Yes I made it form PA to the awards ceremony last night. (winners here) Jim Lehrer was the host; he asked us to think of him as a novelist first, TV guy second. “I have been a writer since I was 17 years old,” he said. “That’s a long time — a lot longer than I’ve been a pretty face on television.” He was great.
All the presenters were wonderful, and all seemed to have read and enjoyed the books they were presenting — with one exception. Steve Lopez, who is the most overrated local columnist in the city, sounded like he was reading off their back covers, repeatedly quoting New York Times book reviews. Uh, at least have the deceny to quote from the reviews of your own paper.
