Book Launch

I attended my first book launch last night. I realise this in itself is nothing amazing, there are book launches that go on just about every time someone publishes a book, and when you work alongside academic intellectuals this actually happens far more than one would imagine.


But there is something about the event ‘book launch’ that invites images of black-clad authors and dignitaries lounging on leather ottomans, clutching glasses of Pinot Noir, hiding behind over-sized glasses and squinting into the half-lit atmosphere, talking in hushed tones about the drastic implications of the Oxford Comma. The food critic from Ratatouille springs to mind. Several other events naturally bring the same images to my mind, like “gallery opening”, “poetry reading” and “gala evening”. Of course, the discussion may vary from the Oxford Comma to re-interpretations of feminist art to conceptions of summer in TS Eliot, but ultimately it all boils down to the same thing.

Granted, it wasn’t precisely that. This was a legal textbook, so there were no hushed tones (lawyers like to be heard) and instead of tights and polo necks, everyone had black suits on. These are after all judges and advocates and the like. It was a pity, I had really hoped for more tall lanky men of dubious sexual orientation looking disparagingly over their horn-rimmed glasses, but alas there was only my rosy-cheeked, flamboyant homosexual of an ex-boss. Hardly the kind of person I was expecting.

On the plus side, there were little steak kebabs with incredibly tender meat on them. I think I ate about ten. Yes, that was the highlight of the night.