Friday, March 02, 2007

Price of Admission

To steal a phrase from Scott Westerfeld, last night was nine kinds of awesome.

First, I discovered that my winter coat (which is large enough to be mistaken for a person on its own) can hold up to four paperbacks in its pockets with no discernable increase in size or weight. I think this is cool. The train trip to Manhattan and back is a 2 1/2 book journey, plus I like to have some choices in case my reading mood changes en route. This is the one and only thing I will miss about winter once spring rolls around.


Second, on the train ride into Manhattan, thanks to my handy-dandy enormous coat pockets, I brought and read PRICE OF ADMISSION by Leslie Margolis. It's about a movie producer's daughter who writes her diary in screenplay form and then finds out that her screenplay (which exposes all sorts of family secrets) is going to be produced. Very fun peek into the Hollywood life. But the best thing about the novel is the protagonist. Leslie did a brilliant job of crafting a nuanced character who is totally appealing and relatable despite her many flaws. The protagonist's relationship with her father is also beautifully executed. So beautifully, in fact, that I was even able to overlook the absence of talking cats and telepathic dragons from this story. :)

Third, in Manhattan, I attended a book launch party for this very book, PRICE OF ADMISSION by Leslie Margolis, as well as her other new book, FIX.

OK, we need to pause here and clarify: I am not actually a very cool person. I don't hang out in bars every weekend. I don't even get to the movies very often. I completely forgot to watch the Oscars. (Who for
gets the Oscars? I mean, it's one thing to choose not to watch them, but to utterly not know they were happening?) Nearly all of my jeans have holes in them. I still wear T-shirts that I had in high school. I can't cook anything fancier than a bagel (and frankly, I burn those with alarming frequency). So for me, going into Manhattan to attend a book party is a Very Big Deal.

Fourth, above mentioned book party was attended by a bunch of TV celebrities. Samantha Bee, Rob Corddry, and Mo Rocca from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart were all in attendance. I've never attended a p
arty with TV celebrities. I felt like Paris Hilton. OK, not exactly. See above notes on "not actually cool." Not that Paris Hilton is necessarily cool. But you know what I mean.

Fifth, I arrived fashionably early (see again note on lack of coolness) for the party so I had a chance to chat with Leslie before the throngs of people arrived. Also got a chance to talk with Robin Wasserman, whom I'd met before at several TADNs. Plus I met several very nice editors from Simon & Schuster.

Sixth through Ninth, I spent the bulk of the evening chatting with the fabulously awesome Maureen Johnson, Scott Westerfeld, and Kate (excuse
me, I mean Daphne Unfeasible). Later, we were joined by the equally fabulously awesome Coe Booth. These people are so cool that simply standing near them raised my coolness factor by at least 50%. I bet they buy new T-shirts all the time and have never burned a single bagel. In fact, I'm reasonably sure that their bagels simply toast themselves sans toaster oven.

Maureen, Kate, Me, and Scott (photo courtesy of Coe)

The only downside was that I eventually had to leave. Cut it a bit close with the train -- the last one of the night -- but it was 100% worth it.

5 Comments:

At 1:20 AM, Blogger Disco Mermaids said...

The book sounds great! Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

- Jay

Oh, and I am so jealous...

 
At 10:16 PM, Blogger Sarah Beth Durst said...

Hi, Jay. The party was awesome. I had so much fun that now I'm thinking of throwing my own launch party when INTO THE WILD comes out. You should come! What's a 6-hour plane ride between Razorbill-siblings!

- Sarah

 
At 11:30 PM, Blogger Sookie said...

Scott Westerfield? You got to meet him? I'm so jealous! I just loved his UGLIES series.

 
At 9:22 PM, Blogger Laini Taylor said...

Wow, I'm really envious of all the great author get-togethers you've been able to go to lately! And I was totally laughing at your coolness comments. I can relate! (I did watch the Oscars this year, though). But seriously, all these author drink nights things make me want to get some Pacific Northwest gathering going. But I fear we're all spread a bit too far apart. I should figure out who "we" are, too! I know there are middle grade/YA authors up here, but who are they? Oh, and thanks for being my myspace friend!

 
At 6:54 PM, Blogger Sarah Beth Durst said...

SOOKIE: Just finished reading UGLIES and really enjoyed it. PRETTIES is next on my to-read list... Have you read PEEPS? Really unique take on a familiar trope.

LAINI: See, you're way ahead of me on the coolness scale. :) Let me know if you guys are ever in New York!

 

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