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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

P is for



is for

Picoult
Jodi Picoult

Spring Break in Nashville (con't)


As I mentioned on 'J' day, I saw Jodi Picoult in Nashville. She was on tour with her new novel Sing You Home.  So what can I tell you, I haven't already?

A CD is included with the book. The songs reflect the feelings  Zoe, Picoult's main character experiences throughout the book. Ellen Wilber collaborated with and wrote the music for Picoult's lyrics. This collaboration produced a CD of melodic and emotional folk songs.

The talk ended with Ellen Wilber taking to the stage with guitar in hand and performing three tracks from the CD.  One clear voice, accompanied by one lone guitar. 


All that was left, was the actual book signing. People queued up and waited their turn. Helpers walked up and down along the line with yellow post-it pads asking who you wanted your personalized book made out to. I earmarked my copy of Sing You Home for my daughter Ciolagh. Post-it note lady wrote out as I spelled C, I, O, L, A, G, H.  Raising an eyebrow she gave me a quizzical look before moving onto the person behind me.

It was finally my turn.  I moved to the table opening the book to the Post-it page.  Jodi Picoult looked at the post-it note and said, “Oh Key-la is it?”  I was dumbfounded!  She had pronounced my daughter’s name properly.  She didn’t massacre it with the usual See-O-lag.  All I could do was nod my head.  Words deserted me.  Seeing my shock as she passed the book to Ellen Wilber, Jodi added, “I have spent time in Ireland.”  My eloquent and profound reply was, “Oh.”  And so ended my incredibly articulate and informative verbal exchange with Jodi Picoult in Nashville.

17 comments:

Sylvia said...

That is so lovely. Thanks so much for sharing this :)

Old Kitty said...

Awwwwwwww good for Ms Picoult (whose surname I dare not pronounce loud incase it's wrong!!!!!)!! And I so would also have pronounced your daughter's name phonetically!! LOL!!

What a wonderful story!! Yay for fab authors!! take care
x

Theresa Milstein said...

I didn't know how to pronounce it from the written form. Nice to know! How pretty.

How cool you got to meet an author you admire. I haven't read any of her books. I should remedy that because several people have recommended them.

Talli Roland said...

Hehe - that sounds like an exchange I would have! I get tongue-tied around famous people. Either that or I start babbling and then trail off mid-sentence.

N. R. Williams said...

What a beautiful name. I had visions of several characters in my head when you wrote it. I looked it up in my huge character name book but it wasn't there. I like to learn the meaning of names. If you know, I'd love you to tell me.
Cheers,
Nancy
N. R. Williams, The Treasures of Carmelidrium.

Ann said...

For those of you wondering...Ciolagh is an old Irish name with a more modern Irish spelling. It had no Anglo name equivalent. It means Beautiful Face.

Brigid O'Connor said...

Good for you meeting Jodi, I missed her book signing here last time she was here.
Good for her pronouncing your daughter's lovely name properly.
I am a bit of a babbler when I meet someone famous or an author, I need to learn to keep the gob shut.

walk2write said...

Ms. Picoult sounds like a lovely person. I'm enthralled with the idea of music to go along with a story! Just perfect.

Thanks for telling us how to pronounce your daughter's name. I would have guessed wrong for sure.

Anonymous said...

awwwwww hahaha This is lovely. :)

Jan Morrison said...

there is nothing like the silence that accompanies adoration! I think the people who get it know what it implies...
good story.

Hold my hand: a social worker's blog said...

Oh... I wouldn't have known how to pronounce it... that's lovely!

Doris

Elizabeth Mueller said...

Lol, how cute. I'm glad she impressed ya!

♥.•*¨Elizabeth¨*•.♥

Susan Fields said...

How cool that you got to meet Jodi Picoult. She sounds lovely.

Unknown said...

Love your daughter's name! Wonderful post! Thanks for sharing, Ann! :)

~Melissa
Reflections on Writing

Unknown said...

LOL! How very articulate of you! That is actually the name I would very much like to call my own daughter one day -- though I've never seen in spelled in such a complicated way!
And another thing... I've been wondering recently if any authors have released a "soundtrack" to go with their book, and here you've answered my question :-) Thank you.

Ellie Garratt said...

What a wonderful experience and how lovely she could pronounce your daughter's name. I adore her books but I would probably be speechless if I ever met her!

Ellie Garratt

Anonymous said...

LOL! You are not alone. I have been star struck before now. I have read one Jodi Picoult novel so far :O)