" Mississippi Shines in New Orleans"

What a beautiful day we had for our trip to New Orleans! Sunny and 70 degrees ! I did a little photo shooting around The Garden District which I plan to post later. Today's post is all Kathryn!

What a precious, beautiful young woman! Hubby thought she was so much like our Baby Girl
Melanie, in looks, size and personality! She is really humorous! Every ounce of one hundred pounds( probably wears a zero or less). Talk about petite, I felt like a size 14 Amazon!

Hubby rarely smiles for a photo, but he was loving this, even though he's not grinning!

WOW! She was awesome in her reading and her questions segment! I learned a lot of information that is going to make it easy for me to interview her. Some, I can't wait to tell you! Her Grandfather Stockett,

who is 98 years old, was Eudora Weltys' next door neighbor. She has a wonderful story about the two of them I will have her share in the interview!

She drew a great turnout for the reading and most had already read the book! The Bookshop

served wine, soft drinks, bottled water, cheese and crackers and.................chocolate dipped strawberries!

" The Help" has only been released to the public for three weeks, it is already being translated in thirteen different languages!! Didn't I tell you this book was something real Special !!!

The translator in Italy called her to say she is having trouble with "y'all"!

Australia has declared it: " The Read of the Year "!

Do you hear OPRAH calling ?? I Do!

Kathryn honey..........take good care of that wrist as you are in danger of getting carpel tunnel in it before the second printing!

We had a wonderful time........

I want to thank my local bookseller Diane Shepherd @ Main Street Books in Hattiesburg

for her generosity in giving me her Advanced Reader Copy of "The Help" to read while I waited for the book to arrive at her store. I also got it signed and I might just give it away after the interview!

So........being that I carried my two copies with me to Garden District Books, I showed my gratitude for their support of Kathryn by shopping in their wonderful bookstore!

Trust me they came out much better than had I just purchased Kathryn's book !

" Today's The Day"

Today we will be traveling down to New Orleans which is a one and half hours drive, to meet Kathryn Stockett, Author of "The Help"who has a reading and signing at Garden District Book Shop this evening. This is a wonderful book shop in the GardenDistrict of New Orleans, a magical place filled with old Victorian houses and quaint shops. We plan to browse around the French Market, eat an early dinner at one of the great restaurants in The French Quarter, maybe The Court of Two Sisters, which is one of my favorites, and then enjoy an evening with Kathryn reading from her wonderful book!

Thank you all so much for your response to " It's Now or Never"! I have to confess though that the post was totally fiction! I wish I had dreamed it! It is the beginning of a fiction short story I began a couple of days ago that I wanted to share with you.I threw the dream thing in for fun! I do dream( awake) of going to Monroeville and being fortunate enough to meet Harper Lee, but I must confess, I would probably be exactly like I am in the story, petrified! It would to me, be
like Dorothy meeting the Wizard in OZ !



Carolyn@ Mountain Musings wrote me that she is losing sleep reading " The Help"because it is one of the best books she's read in years, can't wait to finish,but doesn't want it to end!
Carolyn, I forwarded your comments to Kathryn.


After hearing that I was criticized by another blogger for losing sleep to finish " The Help",
Carolyn Jourdan, author of " Heart in the Right Place " wrote: " I feel sorry for anyone whose has never gotten hold of a good book that kept them up late reading". My sentiments exactly!
I can't count the nights I've stayed up reading, sometimes till daylight. I believe is an authors dream to write a book so good, the reader can't sleep because of wanting to read what happens next!! Who among you has never stayed up late reading?

Look to your right at the bookshelf....this thing is pretty awesome! Put your mouse on the book for an editorial review of the book. If you get one, load as many books as you can while you are setting it up, I have not been able to get it to load more books since the initial setup.