Today is definitely Book Day.

I woke up, grabbed Ray’s leash and my Kindle. And lo and behold while I slept Ann Leary’s new book, “The Children” that I pre-ordered months ago had downloaded.

And not a moment too soon. Tonight I’m going to Barnes & Noble where Ann will be reading from that book. It’s kind of a book party and I’m invited along with a lots of celebs.

I just realized that I have a bunch of different things to say about all this.

When I was a little girl I adored Nancy Drew. The second the bookshop near me had a one cent sale, buy one Nancy Drew book for 99 cents and you get a second book for a penny my father would give me a dollar and I’d run to the store in absolute ecstasy.

If I’d have known Caroline Keene personally I’d have gone crazy with glee.

Of course since then I’ve learned that Caroline Keene is a pseudonym for a group of authors who wrote the Nancy Drew series but that isn’t the point.

Now me at parties. I have a terrible personality in person. I babble on and say weird things to people when I first meet them. I have absolutely no gift for small talk which brings me to how I got to know Ann Leary as a writer.

I really liked her in theory.

She is a very good friend of  Julie’s and one of the people that can make Julie laugh. She is also is really kind.

When Julie found a thin pit bull on the street and was calling all over to find someone to take it in Ann said “Bring him here. I’ll take him until we can find a place for him.” I had to love her for that.

She did have one thing against her. She’s married to Denis Leary.

In spite of the fact that through my ex husband’s music I had met many famous people I always got tongue tied and said nutty things whenever I was in their presence.

I had actually paid money to see Denis perform in Atlantic City so I really hoped not to be anywhere near him for Julie’s sake. Which explains how I came to read an Ann Leary book.

Ann and Denis made a lovely book party at their home for Julie  when she wrote “You Had Me At Woof “. Another reason to love Ann. After the party everyone went to the local book store for a reading.

At their house I mumbled some inappropriate comments to both Ann and Denis and I think one of their kids so by the time we were at the book store I was all red and  sweaty and decided to lay low.

I sat on a chair in the corner trying to hide when I noticed a display of Ann’s books. I picked up “An Innocent, A Broad” and started to read it and I couldn’t put it down.

From then on I read every word she’s written.

I finally had my very own Carolyn Keene.

And I’m not the only one who values specific writers.

Why just this morning I was on Twitter when I read a tweet from a book lover. It was to Karen Gravano, the daughter of Sammy “the Bull” Gravano, best known for ratting on the mob. It seems she “wrote” a book about her famous father.

The tweet said,

Into bed & catch up reading #mobdaughter on ibook by @KarenGravanoVH1 first book iv actually ever enjoyed 🙈❤️👏🏼

So there Mark Twain!

Gotta go. I’m going to write some bon mots on the inside of my arm in case someone talks to me at the party tonight.