Jennifer Weiner book reading!

Jennifer Weiner drew a big crowd at the PPL
Originally uploaded by pplflickr

I'm in the last row of the audience--in all black on the right--my shirt and hair match!

I almost didn't go, and I forgot to bring my camera, but I saw Jennifer Weiner at a lunchtime benefit for the Princeton Public Library today. It would have been easy to score a picture with her too (so Jay McCarroll will have to suffice for now)! I am SO GLAD that I went. I haven't read her books for a while but she has written 8 books in 8 years and just released a new book yesterday. So I've read 3 of her 8, but the last one I read was in 2006.

She told some fun stories (being on Rachael Ray's show; meeting Rosie O'Donnell; a brief analysis of the Bachelorette among them) , then read a passage from her new book, then opened the floor to questions. She's vivacious, full of energy, witty and kind, confident but not cocky--the type of person you love to know. She graduated from Princeton U so it was very cool that she has a connection to the place. I liked her discussion of her creative process. She writes from 11-4 or 12-5 every day. It takes her 6-8 months to write a novel, then a month or two of working with someone else (can't remember the name for that person), then another month with her editor.

She was twittering and facebooking before, during, and after the presentation. She had a book signing afterward but I plan on borrowing the book from the library instead, and I needed to go back to work.

The audience was entirely female. She said at the book reading the night before, there were 3 men in the audience. She promised the men they wouldn't start menstruating until after the reading.

If you like her books, you will definitely enjoy her reading--check out her book tour schedule!

And all the pix that the official PPL photographer took are here.

It was such a fun thing to go to and really put a spring in my step afterward! I think I captured some of her energy!