Intrepid book lover Sue K. Dittmar  went to the Bobby Flay event the other night, and here’s what she says. Sounds like Bobby might be tired of book signings. Sue facilitates three book discussions and she just did one on “The Glass Castle,” a very readable page-turner. But could a person really remember all the details from her early years?

 From Sue Dittmar:  I attended the Bobby Flay event at Left Bank Books last night (May 8). He
was in town to plug his eighth cookbook, “Bobby Flay’s Grill It!” I have to
tell you I was really looking for to this. I saw the date and marked it on
my calendar along with Alton Brown’s and Robin Miller’s visits.

  I was disappointed. Very disappointed. Maybe I was looking for something
more exciting but Bobby Flay let me down. The store was all decked out with
a GREAT window display and the staff in snazzy aprons. Bobby wasn’t going to
do any speaking just signing of his cookbooks. Okay, so we waited in line
and as we made our way through I found out we could at least have our
picture taken with him. When it was my turn he barely made eye contact,
didn’t even greet me, just signed the books. If I hadn’t said anything I
doubt he would have even looked up! I can’t help but compare him to Alton
Brown who stood, shook your hand, listened to what you said and thanked you
for coming. I should point out Alton did pose for pictures too. I felt like
he cared I was there. Maybe Bobby was tired from his earlier signing at Plaza Frontenac at the Sur La Table store but gee whiz!

  I would say there were at least a hundred people in line. It was hard to
tell because the line snaked through the store, out the door and down the
sidewalk. People were arriving all the time. I did enjoy hearing him on ‘St.
Louis On The Air’ with Donn Marsh. He seemed relaxed and someone who would
be easy to talk with. I particularly enjoyed his comments about Iron Chef
America and the secret ingredient that threw him for a loop. It was onion.
To paraphrase Bobby, onions are never used as center of plate. What can you
come up with besides french onion soup and a bloomin’ onion? He did lose
that contest. I was interested to hear Bobby was having a new show on Food
Network sometime in July. I like the new cookbook. It is arranged by
ingredient. Next time you have a signing Bobby, take a few tips from Alton.
You could have at least smiled.

  On a better note, I lead a discussion on “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette
Walls on Wednesday (May 7) at McClay Library, branch of the St. Charles
City-County Library System. This group has been meeting for the better part
of 8 years. While you could go on the internet and hear what Jeannette has
to say about this book and her childhood, I was more impressed by what my
members said. They felt this was a responsible memoir and not something
sensational. Jeannette had a pretty wild childhood to put it mildly but how
do we know if what she said truly happened? Do you remember what you were
doing at the age of 3? What about your siblings? But aren’t memoirs life as
we remember it. Yes, our brother, sister, or father may have been there at
the same time but they probably remember it differently. This is the second
time reading this book.

 This first time I must have been in a bad mood
because I truly hated it. I thought the parents were irresponsible and the
kids were the true heroes. Now with the second reading, I have a slightly
better perspective. I want to understand why the parents were so lacking but
the kids became much stronger people despite the parents. They knew they had
to get out and they fought to get out. Great discussion with an interesting
book.

   Till the next author….

  Sue Dittmar