WHY attend a bookstore reading?

~ and yet ~

"A bookstore offers a more intimate and cozier setting than a university auditorium or literary festival venue." —Leslie Pietrzyk ~

"I attend author readings to see them in person (what is this person 'really' like) and get autographed copies of books! Others attend, it seems, to ask baffling questions that have little to do with the author's work, but it is all good entertainment. Sometimes there are free cookies." —Kathleen Alcala ~

"Dear Abby used to say to women who wrote in complaining that they couldn't find the right man, with all those wonderful qualities like compassion, reverence, respect, etc., that they should hunt for them at church instead of singles bars or coffeehouses; ditto finding the right poet(ry) to fire up your quiet nights at home." — Richard Beban ~