Congratulations

Twenty one years ago today was a big day for me. It was the first time I was a bride's maid. Sharing the spotlight with me were my oldest sister and her new husband. They've now been married a whole person-who-could-drink. So, happy anniversary to Claudia and Peter.

Another event is occurring today that I'm very sad to miss. Everybody knows that I surrendered my job at NYPL to move here. And everybody knows that my last year at NYPL was at Great Kills and that for me it was not at all Great (Kills is pretty accurate though). But one thing made me wish I could stay, at least a little longer. Since mid-2006 through February 2008, past my official resignation of January 25, I spent a few hours each month in a room in Mid-Manhattan with a handful of very smart, funny and dedicated people talking about books. We read them; we praised them; we cursed them, we transformed them sometimes... all in the name of Books to Remember. I was lucky enough to participate on the committee for the presentation of the list in March of 2007. I met some of the authors, two of whom I presented books by. It turned out to be more fun than I could have imagined and it is the experience I am most proud to take with me.

It's almost 9 p.m. in Hong Kong. In just a few minutes, New York time, those librarians I spoke of will take the stage in one of the most recognized buildings in the world to present the Books to Remember list for 2007. They all know I wish I were there, and I know that they will give as spectacular a presentation as we gave last year. We were a good bunch together and I'll always remember the presentation as well as the monthly donut-filled meetings.

So congratulations to Abby, Tracy, Matthew, Billy, Jay, Jessica, and of course, Adele.

Here's the 2006 list.