The Whirlwind Social Life of the Bookblogger

New York-based publishers, please note: If you're going to throw your authors a book party, I highly recommend The Works. This "non profit, full-service catering and events planning organization" is the latest charitable venture from the folks at Housing Works, and based on the spread they put out to celebrate the publication of Dianne Jacob's Will Write for Food, they've got a good thing going. (I especially liked the skewered guava-lime glazed shrimp with little slices of kiwi, but Gothamist's bar specialist, Martha Burzynski, made sure I tried the cheesecake, for which I am eternally grateful.) The scene turned out very bloggish: At one point I was chatting with both Andrew Hearst and Elizabeth Spiers. And I also ran into Ellen Geiger of the Frances Goldin Literary Agency, who spotted my nametag and came over to tell me how excited one of her authors, Kris Radish, was about having written an essay that will appear on this site next week.

Then I had to dash off to the Bubble Lounge, where Robin Epstein and Renée Kaplan were having a party for their first novel, Shaking Her Assets. I hadn't even made it to the bar to get my first glass of champagne before I ran into a bunch of authors, including Alison Pace and Nic Kelman. Then, on my way to say hello to Robin, I ran into Em and Lo, who I hadn't seen in ages, and they introduced me to Melissa Kirsch, who co-created the "Girls On" website back in the '90s and then went on to Oxygen (which is how she knows Robin); these days she's finishing up what sounds like it'll be an entertaining girl's guide to everything. And then Suzanne Dottino, the director of KGB's fiction night, walked past, which reminded me that she'll actually be reading at KGB tonight with Rivka Bernstein and Mike Harvkey.