On Wednesday night, I had tickets to go see Isabel Allende, who is one of my very favorite authors ever. Her books are a treat. I was so excited to see her speak and I was definitely not disappointed. Even though she was a little under the weather, she was fantastically funny and poignant and I would go see her speak again in a heartbeat.
For all of my fellow D.C. Metro area people, the presentation was at the National Geographic Museum downtown as part of their Nat Geo Live series. It was my first time there but after Wednesday night, I'm certain that it will not be my last!
Ms. Allende was just as amazing as I thought she would be but so much funnier. The presentation was set up sort of like an interview and she had a great time ragging on the interviewer. Her books mostly deal with serious topics so I wasn't expecting how funny she would be. Also, sometimes writers are really good writers but they aren't good speakers. Allende is a great speaker. She had me laughing and she had me crying. She knows just exactly how to put words together so you get exactly what it is that she is saying and how she's feeling.
Because the presentation was at National Geographic, a lot of the interview was focused on travel. Allende's new book, Maya's Notebook, which I reviewed yesterday takes place mostly on a small Chilean island, which Allende has visited before. It was really cool to hear her talk about how such a setting inspired her. She had a lot of interesting and meaningful experiences while she was on the island, which really hit the nail on the head for me. I think one of the reasons that most pushes me to want to travel is the thought of experiencing new places and experiencing new things. The memories of those things are the best souvenirs.
To cap the night off, I got my Maya's Notebook ARC signed and I bought a copy of Portrait in Sepia (one of my favorite one of her books that I did not own) and got that signed as well. It was very cool!
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| Not a great picture but this was such an awesome moment for me! |
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