Books and books and burgers

It's been a tough week at work as we had layoffs in conjunction with our reorganization due to our recent addition of Congressional Quarterly. (Yes, I still have a job.) But, I've been doing my best to distract myself with some reading.

At the urging of a friend, I recently started reading the Twilight series. I have to say, the books are enjoyable. I'm not obsessed, but I have now read three of the books and am about to start on the fourth (and last) one. In between, I picked up Dan Brown's latest book, which I just finished. I know Brown has many critics, and I can't dispute most of what they say. However, his books are intriguing, quick reads that I enjoy. And "The Lost Symbol" is set in Washington, D.C., so I wanted to see which landmarks he included in the book. (Roll Call wrote a story recently — subscription required to read whole story — addressing some of the Capitol's secrets that the book references. According to that story, some of what Brown writes is fact, or based in fact, and some is complete fiction.)

Book Festival
And today was the Library of Congress' National Book Festival on the National Mall. My friend and I braved the rainy day to see some authors speak and get some books signed. The list of famous authors in attendance was long — including Nicholas Sparks, Jodi Picoult, John Grisham, Judy Blume, Lois Lowry, James Patterson and John Irving.

Of those I saw, I was most excited about Nicholas Sparks. I was really curious what the man behind those romantic, women-friendly books was like (and I'm a big fan of reading his work). As I approached the tent before his time slot, a golf cart pulled up behind the stage. I thought, "That might be him. ..." And then the crowd of women and girls engulfed him, asking for pictures, hugs and signatures. The mob scene was pretty hilarious. He spoke about his current and upcoming work, including upcoming movie versions of three books. He also spoke about his personal and work life, which was rather interesting (married for 20 years, five kids, two well-trained German shepherds, coaching a state-champion track team, starting a private school with international travel, and writing about 2,000 words a day).

Following Obama's burger taste
After the festival, we stopped by Five Guys in Chinatown. As some of you might remember, President Obama generated a lot of media attention when he stopped by a Five Guys location (a different one) earlier this year. I hadn't yet eaten at Five Guys (consistently ranked as one of the top burger places in the area), so I can now authoritatively say that it lives up to the hype — a fast burger that definitely beats fast food.