Cultural Experience: Book Event with Carrie Hope Fletcher!

(Post written 18/7- thought I had posted it, but apparently not!)

(I have since read the book, and it's great! I gave my second copy away to a friend, to spread the love.)

Last Friday, I got to meet my favourite Youtuber, the ridiculously talented Carrie Hope Fletcher. She is a Youtuber, author, and my favourite, a star of musical theatre, having played Eponine in Les Mis, Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Beth in War of the Worlds, and currently playing Wednesday Addams in the Addams Family musical.

She released her newest book, All That She Can See, on Thursday. I received my first copy on Wednesday (thanks, Waterstones!) as I had preordered a copy, and had enough time to read it on my commute before the event on Friday!

I arrived around 6:45, and the queue outside the church (it was at the St James church in Piccadilly, just a few doors down from the Waterstones) was wrapping almost halfway around the church still! Doors had opened at 6pm, clearly I should have gotten there earlier. By the time I got into the church, it was almost time to start, and I had a seat about 3/4 of the way back. I did have a clear view though.

Carrie was introduced, the chair asked her some questions (some really interesting ones, and some which I kind of already knew from reading the book), and after a few questions from the audience, it was signing time! This took FOREVER. They lined up a row at a time, which meant that it was 9:30 before I even got into the line! Once in the line though, it moved fairly quickly, and before I knew it, I was in front of Carrie!

Carrie was so lovely and grateful. I (finally) managed to give her her gift, which I had intended to give to her at Addams family stage door, except she didn't come out at that time. But now she has it! I told her that it looks strange, but it goes with her tea, and that she would understand when she opened it. I hope she likes it. She also signed my second book (tickets to the event came with a copy of the book), and thanked me for buying it twice. We even got a great photo!

It was a fabulous night, and I'm so glad to have had the chance to meet her.

Cultural Experiences: An Evening with Kathy Reichs

Last night, I headed over to Waterstone's in Piccadilly for another excellent book event. This evening's was for the awesome Kathy Reichs, to celebrate the release of her first standalone novel, Two Nights.

Kathy Reichs, it turns out, has exactly the same sense of humour as her most famous character, Temperance Brennan. She is not only one of less than 100 forensic anthropologists in the world, since 1997 she has written almost 20 books in the 'Bones' series, leading to not only fame but also the longest running scripted drama on the Fox network. I personally love that fact that she really knows what she's talking about, and it doesn't talk down to you even with all the science.

The evening had a few technical glitches (microphone issues), but Kathy was funny and quite insightful as well as interesting. All her Tempe stories are influenced by real experiences she's had, which is very cool. We also had a very interesting question: "If Shroedinger's cat broke a bone, would it remodel or stay broken?" A question which stumped even her!

After the talk (during which we were told there will be a new Tempe book next year!) and the questions, there was just enough time to line up and get my book signed. Generally this signing was more serious and low-key than the others, but she was very nice. No photos this time though - nobody was taking any.

Now, I get to actually read the book!