Once more: meeting Maggie

Dear Reader,

A few weekends ago, Maggie Stiefvater came back to London for a book signing. It has been a while and she's come out with a couple of new books (3 to be exact) in the mean time. And so of course, I went to see her again (aside: if you  don't remember the last time, dear Reader, then just click here) to get the new ones signed too. Because it was such short notice, I wasn't able to coerce any of my friends to come with me (they're all busy with their fancy jobs or are preparing for exams) so I took my younger brother, Codename: Monkey, with me instead. I just want to take a moment now to say thanks to Waterstones for arranging the whole thing in their gorgeous store and for having such friendly staff, who took the picture below.

We talked a bit about her blog, writing and finding critique partners. I also gave her one of my favourite books as a gift (its the pink/purple book that can be seen in the picture above). It's Shelina Z. Janmohamed's autobiography, the only book I've read  recently that I think define's me as a person and what I believe in. Maggie really appreciated the gift and I hope she enjoys it as much as I did.

Maggie's latest book is Raven Boys, which I'm sure I've mentioned before on this blog. I didn't own a copy of it so buying that, and a few other books (I couldn't help it), was the first thing I did when I got there.

And this is what it looks like on the inside:

Anyway, since I was among the first few to get me books signed, I also received this little specially drawn and signed Raven:

I wasn't really sure what I was meant to do with it, so I turned it into a book mark, complete with red beads and a black-heart...

And then wrote the date of the signing on the back...

I haven't read Raven Boys yet. Let me know if you, dear reader, have and what you thought of it or if you plan to read it. If you have no idea what the Raven Boys is about, here's the trailer that Maggie Stiefvater made, I think it was last year.

After the signing, my sweet not-so-little Monkey gave me a treat for being the bestest, most nicest sister in the world (my words, not his). He had bought tickets so the two of us could go watch the new Oz: the Great and Powerful on the cinema within that shopping centre. It's a prequel to the Wizard of Oz, which had been one of my favourites as a child. Oz: the Great and Powerful was a surprisingly fun film and exceeded my expectation (though they weren't all that high to begin with), and I generally ended up having a great time. 

Nida