Sunday I decided to hit the pool for a bit and do water aerobics since there was no way to do laps in the W pool. I carried my water buoys and my waterproof MP3 player with me from home, so I was all set. It was lovely to be outside and for the moment, not racing from event to event.
Saturday morning I walked over to the Festival and things were bustling. There was a line of cars waiting to park that streamed onto Hilgard and I saw why people had urged me to stay at the W and walk. There were crowds everywhere --- everything from organized patient queues to pick up tickets and lines to attend events.
For years I have been hearing that the L.A. Times Book Festival is the quintessential book festival event. Schedule conflicts always kept me from attending in the past, but this year I vowed I would get there. Thus in March I locked down a flight and a reservation at the W Hotel, which was easy walking distance from the UCLA campus where the event is held.
Last week's Mystery Writers of America events in New York kept me hopping on both Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday there was a full-day symposium that I finally broke away from the office to catch in the afternoon. I arrived in time to a panel called "First, Kill All the Lawyers…or They Will Write" with Catherine Crier, Lisa Scottoline, James Grippando and Paul Levine. Paul and I joked that those who named this panel must have been clairvoyant since the title of the third book in his Solomon vs Lord series coming in late August will be KILL ALL THE LAWYERS!
Tell us about the books you’ve finished reading with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars. During the contest period from September 22nd to October 6th at noon ET, three lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win a copy of THE MUSEUM OF FAILURES by Thrity Umrigar and WELLNESS by Nathan Hill.
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Coming Soon
Curious about what books will be released in the months ahead so you can pre-order or reserve them? Then click on the months below.
September's Books on Screen roundup includes the season premieres of "The Morning Show" on Apple TV+, "The Wheel of Time" on Amazon Prime Video, and "Virgin River" on Netflix; the series premieres of AMC's "The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon," Hulu's "The Other Black Girl," Apple TV+'s "The Changeling," and Netflix's "Dear Child"; the season finales of "Harlan Coben’s Shelter" on Amazon Prime Video and "Dark Winds" on AMC; the Netflix film Love at First Sight, along with the theatrical releases of Dumb Money and A Haunting in Venice; and the DVD releases of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, God Is a Bullet and Corner Office.