The National Book Festival

Yesterday, my eldest daughter and I took the Metro in to DC to experience the National Book Festival. Although the ride was ridiculously long (thanks to some weekend track work), the trip was more than worth it. It was interesting and fun, and we're both glad that we went.

Now 14, my daughter has loved books literally since she was a baby. At 5 months, she would sit contentedly in her baby swing or high chair with a book, turning the pages and looking at the pictures. When her mother or I put her in her crib, we would give her books because she preferred them over toys. She was reading independently at the age of four, and she has seldom been without a book since. So, when her English Literature teacher suggested that she attend the Book Festival, my daughter did not require a lot of convincing.

We attended presentations by five different authors, and experienced a remarkable variety of approaches and styles. We saw one popular author of books for young people who seemed rather shy in front of the crowd, and spoke for just a few minutes before accepting questions from the audience. (To his dismay, it seemed as though each of his young fans had a variation of the same question: "How did you come up with the idea for [some favorite character or plot device or story]?") We also saw one novelist who seemed to take herself and her work much too seriously - but it was a worthwhile experience for my daughter and me to hear her perspective.

The most entertaining writer we heard was Christopher Buckley. He spoke about the difficulty of finding a good title, and he did so in a tremendously funny manner. Unfortunately, he did get crude a couple of times, as humorists tend to do - and that was the only thing that prevented me from buying a copy of his book in the Book Sales Pavilion (I don't like paying people to cuss at me). I'll get a copy from the library, and if it's good, then I'll be willing to buy his books in the future. But I digress.

The most interesting author my daughter and I saw was Robert Remini, the historian of the U.S. House of Representatives. He came across as a humble gentleman and a true scholar with a genuine, heartfelt passion for his subject. I'm not generally a big reader of history books, but I strongly suspect that anything Dr. Remini wrote would be worth reading.

Of course, one of the things that made the Festival particularly special was the location - the National Mall. I've lived in this area for just a year now, and I've only been in DC a few times. So it is still a thrill for me to stand where I can look to the east and see the U.S. Capitol, then look to the west and see the Washington Monument - knowing that just beyond is the reflecting pool and then the Lincoln Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial just a little to the south. Magnificent.

My thanks go to the Library of Congress for putting this together, and to the First Lady for hosting it. And a tip of the hat to the organizations that sponsored the event (most notably Target - another reason not to shop at Wal-Mart, but that's a subject for another time). And if you have any interest in reading and / or writing, then I commend the festival to you: If you should ever have an opportunity to go, by all means take it.