I’ll be in Hyannis this Friday, July 9th at the Cape Code Writers Conference Breakfast with the Authors. The event will be at the Cape Codder Resort in Hyannis starting at 9:30AM. Authors Spencer Quinn and Lynn Kiele Bonasia will be there with me. Please come if you’re in the area. Click here for all the details

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Thanks Seattle, I had a great time. Flying to CA today for three events  this week.

9/10 Oakland

9/12 San Mateo

9/14 Pasadena

For all the details (locations, times, etc.), click here.

A FIsh Called Trixie

Labor Day can be a sad time in New England. Summer is over, the kids are back in school. Though fall is our prettiest season, we all realize what is coming. Last winter was a bad one where we live. We had over ninety inches of snow, a record for our coastal city. I don’t know anyone who is looking forward to winter this year.

This Labor Day, I began my book tour for the paperback version of The Lace Reader. By the time I return to New England, summer will be long gone. And, while I hate to leave those last few beach days, I am very excited by the idea of visiting new places and making new friends. So, if we haven’t met, and my tour takes me anywhere near you, please consider coming. The bookstores I’m visiting are some of the best. And we always have a lot of fun at these events.

Our first stop on the tour is Seattle. We arrived this afternoon and were given a brief but informative tour of the city. It was raining hard. While we weren’t surprised (isn’t that what it does in Seattle?) we were told that this was unusual. Mist, yes, full on rain is evidently not as common. An hour later, the rain was gone, and the streets were filled with happy people. This seems an almost perfect city.

The hotel we’re staying at is great. It’s right in the middle of the city, we can walk to just about everything. And you have to love a place that asks you upon arrival if you’d care to have a pet sent to your room. We now have a lovely goldfish named Trixie.  

Tonight (Tuesday) at 7 PM, we will be at Village Books in Bellingham. If you are in the area, please stop by.  Tomorrow we head to San Francisco.  

P.S. The back of Trixie’s name card notes that she’s able to call room service and order food so there’s no need for us to feed her. Smart fish. 

The past year was challenging for most of us on so many levels.

For me, it was also the realization of a long-held dream with the publication of The Lace Reader and the subsequent book tour that lasted four months and allowed me to meet some wonderful people along the way. It’s inspiring to travel around the country and experience the intelligence and kindness of strangers. These person-to-person contacts convince me that there’s much that we can accomplish together.

Here’s to a 2009 that’s better for all of us.

Brunonia

News Update

The Lace Reader has been chosen by Barnes and Noble as their January “New Reads” book club pick. I will be on line every day starting on the 5th. If you’d like to join the discussion, click here.  

Also, The Lace Reader has been chosen by Book Bloggers as one of the top 10 books of 2008. Below is their contemporary fiction list. To see the books in other categories, click here.

Contemporary Literature

All About Lulu by Jonathan Evison 
Gardens of Water by Alan Drew 
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson 
The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen 
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein 
The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry 
Matrimony by Joshua Henkin 
The House at Riverton by Kate Morton 
Songs for the Missing by Stewart O’Nan 
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Tonight and tomorrow night are my last scheduled public book signings in Massachusetts for 2008.

We had a wonderful event at the Borders in Peabody last night. It was a large crowd and almost everyone had read the book so it quickly turned into a lively book club meeting where we could discuss everything about “The Lace Reader. If you’d like to join the conversation, please stop by one of the events listed below.

Happy Halloween!

10/29 SALEM, MA/Cornerstone Books/Halloween Event 7pm

10/30 GLOUCESTER, MA/Bookstore of Gloucester/Speaking & Signing 7pm

The first stop on my tour was Los Angeles. Since Gary and I met in LA, and lived there for almost twenty years, it was like visiting our history, a homecoming of sorts. I always tell people that I was raised in Massachusetts but that I grew up in LA. I think that’s pretty accurate. In any case, there was a certain feeling of comfort as the plane landed at LAX, and I was thankful for it. Losing my mother has been very difficult, going to LA was a visit to a different part of my history.

With Cindy in Fullerton

We had an author’s escort, Cindy, someone who knew the bookstores well and was able to navigate the tangled freeways better than I could have. Our first stops were to sign stock. We went to many of the stores where my appearances had been cancelled due to my mother’s illness. They were incredibly understanding and welcoming. At The Mystery Bookstore in Westwood, they have a real jail register that originally came from Sacramento. All of the authors who visit sign the book, and plead their case. They ask why you were arrested. I said it was for stealing sheep. Someone once told me that my family had been kicked out of Ireland for stealing sheep. They ask for your reason. I like sheep. Simple… This is a great bookstore. If you get a chance, go by. I asked for a book to read on the plane, and they recommended a great one, exactly what I had in mind. I am never disappointed when I ask a bookstore to recommend.

The next stop was at Vroman’s in Pasadena. This was one of my favorite book stores when I lived in Los Feliz.

I then signed stock at Borders in Pasadena, another favorite haunt. We then left LA and drove down to Orange County to Fullerton to see the Red Hats. For those of you who have not read my book, the Red Hats, though minor characters play a very important role in “The Lace Reader.” I had to find a group of women, who would have been both clients at Eva’s tearoom and might have also been her friends. I needed a group strong enough to stand up to Cal Boynton and unafraid of the consequences. The Red Hats were perfect. Outrageous, fun loving, yet feisty, they act as a bit of a Greek Chorus in my story.

The event was at the Red Hat Society Store in Fullerton. It was my first public appearance since my mother died, and, frankly, I wasn’t certain how I would do when I started to speak. But the store itself has a way of lifting one’s spirits: Pink couches, purple boas, red lace gloves. A wild and beautiful place, this was definitely a different world. It drew me in completely.

I was introduced to Sue Ellen Cooper, the founder of the Red Hats and their Exalted Queen Mother. She directed me to sit next to her. She knew about my mother and expressed her condolences. And then something strange happened. In a wonderfully hypnotic reversal, I became almost a character in my own book, and, just as they were able to do with the grieving woman in “The Lace Reader, the Red Hatters surrounded me and made me smile and laugh for the first time in many weeks. I will be forever grateful that my first event after Mom’s passing was with these lovely and spirited women.

After Fullerton, it was on to the Borders in Torrance to sign more stock, then a quick stop in Redondo Beach where I met Terry Gilman, one of the owners of Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego. She was great, and I signed some stock for the store. I’ve made a note to make sure I get to the Mysterious Galaxy when I’m down in San Diego in October.

I have two events in the coming days that I’m very much looking forward to as I haven’t visited any portion the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Katrina or the recent hurricanes. If you are in the area, please stop by as I’d love to hear firsthand from residents what life is now like in this storied and unique part of our country.

9/25 NEW ORLEANS, LA/Garden District Bookshop/Speaking & Signing 5 PM

9/26 JACKSON, MS/Lemuria Books/Speaking & Signing 5 PM

My mother, June Welch Barry, passed away Saturday morning. My brother, my husband, and I were all at her bedside. My mother had the misfortune of being diagnosed with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis at the early age of 45. She courageously and uncomplainingly battled the disease for an astonishing 37 years. Eventually, RA took from her the use of her hands, feet, arms, and legs, until she could no longer walk, dress, feed or care for herself. Her specialist deemed it one of the worst cases of RA that they had ever seen.

As her daughter, I saw both her distress and her dignity. I was lucky enough to see her almost every day for the last three years of her life and, before that, to act as a part-time caregiver. These last weeks, many of our family held vigil with my mother. Her friends came from all over to sit at her bedside to share stories of their time with June and what it meant to them.

Time can steal those things which are subject to its laws. But it has no sway over the heart. Hers was strong, heroic, silly, and loving. My sadness is broken by the dreams I have of her now, healthy once more. I see her dancing with my father to some old favorite tune, some Fred and Ginger favorite. She is graceful and happy.

One of June’s last wishes was for me to return to the book tour as soon as possible. My mother was an inspiration for The Lace Reader, very much like Eva, very much a lady in the old sense but with a special gift for predicting the future. She didn’t read lace, but she could often tell the future. She told me early on that this book would do well, and it has.

Though it is difficult, and I’m not sure how to do it, I am heading out tonight confident that my mother’s inspiration will guide me.

On the day before I was to head out West, my mother, June, became seriously ill. She is now in hospice care and I am staying with her for the duration.

I was so looking forward to meeting everyone in Seattle, Bellingham, and the San Francisco Bay area. I hope that we can see each other sometime in the near future.

So much is uncertain right now that I can’t say when things will resume but when more is known, I’ll announce it here.

Thanks in advance for understanding.

Brunonia

For the last month, I’ve logged over 2,000 miles driving around the New England area to bookstores and libraries for events. I’ve kept a photo diary of these events, click here if you’d like to see it.

However, for the next three weeks, I’ll take to the air and head out to the West coast.

Here are the first two stops on the West coast tour:

    9/7 Seattle, WA at the Seattle Public Library (Secret Garden Bookshop) on Sunday at 2PM

    9/8 Bellingham, WA at Village Books on Monday at 7PM

I’ll be speaking, signing, and taking questions so please stop by if you can.

After Washington state, I’ll be in the San Francisco Bay area and in and around Los Angeles. Then I’m off to Colorado, Arizona, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

Click here for my full book tour schedule and all of the details.

I hope to see you soon.