Kennebooks in Kennebunk hosted a book reading and signing Thursday evening with Kate Braestrup. She is a Chaplain for the Maine Warden Service by day…and author by night (well, this night, anyway).
The bookstore staffers let us know that Kate would be arriving late, but then they started bringing out the refreshments, so the crowd was appeased. First, pitchers of lemon water. Next, an urn of coffee. I got a styrofoam cup and filled it halfway; my expectations were very low, but I was yawning quite a bit (long day) and didn’t want Kate to think that it in any way reflected on her talk. Well, here’s a surprise: the coffee was great (since I’m a flavored coffee kind of gal, and this was straight up, that’s saying something). I quickly filled the cup up the rest of the way. Next came the treats: muffins and cookies. Someone said that this was the best offering of any book signing she’d ever attended. I second that.
Kate arrives and is fully present immediately. She first talks a little about who she is, and her job as a Chaplain. After that, she reads from her book “Marriage and other acts of Charity“. What is great about Kate is that she has excellent comic timing. If her day job (and/or her night job) doesn’t work out, she could always do stand up…she’s that funny.
Kate is also generous; she answers every question that is asked of her with thought and feeling. Overall, Kate was warm, witty, and worth the wait. Her first book is “Here if You Need Me“. She has a third book coming out in the fall (probably November 2010) entitled “Beginner’s Grace“, and is at work on a fourth. I can’t wait.
Have any of you read Kate’s books?
(Okay, well, if you haven’t, you must).
Karen Creamer Author, Coach, Speaker 
One thought on “Kate Braestrup at Kennebooks”