Susan Wise Bauer's Blog, page 27

AudioFile review of The History of the Medieval World

Here's AudioFile's take on the 22.5 hour (!) audiobook version of The History of the Medieval World:

THE HISTORY OF THE MEDIEVAL WORLD :

Following on her HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD, Bauer tackles the history of the medieval world, from the fourth century through the First Crusade at the end of the eleventh century. The flowing narrative traces parallel stories through Europe, Asia, and the Americas...

BookExpo Days #2 and #3 (yawn)

What an odd show this year.

We had a number of good conversations, but although Peace Hill Press is having its best year ever, BookExpo was sloooowww. (If you're interested in comparisons, see my posts about BookExpo in 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006.)

There were way fewer crazies in the aisles this year. No writer-seeking-a-publisher with a toilet seat on his head, no dancers high-kicking through the aisles, no publicist dressed up like God. (Yeah, that was in 2007, as I recall.) And no...

BookExpo Day #1: Setting up

We arrived yesterday at the Javitz Center for BookExpoAmerica, the big annual trade book fair attended by hundreds and hundreds of publishers, all with new releases to promote. (I'll post some pictures of the first day tonight.)

We arrived on Tuesday to find our booth space looking like this:

and all of our books looking like this (side view down the aisle):

which meant that we had to unwrap all the pallets and open the boxes before we could get started with the setup.

At that point we...

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-05-23

Excited about the rain. Less exciting that it's coming down on the day we were going hiking for dh's birthday. #Getting ready to see Robin Hood with dh. HOPING for movie home run. #On the plus side for historical accuracy, Russell Crowe actually SOUNDS English– #Happy birthday, Pete! #Apparently our phone line has been fried by lightning. If you've tried to call us, better use the cell numbers instead. #Heading up to DC tomorrow for initial workshopping at the Teaching Company. #Today is an...

College plans and a picture from the gap year

Time for me to embarrass my oldest son by telling him how wonderful he is.

Final decision has been made–he'll be attending the University of Virginia this fall. (Hurrah! Within driving distance!)

But I'm even more impressed with his gap year projects; I just got this picture from his time working with a relief organization in India.

What a great kid.

Robin Hood (a rare movie review)

I don't usually do movie reviews, but ever since I mentioned that my husband and I were headed off to see Robin Hood earlier in the week, people have been asking me what I thought. I guess that's because I tell stories about history for a living. And since I'm writing about this very time and place in my ongoing world history series (Volume 3 begins in 1100, just after the First Crusade; as the movie begins, Richard the Lionhearted has just finished the Third Crusade, which took place...

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-05-16

Looking at spiral and barred spiral galaxies in the backyard observatory with my father and @davidbryan. Clear, cool, real. #Just spent tedious half hour untangling large blacksnake from strawberry netting. Am now running late, snake is free to mouse another day. #And just spent tedious two hours with vet & horse who stuck back foot through fence. This is obviously Clueless Animal Day. #Living my whole life simultaneously today: writing + online lecture + lunch with W&M dean + kids ferried...

And the semester ends.

I just hit "submit" on William & Mary's Banner Self-Service for Faculty page and sent all the grades to the registrar. The semester's over! (Pause for cheers.)

I only taught one seminar this semester: English 368, Creative Writing–Fiction. Every class is different; what really struck me about this group was that their writing actually improved over the course of the semester. And yes, that's what you aim for when you teach writing–it just doesn't always happen.

It was a small class-sixteen ...

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-05-09

Kids are in the pool. It feels like glacial runoff in there, but they don't seem to mind. #Would be posting more status updates if anything even slightly interesting were happening here. #Currently being tormented by emotionally needy border collie. #Wed nights: American Idol double feature w/husband after two long days. Conclusion after first 10 minutes: Harry Connick Jr. is an idiot. #Second AI update: Kara's an idiot too. I sense a theme emerging. #No one over the age of fifteen should...

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-05-02

Don't look now, but I might actually get out of Chicago this morning. #Hello, house! I'll say this for being stranded: it makes being home & doing laundry positively JOYFUL (temporarily, anyway). #My joy in the laundry has faded, alas. #Finished last creative writing class at W&M. Getting ready for the Smithsonian this weekend: http://tinyurl.com/2ctlwam. #Pausing in prep for highly intellectual Smithsonian lecture to observe that Galaxy Quest is the GREATEST MOVIE EVER. #Survived...