what I'm reading now, or will be reading next, and where you can find me, shortly

Blog readers, I have failed you. I have been absent. I have been mired. Same ole same ole. Life as Beth Kephart.

Two things, today.

First: The names of the books that I now own and am eager to read and to share:

From the house of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and the desk of the magnificent Lauren Wein:

The Patron Saint of Ugly, Marie Manilla
For Today I am a Boy, Kim Fu
The Answer to the Riddle is Me: A Memoir of Amnesia, David Stuart MacLean

From a recent trip to a local bookstore:

River of Dust, Virginia Pye
A Tale for the Time Being, Ruth Ozeki
The Flamethrowers, Rachel Kushner
The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kid
Elsewhere: A Memoir, Richard Russo

From the debuting memoirists, Jessica Pan and Rachel Kapelke-Dale:

Graduates in Wonderland: True Dispatches from Down the Rabbit Hole

On my iPad

Owl in Darkness, Zoe Rosenfeld (Shebooks!)
Beautiful Ruins, Jess Walters
The Apartment, Greg Baxter (because I could find it in no bookstore!)

Second, I will be at Mid-Winter ALA, which is being held in my very own city this January 24 - January 28 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, and I'm hoping to see you there. I'll be at the Chronicle Books cocktail party Friday evening, and I'll be signing You Are My Only for Egmont (paperback) Sunday at 3 PM. Please stop by.

I can also be found at the following two events, both at local churches:

February 16, 2014, 11 AM
On the Making of Memoir, a lecture
Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church,
Bryn Mawr, pA

March 2, 2014, 1:30 - 4:00
Art of Literature/Art of Faith
Handling the Truth Workshop/Memoir Building
Historic Philadelphia in Novels (Dr. Radway and Dangerous Neighbors)
St. David's Church
Devon, PA