Bologna updates!!

Stick with me, people. This is going to be a loooong post. Bologna has been amazing so far, and absolutely full of meetings and dinners and, of course, FOOD! (Mission: 5-lb weight gain is well under way, you'll all be happy to know!) It has been fun but utterly frenetic, which is why I've had no time to update more consistently. But with no further ado...

PICS FROM THE BOLOGNA BOOK FAIR!!

These pictures were snapped from above; I was in the little cafe that adjoined the Agents' Center, where I spent most of my time slurping down cappuccinos and meeting with my foreign publishers (more on that later). The fair looked enormous to me, although I was told that the Frankfurt Book Fair is double or triple the size (!). Ironically, although there were books, books, and more books everywhere, nobody actually had any time to read!

On Tuesday we went to the Egmont party, which was housed in a gorgeous building that used to be a church--perfect for boozing! The food was delicious but we still got dinner afterwards at an amazing wine bar, where I satisfied my ever-present craving for cured meats of all varieties.

The next night, Wednesday, the fabulous Hannah Gordon Brown, my foreign agent, organized a little dinner with some of my equally fabulous foreign publishers (from France, Holland, and Portugal). The restaurant was to-die for (oysters to start, followed by fresh tagliatelle with lobster emulsion, artichokes, and burrata, and then a swordfish and squid skewer with saffron foam-y type thing, followed by CHOCOLATE, of course)...any culture that views pasta as an appetizer is okay by me.

It was an amazing evening, partially because during the meal we received word from NYC that Before I Fall had advanced to the #6 slot on the Times bestseller list!! Champagne and much carousing ensued...

After dinner we strolled (or, um, okay, rolled, given the quantity of food we had consumed) through the gorgeous Bologna streets, and I reveled in how old and beautiful Europe always feels...

Today (Thursday) was the last day of the Fair for me...tonight it's agent bonding time with SB, and hopefully another long and elaborate meal--I'm still fitting my jeans, so obviously my time in Italy has not been sufficiently food-oriented!