J K Rowling Live in New York-- A Recap

I have not talked about J K Rowling's new novel Casual Vacancy here for a few reasons.

1. I didn't feel the need since everyone else was writing about it. I mean you had to be living under a rock to miss its release.
2. I am still mad at the publisher for gouging us by charging $35 list for it.  Libraries get a small discount, but we need multiple copies of the book. 
3. Finally, I was equally upset by the fact that I had to pay $35 for a book that would not be reviewed before I ordered it.  I was going to get it despite the reviews since it was going to be a #1 best seller and we always buy those.  Case in point, we did not buy 50 Shades of Grey at first because it got bad reviews, but once it was #1, we bought it (7 copies to be exact).  Click here for more on that. Back to Casual Vacancy though, just because I had to buy it doesn't mean I don't deserve to know what I am getting. That was just rude.

Please note, most of these reasons have nothing to do with Ms. Rowling and everything to do with her publishers.  

That being said, Rowling's only live appearance in the US happened on Tuesday night in Lincoln Center when she had a conversation on stage with Ann Patchett.  So today I include two reports on the event. 

• Lev Grossman, TIME's book critic and the author of the New York Times bestselling novels The Magicians and The Magician King which have been called "Harry Potter for adults," was there and posted this detailed recap of the evening.
• Jenny Che from the New York Daily News' book blog Page Views also had this report.