I Got to See Jodi Picoult Live - for the First Time in 5.5 Years!

Jodi Picoult is one very interesting person.  I thought so 5.5 years ago, when I saw her at the Fox Theater in Redwood City, promoting her new book, Sing You Home.  And I felt the same way today. Her latest book, which came out last Tuesday, is Small Great Things.  The story is told in 3 voices:  An African-American female nurse, a Caucasian male public defender, and a VERY Caucasian father of a Skinhead.  You can probably pretty much guess what this one is about!  But she told some anecdotes from her research that were pretty jaw-dropping.

The lunchtime event at Rakestraw Books in Danville was the 1st of 2 on the day for Jodi.  Tonight she is, once again, at the Fox Theater, and once again sponsored by Kepler's.  Last time there were too many people to get my book signed.  So I figured I would go with the Rakestraw event.  It was a good call.  There were a lot of people there, but I at least got to see her and get SGT signed.

Did she have anything interesting to say?  Uh...yeah.  She told the story again of what happened when Nick Cassavetes changed the ending to My Sister's Keeper for his movie, when he swore to Jodi that he wouldn't.  If you want to get more details, you can go to my post from March 19, 2011 (just search for "Jodi Picoult").

Here are a few of the things that Jodi told us:

1.  This book, #25, is the one that actually changed her life more than any of her others!

2.  Fiction allows you to deal with issues that you don't want to deal with in real life.

3.  Jodi taught 8th grade English.

4.  She said that "The only difference between schizophrenia and writing is a paycheck."

5.  When asked (by yours truly) if she is character-driven or plot-driven, she said unhesitatingly that she is character-driven.  That's probably why I connect with most of her books (the ones, anyway, that don't center on animals).  

Michael Barnard, the owner of Rakestraw Books, introduced Jodi

Jodi is not in pain.  She just thinks the bear is so cute.

Kelly Corrigan, author of the memoir Glitter and Glue, and the person who Jodi was "in conversation" with

AUTHOR APPEARANCE:  Marty Brounstein, who I blogged about on April 30, 2016, is coming back to the area.  And if you haven't seen Marty, you should make an effort to see him.  He tells an amazing story.

Holocaust & Heroes:An evening with Speaker & Author Marty Brounstein

At Los Altos United Methodist Church,

!

Creekside Building
Wednesday, November 2, 2016 - 7:00 p.m.