Dispatch from Amtrak Train 146

[sachem_head]

Separated from his Iraqi minder for a moment, Washington Post reporter Rajiv Chandrasekaran came upon a book merchant dealing in classics in a bazaar in Bagdad. Seeing his chance, the bookseller pulled out a copy of Julius Caesar, flipped it open to a page and pointed to this passage:I was born free as Caesar and so were you
Having relayed his

Comments

David Baldacci?

[redbaydreamer]

I think I have read all of his books. He has had some sentimental fiction also, I think one was The Christmas Train. I like his books because they are fast paced but he doesn't skip on the character creations. Let us know how his talk was.

Re: David Baldacci?

[sachem_head]

He was funny. Apparently, his first book was translated into Italian and it was published under the name "David Ford." He told this whole story about how the Italian publishers said that it was a well-known fact that Italians don't think Italians can write, so American authors with Italian surnames often change their names on their books so they will sell better.

He told another story about how he was working as a lawyer when his first book was bought by a publisher and the day before the announcement was made, a senior partner in the office called him in to upbraid him over a usage error he had made in a memo, using "verbally" when the partner thought he should use "orally." To add insult to injury, the partner sent him the book How to Write Well through inter-office mail. After the announcement, which was big news because the size of his advance was unprecedented, he went into the partner's office and said, "This book has changed my life!"

[pkhentz]

Chandrasekaran sounds interesting. Oh, there are so many books out there! And what of Amtrak? You are writing from the train... what is it like? What are the people like? I am getting ready to join the East Coast public transit world, and I am curious. How would you compare Amtrak passengers to Greyhound passengers? Airplane passengers? What about the interior comforts? I want details!

(Oh, and sorry to be so bossy and such, but you left out a letter in Julius Caesar)

[sachem_head]

Yeah, I came out of the conference with a number of books to add to my "must read" list.

I haven't ridden Greyhound much, so I don't know how I can compare. The Amtrak route between Springfield and Hartford, that I took, has to be one of the most lonely routes. Saturday morning, the train was crowded, I think because there were a lot of people heading out for what was April break for public schools in the state. But all of the other times, I was sitting in a car with half a dozen other people.

I've taken the Amtrak train to Washington D.C. before, and that was quite interesting. A lot of business passengers. Most often, when we go to NYC, we take the MetroNorth train from New Haven. New Haven's Union Station is a nice, old station, similar in feel to Grand Central, but of course, much smaller. But polished stone and lacquered wood. Springfield's Amtrak station is much more spartan and small. They have a historic train station on the other side of the tracks, but it is boarded up.