Tomorrow I leave for a book tour of Germany, Austria, and Italy. Let me type that again:
GERMANY! AUSTRIA! ITALY! ME!
WHOO-HOO!
I am up to my lederhosen in excitement, baby.
I’ve never been to Germany and Austria, and I don’t think repeated viewings of “The Sound of Music” count. For the past two hours I’ve been trying to figure out how and what to pack for a two-week trip. I’m not a terribly economical packer. I tend to err on the side of “But I might need rainbow toe socks and a pair of galoshes and a simple green dress with an apron so that I might twirl on a mountainside while singing about the hills being alive with the sound of music.” (You know I really, really, really want to do that. As a child, I pondered becoming a nun for a nanosecond, even though I’m not Catholic, just because I wanted to be Julie Andrews. Honestly, who didn’t?) In my head, I need lots of scarves and sunglasses and a trench coat and a cigarette holder even though I don’t smoke. I need a hat. Several hats. A trunk full of hats. I need hair gel so that I can look like David Bowie on the cover of “Low.” I’ve been walking around the house singing “Falling in Love Again” in my best Marlene Dietrich voice because “I caahn’t help it.”
The truth is, I need comfortable shoes and a lot of clean underwear and to stop scaring my family by living my life as if it is a foreign movie and I am a world-weary femme fatale. And yet, I have packed many scarves. This is how I roll.
*Sigh* How do you solve a problem like Maria?
Anyhoo, here are the public readings:
Saturday, October 18: Frankfurt Book Fair 2008
3.00-4.00 pm: Public reading: FOCUS Forum Hörbuch, 4.1., audiobook-speaker Julia Nachtmann, presentation: Tanya Lieske, Deutschlandfunk
Tuesday, October 21: Tübingen and Speyer
11.00-12.30 pm: Public reading Deutsch Amerikanisches Institut Tübingen, Karlstr. 3, 72072 Tübingen
Wednesday, October 22: Leipzig
6.30-8.00 pm: Public reading Lehmanns Buchhandlung, Grimmaische Str. 10, 04109 Leipzig
Thursday, October 23: Leipzig – Wien
7.30-9.00 pm: Public reading: Lhotzkys Literaturbuffet, Taborstr. 28, 1020 Wien →
Friday, October 24.: Vienna and Nürnberg
7.00 pm-8.30 pm: Public reading: Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut Nürnberg, Gleißbühlstr. 13, 90402 Nürnberg
I don’t have info on the public reading in Rome yet, but I think it will be Sunday, October 26th. I’ll have my computer with me and will be posting as often as I can.
So if you’re across the pond and can make any of these readings, please come on down. I may or may not be wearing sunglasses and a hat, but no matter what I’m wearing, I’d love to see you.