Gabaldon night at the bookstore
Last night's Diana Gabaldon reading was huge success! Lots of books sold, lots of happy people got their books signed, and we all got to hear Diana speak about what makes her and her books tick. I thought i'd post the introduction i gave here in my LJ. I got a lot of very nice comments afterwards from customers that they loved my introduction, that my hair was cute, and my dress was very nice. I felt the love.
Although i've been working in bookstores since 1996 it wasn't until the release of The Outlandish Companion in 1999 that i finally took the Diana Gabaldon plunge. Of course i couldn't help but notice the frequency with which i was ringing up Outlander books at the cash registers and if i had a nickel for every time a customer had said, "you HAVE to read these books" i'd be a very rich woman indeed but the rigors of college reading kept my personal enjoyment of books to a minimum. The Outlandish Companion piqued my interest because how often does a series of Romance novels get it's very own companion book?
During a break one afternoon i sat in the back room of the store and perused the book. Maps and Medicinal Herbs and a Glossary and Recipes and even Horoscopes! I was impressed at the clear level of research and thought that was going into those mere romance novels. I was soon to discover that there was nothing "Mere" about those books. I decided that i may as well see what all the fuss was about and i bought a copy of Outlander to read in bed that night after my homework was finished.
I went to bed.
I didn't sleep.
It was on page 43 that i started silently apologizing to Diana Gabaldon for not reading her books sooner. It was around page 200 that i fully became a convert.
The next afternoon at work i was telling anyone who would listen how AMAZING Outlander was. How Jamie was sooo dreamy and Claire was so strong and Jack Randall was such villanous scum.
For the next 3 weeks i lived and breathed these books. My college textbooks gathered dust as i forsook them for 18th Century Scotland. And then, i was done. I'd reached the end of the currently written road and i was despondent. But carry on i did and i found myself one as one of the masses of people waiting for bookstores to open on the morning of a new Gabaldon release. I'd hover over the neatly stacked boxes of The Firey Cross in the back room wishing that i could rip one open and ravish the book with my eyes but held in check by the big, bold type on the outside of the box proclaiming "Strict On Sale Date".
Jamie and Claire Fraser have become my personal drug. And it's a fix i can only get every 4 years! The Lord John books do quite a bit to calm my ravenous desire for more more MORE and, being a career bookseller, it helps scratch the itch when i handsell a Diana Gabaldon book to a customer who doubts, as i did at first, that it's going to appeal to them. Seeing them back in the store several days later, arms loaded with other Gabaldon books, always brings a smile to my face.
All of you here tonight know that the Outlander books aren't "just romance novels". You know that they transcend genre boundaries; they're just as at home in literary fiction as they are in romance or even science-fiction/fantansy. You know that Jamie Fraser has been making husbands look lousy in comparison since 1991. You know the nights spent reading looong after you should have been asleep and you know that you compulsively check dianagabaldon.com hoping against hope that maybe she's posted another excerpt. And that's because you're fans. Just like me. Today it is my distinct honor to welcome Herself to the Third Place Books stage. Ladies and Gentelmen, Diana Gabaldon.
Although i've been working in bookstores since 1996 it wasn't until the release of The Outlandish Companion in 1999 that i finally took the Diana Gabaldon plunge. Of course i couldn't help but notice the frequency with which i was ringing up Outlander books at the cash registers and if i had a nickel for every time a customer had said, "you HAVE to read these books" i'd be a very rich woman indeed but the rigors of college reading kept my personal enjoyment of books to a minimum. The Outlandish Companion piqued my interest because how often does a series of Romance novels get it's very own companion book?
During a break one afternoon i sat in the back room of the store and perused the book. Maps and Medicinal Herbs and a Glossary and Recipes and even Horoscopes! I was impressed at the clear level of research and thought that was going into those mere romance novels. I was soon to discover that there was nothing "Mere" about those books. I decided that i may as well see what all the fuss was about and i bought a copy of Outlander to read in bed that night after my homework was finished.
I went to bed.
I didn't sleep.
It was on page 43 that i started silently apologizing to Diana Gabaldon for not reading her books sooner. It was around page 200 that i fully became a convert.
The next afternoon at work i was telling anyone who would listen how AMAZING Outlander was. How Jamie was sooo dreamy and Claire was so strong and Jack Randall was such villanous scum.
For the next 3 weeks i lived and breathed these books. My college textbooks gathered dust as i forsook them for 18th Century Scotland. And then, i was done. I'd reached the end of the currently written road and i was despondent. But carry on i did and i found myself one as one of the masses of people waiting for bookstores to open on the morning of a new Gabaldon release. I'd hover over the neatly stacked boxes of The Firey Cross in the back room wishing that i could rip one open and ravish the book with my eyes but held in check by the big, bold type on the outside of the box proclaiming "Strict On Sale Date".
Jamie and Claire Fraser have become my personal drug. And it's a fix i can only get every 4 years! The Lord John books do quite a bit to calm my ravenous desire for more more MORE and, being a career bookseller, it helps scratch the itch when i handsell a Diana Gabaldon book to a customer who doubts, as i did at first, that it's going to appeal to them. Seeing them back in the store several days later, arms loaded with other Gabaldon books, always brings a smile to my face.
All of you here tonight know that the Outlander books aren't "just romance novels". You know that they transcend genre boundaries; they're just as at home in literary fiction as they are in romance or even science-fiction/fantansy. You know that Jamie Fraser has been making husbands look lousy in comparison since 1991. You know the nights spent reading looong after you should have been asleep and you know that you compulsively check dianagabaldon.com hoping against hope that maybe she's posted another excerpt. And that's because you're fans. Just like me. Today it is my distinct honor to welcome Herself to the Third Place Books stage. Ladies and Gentelmen, Diana Gabaldon.