Up Close and Personal With My Favorite Author

"...in my head, a person who was out walking and walking in the dark comes to a little house with a light on. Waits at the door for a moment, and then goes in finds such a welcome that she stays." Elizabeth Berg

Those words sum up my love of the author Elizabeth Berg. Last Sunday, I had the wonderful opportunity to hear her speak for the very first time at the Orland Park Library. I met my friend Laura (from Maude and Mozart) and her mom and a bunch of her friends for this talk. They had been to Panera Bread for lunch and had gotten to see and talk to Elizabeth Berg ahead of time, as she was lunching there as well. Laura has actually met Elizabeth quite a few times over the years in different capacities so they somewhat know each other. During the talk, she even mentioned Laura by name as an avid reader, and having great taste in books. How cool is that! Lucky Laura!

As a speaker, Elizabeth Berg was wonderful. I didn't know what to expect was but certainly NOT disappointed. She read from her new novel Home Safe and talked about why she wrote certain things into the novel and where her inspiration for certain scenes and characters came from. She opened the talk up to questions and comments- which was neat because through that I learned so much about her. I love that she lives in Oak Park IL (a local girl!)and that she has a love of cooking. I also loved that she also (in her earlier years) was a writer of different versions of Twas the Night Before Christmas- using her teachers as characters. I, too have done that numerous times from using the fraternity guys from when I was an ATO Little Sister, to my school with teachers and students... I enjoyed her accessibility to us an audience and fan.

Since I was super early to this event, I ended up being first in line for the signing! Elizabeth didn't seem to mind that I had 3 copies of her book to sign and took her time talking to me. One of the books went to my good friend Nancy, who lost her husband a year ago. She has not been able to read this past year, and as an avid reader, misses it terribly. Nancy is also an Elizabeth Berg fan, so I thought it was fitting to buy the new book for her and get it signed. Ironically, the new book, Home Safe, is about a widow coming to terms with her husband's death. Nancy's husband loved the water and boats and that is also important in the book. I gave the book to Nancy Wed. and she has started reading it (yea!!!) - I hope she will finish it!

As a writer, Elizabeth has that "certain something" that many writers just don't have. She can write descriptions like no other, that have literally brought me to tears. The word choices, the insights; she is an inspiration to all who write. I have actually read a few passages out of True to Form to my English classes as an example of some excellent descriptive writing. Her style of writing is like coming home after a hard day and slipping into something comfy, her words and descriptions wrapping around you like a favorite quilt.

To learn more about Elizabeth Berg, her website is http://www.elizabeth-berg.net/. It is full of information, book titles, and even some recipes!!!

If you have not read anything of hers, run to your local bookstore or library and pick a book, any book of hers up and start to read. Before you know it, you will have fallen into the stories she creates and caught up in her characters' lives.