Tag / Anderson’s Bookshop

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Book 37 (of 52) – Nineteen Steps

Nineteen Steps – Millie Bobby Brown

A young woman coming of age in war-torn London during World War II deals with both love and loss.  She loses an aunt and uncle in a bombing raid by the Germans before losing her father and baby sister in a tragic accident.  Eventually, she is reunited with her beloved, an American airman, and heads off for a life in America.

Nineteen Steps is attributed to Millie Bobby Brown but was ghostwritten by Kathleen McGurl.  The story is based on Brown’s family history and includes many true events, including the stampede that killed over a thousand people at the tube station used as a shelter during the air raids.  I ordinarily wouldn’t have read this type of novel, but a book signing with Brown at Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up.

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Fitbit IX – Week 35

A successful week, garnering my highest step total since my trip to Seattle back in June.  Despite a trip out to Anderson’s Bookshop to meet Millie Bobby Brown, Sunday ended up a disappointment, needing 2 additional steps just to get to 2600.  Monday saw a nice improvement, coming 27 steps shy of 5400 thanks in part to a lunch trip to the mall.  A post-work trip to Wrigley Field, my final visit of the regular season, pushed me up over 8300 steps on Tuesday.  Wednesday fell back down to a now-normal 4000 steps.  Thursday also came in just over 4000 steps, despite a 2-hour drive to Lafayette after work.  Friday turned into my second 10,000 step day of the year, finishing just 15 steps shy of 11,700 thanks to a remote working day followed by Purdue football losing once again to Wisconsin.  A morning walk about campus followed by breakfast with Danny before heading home led to 4200 steps on Saturday.

Total steps: 40,262

Daily average: 5751.7

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Book 15 (of 52) – A Little Closer To Home

A Little Closer To Home: How I Found The Calm After The Storm – Ginger Zee

Ginger Zee, chief meteorologist for ABC, checks back in with the follow-up to her 2017 memoir.   This time around, she digs deeper into some of the other issues swirling around and mixed up in her depression: two suicide attempts, divorce, anorexia, rape, and an abortion, among other things.  She also gives insight into how, after years of avoiding her emotions and her mental health, she has used therapy to dig into her issues and, years later, finding the interconnectedness of the things that have happened in her life and how she has reacted.

A Little Closer To Home gives Zee another outlet to tell her tale of recovery and how, even today, she continues to dive into her past and look for ways to improve.  Thanks to the fine folks at Anderson’s Bookshop, I was able to participate in a Zoom call with her where she dove deeper into some of these topics and the need to normalize taking care of and seeking help for our mental health.

Ironically, four years ago, I read Ginger Zee’s first memoir back-to-back with her ABC News co-worker Dan Harris’ first book on meditation.  This year, I switched it up by fitting two books in between their respective second efforts, though Harris has recently left ABC.

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Book 2 (of 52) – Embrace Your Weird

Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears And Unleash Creativity – Felicia Day

Felicia Day returns with Embrace Your Weird, a self help book aimed at getting readers to overcome their fears about being creative and completing something (anything).  Aside from Day’s personal anecdotes and self-learned wisdom, she provides numerous exercises intended to nurture each reader’s unique, creative voice. If I was looking to expand my creative activities, I could see myself partaking of the activities and having them make a difference in my ability to move forward.

More important than the book itself was the opportunity meet Felicia Day at an event put on by the good folks at Anderson’s Bookshop.  Unlike the previous events they’ve put on that I’ve attended, this one included the opportunity for a photo with the author.  I’ve been a fan of Day’s since her appearances as one of the potential slayers in the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so getting the opportunity to shake her hand and exchange some small talk in exchange for a photo was well worth the drive out to Naperville on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

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Book 12 (of 52) – I’ll Be Gone In The Dark

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search For The Golden State Killer – Michelle McNamara

Writer Michelle McNamara became interested in a serial killer she would dub the Golden State Killer, writing an article for Los Angeles magazine in 2013.  She was working on turning that article into a full fledged book when she died unexpectedly in 2016.  McNamara’s widower, comedian Patton Oswalt, hired crime writer Paul Haynes and investigative journalist Billy Jensen to help finish the book, and I’ll Be Gone In The Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search For The Golden State Killer was finally released earlier this year.  In the book, McNamara lays out her case that numerous unsolved cases throughout California, attributed to the Original Night Stalker, the East Area Rapist, and the Diamond Knot Killer, were all the work of the same person.

In an interesting twist, Oswalt, Haynes, and Jensen did an appearance through Anderson’s Bookshop on April 23, which I attended to get an autographed copy of the book.  At the end of the talk, Oswalt seemed confident that the identity of the Golden State Killer would be uncovered one day.  Little did he know that the next day, Sacramento police would announce that they had made an arrest and that 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo, a former police officer, had been identified as the Golden State Killer.

 

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An Evening With Anna Kendrick

annakLast night, I headed out to Naperville to pick up a signed book and a Q&A with Anna Kendrick for her new tome, Scrappy Little Nobody.  Greta Johnsen, co-host of the WBEZ’s Nerdette Podcast, was on hand to moderate the evening’s festivities, in which Kendrick charmed the audience with tales from the book and how to strive for success after “making it”.  The two went back and forth for about an hour, with Kendrick apologizing to Jesus for cursing in the church where the event took place.

This was my second experience with a signing run through Anderson’s Bookshop, and the first since Adam Carolla came to town in 2014.  Other than paying full retail for the book and a small screw up in ordering tickets which led to me buying the last ticket and attending alone, everything ran smoothly and was worth the effort of heading out to the western suburbs after work.  I’ll continue to keep an eye out to see if they have anyone else interesting coming through town.

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Autographed Books – President Me

presmeWe continue our look at the hardcover books I’ve gotten autographed over the years with President Me by Adam Carolla.  This collection of rants from the Adam Carolla Show podcast goes over the things the Aceman would change were he to become President of these United States.

During the book tour, Adam did a Q&A and book signing in Naperville in conjunction with Anderson’s Bookshop.  Purchasing the book from them got me a spot in the autograph line for a quick meet and greet and photo, along with the autographed book.

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An Evening With The Aceman

BoXcGxEIUAASUD_Friday night, I headed out to Naperville for a book signing and Q&A for Adam Carolla’s new release, President Me.  Richard Roeper was on hand to moderate the evening’s festivities, which, for listeners of Carolla’s podcast, were mostly a rehash of things talked (or complained) about on the show.  The two went back and forth for about 45 minutes, before Carolla headed to the lobby to sign books.  He’s got this down to a science at this point, with a professional photographer on hand to take pictures of everyone and Adam signing each book standing up to keep the line moving.

This was my first experience with a signing run through Anderson’s Bookshop, which seems to hold something all of the time.  Other than paying full retail for the book, everything ran smoothly and was worth the effort of heading out to the western suburbs after work.  I’ll keep an eye out to see if they have anyone else interesting coming through town.