Book launches are loud parties where I don’t know anybody. Except the author, through their work and their social media. So I still like attending them, if only to get a signed copy of their book, and maybe say a word or to to someone who will probably forget it later.

Tom Hawthorne, author of The Year Canadians Lost Their Minds and Found Their Country, rolled through Toronto last night, and I didn’t find out about it until afterwards. That happens fairly often since I moved to Toronto. On the bright side, I attend way more events than when I lived in Vancouver.

Tonight's the night, good people of Toronto. Book launch at Ben McNally Books, 366 Bay St. 6-8 p.m. pic.twitter.com/FUVp53AeZf

— Tom Hawthorn (@tomhawthorn) May 24, 2017

Ben McNally Books is a nice bookstore, with a generous area for seating when authors visit for presentations.

Looking for your next good read? Here are this week's #NewReleases pic.twitter.com/wPaW4cAKEW

— Ben McNally Books (@BenMcNallyBooks) May 24, 2017

Since I buy Kindle editions of books now, I would have bought both the Kindle edition and a physical copy of his book, signed without having it addressed to me, and thought of a friend to give it to as a gift. I also print out the cover, tape it to my Kindle, and get the author to sign that, then tape it to the back of my Kindle when I’m reading it. It’s a thing I do.

(Did I ever tell you the story of how I met my favourite author Zadie Smith and got her to sign my copy of The Autograph Man and I was the only one who brought that book of hers to sign?)