Book Festival Recap

After last year's Book Festival, when I didn't arrive until 2 p.m. and had no plan, I decided that with this year's festival, on Saturday, I would get there early and be better organized.

I got there at about 10:45 and made a plan: The Frommers, Kay Ryan, Salman Rushdie, break for Ryan and Rushdie signings, Walter Isaacson and Jon Sciezska. And my camera cord is MIA, so no pictures for now.

And aside from the signings — the line in the sales tent was massive and the signing lines were ridiculous — I hit everything I wanted to.

The Frommers — a father and daughter — told stories and travel tidbits, Kay Ryan was amusing and read old and new work, Salman Rushdie made comments about Bush's tenure in office (which I found delightfully ironic, given that Laura Bush runs the festival), Walter Isaacson talked about his new book on Albert Einstein, and Jon Sciezska basically did a stand-up comedy routine that had all the adults in tears.

For a break I lunched at the Mitsitam Cafe in the National Museum of the American Indian, and though it seemed like half the festival attendees had the same idea, had a great lunch. I had heard lots of rumblings about this place, and it definitely lived up to the hype.