Signed Books, and Barry Manilow
Dec. 15th, 2008 08:33 amI told MP that I would probably be posting this, so first, let me begin by saying how I feel about getting signatures.
I've never been the kind who cares much about celebrity. Those people who ooooh and ahhhh over Tom Cruise or Brittany Spears? They're just people, folks. They get paid more than us, but they're still just people. I'm more interested in whether or not they're nice to other people.
Authors can be the same way. I'm not going to stand in line to get Dan Brown's signature. Yeah, he's famous. He makes more money than I do. Woo. Do I respect him or his work? Well, I've never read anything of his yet, and I don't know him at all.
I do have some signed books....but they're mostly signed by people I know and like. That has some meaning to me. (I also have a book signed by PD James, whose work I do admire, but I seem to have purchased it that way.) Collecting signatures just for the sake of signatures is...odd...to me.
So, I present for your perusal, two incidents in my personal life, the polar ends of fame, both of which really stuck with me. ( Read more... )
In fact I'm bidding on some signed books on the HelpVera site. Because I know, like, and admire the author...and this is a good way to both contribute and get something cool at the same time. And my old copies of the books? I'll pass them on to someone else....
I've never been the kind who cares much about celebrity. Those people who ooooh and ahhhh over Tom Cruise or Brittany Spears? They're just people, folks. They get paid more than us, but they're still just people. I'm more interested in whether or not they're nice to other people.
Authors can be the same way. I'm not going to stand in line to get Dan Brown's signature. Yeah, he's famous. He makes more money than I do. Woo. Do I respect him or his work? Well, I've never read anything of his yet, and I don't know him at all.
I do have some signed books....but they're mostly signed by people I know and like. That has some meaning to me. (I also have a book signed by PD James, whose work I do admire, but I seem to have purchased it that way.) Collecting signatures just for the sake of signatures is...odd...to me.
So, I present for your perusal, two incidents in my personal life, the polar ends of fame, both of which really stuck with me. ( Read more... )
In fact I'm bidding on some signed books on the HelpVera site. Because I know, like, and admire the author...and this is a good way to both contribute and get something cool at the same time. And my old copies of the books? I'll pass them on to someone else....