With gratitude, as always. I do know how lucky I am.
Additionally, my wonderful friend Karen Bernstein—she of gifts from
Diane Keaton, she of
brilliant Going Over pots—reports that she found
Going Over on page 71 of the new issue of
Main Line Today Magazine listed as one of the "ten great beach reads by local authors." Huge thanks to Karen, and to the magazine.
I have always loved being local.
Speaking of local: Come celebrate the first year in the life of Main Point Books next Saturday, when a fleet of super cool local authors will be signing books. I'll be there at three o'clock with both
Going Over and
Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir. More on the day can be found
here.
Finally, more on
Going Over can be found here, through the hugely generous
BCCB review.
Remember that
Going Over vase of last week? Given to me on the day of my book party, also known as the day of one of the worst spring deluges ever to hit my area, a deluge that closed the street in front of the library, where my event was being held? Yes. That gorgeous, gorgeous graffiti vase. Made especially for me by my friend, Karen Bernstein.
Well, Karen was fighting the torrential downpour in NYC that very night, where she had gone to see Diane Keaton, whom she adores. Karen had, in her hands, a copy of
Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir, which celebrates Keaton's
Then Again. Miss Keaton said yes to accepting the gift and then inscribed a book for me (a gift from Karen).
In case there is any doubt in your mind about what Miss Keaton wrote, please let me translate:
Beth! Hope to meet you someday.
I mean. Really.
Really!!
That is Diane Keaton, signing my book. That is my generous and talented friend Karen, standing by. This is my life, which is very small and very big at once. I share it, gratefully, with you.
Yesterday, while I watched the rain pound the world around me (and awaited
the watery launch of Going Over at Radnor Memorial Library), a note rose up on Twitter, alerting me to this great gift from Dahlia Adler on the Barnes & Noble Book Blog.
The title of the post:
Around the World in Eight YA Novels. Dahlia, amazingly, noted both
Small Damages and
Going Over:
Small Damages, by Beth Kephart
One of my favorite literary writers of YA, Kephart has beautifully re-created the Spanish countryside for this contemporary novel about a teenage girl who’s exiled from her American home in order to hide the secret of her pregnancy. She leaves no sensation unexperienced, from the feel of the earth to the scent of oranges, and it’s hard to imagine getting any closer to Seville without a passport. (Kephart’s newest, Going Over, which alternates between East and West Germany, is another excellent candidate for this list.)
Incredible words, and I am so grateful.
I am also grateful this morning to that clay artist, Karen Bernstein, who not only graced the table last evening with her
amazing Berlin vessel, but who carried a copy of
Handling the Truth to New York City, where Diane Keaton was in the 92nd Street Y House. Keaton's memoir
Then Again is featured in
Handling. I'd always wanted the great actress to have a copy. Last night Karen made that happen. "Signed. Sealed. Delivered.," Karen wrote at the end of her day. This morning, Karen wrote again to say that Diane Keaton had used the word "honored" when Karen gave that bright orange memoir book to her.
One last very cool thing, and then I'm off to read and celebrate the books of others. My agent, Amy Rennert, called a few days ago with the exceptional news that Rich Green, an esteemed film agent who has represented Jonathan Franzen, Matthew Quick, Anne Rice, Andrea Creamer, and others, has agreed to represent
Going Over. A good day. A good life.
There's plenty of rain out there, stripping the cherry trees of their pinks, heavying the heads of tulips, flooding the low plateaus of my brief driveway.
But inside all is color as I prepare for the launch of
Going Over, my Berlin novel. Karen Bernstein, who surprised me earlier this month with
a birthday celebration at the Wayne Art Center, has been at work on this vase for a long time now. She's a clay artist of the highest order. She read the book while it was still in galley form. She studied images of the actual graffiti on the Berlin Wall and made this pot — West Berlin, then East Berlin, 1983. See that arrow up there? It's symbolic. See those flowers? Incredibly gorgeous. They fight the rain. They elevate my mood. They say love, in so very many ways.
I wish you could meet Karen and see for yourself what a special and uber talented person she is. She is, however, now in a car, headed to NYC, where she will meet Diane Keaton (whom I love so much that I celebrated her in
Handling the Truth) at the 92nd Street Y. Karen has a lot of Diane in her. The two could probably talk forever. If they did, or when they do, Diane K. will be enchanted.
Those of you here, near, those of you able to slip out with all this rain, come join us for cake at Radnor Memorial Library, Winsor Room, 7:30 PM.
Berlin Wall.
Friends.
Family.
A little Springsteen, too.
