{"id":22763,"date":"2021-11-28T08:51:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-28T13:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/?p=22763"},"modified":"2024-04-07T08:03:16","modified_gmt":"2024-04-07T12:03:16","slug":"an-unlikely-story-event-graceling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/2021\/11\/28\/an-unlikely-story-event-graceling\/","title":{"rendered":"An Unlikely Story Event: GRACELING"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There is a wonderful, delightful, human-owned, independent book store in Plainville, Massachusetts called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anunlikelystory.com\">An Unlikely Story<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Jeff Kinney, author of <a href=\"https:\/\/wimpykid.com\">Diary of a Wimpy Kid<\/a>, and his wife Julie purchased a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/54690684@N07\/8065097351\/sizes\/l\/\">beat up,&nbsp;pre-Civil War-era, eyesore<\/a> of a building in 2012, and created an oasis for lovers of books, an anchor for the downtown, and a counterpoint to Amazon (i.e., you can buy books&nbsp;<em>and<\/em> socks there, but we&#8217;ll let you discover that for yourselves).<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22764\" style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9652D.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22764\" data-attachment-id=\"22764\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/2021\/11\/28\/an-unlikely-story-event-graceling\/graceling_9652d\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9652D.jpg?fit=1029%2C683\" data-orig-size=\"1029,683\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;iPhone 11 Pro Max&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1638030083&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;6&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;125&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0166666666667&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Graceling_9652D\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9652D.jpg?fit=650%2C431\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9652D.jpg?fit=1029%2C683\" class=\"wp-image-22764 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9652D.jpg?resize=650%2C431\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"431\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9652D.jpg?resize=650%2C431 650w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9652D.jpg?resize=768%2C510 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9652D.jpg?w=1029 1029w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-22764\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A building full of love and joy and books&#8230;let&#8217;s go inside!!!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The drive to Plainville from Boston was a quick 40 minutes, and well worth the effort. We got there early on purpose, to spend an hour <a href=\"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_9655D.jpg\">wandering around browsing and buying books<\/a> \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>We had forgotten what an amazing experience picking up and thumbing through real live (<em>wha?!?!<\/em>) books could be. It was almost a visceral relief to be able to do it again.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22770\" style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_Event.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22770\" data-attachment-id=\"22770\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/2021\/11\/28\/an-unlikely-story-event-graceling\/graceling_event\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_Event.jpg?fit=1029%2C340\" data-orig-size=\"1029,340\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"GRACELING_Event\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_Event.jpg?fit=650%2C215\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_Event.jpg?fit=1029%2C340\" class=\"wp-image-22770 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_Event.jpg?resize=650%2C215\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"215\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_Event.jpg?resize=650%2C215 650w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_Event.jpg?resize=768%2C254 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_Event.jpg?w=1029 1029w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-22770\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">We were not disappointed!!!<\/p><\/div>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.anunlikelystory.com\/hinds\">Graceling: The Graphic Novel<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>We have known <a href=\"https:\/\/www.garethhinds.com\/wp\/\">Gareth<\/a> for close to twenty years, and have accumulated <a href=\"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_9655D.jpg\">a terrific collection of his graphic novels<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>For one reason or another, though, we had not not been to one of his book signings in a while. But, having &#8220;emerged&#8221; from the COVID pandemic vaxxed, boostered, and grateful, we no longer take <a href=\"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9653.jpg\">opportunities like these<\/a> for granted!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22765\" style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9653.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22765\" data-attachment-id=\"22765\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/2021\/11\/28\/an-unlikely-story-event-graceling\/graceling_9653\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9653.jpg?fit=1029%2C683\" data-orig-size=\"1029,683\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;1.8&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;iPhone 11 Pro Max&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1638030306&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;4.25&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;80&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0166666666667&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Graceling_9653\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9653.jpg?fit=650%2C431\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9653.jpg?fit=1029%2C683\" class=\"wp-image-22765 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9653.jpg?resize=650%2C431\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"431\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9653.jpg?resize=650%2C431 650w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9653.jpg?resize=768%2C510 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9653.jpg?w=1029 1029w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-22765\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gareth: great guy, fabulous artist, terrific storyteller, and owner of fewer human-piercing metal blades than you might think.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The event was well-attended,&nbsp;lasted for almost exactly an hour, and was absolutely fascinating. Everyone was masked except when speaking.<\/p>\n<p>It was especially heartening to notice how <a href=\"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_9658D.jpg\">completely enthralled<\/a>&nbsp;the younger attendees were by <a href=\"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9660D.jpg\">Gareth&#8217;s talk<\/a>&nbsp;(and they also asked good questions in the Q&amp;A session afterwards).<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22771\" style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_Talk.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22771\" data-attachment-id=\"22771\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/2021\/11\/28\/an-unlikely-story-event-graceling\/graceling_talk\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_Talk.jpg?fit=1029%2C340\" data-orig-size=\"1029,340\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"GRACELING_Talk\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_Talk.jpg?fit=650%2C215\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_Talk.jpg?fit=1029%2C340\" class=\"wp-image-22771 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_Talk.jpg?resize=650%2C215\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"215\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_Talk.jpg?resize=650%2C215 650w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_Talk.jpg?resize=768%2C254 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_Talk.jpg?w=1029 1029w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-22771\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;Yup, takes a long time to do this. Yup, I love it. Yup, you need a timetable to get it all done.&#8221;<\/p><\/div>\n<p>One of the most interesting sections of Gareth&#8217;s talk was his describing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCjABiQOCnG84plQetJmrB4A\">mix of artistic processes<\/a>\u2014digital, photographic, watercolor, etc.\u2014that he incorporates into his <a href=\"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_9661D.jpg\">graphic novel adaptation workflow<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He also gave us a behind-the-scenes look at the complexities involved in the project management aspects required to track, manage, and meet the almost innumeral deadlines, changes, and (<em>whew!<\/em>) progress. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Interested RainyDayMagazine readers can <a href=\"https:\/\/fb.watch\/9yHOMq44YV\/\">see the entire live event here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22773\" style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_9661D.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22773\" data-attachment-id=\"22773\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/2021\/11\/28\/an-unlikely-story-event-graceling\/graceling_9661d\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_9661D.jpg?fit=1029%2C683\" data-orig-size=\"1029,683\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;iPhone 11 Pro Max&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1638037938&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;6&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;500&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0166666666667&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"GRACELING_9661D\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_9661D.jpg?fit=650%2C431\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_9661D.jpg?fit=1029%2C683\" class=\"wp-image-22773 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_9661D.jpg?resize=650%2C431\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"431\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_9661D.jpg?resize=650%2C431 650w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_9661D.jpg?resize=768%2C510 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_9661D.jpg?w=1029 1029w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-22773\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;Ya gotta draw a lot of drawings to draw the drawing that goes in the book. And then you might have to redraw that.&#8221;<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A bonus for attending the event was obviously the opportunity to have&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9665D.jpg\">the book signed<\/a>, along with a personal note, by Gareth. We took full advantage of that with the purchase of a few copies to give as presents and to add our own <a href=\"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GRACELING_9676.jpg\">growing collection<\/a> \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22767\" style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9665D.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22767\" data-attachment-id=\"22767\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/2021\/11\/28\/an-unlikely-story-event-graceling\/graceling_9665d\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9665D.jpg?fit=1029%2C683\" data-orig-size=\"1029,683\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;1.8&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;iPhone 11 Pro Max&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1638039296&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;4.25&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;250&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0166666666667&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Graceling_9665D\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9665D.jpg?fit=650%2C431\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9665D.jpg?fit=1029%2C683\" class=\"wp-image-22767 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9665D.jpg?resize=650%2C431\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"431\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9665D.jpg?resize=650%2C431 650w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9665D.jpg?resize=768%2C510 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9665D.jpg?w=1029 1029w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-22767\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;To Wan and Carolyn: Idldndig eidoitns ghaildie plauta niver&#8221; Not telling you exactly what he wrote, but it was nice.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>For those interested in learning more about <em>Graceling: The Graphic Novel<\/em>&nbsp;and all Gareth&#8217;s other awesome works, we happily point you&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.garethhinds.com\/wp\/graceling\/\">here<\/a>. Go ahead, order <a href=\"https:\/\/gareth-hinds.square.site\">your very own signed copies!!!<\/a><\/p>\n<h4>A word about <em>Graceling<\/em><\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gracelingrealm.com\/index.html\"><em>Graceling<\/em><\/a>&nbsp;is an actual book by&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/kristincashore.blogspot.com\">Kristin Cashore<\/a>, a very-much-loved book, with a fan wiki and all other sorts of things, still very much in print and with two sequels out.<\/p>\n<p>As things sometime go in the juvenile-to-young-adult-book world, Gareth and Kristin had become friends, and as things sometimes go with friendships, one thing lead to another and in this case <em>her&nbsp;<\/em>book became <em>his<\/em> graphic novel.<\/p>\n<p>Tip-top suggestion from the RainyDay copyeditor who&#8217;s super-secret alter is&nbsp;<em>research librarian<\/em>: go buy both and be done with it.<\/p>\n<h4>IMPORTANT NOTE<\/h4>\n<p>The &#8220;quotes&#8221; in this article are not Gareth&#8217;s. They are, um, paraphrases of what Gareth said, but since our alphabet\/character set has no paraphrasical characters like quotations have, we made a copy-editorial decision and put them between what we know are absolutely incorrect characters.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is a wonderful, delightful, human-owned, independent book store in Plainville, Massachusetts called An Unlikely Story. Jeff Kinney, author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and his wife Julie purchased a beat up,&nbsp;pre-Civil War-era, eyesore of a building in 2012, and created an oasis for lovers of books, an anchor for the downtown, and a counterpoint to Amazon (i.e., you can buy books&nbsp;and socks there, but we&#8217;ll let you discover that for yourselves). A building full of love and joy and books&#8230;let&#8217;s go inside!!! The drive to Plainville from Boston was a quick 40 minutes, and well worth the effort. We got there early on purpose, to spend an hour wandering around browsing and buying books \ud83d\ude42 We had forgotten what an amazing experience picking up and thumbing through real live (wha?!?!) books could be. It was almost a visceral relief to be able to do it again. We were not disappointed!!! Graceling: The Graphic Novel We have known Gareth for close to twenty years, and have accumulated a terrific collection of his graphic novels. For one reason or another, though, we had not not been to one of his book signings in a while. But, having &#8220;emerged&#8221; from the [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":22766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[342,244],"tags":[2141,1954,1951,1952,1953],"class_list":["post-22763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rainydaybooks","category-rainydaydestinations","tag-amazing-books","tag-an-unlikely-story","tag-gareth-hines","tag-graceling","tag-graphic-novel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Graceling_9660D.jpg?fit=1029%2C683","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7F1GW-5V9","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22763"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22804,"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22763\/revisions\/22804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}