Literary Matters - local book sharing on the web

By Anne W. Semmes

It didn't take long before Estelle Bushell and Cai Boldt Pandolfino teamed up. Bushell was a favorite Greenwich High School (GHS) English teacher of Pandolfino's and Avideh Bashirrad was Pandolfino's GHS classmate.

"I'm a huge fan of Esther's," said Pandolfino. "She was advisor for our class of 1993 - for four years. Her license plate still reads Class of 1993! We stayed in touch and I love to read. I like to stay on top of the world of books. I would ask her recommendations."

It was soon after the Pandolfinos sold their successful Plum Foods Shop in Cos Cob, for Cai to better care for their two small sons, when they had their friend Bushell over for dinner. Bushell told them friend Bashirrad, who worked at Random House who was mentoring Bushell in her book group activity, was urging her to have a website to better market herself and her book savvy.

"Cai said let's do this together," said Bushell. So the two collaborated to create Literary Matters.

"It's a website about books," said Bushell. "Every month we feature five different books. We also have a list of "Six Picks" for YA's - young adults, and illustrated books for kids. Our books can be ordered at Amazon - we provide an easy link."

Literary Matters would also offer author events. "We've had a dozen so far," said Bushell, and three are scheduled for this fall. "We hold them at clubs and at the Bush Holly House. Jeff cooks when they're at Bush Holly."

"Cai does the website and I feed her information. Nobody writes copy like Cai. She's terrific. She sends out email blasts about events, and we work on the events together."

The Gail Caldwell author event was held last May at Indian Harbor Yacht Club, said Bushell. "We charge $50 for lunch. We had (author) Chris Cleave from London to Indian Harbor for lunch and he said this would never happen in England."

The upcoming events are featuring "A Conversation with Sara Gruen," the author of Ape House on September 23, "A Conversation with William Cohan," author of House of Cards, on October 7, and "A Conversation with Dr. Jacob Appel," a bioethicist and author, on November 4. For more information, go to www.LiteraryMatters.net