February 9-13: Adriana Trigiani [ Edited ]

[Bethanne]

We have the perfect author on hand to warm up your pre-Valentine's Day week: Adriana Trigiani, the bestselling and well-loved creator of the "Big Stone Gap" novels. Adriana's latest addition to her long queue of books is the aptly named Very Valentine. 

Critics from the Washington Post to the New York Times to People magazine have described Adriana's novels as "tiramisu for the soul,""sophisticated and wise," and "dazzling." While critics agree that "her novels are full bodied and elegantly written," Adriana's fans play a key role in making each book a success.

It isn't rare to find Adriana chatting to book clubs several evening each month from her New York City home. Adriana adores her fans, and their passion for this author is mutual.

Her books are also internationally popular. LUCIA,LUCIA was selected as 2004's best read in England by Richard and Judy, and the book was also named 8th in Britain on the 2004 Associated Press' list of"World's Best Sellers - Books." Her cross-cultural popularity is proven in the fact that her titles have been translated and published in over thirty foreign countries.

After graduating from Saint Mary's College in South Bend, Indiana, Adriana moved to New York City to become a playwright. She founded the all-female comedy troupe "The Outcasts," which performed on the cabaret circuit for seven years. She made her off-Broadway debut as a playwright at the Manhattan Theatre Club and was produced in regional theatres of note around the country.

Fans can also expect to see Adriana's work on the big screen, as final preparations are underway to produce her BIG STONE GAP screenplay, which she has written and will direct.

Adriana is married to Tim Stephenson, the Emmy award-winning lighting designer of The Late Show with David Letterman. They live in New York City with their daughter.

Perhaps one popular book critic said it best:"Trigiani defies categorization. She is more than a one-hit wonder, more than a Southern writer, more than a woman's novelist. She is an amazing young talent."

Message Edited by Bethanne on 01-22-2009 07:23 PM

Message Edited by Bethanne on 01-22-2009 07:28 PM

[Bethanne]

Adriana, I've just finished Very Valentine -- I can't wait to hear if others have, too. I have lots of questions, but I'll start with just one. How many trips to Italy did it take to research this novel?

Welcome to Center Stage!

Bethanne 

[momgee]

Adriana, welcome, welcome, welcome. Your latest book is so fabulous! I recevied an arc from you back in the fall for which I would like to profusely thank you again. When I posted the review on my blog, all the comments I got were how great a writer you are and they were so looking forward to reading Very Valentine. Then I read Lucia, Lucia, and reviewed that and got the same respone. Several people told me they cried after the death of one of the characters(trying to avoid spoilers) and how much your books had touched them.I think we all came to the conclusion that no one can write about families as well as you do. You just get to the heart of every character. I love your descriptions, they are always so evocative. If anyone hasn't ordered this book, do yourself a favor and please get it. You will not want to put it down until the last page is turned. I just can't wait for the second in the trilogy. Thank you so much for being here with us for a few days.

Kaye

http://kayespenguinposts.blogspot.com/

[bermudaonion]

I'm a big fan of yours, too.  I'm almost through with Very Valentine and I love it so far.  I'd like to know if the Big Stone Gap trilogy is at all biographical.  You got the accent and the region so perfectly.  I love those books, but Lucia, Lucia is probably my favorite of your work.

[Stefanie29]

Hi Adriana, Bethanne, and all other book club members!

Adriana, I'm so excited that you're back on the Barnes & Noble boards. These discussions are always a good time!

I'm nearly finished with Very Valentine, and I can't wait to read more of Valentine's adventures. Sometimes, I swear she is reading my mind! The questions she grapples with are ones I ask myself.

Most of your earlier novels were all in the past, be it the 1970's-1990's of Big Stone Gap or the early 20th century in Queen of the Big Time. What new challenges did writing a contemporary novel present?  

[Bethanne]

---

momgee wrote:

Adriana, welcome, welcome, welcome. Your latest book is so fabulous! I recevied an arc from you back in the fall for which I would like to profusely thank you again. When I posted the review on my blog, all the comments I got were how great a writer you are and they were so looking forward to reading Very Valentine. Then I read Lucia, Lucia, and reviewed that and got the same respone. Several people told me they cried after the death of one of the characters(trying to avoid spoilers) and how much your books had touched them.I think we all came to the conclusion that no one can write about families as well as you do. You just get to the heart of every character. I love your descriptions, they are always so evocative. If anyone hasn't ordered this book, do yourself a favor and please get it. You will not want to put it down until the last page is turned. I just can't wait for the second in the trilogy. Thank you so much for being here with us for a few days.

Kaye

http://kayespenguinposts.blogspot.com/

---

Hi, Momgee, thanks for stopping by and leaving your lovely comment for Adriana. Since you have read Very Valentine, tell us: What was your favorite part, or character?

Bethanne 

[Bethanne]

---

bermudaonion wrote:
I'm a big fan of yours, too.  I'm almost through with Very Valentine and I love it so far.  I'd like to know if the Big Stone Gap trilogy is at all biographical.  You got the accent and the region so perfectly.  I love those books, but Lucia, Lucia is probably my favorite of your work.

---

Hey, bermudaonion, welcome! After reading Valentine, I longed for a pair of Angelini Shoes -- even though my wedding was eons ago. 

[Bethanne]

---

Stefanie29 wrote:

Hi Adriana, Bethanne, and all other book club members!

Adriana, I'm so excited that you're back on the Barnes & Noble boards. These discussions are always a good time!

I'm nearly finished with Very Valentine, and I can't wait to read more of Valentine's adventures. Sometimes, I swear she is reading my mind! The questions she grapples with are ones I ask myself.

Most of your earlier novels were all in the past, be it the 1970's-1990's of Big Stone Gap or the early 20th century in Queen of the Big Time. What new challenges did writing a contemporary novel present?  

---

Hi, Stefanie29. You're right about discussions with Adriana always being a good time. Meeting her in person is just like "hearing" her, too -- she's such a positive, interesting, and interested woman. 

[momgee]

Bethanne, easy question- All of it! I just loved her descriptions of Italy. The whole artisan shoe making parts are so interesting. All the characters are wonderful, Valentine and her grandmother especially. I really did like Valentine's mother too. She had her issues but she was just perfectly portrayed. The book is fabulous!

---

Bethanne wrote:

---

momgee wrote:

Adriana, welcome, welcome, welcome. Your latest book is so fabulous! I recevied an arc from you back in the fall for which I would like to profusely thank you again. When I posted the review on my blog, all the comments I got were how great a writer you are and they were so looking forward to reading Very Valentine. Then I read Lucia, Lucia, and reviewed that and got the same respone. Several people told me they cried after the death of one of the characters(trying to avoid spoilers) and how much your books had touched them.I think we all came to the conclusion that no one can write about families as well as you do. You just get to the heart of every character. I love your descriptions, they are always so evocative. If anyone hasn't ordered this book, do yourself a favor and please get it. You will not want to put it down until the last page is turned. I just can't wait for the second in the trilogy. Thank you so much for being here with us for a few days.

Kaye

http://kayespenguinposts.blogspot.com/

---

Hi, Momgee, thanks for stopping by and leaving your lovely comment for Adriana. Since you have read Very Valentine, tell us: What was your favorite part, or character?

Bethanne 

---

[Bethanne]

---

momgee wrote:

Bethanne, easy question- All of it! I just loved her descriptions of Italy. The whole artisan shoe making parts are so interesting. All the characters are wonderful, Valentine and her grandmother especially. I really did like Valentine's mother too. She had her issues but she was just perfectly portrayed. The book is fabulous!

---

Bethanne wrote:

---

momgee wrote:

Adriana, welcome, welcome, welcome. Your latest book is so fabulous! I recevied an arc from you back in the fall for which I would like to profusely thank you again. When I posted the review on my blog, all the comments I got were how great a writer you are and they were so looking forward to reading Very Valentine. Then I read Lucia, Lucia, and reviewed that and got the same respone. Several people told me they cried after the death of one of the characters(trying to avoid spoilers) and how much your books had touched them.I think we all came to the conclusion that no one can write about families as well as you do. You just get to the heart of every character. I love your descriptions, they are always so evocative. If anyone hasn't ordered this book, do yourself a favor and please get it. You will not want to put it down until the last page is turned. I just can't wait for the second in the trilogy. Thank you so much for being here with us for a few days.

Kaye

http://kayespenguinposts.blogspot.com/

---

Hi, Momgee, thanks for stopping by and leaving your lovely comment for Adriana. Since you have read Very Valentine, tell us: What was your favorite part, or character?

Bethanne 

---

Momgee, you're right about Valentine's mother -- what a character! Wouldn't you love to be able to take a real tour of the Angelini Shoes workshop? The leather, the trimmings... 

---

[AdrianaTrigiani]

Dear Bethanne and my dear readers:

Thank you for hosting this online book club.  I've loved it in the  past and this time- will be the best!  I went to Italy specifically for research on this book- but even work in Italy takes on a romantic patina.  I met with shoemakers, learned about their craft and their lives and wove it into the body of the story.  Fiction writing is really a mixmaster of ideas and feelings- and I surely went to town with Very Valentine.  It felt nostalgic and yet, very in the moment. Valentine's struggles in her work life are certainly mine- and whether it's writing fiction or making macaroni- or shoes- it's never easy, but it's always fulfilling.  

[AdrianaTrigiani]

Thank you Kaye- beautiful comments- and very inspiring to me.  Here's the deal on families- like a crime scene, every single person in a family has a different take on the experience of life in that particular family. So, I don't write about my own family.  I create a world as a writer and enter it- it isn't my family per se, but it becomes my family as I live with them.  The people seem real to me- and hopefully to you.  I weave in everything- loosely loosley- from stories I've heard along the way.  In the case of Lucia, Lucia, it was a chance cup of tea with a neighbor that led to the telling of that story- The art of fiction writing is the invention of those worlds- I would never write a memoir- what I experienced is never as interesting as what my characters live through-

[AdrianaTrigiani]

How about this- I love YOU and bermuda onions!  Thank you about the Big Stone Gap accent- I am a playwright- and boy, did my theater training come in handy when I began writing novels.  It's all about the ear in dialogue- so luckily, I had a lot of practice writing dialogue in my plays- Writing novels has been absolutely gratifying on every level, because it marries all the things I love to write about- and the ways I love to write- lots of descriptions- lots of conversation- and a good story.  Thank you for reading my books- and for writing in!

[AdrianaTrigiani]

Stefanie! OMGoodness- you're a mind reader.  I loved writing in the past- because I love the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen.  I love the slower pace of life- I even like life without a telephone. Alas, real life stepped in when I was talking about what book to write after Home to Big Stone Gap.  My publisher asked for a big, lush, contemporary family saga- I wanted for a long time to write about the craft of shoemaking- and also to write about the key years in a woman's life- 33 to 43- (they are all key, of course, but I liked the 7 year arc of going from apprentice to craftsman- and the notion of whether to marry or not; whether to have children or not- all of that)- furthermore,  mothers out there know the first 7 years of a child's life are really the basis of what follows- SO with all that in mind, and the inspiration of a woman I have never met who has tomato plants on her roof- I was off to the races.  This book also reunites me with my editor Lee Boudreaux who changed publishing houses before Home to Big Stone Gap.  I had a wonderful editor at Random House, but I missed Lee terribly- and now, we're together again- and Very Valentine is much a credit to her great skills.

[AdrianaTrigiani]

thank you! i love the character of mike- who can't say she's over 60 without her throat closing- and her outfits- all matchy matchy- and her view of the world- that a woman has to fight, fight, fight. i feel that you get it all in very valentine in terms of the women: the strong matriarch, her plush daughter and her worker bee grandaughter-

[AdrianaTrigiani]

forgive me- I didn't really answer the last part of your question- about the challenges of writing in the present versus the past- I find the present difficult because of the instant ways that we can access one another- and it was fun, when I surrendered, to watch as Valentine struggled with the relationship via texting- I mean, she's IN a relationship- but it's all in sound bytes. Very funny- and I ended up having fun with it- even though I prefer the long handwritten letter!

[kiakar]

Hello! Hello! Hello!

Oh! its so great to see your writing on here this week. I totally forgot until tonight. Wow! if I hadn't remembered before the week was up, wow, I would have been highly agitated at my forgetful self!

I am so grateful for the ARC you sent me. Your books, I have them all, awaken every sense I have in my head to my toes. And my toes aren't very feelly anymore, since numbness comes to them alot. But seriously, Adriana, its like a sense of wonder that comes over me when I read your books. I am completely engrossed in them and nothing else can I even try to be absorbed in when I am reading your books. I know they must be a feeling of heaven because it is such a good feeling that absorbs me when I read your books. Is your head swollen to perfection now?

What a delightful book "Very Valentine" is. How did you manage to get this book all together and titled for a very special holiday, "Valentine's day. It is the perfect gift for others. I have bought two copies for my daughters and a friend is also getting it for her daughter in law and daughter.

I think alot of you comes through your writing and that said I believe that the mothers and grandmothers character is probably really true to your mother and grandmother. I believe we definitely know you through your characters. Their sharing, their love for family and friends, their eagerness to love life and  the essence of caring so much for others.

I have put a review on Goodreads.com and Shellfari.com and my geni.com, to my family and friends. I have also of course put a review here. I have a link with Harper-collins.com for your schedule. I think you will be in Richmond,Va.  pretty quick. I will check on that again. I would just love to see you, Adriana. I have read your books on Barnes and Nobles with you for every time you have been here. WE have had a wonderful time laughing and talking about your books and your characters.

You will always be my favorite storyteller!   Love you.   Linda Huff

[Re76]

Ms. Trigiani,

I can't thank you enough for your latest book. I have read every book of yours to date, and have read them more than once. I enjoy how each story that you tell has the ability to bring the characters alive. When I bought your latest, I made sure everything was done around the house, brewed some great coffee, and sat down for an enjoyable day to read and be transported into this story. I am at the midway point of your book, and already do not want it to end.

On page 115, the discussion between Valentina and her father was wonderful. I liked how the father tells his daughter that his children are "...strictly loaners. I just took care of you until you could take care of yourselves."  What wonderful insight...for parents. I am a mother of two almost adult children. I think this portion of the book speaks to me as a parent and how we as parents sometimes needs to think about our adult children.

Thank you again for your beautiful stories and please keep them coming. Is it too early to ask when we might see another book?

Renee

[Stefanie29]

---

AdrianaTrigiani wrote:
forgive me- I didn't really answer the last part of your question- about the challenges of writing in the present versus the past- I find the present difficult because of the instant ways that we can access one another- and it was fun, when I surrendered, to watch as Valentine struggled with the relationship via texting- I mean, she's IN a relationship- but it's all in sound bytes. Very funny- and I ended up having fun with it- even though I prefer the long handwritten letter!

---

I'm a letter writer, too, but I'm starting to text more and more often. It's a bit frightening! Watching a romance play out via text message was new and interesting. Also, Valentine and Roman's story played out much differently (though perhaps more truthfully) than I expected it to. I don't want to give too much away for those who haven't finished it, but I have to say that I like how complicated their relationship is.

[Stefanie29]

I think one of the most magical moments in Very Valentine is the presentation and naming of the Bella Rosa shoe.

Adriana, I remember reading about Very Valentine on your website last year, but at the time, the novel was called Bella Rosa. I hope you won't mind my asking: what prompted the title change? (Though I do enjoy how the new title connects to Mike's "very Valentine" comment).