What did my Sister Merrill do on Her Visit to me Last Weekend?

It's tough visiting someone running a bookstore, unless you really love hanging out in bookstores. Last weekend, my sister Merrill visited me from Arizona. You guess the rest.

On Saturday, we had Dava Sobel for one of her many Milwaukee appearances. She also did a great show at the Milwaukee Public Museum, and then there was that great show with Galileo's Daughters. We learned that Sobel is working on a play about Copernicus (there really isn't enough material for a full book) and she also has a nonfiction idea for a book that's just great, but I won't reveal here, in case someone tries to steal it.

It turns out that Sobel commissioned some illustrations for The Planets that were left out by her new editor at the last minute. After the book had disappointing sales in hardcover, they included them in the paperback.

On Sunday, Merrill helped us with our Ralph Nader event. She helped with chairs--our lift was just like the one they use for moving theater chairs. (Merrill's note: "And my old catering days. Don't forget that.") She's also quite a good schmoozer, having good conversations with both authors and numerous customers.

I assigned Merrill bathroom duty, but it turned out that we didn't have to close the store because we didn't hit our capacity and therefore she was off the hook. Sales were above expectations, however, and Mr. Nader was grateful that we ordered aggressively.

In between, she read. I was a bit jealous. She finished up Kate Christensen's Trouble ("Boy, all her characters sure are thin and beautiful.") and then jumped right into Paul Rudnick's I Shudder. We also had some nice meals at Beans and Barley, Honeypie, and our fancy meal at Crazy Water. We both admired the cookbook shelf at Honeypie. I wish I'd taken a picture.

Being a good sister, Merill also bought some things to take home with her including:

This is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper

The Hour Between, by Sebastian Stuart

Blame, by Michelle Huneven

and after watching the event:

Galileo's Daughter, by Dava Sobel.

Oh, and a snappy pair of reading glasses.

And finally, Merrill would like to say hi to Denise in Brisbane (or thereabouts) who I'm told is a regular reader of this blog. Hi also from me.