I had the good fortune to be invited for dinner with Amy Tan at USFS after her March 18th speech at 5:30 on the UAFS campus.  I represented the Fort Smith Public Library because I am a board member, and everyone knew I'd get a kick out of going.  And they were right.  Amy Tan is very small, has gray hair cut about chin level with bangs, and was dressed in varying shades of purple.  She speaks in a courteous and delicate tone.

I'm certain she has made a lot of money from her writing and her books made into movies.  She said she didn't like the business of movie making.  She much prefers writing.  She's currently working on a novel titled, Memory of Desire, which I think is a great title. 

Her most interesting story of the night was telling us about swimming with whale sharks.  They're huge, she told us, and they have a little eye on the side of the head.  The skin is very rough, and once her hand grazed the side of a whale shark, and when she climbed out of the water onto a boat, she saw blood on her knuckles.  It was as if her hand had scraped across sandpaper.

Hard to imagine such a delicate woman swimming with whale sharks.