Here, in the author’s words, is a bit more about the themes explored in the novel:

Do you believe in Fate?

What are the things in life worth fighting for?

Can one moment or one choice change everything?

What if there was a secret in the Judean Desert that had been hidden for thousands of years?

This is a story about the moment when you are standing on the threshold of the beginning of everything in your life.

The novel opens in 1943 and follows three generations of family to the present time.They will learn that things, are not always what they seem. In this journey of a lifetime, Gabriella will meet the man she believes is her destiny, then learn that he’s been at the center of her grandfather’s research for over two hundred years, that he had met her grandmother on an archaeological dig sixty years earlier, and that he hasn’t aged . . . at all.

The characters I’ve created, reflect my own background in architecture and science. Ideas that I had been questioning. The novel really started to come together when I realized, that whether you’re a cutting edge scientist, an ancient mystic or a 19th century poet: everybody is asking the same questions.

What, if anything, is eternal?

In this guest post, Wendy quotes Aldous Huxley as saying ”We have each of us, a Jerusalem.” What does that mean? I found it to be a very insightful metaphor for our centers, our core beliefs (but, it my have a personal interpretation/definition for each reader; let me know what you think, in Comments below).

Read on as Wendy describes how she found her Jerusalem; then learn more about the author and her work via her website, check out the Fare Forward Facebook fan page, and follow @WendyPolins on twitter:

Wendy overlooking Jerusalem

Each of us has a dream, a wish, or the love we hope to find. Our lives are given direction by experiences that change us and the choices we make; unforgettable, defining moments. Often, this happens when we travel, leaving behind the comfort of the known and propelled forward on a path into the uncertain. I travel for the same reason that I read books, and now write them—because I want to believe that people can change. It’s always been art that lit my path; that made me stop, reconsider what I took for granted, and provide the clarity to see new connections. “Antennae of the race,” James Joyce wrote. That’s what writers can be.

As I flew at 37,000 ft above the surface of our planet, I found quiet, disconnected from a world filled with stimulation and constant demands for attention. Travel is a good way to rediscover places in yourself, as you move through time — through worlds — almost like a dream, until the moment gravity pulls you back down to Earth and into your life.

“Very cautiously, I raise the oval shade that conceals the morning light of the continent over which we are flying. Seeing the world from high above is magical, the land reduced to graphic shapes and the blanket of stars in an endless sky. Since ancient Greek celestial navigation, travelers have looked to the heavens to guide their journeys. We are all voyagers aren’t we?”

(excerpt from FARE FORWARD p. 280)

I have just returned from Israel. A modern nation that continuously redefines itself, this is a place of miracles, where the past breathes and the future beckons. It is a four dimensional work in progress, shaped by the legacy of thousands of years of history, the Holocaust, modern technology, and the staggering bravery of individuals. Jerusalem plays a pivotal role in my novel, FARE FORWARD, as it is where, for thousands of years, people of every major religion have ended their journeys. In this city, many have found what they’ve been looking for and assigned dimension to what had previously been unmeasurable. You can feel it. The weight of history, the power of possibility and if you listen very carefully, the voices of those who have come before—in the wind, the silence, and the shimmer of the leaves on the trees.

A story lives in the mind of the author and the experience of the reader. For the last three years, as I created the characters of FARE FORWARD, they existed only in me. It felt risky, to send them out into the world, intensely private words and ideas that had been safely buried within the layers of my own heart.  Now, as I returned to one of the major settings of the novel, it was my turn to walk in their footsteps, breathe the air they breathed and see what their eyes had beheld. I wanted to experience the magical pull of the place that had changed the course of their fictional lives.

And mine.

I wanted to capture the ineffable qualities of this timeless city and attempt to convey the magic I felt with words:

“So many have stood in this place before us, and they will continue to after we’re gone. Moses, the Israelites, Herod, Alexander the Great, Caesar, Napoleon—” 

“It’s as if time is collapsing.” 

“This place is amazing,” I whisper. 

“It’s a different kind of desert, a different kind of place. Not one of sand and dunes, a desert where the wind leaves its fingerprint. Time is erased here.”

“This is a desert of rock, of presence—of soul.”

“You feel like you’re close to heaven, don’t you?”

“Every place has within it memories of the past. What you now know is how to recognize the things that are truly important, the values and ideas that stand the test of time. How to choose—what to believe. Your life should always be about ideas, creating things. Decide what you want to change and how you think the world should be.”

He seems far away. He is calm. And I wonder whether this is what happens when you have arrived, when you are ready to put it all together, everything you have worked so hard for: you realize that you have only started.

(excerpt from FARE FORWARD p. 335)

When you travel and face the silence, you are forced to ask yourself – what is it that my life revolves around? What does it mean? In this city of Light, I could clearly see everything I had ever wished for. The promise of a future accompanied by awe, wonder and profound gratitude – that I could stand and behold the miraculous view outside my Jerusalem window, the sound of the markets, minarets and church bells blending together in a symphony of collapsed time.

Aldous Huxley said, “We have each of us, a Jerusalem.” Travel and exploring other cultures teaches by example, to live without regrets. To BE BRAVE. I have been inspired to let the power of what I want to write, drive my commitment to live life creatively but be disciplined, rigorous and to never, EVER, give up. If you look carefully, into the darkness of intuition and the unknown, you just might discover what you’ve been searching for. You can find the light, YOUR light.

What you might discover, will be yourself.

The Paris Wife: A Novel by Paula McLain

Note from Dawn: My neighbor, Sue, read The Paris Wife and wrote this review while in Paris (go ahead, admit it, you’re thinking “how cool is that?!”); I’ll have to ask her if she visited any of the (still-standing?) cafés that Hemingway and Hadley did.  Sue tends to prefer non-fiction, so I was pleased to see how much this novel appealed to her … is it on your to-be-read stack?

Back-of-the-book blurb: Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill prepared for the hard-drinking and fast-living life of Jazz Age Paris, which hardly values traditional notions of family and monogamy. Surrounded by beautiful women and competing egos, Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history, pouring all the richness and intensity of his life with Hadley and their circle of friends into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises. Hadley, meanwhile, strives to hold on to her sense of self as the demands of life with Ernest grow costly and her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Despite their extraordinary bond, they eventually find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they’ve fought so hard for.

A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty, The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.

Sue’s Review: Sometimes a fictional memoir is so well researched and written that you find yourself not believing it’s fiction. Written in Hemingway’s style, The Paris Wife is such a book. You already know from A Moveable Feast that Hadley Richardson was Hemingway’s first wife. You can guess why he married her, and all the others: he needed constant adoration and praise. He fell out with nearly everybody who was ever nice to him, so wives became a renewable resource. It helped if they had money, were pretty, and could match him drink for drink. (If you got caffeine jitters from reading Stieg Larsson, you’ll get a hangover from this!)

Hadley Richardson was 29 when she married the 21-year old Ernest Hemingway, “the beautiful boy”. She had lived a sheltered life in St. Louis, shattered by her father’s suicide and her mother’s death. Believing she was past her sell-by date, she allowed herself to be swept off her feet by the audacious and intense Ernest and let herself become absorbed totally by him. It is this absorption that is the center of the book. If you picked up this book, you already know about Ernest Hemingway. Paula McLain will help you understand Hadley.

Several Unbridled Books that I’ve enjoyed include Last Night in Montreal and The Singer’s Gun (both written by Emily St. John Mandel), In Hovering Flight(written by Joyce Hinnefeld; my review was blurbed on the paperback … how cool is that?!), 31 Hours (written by Masha Hamilton, whose work in founding the Afghan Women’s Writing Project is inspiring), and The Islands of Divine Music, written by John Addiego, whose most recent novel, Tears of the Mountain, was published a few months ago; I’m looking forward to reading it!

Today John joins us with a fun romp through “what if.”  When asked what author, dead or alive, he’d invite to a holiday dinner, he also shared a recipe for what he’d serve at that meal! John’s essay incorporates his family and the inspiration for his choice of guest and meal.  Read along, I think you’ll agree that you’d like to be a fly on the wall (or a guest at the table!) at this meal:

The author of The Barron in the Trees and The Cloven Knight might find my choice of words interesting here: I would love to have him for a delicious Mexican dinner.

Calvino is one of my favorite writers. Shortly before his death in 1985 he began a collection of five stories about the senses, finishing only three. Under the Jaguar Sun (about the tongue) was a gastronomic description of Mexico in which, after much exploration of an Aztec history of daily human sacrifice, one suspects that the regional cuisine, with its heavy and exotic spices, was developed to disguise, or enhance, the consumption of all that young human flesh being thrown off the pyramids.

To put everybody at ease, I would feed Calvino this meatless recipe my daughter Emily picked up while studying in Mexico. She was raised on Calvino’s Italian Folktales; I read them to her night after night. We both love the magic and humor in all of his work, the way he blends fable and realism, the way something very familiarly Italian pervades the tone: the peasant wisdom, the foibles of the powerful, and the courage of girls facing ogres and evil princes with silver noses.

So, I would love to listen to Calvino describe his work and his life over this simple meal from the center of colonial Mexico.

Enchiladas Quereteranas

• 10 corn tortillas
• 2 potatoes
• 4 carrots
• 1 head of lettuce
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cups cojita cheese, shredded
• 2 cloves garlic
• 6-8 ancho chiles, dried
• 2-3 cups warm water
• pinch of salt
• crema mexicana

1. Cut the potatoes and carrots into chunks and steam until tender. Set aside.
2. To make sauce, remove stems and seeds from chiles and soak them in water. When they are rehydrated, blend chiles, water salt, garlic, and half the onion. Sauce should be thin but not watery.
3. Mix together remaining chopped onion and cheese.
4. In a large skillet, heat a few tbsp of oil medium heat. Dip 2 tortillas in the sauce so they are coated on both sides and fry them flat for about 30 seconds. Spoon 2-3 tbsp of the cheese and onion mixture onto tortillas and fold them over. Fry for another minute or until cheese melts. Tortillas shouldn’t harden; if they do, they’ve been cooked too long, so remove from pan as soon as cheese melts. Repeat this process with the rest of the tortillas.
5. Serve enchiladas on a bed of lettuce with potato and carrot pieces. Top with crema mexicana and any remaining cheese.

Yum!  Thank you, John, for sharing both your family story and this favorite recipe.  And, of course, for the assurance that none of the ingredients originated from the pyramids

Feliz Año Nuevo!

Hannah’s Take: Believe You Can Make a Difference
by Kevin and Hannah Salwen,
Authors of The Power of Half: One Family’s Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back

About 111 women die of breast cancer every day in the United States. A million teenagers get pregnant each year. Someone dies every thirty-one minutes because of drunken drivers. I’m not writing this to bum you out. But you might be thinking, There are so many problems, there’s no way that I or any one person could solve anything. 
 
When civil-rights activist Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of a public bus in 1955, she never dreamed of the impact she would have on millions of lives. “I didn’t have any idea just what my actions would bring about,” she said years later. “At the time I was arrested I didn’t know how the community would react.” The reason Ms. Parks didn’t get up is that she knew the racist laws were wrong. 

Rosa Parks is just one of the thousands of influential people whose actions changed the views of many people today. Think about Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Greg Mortenson, John Woolman, Madame Curie (if you don’t know them, check them out; they’re all remarkable). Sometimes small acts significantly affect a large group of people. But even when they don’t, they can have a big influence, maybe on just one individual. 

So don’t get discouraged because you can’t solve a whole problem alone. As the British philosopher Edmund Burke said, “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.” I know exactly what he was talking about. Before our family project I kept telling myself that no matter how hard I tried or how much money I gave, I would never be able to fully solve any of the world’s big problems. When I worked at Café 458, the Atlanta restaurant for homeless men and women, I saw dozens of people come in looking depressed and lonely. But still I didn’t see them as individuals, but instead as a group, “the homeless.” 

Then one day at Café 458 I heard two homeless men talking about a college basketball game that I had watched with my dad the night before. I snapped to the realization that these people are people. How stupid and rude I had been to see them as different from me. I realize now that having that epiphany was a big step for me. In that split second of comprehension, I switched from seeing them as a group of people to viewing them as individuals. When I started seeing people in need as individuals, the problem of homelessness and hunger seemed smaller and I felt like I could make more of a difference. I also started believing that I could help because the problem was on a personal level. 

Activity 

Think of a person from your community who inspires you. Look beyond his or her specific actions to the kind of qualities that person brings to work or volunteer activities. For example, some people are better at creating new programs than at actually putting them into action; other people are doers, ready to take someone else’s ideas and run with them. Is that aunt in your family a problem-solver? A good listener? An inspirer?  

Now think about your strengths in the same light. If you took your best characteristics out into the world, how could you use them to make a difference? Are you patient? Maybe you would be a good tutor. Are you musical? Maybe you could be playing the guitar at a nursing home (and bringing your family along to sing — no talent required). We all have gifts the world can use.

Copyright © 2010 Kevin and Hannah Salwen, authors of The Power of Half: One Family’s Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back

Author Bios
Kevin Salwen, coauthor of The Power of Half: One Family’s Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back, was reporter and editor at The Wall Street Journal for over 18 years. After his tenure at The Wall Street Journal, he started a magazine, Motto. He serves on the board for Habitat for Humanity in Atlanta, and works with the U.S. Olympic Committee.
 
Hannah Salwen, coauthor of The Power of Half: One Family’s Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back, will be a junior at the Atlanta Girls’ School, where she plays for the varsity volleyball team, and is her grade’s representative to the student council. She has been volunteering consistently since the 5th grade at the Atlanta Community Food Bank and Cafe 458, among others.

For more information, please visit www.ThePowerOfHalf.com.

Read what Lidia and Tanya have to say about “waste not, want not,” and do let me know if you try either recipe!

“Waste Not, Want Not” and Make it Delicious!
By Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali,
Author of Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes

There is no more appropriate time than now to think about how and why we cook. Food is a way of connecting with the people who surround us. Through it, we communicate emotions like love, compassion and understanding, and there is no better opportunity to communicate with our children than at the table. It’s where we can discuss our values of life that are important to us as individuals, as a family and as a part of the world we live in.

As over-consumption and greed have come to haunt us, now is a time for reflection. We should be looking back at the generations before us to understand their approach to the table. Growing food, shepherding animals, foraging for the gifts of nature is all part of respecting food. Nothing needs to be wasted. Bread can be recycled and used in soups, casseroles, lasagnas and desserts. Water is carefully conserved as in the pasta recipe I share below where the same water in which vegetables are cooked is used to cook the pasta that follows, and then that is saved for soups or for making risotto.

When one respects the food we prepare, it also leads to a more sensible and balanced intake of proteins, legumes and vegetables.

So “waste not, want not” and make it delicious!

Excerpt from Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy (Alfred A. Knopf, 2009)

FRESH CAVATELLI WITH CAULIFLOWER
Maccarun ch’I Hiucc – Serves 6

Cauliflower is one of my favorite vegetables, and I regret that many people don’t sufficiently appreciate its unique flavor and nutritional value. This is not the case in Molise, where it is cooked often and creatively, as exemplified by the following two simple vegetarian pasta dishes. The first recipe, maccarun ch’i hiucc, is zesty with garlic and peperoncino.

• ½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for the pasta pot
• ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 7 plump garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
• ½ teaspoon peperoncino flakes, or to taste
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 1 large head cauliflower, cut in small florets
• 1 batch (1½ pounds) Fresh Cavatelli (preceding recipe), or 1 pound dried pasta
• 1 cup freshly grated pecorino (or half pecorino and half Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano, for a milder flavor)

Recommended equipment:A large pasta pot; a heavy-bottomed skillet or sauté pan, 12 inch diameter or larger

Fill the large pot with salted water (at least 6 quarts water with 1 tablespoon salt), and heat to a boil.

Pour the olive oil into the skillet, set over medium-high heat, and scatter in the sliced garlic. Let the garlic start to sizzle, then toss in the peperoncino and parsley; stir and cook for a minute. Ladle in a cup of the pasta cooking water, stir well, and adjust the heat to keep the liquid in the skillet simmering and reducing gradually while you cook the cauliflower and pasta.

With the pasta water at a rolling boil, drop in the cauliflower florets, and cook them for about 3 minutes, until barely tender. Drop in the cavatelli, stir, and return the water quickly to a boil. Cook another 4 to 5 minutes, until the cauliflower is fully tender and the pasta is al dente (if you are using dried pasta, it will, of course, take longer).

Lift out the florets and cavatelli with a spider or strainer, drain briefly, and spill them into the skillet. Toss well, to coat all the pasta and vegetable pieces with the garlicky dressing, then turn off the heat, sprinkle over the skillet the grated cheese, and toss again. Heap the cauliflower and cavatelli in warm bowls, and serve immediately.

CHOCOLATE BREAD PARFAIT
Pane di Cioccolato al Cucchiaio – Serves 6

This recalls for me the chocolate-and-bread sandwiches that sometimes were my lunch, and always a special treat. And it is another inventive way surplus is used in Umbrian cuisine, with leftover country bread serving as the foundation of an elegant layered dessert. Though it is soaked with chocolate and espresso sauce and buried in whipped cream, the bread doesn’t disintegrate, and provides a pleasing textural contrast in every heavenly spoonful.

• 8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 8 ounces country-style white bread, crusts removed
• ½ cup freshly brewed espresso
• 2 tablespoons dark rum
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 ½ cups chilled heavy cream
• 1 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Recommended equipment: A large rimmed tray or baking sheet, such as a half-sheet pan (12 by 18 inches); a spouted measuring cup, 1 pint or larger; 6 parfait glasses or wineglasses, preferably balloon-shaped

Put the chopped chocolate in a bowl set in a pan of hot (not boiling) water. When the chocolate begins to melt, stir until completely smooth. Keep it warm, over the water, off the heat.

Slice the bread into ½-inch-thick slices, and lay them flat in one layer, close together, on the tray or baking sheet.

Pour the warm espresso into a spouted measuring cup, stir in the rum and sugar until sugar dissolves, then stir in half the melted chocolate. Pour the sauce all over the bread slices, then flip them over and turn them on the tray, to make sure all the surfaces are coated. Let the bread absorb the sauce for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, whip the cream until soft peaks form, by hand or with an electric mixer.

To assemble the parfaits: Break the bread into 1-inch pieces. Use half the pieces to make the bottom parfait layer in the six serving glasses, dropping an equal amount of chocolatey bread into each. Scrape up some of the unabsorbed chocolate sauce that remains on the baking sheet, and drizzle a bit over the bread layers. Next, drop a layer of whipped cream in the glasses, using up half the cream. Top the cream layer with toasted almonds, using half the nuts.

Repeat the layering sequence: drop more soaked bread into each glass, drizzle over it the chocolate sauce from the tray and the remaining melted chocolate. Dollop another layer of whipped cream in the glasses, using it all up, and sprinkle the remaining almonds on top of each parfait. This dessert is best when served immediately while the melted chocolate is still warm and runny.

©2010 Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali, authors of Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes

Author Bio
Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, coauthor of Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipe, is the author of five previous books, four of them accompanied by nationally syndicated public television series. She is the owner of the New York City restaurant Felidia (among others), and she lectures on and demonstrates Italian cooking throughout the country. She lives on Long Island, and can be reached at her Web site, www.LidiasItaly.com 

Tanya Bastianich Manuali, Lidia’s daughter and coauthor of Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipe, received her Ph.D. in Italian Renaissance art history from Oxford University. Since 1996 she has led food/wine/art tours of Italy. She lives with her husband and children on Long Island.

When I learned that Beth Hoffman’s Saving CeeCee Honeycutt had been selected for the first Sam’s Club Book Club, I was so excited!  I had read an early copy of the novel, and knew that this warm southern story deserved a big spotlight – this connection with Sam’s Club would help do that.  I emailed my niece, Nicole, who lives near Atlanta, and rambled on about the novel, the debut at the Marietta store, and asked if she could possibly go to meet Beth and to pick up signed copies for each of us.  Nicole said she was up for an adventure, and that she’d ask a girlfriend to go with her and to make a day of it. 

Here is her story, and what an outing it was!  It involves a big chicken, fancy dog food, a quick resolution of a customer service issue, a lovely spot of tea … and … Beth Hoffman and Saving CeeCee Honeycutt.  And, yes, I know that Nicole gives me far too much credit for influencing readers, but I’ll take a little ego boost when I can get it ! 

This is Nicole’s story,  Beth Hoffman herself blogs about the day here (but she doesn’t mention the big red chicken!)

I wanted to share with you my girls’ adventure Saturday that included visiting Sam’s Club to get a signed copy of Beth Hoffman’s book, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt.  The Sam’s Club sits at the 11 o’clock if Atlanta’s perimeter was a circle and I live around 3 o’clock.  It’s a little distance away from where I live, so I asked a friend, Leslie, if she wanted to go and check it out with me and we made an afternoon of it. 

I didn’t bring a map or directions to the store, because Leslie had her GPS and plugged in the address; unfortunately, the GPS wasn’t working and connecting to a tower or such.  We planned to stop along the way and would ask directions or call 411.  I noticed a Trader Joe’s as we drove up to to a fancy boutique pet store.  My friend shows dogs and likes to get a specialty dog food for her dogs.  Although one of the big-box stores just started selling this brand of dog food, she would rather support the smaller businesses, even if they are a little distance away.

We asked the owner if she knew where the Sam’s Club was and she started giving us directions.  … “up the road about 4 miles, and then onto route 40, you know where the chicken is?  you turn there..”  where the chicken is? huh?  “oh, you’ve never been way, just look for route 40 and you’ll see the chicken, you won’t miss it.” 

okay, so we were off…. and to see the chicken?  We drove up the 4-ish miles and we saw the chicken!!!  Leslie and I were laughing and laughing, it was hilarious!  Fortunately, we hit one of the many red lights around Atlanta and Leslie was able to snap a picture or two.  We turned and found the Sam’s Club.

Sam’s Club is a club, right?  so do you need a membership to get in?  Well I wasn’t even thinking and just walked in, no problem; I later noticed the ladies checking membership ids.  I looked around and saw the balloons and author set up, but I also noticed that everything had “member price.”  Does that mean that there is also a “non-member” price.  I asked one of the people working if I could just buy a book from the author signing if I wasn’t a member?   And I couldn’t.  Sooo… I back-tracked to customer service and saw the 10 people in line; would it be better to find a bookstore and come back?  Leslie and I went and stood in line… and waited.  We were talking about how it’s neat to buy in bulk, but neither of us have kids or the space for the ‘stuff,’ grabbing 1 or 2 extra when they are on sale at the grocery store works for us.  

Finally, we were at the front of the line and I asked if I could get a day pass, because I was only there for the author signing and I just wanted to buy a book for the signing.  “No, we only have yearly memberships.” … okay, well I really wanted to get this book for my aunt; and I might consider just getting the membership because I might use it, but that really didn’t make sense.  I said again that I was only there for the author signing, could I perhaps ask a manager? 

His manager wasn’t behind the desk, but ‘over there’ and he would go and ask, but he sounded quite negative.  I told him that I would go along, perhaps we could do something…?  He told me that I could wait there as he quickly walked in front of me a distance away nearer to the book signing.  Well, even if I couldn’t get the book right off, I would be back, so I wanted to say hi to Beth as my Aunt Dawn’s niece.  Aunt Dawn let her know that I might stop by.  Well I said hi and introduced myself and Beth was soo enthusiastic and delighted that I came by, she gave me a hug and told me how sincerely she adores my aunt.  Since Aunt Dawn posted the review of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, Beth has had 100+ more followers on Twitter overnight and the New York Times are “picking up the book.” Beth’s enthusiasm and energy was contagious, she was raving about Aunt Dawn and told me how much it meant that I did come to the signing… oh, but wait, how was I going to buy and have a signed book?   I began to tell Beth that I had a little problem and would have to come back.  She gave me the quizzical look and asked, what?  When I started to tell her that I don’t have a membership to Sam’s Club and would have go to a bookstore and come back, someone stepped in, sort of between Beth and I, and handed me a card while telling me that I could use their card.  I was surprised and taken aback.  Thank you…!!!

I picked up a couple of books and stood in line at the counter right next to us… Leslie joined me and told me that the cashier that went to talk to the manager was leaving with his head down because he and the manager realized that it would really bad PR if I couldn’t buy a book especially seeing that Beth was giving me a hug and soo enthusiastic with us meeting; it was actually the manager that stepped in and handed me her membership card to buy the book.  =)

Beth and I chatted some more.  Beth sold her part of a design business that employeed more than 8 employees after having serious health problems.  This was her first book and she was so thrilled.  She told me how Aunt Dawn’s review meant soo much to her and she couldn’t wait to meet my aunt.  While we were talking there was a PR person snapping a few pictures.  I handed him my camera so I could have a picture for my aunt. … well I have to say that it was really, really cold that day and I probably should have kept my winter hat on; the picture of me, ikes!  The PR person snapped what seemed to be a few more pictures; however, I later realized that he was having trouble with my camera and 4 of the 5 pictures were out of focus.  There was one that would have been soo nice of Beth sitting at her book signing table with the books, flowers, and signs.  I’ll send the picture to my aunt and tell her to imagine the picture taken through frosted glass =) 

With a few veggies and treats in hand we were both talking about book blogs and how someone reviewing a book could have such an impact.  We left Sam’s Club with such a positive feeling.  Beth has such a ‘presence’ with her positive energy and, knowing that my aunt loved the book (and my aunt reviews A LOT of books),  I strongly feel that Beth is going to be a success…. and, importantly, I also have a signed book!!!

Leslie and I continued our afternoon adventure to Trader Joe’s.  We sampled their freebie coffee, wandered through the aisles and looked at some of the ’different’ stuff they sell.  I picked up plantain chips to try and Leslie found a couple of bottles of wine.  We continued next door to the Nike store looking for a sale rack. Noticing no sale rack at Nike, we headed back towards Leslie’s area of town, around Atlanta’s 2 o’clock, and planned to stop at a tea shop. 

The tea shop is just like a coffee shop, but had tea instead.  We split a pot of tea and a quiche snack.  We girl-gabbed and relaxed on the comfy couches.  Leslie was hoping that her husband had finished painting a room by the time she got home and I had no plans that evening, perhaps finish that book I borrowed.  Funny enough, in the corner at a long table, there was a book club sitting there talking.  What a fun day.