Street Seaport in New York, where we hoped to get aboard the Ambrose. That's the vessel that Brian Floca depicted in the awesome Lightship, winner of the Cybil award for best nonfiction picture book of 2007. Unfortunately for us, Saturday was a cleaning day for the Seaport ships, and we were forced to be landlubbers.

So, Adrienne, her friend Tracy, and I ventured up to Bryant Park, which is behind the New York Public Library (the one with the lions in front) and got to hang out, drink coffee and iced tea, and chat about books and chickens. Adrienne gave me a tip on a new series that she thought Junior would like (Sandra Markle's "Insect World"). We also peeked in at the library's beautiful and impressive main reading room.

I'd thought there was a big kids' book extravaganza at Bryant Park, but that is next Saturday (May 10th), when a bunch of events for Children's Book Week take place. So much for my fledgling business as a tour guide. I was happy to meet Adrienne and Tracy, though, and have a chance to explore the city with kindred spirits.

On the train ride home, I read a lot of Jhumpa Lahiri's new short story collection, Unaccustomed Earth, which is excellent and well-deserving of the great reviews it's pulling in. (At Sepia Mutiny you'll find a review and links to other articles on the book. I'd agree with the Alice Munro comparison that a Village Voice writer made.)

Comments

[cloudscome]

I've been reading Unaccustomed Earth too and find it quite good. I'm spreading out the stories like nuggets.

[Susan T.]

Clouds, don't you like the way she allows the stories to stretch out? Some are almost novella length. I find them very satisfying to read.

[adrienne]

I'm just catching up on blogs, but--yay!--it was so good to spend time with you that day. Did you make it to the children's book event the next weekend?

[Susan T.]

Hey, Adrienne. No, I couldn't get back to NYC that day for the big shindig, though I was hoping to.