Wow, what a store!
Vroman's is a huge bookstore in Pasadena, as famous there as Book Soup is here in West Hollywood. I'm honored to be in both of them. On Sunday, we drove to South Pas to visit and sign stock, a/k/a drive-by signings. That's when you're in the area, you stop at bookstores and see if they're carrying your book and then offer to sign them. If you're lucky, they say "Sure! Come sit over here and let me get you a Sharpie and a cappuccino and we'll round up our official store photographer for a portrait session..."
(Silly. There's no cappuccino.)
At Vroman's, they had a HUGE display of my book in their amazingly well-stocked YA fiction section. I mean, everyone was represented there: Maureen and Megan and Sarah and Steve and Joan and Judy and my friend CG Watson's book, QUAD (which you MUST read if you haven't already -very timely, about a school shooting) was featured too so I was thrilled. I had to tear myself away from the books to ask about signing their stock.
Which I eventually did and this super nice woman, Amanda, who was the assistant manager and handled the YA section, helped me to a chair and gathered the books and I just signed, signed, signed while MY official photographer took pictures.
(Again, let me stress...there were no cappuccinos. I don't want you to get the wrong idea about book signing. Unless your name is something beginning with JK.)
So after I signed the books, Amanda and I chatted about YA fiction and specifically, about books being banned. She told me how Vroman's often puts up a section with banned books and more importantly, the reasons why they are banned. We all know why Catcher in the Rye and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (and Harry Potter!) have been banned but what about The Higher Power of Lucky and The Bermudez Triangle?
I would have talked with her for much longer but alas, there was the whole working thing involved and people attempting to actually purchase books, unlike me who was simply there to deface them. So if you get to Vroman's check out my cool display and get yourself a signed copy! It'll be like I signed it just for you! Which I did! Honest! Even though I don't know your name I was thinking about you when I did it. We'll get some pix of Amanda and the store up on the site very soon so you can see what I'm talking about and that I didn't make it up. This time.
Your Hollywood connection,
Leigh
